On Tue, 6 May 2025, Bret Busby wrote:
On 6/5/25 05:56, Tim Woodall wrote:
On Mon, 5 May 2025, Rafa? Lichwa?a wrote:
Hi,
Is it possible to install Debian on a VERY VERY OLD hardware? 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
The ram is going to be your biggest issue.
Potato will definitely work, and can boot from floppy if you can find one.
What is Potato? Is that about 3.0, or 3.1?
Yes. It's 2.2 from 2000. But I recently needed to build sone very old
software so I installed it (in a vm) and I know it can be booted from
floppy in 32MB. (Note that it uses an older ext format that requires
special options if you want to create the fs on a modern system.
mke2fs -r 0 -O none
I needed to do an install in a VM to work that out, it won't boot if
there are any options set. In a chroot it's easier so long as you aren't
linking things like libext2fs from that era.
Would it still be supported with security patches?
Jessie is still in ELTS for another month or two (which is why I tried
it)
If not, would it not be unsafe to use to connect to the Internet?
The only Debian like supported system that will boot in 32MB is going to
be for embedded systems and even then I suspect 32MB is very low today.
These are the older debian versions with their release dates
# wheezy 7 2016-06-04
# squeeze 6 2012-03-10
# lenny 5 2009-02-14
# etch 4 2007-04-08
# sarge 3.1 2005-06-06
# woody 3.0 2002-07-19 (Has release file on archive.debian.org and uses
pool)
# potato 2.2 2000-08-05 (Has release file on archive.debian.org but
packages in dists)
# slink 2.1 1999-03-09 (Different format)
# hamm 2.0 1998-07-24
# bo 1.3 1997-06-05
# rex 1.2 1996-12-12
# buzz 1.1 1996-06-17
I've been using debian since woody but I cannot remember how much ram I
had. My gut feeling is that lenny or squeeze ought to work but I have no
way to do a quick test.
The only reason I can think to want to boot an ancient system like this
is because of some piece of hardware that is unavailable today or
prohibitively expensive to replace.
Back around the time this system was current I shared an office with a
scientist who used an (at the time) outdated mac to drive a piece of
scientific equipment, no newer versions of the software available for
the hardware.
The IT department forbade the use of the mac, a purchase order for 250K
was entered to replace the obsolete hardware, the IT department
"discovered" that they could find a way to allow the mac to be used :-)
..
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
(UTC+0800)
..............
