On 5/5/25 13:01, Rafał Lichwała wrote:
Hi,

Is it possible to install Debian on a VERY VERY OLD hardware?


That depends upon the hardware, upon the system administrator knowledge and skill, and upon what technical resources are available.


If so, what "image" should I use?

Hardware spec:

CPU: Intel Celeron 400MHz
RAM: 32MB
HDD: 6GB
BIOS year: 1998
CD-ROM, FDD 1,4MB, RS-232, 1x USB 2.0

Regards,
Rafal


It looks like the answer is "No":

https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch02s05.en.html

"You must have at least 485MB of memory and 1160MB of hard disk space to perform a normal installation. Note that these are fairly minimal numbers. For more realistic figures, see Section 3.4, “Meeting Minimum Hardware Requirements”."


Similarly, "No" for FreeBSD:

https://docs-archive.freebsd.org/doc/13.0-RELEASE/usr/local/share/doc/freebsd/en/books/handbook/bsdinstall-hardware.html

"A FreeBSD installation requires a minimum of 96 MB of RAM and 1.5 GB of free hard drive space. However, such small amounts of memory and disk space are really only suitable for custom applications like embedded appliances. General-purpose desktop systems need more resources. 2-4 GB RAM and at least 8 GB hard drive space is a good starting point."


NetBSD is a possibility:

https://www.netbsd.org/ports/i386/hardware.html

"The minimal configuration for a NetBSD/i386 system requires at least 32M of RAM and 512M of disk space. Smaller configurations are possible, but require e.g. custom kernel configurations."


I would say "max out the RAM", but I am loath to "throwing good money after bad". Also, understand that electronics do not age well. Electrolytic capacitors are the most obvious example. Failure can include catching on fire (!). I would recycle that computer, rather than burn my house down.


David

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