dmt Posted December 26, 2023 Share Posted December 26, 2023 Hi! I've found an old family member on a shelve, P4 with .768 GB RAM What distro I can install into this fellow? No special requirements, browsing internet would be enough ;) Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick H. Supervisor Posted December 26, 2023 Supervisor Share Posted December 26, 2023 On 26/12/2023 at 08:17, dmt said: Hi! I've found an old family member on a shelve, P4 with .768 GB RAM What distro I can install into this fellow? No special requirements, browsing internet would be enough Expand How much RAM? .768GB would be 768MB which doesn't sound right at all...but 768GB of RAM would be ludicrous as well! If your family member is used to using Windows on their computer, they would probably be happy with either Zorin OS or Linux Mint. Neither of them are very intensive requirements-wise as far as I'm aware. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598871632 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmt Posted December 26, 2023 Author Share Posted December 26, 2023 On 26/12/2023 at 13:15, Nick H. said: .768GB would be 768MB which doesn't sound right at all... Expand Sorry. Should be .75 GB RAM Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598871635 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyfrog Posted December 26, 2023 Share Posted December 26, 2023 On 26/12/2023 at 13:15, Nick H. said: How much RAM? .768GB would be 768MB which doesn't sound right at all...but 768GB of RAM would be ludicrous as well! If your family member is used to using Windows on their computer, they would probably be happy with either Zorin OS or Linux Mint. Neither of them are very intensive requirements-wise as far as I'm aware. Expand A 512MB stick and a 256MB one would be 768. Regardless of the distro though I think modern web browsing might be unpleasant, and forget Youtube unless you like slide shows. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598871637 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick H. Supervisor Posted December 26, 2023 Supervisor Share Posted December 26, 2023 On 26/12/2023 at 13:28, dmt said: Sorry. Should be .75 GB RAM Expand Ok, so there is only 768MB of RAM. That really isn't much to work with. You could install something like Linux Lite, but the moment you opened Firefox (or your browser of choice) the system would completely stop. So the first thing that I suggest doing is getting more RAM. 4GB would be ok, but ideally you should look for 8+GB. Taking a quick look on Amazon it looks like you could get 8GB for less than £20. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598871638 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick H. Supervisor Posted December 26, 2023 Supervisor Share Posted December 26, 2023 On 26/12/2023 at 14:00, Skyfrog said: A 512MB stick and a 256MB one would be 768. Regardless of the distro though I think modern web browsing might be unpleasant, and forget Youtube unless you like slide shows. Expand Oh my bad, that's not what I meant when I said that it doesn't sound right. I knew the maths of it, but 768MB of RAM is waaaay too little to work with these days. Skyfrog and Matthew S. 2 Share Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598871640 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Global Moderator Posted December 26, 2023 Global Moderator Share Posted December 26, 2023 Yeah, 768 isn't enough for any distro. I think the only distro it might work with is Puppy, Bunsenlabs, or crunchbangplusplus. (#!++) Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598871645 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Global Moderator Posted December 26, 2023 Global Moderator Share Posted December 26, 2023 On 26/12/2023 at 08:17, dmt said: I've found an old family member on a shelve Expand You mean an elf on the shelf? Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598871646 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose_49 Posted December 26, 2023 Share Posted December 26, 2023 Windows XP 😎 Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598871660 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Global Moderator Posted December 26, 2023 Global Moderator Share Posted December 26, 2023 On 26/12/2023 at 16:06, Jose_49 said: Windows XP 😎 Expand Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598871667 Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinetheo Posted December 26, 2023 Share Posted December 26, 2023 (edited) Modern web is all html5 with jit compilation of JavaScript with node js and hardware accelerated h.265. A p4 is from an era of Internet explorer 6 with XP with static html still graphics and some limited CSS and JavaScript for page layouts ... Not running mini applets. Not only would 768 megs fill up fast but the video chips (not full GPUs) have no accelerated h.265 video decoding at all ads and even web page elements use video decoding today and