Miscellaneous > The Lounge
13 year old Craptop
Aloone_Jonez:
That could be the answer, I don't know if trying to get Linux to work on such an old machine is really worth the trouble. I'm considering installing an MS-DOS alternative like FreeDOS, DR-DOS or even FreeDOS32 which even though still in the early stages of development can run some djgpp and Windows console programs.
I'm stuck between these choices which one would you recommend?
By the way this machine doesn't even have a CD-ROM.
mobrien_12:
I've had a LOT of boxes in my days.
Windows 95 will be a boatanchor on a 33 MHz system with 8MB of ram, much less 4 MB.
Even Windows 3.1 will struggle with that RAM if you try to do anything with it (like run Wordperfect or Word).
What will run very fast: DR-DOS. If you want a fast GUI layer, put OpenGEM/FreeGEM on top of it. That's what the OpenGEM and FreeGEM projects are there for.
A linux would be ok, but I think you would need to go with DSL. I don't think you could run really run X-windows with that little RAM, although it would make a very nice command line & SVGA box.
Actually, you seriously might want to consider OS/2, either version 2 or warp 3. With the blue spine editions you could run Windows 3.1 programs. You are still limited by that RAM, but OS/2 is really good with low RAM systems.
WMD:
--- Quote from: mobrien_12 ---
Even Windows 3.1 will struggle with that RAM if you try to do anything with it (like run Wordperfect or Word).
--- End quote ---
I have a 25MHz 386 laptop with 4MB and Windows 3.0, and it runs rather well. I haven't been able to get WordPerfect 6.0 to run (requires 3.1 I think), but the only reason it would be slow is because WP6 sucked like that. I recall my 50MHz 486 with 4MB and WP6, it was indeed slow. WP6 wasn't "fast" until 2 or 3 years after the fact.
Besides, Windows Write is pretty good for a 1990-ish program. ;)
davidnix71:
Is the bus multiplier fixed? You should be able to clock it to 45 MHz without frying anything. 486's didn't even come with heat sinks. But with 4 meg of ram, only dos will run well (Win 3.1 and earlier were just gui's for dos).
mobrien_12:
I had a 33 Mhz 386 laptop with a whopping 8 MB of ram with Win 3.1 on it. It ran word 6.0 ok (I didn't know about Linux then) until I tried to write real papers for school with it... then the memory became a real problem.
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