Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide • Hacker News Board

Re: Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide

#111

Post by anthk » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 10:08 PM UTC

keyringlight wrote: post #25

ladyanita22 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, this is what always surprises me with modern software targeted towards low-specced computers. Windows XP run fine in 256MB ram computers yet it could be altered to make it look fantastic, with the Royale or Royale Noir themes. I guess even Linux back then could be made beautiful on similarly specced computers. Yet, AntiX or even LxQt is hideous despite consuming more resources!

I wonder where all the artists who used to make the wide range of styles for XP went after MS made it harder to apply themes to windows, or what factors contributed to attracting artists to start making that kind of customization. I think partially it's down to the platform many use (many seek to theme mobile OSes), but the tools to do so has to be a large contribution. I'm not aware of anything like Stardock's Skin…

Obviously, CSS designers.

Re: Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide

#112

Post by bjelkeman-again » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 10:46 PM UTC

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #109

Since 2026 began, I have turned a fifteen year old MacPro4,1 into a Ubuntu 24 powerhouse (using a 2019 GPU with HBM2). Before this, I knew little about computers not running macOS. Although I grew up on Macs, and have three modern Silicon machines... my old MacPro is again my daily driver (because: Linux). It's incredible that this ancient machine runs Ollama3.1 faster than my M2Pro/M3/M4 machines (entirely due to th…

I have one 4,1 standing around in the cellar. Probably not with a nice GPU, but I now need to see what type of Linux machine it will become.

Re: Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide

#113

Post by joe_mamba » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 11:12 PM UTC

zahlman wrote: post #68

joe_mamba wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have currently 2 browsers open and my memory commit is 370MB.. In what context? >If I hear that Win11 uses 3GB of RAM idling Modern Gnome and KDE distros with batteries included also idea at around 2GB RAM which is a useless metric anyway as Windows 11 also preloads frequently used takes and apps on boot.

> Modern Gnome and KDE distros with batteries included also idea at around 2GB RAM Really? I'm seeing 1.3 for Mint/Cinnamon.

[flagged]

Re: Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide

#114

Post by joe_mamba » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 11:19 PM UTC

prmoustache wrote: post #93

joe_mamba wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have currently 2 browsers open and my memory commit is 370MB.. In what context? >If I hear that Win11 uses 3GB of RAM idling Modern Gnome and KDE distros with batteries included also idea at around 2GB RAM which is a useless metric anyway as Windows 11 also preloads frequently used takes and apps on boot.

Less than that, between 900MB and 1.2GB and that's due to file and stuff indexation. The good thing on Linux and BSDs is you can swap for a light wm/compositor and your back below 150MB idle.

[flagged]

Re: Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide

#115

Post by MrVitaliy » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 11:34 PM UTC

IgorPartola wrote: post #104

I love using older hardware in this way but browsing the web on an old laptop is PAINFUL. Even with a light browser and adblock websites are dog slow. Something like Google Maps or Google Docs becomes unusable. I am not against JavaScript on the web by any means but something needs to be done about basic document pages and forms and tables that by all means should fit into 1MB of RAM at most but take half a gig.

I RDP (Remmina) into a beefy VM with all the bells and whistles running FreeRDP service and do heavy web browsing there. Its also more secure if your old laptop doesn't get the latest updates.

Re: Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide

#116

Post by yaro330 » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 12:01 AM UTC

The swapiness section is incorrect. If I remember correctly swapiness does the same thing for swap and zram, which is how quickly the given partition starts to fill up. So for swap on hard drives you want it as low as possible, so you're using swap as late as possible. For zram you kinda really want it as high as possible, especially when the amount of ram is low, so it starts compressing early.

Some Android OEMs experimented with zram swapiness over 100, up to 200, so it would start compressing immediately.

Re: Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide

#117

Post by ww520 » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 12:07 AM UTC

initramfs wrote: post #59

Thanks for this link! "antiX is my top pick for truly constrained hardware. It runs on systemd-free Debian Stable, uses around 256MB at idle, and includes a full desktop experience. The trade-off is a less polished interface compared to Ubuntu-based options. If you need something even lighter, Puppy Linux runs entirely in RAM and can resurrect machines that most distros would reject. The learning curve is steeper, bu…

How's Alpine? Most of the containers seem to pick Alpine as the basis OS.