are dynamic. A p4 would work fine for just word processing but even my phone gets hot going to a web page with 50 ad networks all running a mini operating system. Even 4 gigs of ram minimal would barely function Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598871671 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmt Posted December 26, 2023 Author Share Posted December 26, 2023 On 26/12/2023 at 14:46, Mindovermaster said: You mean an elf on the shelf? Expand Almost! It was hidden under picture On 26/12/2023 at 16:06, Jose_49 said: Windows XP 😎 Expand The last OS was Win 2008 R2 modified for workstation. Somewhere 2010-12. For sporting interest. On 26/12/2023 at 17:33, sinetheo said: Modern web is all html5 with jit compilation of JavaScript with node js and hardware accelerated h.265. A p4 is from an era of Internet explorer 6 with XP with static html still graphics and some limited CSS and JavaScript for page layouts ... Not running mini applets. Not only would 768 megs fill up fast but the video chips (not full GPUs) have no accelerated h.265 video decoding at all ads and even web page elements use video decoding today and are dynamic. A p4 would work fine for just word processing but even my phone gets hot going to a web page with 50 ad networks all running a mini operating system. Even 4 gigs of ram minimal would barely function Expand I have no workstation with h.265 accelerators at all and they work fine. But this fellow.. is 6 years older than my current media player, which is made in 2008. And it cannot play 2160i Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598871701 Share on other sites More sharing options...
goretsky Supervisor Posted December 27, 2023 Supervisor Share Posted December 27, 2023 Hello, Perhaps the 32-bit edition of Puppy Linux? Regards, Aryeh Goretsky Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598871736 Share on other sites More sharing options...
FateTrap Posted December 31, 2023 Share Posted December 31, 2023 (edited) FreeBSD + Polybar and bspwm (or any lightweight WM) should work. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598872337 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Warwagon MVC Posted December 31, 2023 MVC Share Posted December 31, 2023 Tiny Linux http://tinycorelinux.net/ Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598872351 Share on other sites More sharing options...
FateTrap Posted January 14, 2024 Share Posted January 14, 2024 This is the RAM usage of OpenBSD after the PC has been up for almost two hours. I find it quite impressive considering it is not a bare bones setup. It is a fully functional 'desktop setup' with bspwm, Polybar, sxhkd, nitrogen, scripts, dmenu and picom all running at that time. It is also interesting how the system thinks about security. It makes the security of other systems feel primitive. You can still reduce RAM usage by not using picom, Polybar, and nitrogen, since these are optional features that you may not care about. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598875278 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaCrip Posted January 14, 2024 Share Posted January 14, 2024 (edited) I think people already gave some good answers. but ill add... even from a very basic browsing websites point of view... a P4 and 768MB of RAM is a obvious problem regardless of how 'light' the OS itself is. so if you just want it technically work you might pass this standard. but to work anywhere near half way decently, is probably a big stretch. but I guess you don't have much to lose but a bit of your time by trying it. but just purely from a RAM point of view... 2GB (or 2048MB) is more of a realistic bare minimum nowadays (i.e. say about 512MB-1GB for the OS and maybe 1GB or so of RAM for browser at least allows a minimal level of functionality/usability) as I figure even if someone wanted to venture lower than that, 1GB (1024MB) of RAM would be on the very extreme since Linux in general probably burns up roughly 512MB-1GB just on the OS itself after boot up. so right off the start you are already running very low on RAM straight after boot up and would have very little to nothing left for the browser. hell, even if you had more RAM, a P4 is going to be quite slow as even in the late 2010's I tried using a AMD Athlon 1.2GHz CPU (basically in a computer I got in 2001), which can only use 32-bit OS if I recall correctly, and pretty much everything you do is slow as the CPU is almost always pegged to 100% for doing next to nothing and that was a higher end CPU back in 2001 (I think 1.4Ghz was the top when I bought mine in 2001 on the AMD side of things) and was better than P4's at the time for gaming etc as while P4's had higher MHz/GHz, they where generally slower. so basically there comes a point where even people who like to use things as long as possible got to move on and this is one of those cases (unless of course you just want to toy around with truly ancient