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How old does your hardware go?
43 comments- TAGS:desktop linux, Linux, old computers
- IT TOPICS:Desktops & Servers, Hardware, Linux, Operating Systems, Software
Over the years, more than a 1,000 computers have made their way through my office and lab. They've included a $25,000 PC, Gateway's very first 486; several SPARCstations; an IBM AS/400 mini-computer; and a NeXTStation Turbo Color, which I wish I still had. Most of them only stayed long enough for me to review them for magazines like Computer Shopper, Byte, or PC Magazine. I've also owned close to a 100 computers, and some of those have stuck around.
I just completed an epic office and lab clean-up. During it I got rid of 386s, 486s, and old Pentium PCs, but kept a 4MHz Z80 KayPro II from 1982. I kept that one because it was my first PC, and I actually still use it to this day as a terminal for switches and the like. This led me to the question: "What's the oldest PC that you're still using?"
Thanks to Linux, you can now keep old computers running long after their original operating systems have kicked the bucket. For example, I was running Linux on 386s back in 1993.
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Today, most modern Linux distributions are optimized for 32-bit Pentium processors and 64-bit CPUs. There are, however, still versions of Linux that can get useful work out of PCs that first ran Windows 95 and 98. I talked about those in an earlier story, entitled, How slow can Linux go?.
I think it's worth noting though that I wasn't talking about finding old distributions for old PCs. These minimal hardware distributions, like Damn Small Linux and Absolute Linux, are being kept up to date and are being actively developed. In other words, you can have a 2009 Linux desktop experience on a 1999 PC.
You can also run Linux on PowerPC-vintage Macs. Yellow Dog Linux, which is a Red Hat Linux spin-off, is probably the best Linux for giving your Blue and White Power Mac G3 or later a new life as a Linux desktop. You can also run Linux on 68K Macs, but here you really need to know what you're doing since there's little support for these processors. Your best shot at running Linux on an early Mac, Atari, or Amiga is to use the Debian port.
Of course, you don't have to run Linux to get useful work out of your old PC. I'm still using CP/M-80 on my KayPro. I do find it amazing though just how much you can get out of ancient hardware though with Linux.
The last of my 386s was still doing useful work with MEPIS Linux as a firewall. I just really needed the room so it's now safe-guarding a local elementary school's network.
That said, what's the oldest PC you're still running for useful work? With a Linux brain-transplant? Let me know. I'm quite curious.
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