Re: Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide

#118

Post by bobmcnamara » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 12:08 AM UTC

johnvaluk wrote: post #39

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #28

The reason this advice is bizarre is that old memory isn't actually that dear. The machines that would have had 2GB of RAM or less would be from the Core 2 Duo era or so, taking DDR2 or DDR3, and typically supported 8-16GB. 8GB of DDR3 is currently in the ballpark of $10 and the machines that take it can be found by the pallet in the "free e-waste" pile, so who is going to suffer <2GB instead of 8GB over $10?

There are a lot of old Chromebooks with only 2GB of RAM soldered to the motherboard. Other than that, they're surprisingly capable machines after you flash them with MrChromebox firmware.

Same with pre arm Atom indows tablets

Re: Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide

#119

Post by exiguus » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 12:23 AM UTC

I enjoy collecting old ThinkPads and other Notebooks, and I wanted to clarify a few points about 32-bit vs. 64-bit support.

The last true 32-bit processors were the AMD Athlon XP and Intel Pentium 4 (early Core Duo models also had 32-bit variants). ThinkPad series like the T6x, T4x, R5x, and X3x/X4x are limited to 32-bit. Meanwhile, models like the X2xx and newer generally support 64-bit and run modern distros like Debian or Fedora smoothly, often this models have at least 2GB of RAM and 64GB+ storage.

The article's title feels a bit misleading to me. It's more about limited resources (RAM/storage) than truly "old" hardware. In my view, the defining factor for "old" should be 32-bit processor support, which is far more restrictive than storage or RAM constraints. Usually the 32-bit systems are better typewriter. They don't have enough power the browse smoothly the modern web.

For 32-bit systems, I usually go with Q4OS (great for old hardware compatibility) or Puppy Linux (unlimited 32-bit support). For 64-bit, it's Fedora (Sway) or Debian (GNOME). I choose these distros because I want to get the manual installation and setup done in under an hour. Worth noting: many distros still support 32-bit, but some (like Debian) are phasing it out by 2028.

Re: Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide

#120

Post by ProllyInfamous » Sun, Jun 28, 2026, 1:45 AM UTC

bjelkeman-again wrote: post #112

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #109

Since 2026 began, I have turned a fifteen year old MacPro4,1 into a Ubuntu 24 powerhouse (using a 2019 GPU with HBM2). Before this, I knew little about computers not running macOS. Although I grew up on Macs, and have three modern Silicon machines... my old MacPro is again my daily driver (because: Linux). It's incredible that this ancient machine runs Ollama3.1 faster than my M2Pro/M3/M4 machines (entirely due to th…

I have one 4,1 standing around in the cellar. Probably not with a nice GPU, but I now need to see what type of Linux machine it will become.

The only "bummer" with the 4,1 is: in order to get a bootscreen, you need to either "hack it" with Open Core Legacy Patcher (OCLP) -or- purchase a modified-firmware GPU from macvidcards.com (I run his custom VEGA56/firmware, personally; it's faster than most Apple Silicon for Ollama3.1 [about 74 tokens/second]) -or- use a stock Apple GPU with an additional GPU plugged into main display.

With OCLP you can run Linux using quite-modern GPUs (presuming you can power them). I performed my Pixla's modification all the way into the powersupply's PCB/rails, which can safely deliver 500W via stranded 8awg copper capped with dual 8-pins.

During wintertime, I use the dual Xeons to mine Monero (for underdesk heater), which gives about a 1/2000 chance to blockwin (daily) – as I do not have a heatpump, this effectively costs nothing. This is about 20x slower than a modern Ryzen CPU – but again: free during wintertime.

----

For some reason, I could not install Ubuntu v24 directly; instead, I had to use a v22 installer USB and then update to v24 via software update. I haven't gotten any later version to work, but modern Mint installed just fine (an alternate Linux distro).

My favorite thing about Linux is it's just quick. Minimal bloat. Absolute control of system functionality (but you can also destroy everything really quickly/easily).

Only noticeable gripe: VLC sucks on the MacPro4,1 in Ubuntu (skipping around tears the video, leaving it to lag badly). No MacFanControl GUI is available, and the software work-around is frustrating (I instead just run a secondary centrifugal fan, pointed right at the northbridge heatsink, sitting atop the back RAMsticks).