hardware). I would say the following is a pretty good guideline when it comes to general computers as I would probably put things into the following three categories as a ball park figure (assuming your CPU etc was respectable in it's day)... -2010+ = green (easily more towards good than bad for general usage) -2005-2009 = yellow (this is more of a caution range where it might be half decent and maybe not, but it's pushing it especially if you are closer to 2005 where as closer to 2009 might make all of the difference. note: for example... my backup computer, which is basically higher end 2005 motherboard tech (ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe), which I originally built in March 2006, currently has maxed out RAM (4GB (4x 1GB)) and a dual-core CPU (which I think I upgraded it's single core (AMD Athlon 3500+) CPU to it's current dual-core (AMD Athlon X2 3600+, 2.0GHz overclocked to 2.3GHz) in the year 2010) and it's passable for basic web browsing etc even though you can tell it's pushing it on some level etc, but at least it's not constantly pegged at 100% CPU for doing next to nothing which is a pretty good indicator of a CPU being very outdated when it starts doing that etc) -2004 and older = red (I tend to assume hardware from around this time or older is genuine ancient status at this point where doing even basic web browsing is a stretch, especially if you want any semblance of a tolerable web browsing experience. so even with all of the RAM in the world, the CPU's around these times or older is just true ancient status) or another way to look at it as a general guideline in even simpler terms... pretty much any single core CPU is going to suck as you need dual core or better for more realistic use today as that's pretty much where I would draw the line of 'unusable/usable'. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598875310 Share on other sites More sharing options...
WITHOUT-ME Posted January 14, 2024 Share Posted January 14, 2024 recycle it Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598875344 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Global Moderator Posted January 14, 2024 Global Moderator Share Posted January 14, 2024 On 14/01/2024 at 21:45, KZ7S2zj9XS2MKs5 said: recycle it Expand Or a free space heater.. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598875357 Share on other sites More sharing options...
FateTrap Posted January 19, 2024 Share Posted January 19, 2024 Alpine Linux uses just 58 MB RAM when I use a full 'bspwm desktop setup' and this has everything I need and more. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598876441 Share on other sites More sharing options...
FateTrap Posted January 19, 2024 Share Posted January 19, 2024 This is the RAM usage of OpenBSD when the system runs more than four hours. (you can find it in the neofetch output) Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598876445 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Global Moderator Posted January 19, 2024 Global Moderator Share Posted January 19, 2024 FateTrap, RAM usage does not matter. That's likely at idle, not running a few applications. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598876462 Share on other sites More sharing options...
FateTrap Posted January 27, 2024 Share Posted January 27, 2024 On 19/01/2024 at 13:56, Mindovermaster said: FateTrap, RAM usage does not matter. That's likely at idle, not running a few applications. Expand The OP says his hardware has 0.768 GB RAM windows7 uses too much RAM in this case. And I have read that windows11 consumes >3000 MB RAM without any apps opened in many cases. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598878319 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Global Moderator Posted January 27, 2024 Global Moderator Share Posted January 27, 2024 On 27/01/2024 at 09:42, FateTrap said: The OP says his hardware has 0.768 GB RAM windows7 uses too much RAM in this case. And I have read that windows11 consumes >3000 MB RAM without any apps opened in many cases. Expand And your point is? Running an OS with nearly nothing running, yeah, it uses 500MB. but when you add on a browser, that number will skyrocket. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598878321 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim K Global Moderator Posted January 27, 2024 Global Moderator Share Posted January 27, 2024 On 26/12/2023 at 08:17, dmt said: Hi! I've found an old family member on a shelve, P4 with .768 GB RAM What distro I can install into this fellow? No special requirements, browsing internet would be enough Expand Recycle it...assuming you have other computer(s). Regardless of what OS you use...you're not going to have a good time browsing the internet with it. Mindovermaster 1 Share Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1436844-distro-for-p4/#findComment-598878325 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now