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Trihexagonal5
join:2004-08-29
US

1 edit

Trihexagonal5 to patcat88

Member

to patcat88

Re: Windows XP: Remove the Cable, Tape Up the Ethernet Port

said by patcat88:

Linux isn't an OS either, its a unusable kernel. Try typing a command to run without a 3rd party shell app.

I know Linux is not an OS, but BSD is, and Linux is generally referred to as an OS. You may find it unusable but, again, that's just your opinion.

I build FreeBSD from scratch and it's up to me what programs I install, including Xorg, without which it only requires a PII and 64MB RAM to run. With X it needs 256MB RAM.
quote:
2.2.1.1 FreeBSD/i386

FreeBSD/i386 requires a 486 or better processor and at least 64 MB of RAM. At least 1.1 GB of free hard drive space is needed for the most minimal installation.

»www.freebsd.org/doc/en/b ··· are.html

I've ran it on a 1.2GHz Celeron with 256MB RAM, an Intel i945 graphics chip, and 20GB HD.
intok (banned)
join:2012-03-15

intok (banned)

Member

I had Puppy Linux installed on a 486SX 33Mhz with only 16Mb of ram. It ran fine.

Trihexagonal5
join:2004-08-29
US

Trihexagonal5

Member

Wary Puppy is specifically meant to be run on old hardware. I ran 5.2.2 on that laptop from time to time booting from a USB stick and burned my own custom Live DVD of it once I got it set up.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88 to intok

Member

to intok
said by intok:

I had Puppy Linux installed on a 486SX 33Mhz with only 16Mb of ram. It ran fine.

It is much better than Ubuntu, but still slower GUI response times than Win XP classic mode.

Trihexagonal5
join:2004-08-29
US

1 recommendation

Trihexagonal5

Member

said by patcat88:

said by intok:

I had Puppy Linux installed on a 486SX 33Mhz with only 16Mb of ram. It ran fine.

It is much better than Ubuntu, but still slower GUI response times than Win XP classic mode.

If thats the case, then XP should run on a box with a 486SX and 16MB RAM.

I was running XP on the laptop with the specs I quoted before I switched over to using FreeBSD and Puppy on it and it did not run XP faster or I would have switched back.

Your claim that the Linux kernel is "unusable" only speaks to your own inability to set up a *NIX box in a configuration that will conserve resources, not the shortcomings of Linux.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

1 edit

patcat88

Member

said by Trihexagonal5:

Your claim that the Linux kernel is "unusable" only speaks to your own inability to set up a *NIX box in a configuration that will conserve resources, not the shortcomings of Linux.

Are you claiming to embed a window manager as a kernel driver?

Linux is not an OS. It is a kernel. Linux is unusable without 100s or 1000s of other apps, none of which are directed or written by Mr Torvalds, but many of them that make up the "Linux GUI" are much more resource intensive than their Win XP counterparts. XWindows and the WMs/TKs are least efficient designs possible. QT launches new OS threads for all IO, GTK uses poll timers for all events. *facepalm* A Linux based OS using ulibc that fits into 4 MB of flash, isn't a usable desktop for anyone, but will run very fast on a 486.
intok (banned)
join:2012-03-15

1 recommendation

intok (banned)

Member

I can get a fully working GUI desktop and modern web browser on that 486. Try the same wit the current NT kernel.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88

Member

said by intok:

I can get a fully working GUI desktop and modern web browser on that 486.

You didn't mention how many hours it will take to render a single html page. Then again, are you claiming to use Lynx?
BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13

BlitzenZeus

Premium Member

On a current browser like Chromium/Chrome, or Firefox they wouldn't perform well except for basic pages. A computer with an old single core celeron can barely, if not at all handle interactive flash, and videos at large resolutions. A 486 would be painful. My father still uses a later single core with xp, and chrome is a bit slow on that system, along with everything else, especially since current browsers still use quite a bit of resources. No hd videos for that system either.

StuartMW
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06

StuartMW

Premium Member

/sigh

I remember when a PC with a 486DX-33, 4MB of RAM and a HD with a 1200KB/sec transfer rate was cutting edge.

neochu
join:2008-12-12
Windsor, ON

1 edit

neochu to BlitzenZeus

Member

to BlitzenZeus
said by BlitzenZeus:

On a current browser like Chromium/Chrome, or Firefox they wouldn't perform well except for basic pages. A computer with an old single core celeron can barely, if not at all handle interactive flash, and videos at large resolutions. A 486 would be painful. My father still uses a later single core with xp, and chrome is a bit slow on that system, along with everything else, especially since current browsers still use quite a bit of resources. No hd videos for that system either.

I'm using a 2.6Ghz Prescott (not much further along on the discussion) and I have no trouble rendering 1080p flash video :P (2 GB ram and WinXP Pro w the newest version of firefox and 45 extensions.)

I don't have the $$$ to finish my somewhat new box "Koios" right now(due to issues that are off-topic to the discussion) -- so this old lady will have to hold out for a while yet.
BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13

BlitzenZeus

Premium Member

I know for a fact even older dual core processors faster than the last single cores, excluding some xeon processors, couldn't process hd video on the cpu without gpu acceleration, and most of those system have a really old onboard gpu now.

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

1 edit

NetFixer to StuartMW

Premium Member

to StuartMW
said by StuartMW:

/sigh

I remember when a PC with a 486DX-33, 4MB of RAM and a HD with a 1200KB/sec transfer rate was cutting edge.

I didn't know that you were such a young whippersnapper.

How about a 4mhz Z80, 64KB of RAM, and a couple of double-sided high density 8" floppy drives? When I later added an 8" 8MB HDD and a 128MB ramdisk, that system was really all the processing power I thought I would ever need.



Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by NetFixer:

....How about a 4mhz Z80, 64KB of RAM, and a couple of double-sided high density 8" floppy drives? When I later added an 8" 8MB HDD and a 128MB ramdisk, that system was really all the processing power I thought I would ever need.

 
High Density 8" ?

LUXURY !

StuartMW
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06

3 edits

StuartMW to NetFixer

Premium Member

to NetFixer
Click for full size
SC/MP kit
said by NetFixer:

I didn't know that you were such a young whippersnapper

I'm not. I was picking up on the 486 discussion.

My first computer was soldered together by me. It had 256 bytes of RAM, 512 bytes of ROM and had a 1MHz 8-bit CPU.

I later added, myself, 1KB of RAM (bought and wired the chips in myself). After that I bought/built a cassette tape interface to store programs on.

FYI no keyboard. Programs were entered by switches.

The pic above is not the original but a clone that I built from stuff I bought from eBay in 2003. The clone has an RS-232 interface (110 baud) but only 256 bytes of RAM and no cassette interface.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

antdude to NetFixer

Premium Member

to NetFixer
said by NetFixer:

said by StuartMW:

/sigh

I remember when a PC with a 486DX-33, 4MB of RAM and a HD with a 1200KB/sec transfer rate was cutting edge.

I didn't know that you were such a young whippersnapper.

How about a 4mhz Z80, 64KB of RAM, and a couple of double-sided high density 8" floppy drives? When I later added an 8" 8MB HDD and a 128MB ramdisk, that system was really all the processing power I thought I would ever need.

Here's my computer history: »zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/ ··· oys.html :P

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

NetFixer to StuartMW

Premium Member

to StuartMW
said by StuartMW:

said by NetFixer:

I didn't know that you were such a young whippersnapper

I'm not. I was picking up on the 486 discussion.

My first computer was soldered together by me. It had 256 bytes of RAM, 512 bytes of ROM and had a 1MHz 8-bit CPU.

I later added, myself, 1KB of RAM (bought and wired the chips in myself). After that I bought/built a cassette tape interface to store programs on.

FYI no keyboard. Programs were entered by switches.

The pic above is not the original but a clone that I built from stuff I bought from eBay in 2003. The clone has an RS-232 interface (110 baud) but only 256 bytes of RAM and no cassette interface.

I just chose a commercial product for my previous post because it was something that anyone could have purchased (although not with my custom BIOS and expansion interface), and I thought that some might even recognize it.

My first computer was designed by me and built on a breadboard. I wrote the BIOS and the Tape Operating System that it used. It was installed in a metal test instrument case similar to the one shown below...I don't think I ever got around to taking a photo of the actual computer.




It had an 8085 with 64KB of RAM for its main CPU, an 8070 with 32KB of RAM for an I/O processor, a serial port for interfacing with an ASR33 teletype (that served as both a console and a paper tape I/O device...and it was later replaced by a dumb ASCII CRT terminal), another serial port for a 1200 baud USR modem, a parallel port for a dot matrix printer (because the ASR33 was slow and only printed capital letters), and a dual cassette tape interface. It also had a built-in eprom burner.

StuartMW
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06

2 edits

StuartMW

Premium Member

My (original) one was also in a "metal test instrument case" but had no top (the guts stuck up too far for one to fit). I don't have any photo's nor can I find an image online.

The 8085 came out 2-3 years after the National Semiconductor SC/MP I had (which was out in 1975-1976 I think).

Your setup had way more goodies than mine

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

NetFixer

Premium Member

said by StuartMW:

My (original) one was also in a "metal test instrument case" but had no top (the guts stuck up too far for one to fit).

The 8085 came out 2-3 years after the National Semiconductor SC/MP I had (which was out in 1975-1976 I think).

Your setup had way more goodies than mine

My first home built computer was in the late 70's (I don't remember the exact year) and the 8085 had just become available for single device purchases (prior to that you had to buy them by the truckload).

I guess mine had more goodies because I was imitating the mainframe and mini computers that I worked with; although some of them also used front panel switches for control like your SC/MP box (such as the one shown below where Ernestine loses Peoria in the Lily Tomlin "We Don't Care" skit). The computer in the skit was a "third generation" small mainframe which was just beginning to use integrated circuits (although some of the circuitry was still discrete transistor-diode logic)

»www.hulu.com/watch/4163




That association with mainframe and mini computers is how I came to have a discarded flood damaged ASR33 (that I refurbished) to use as my initial console device (that would not have been my first choice if it had not been a freebie).

StuartMW
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06

3 edits

StuartMW

Premium Member

said by NetFixer:

The computer in the skit...

quote:
We don't care. We're the phone company.

I see nothing has changed

PS: You'll find pictures and descriptions of a few SC/MP systems online. Some are now famous (e.g. the Sinclair MK14 kit in the UK). Mine was based on the National Semiconductor evaluation board (not the Introkit) as in the pic I posted above. Next to nothing online about that board.

PPS: I have acquired, over the years, via eBay original documentation, parts (unused) and so on. The board in the above pic is such an item and is in working condition almost 40 years after its release.
intok (banned)
join:2012-03-15

intok (banned) to patcat88

Member

to patcat88
said by patcat88:

You didn't mention how many hours it will take to render a single html page. Then again, are you claiming to use Lynx?

It was Firefox 1.5 era at the time, it handled pure HTML pages just fine. Rendering HTML was something hardware of that era was capable of.

All the Javascript, Flash and Silverlight Web 2.0 crap is just that, and it's unnecessary for the content on 99.9999% of sites out there. It only serves to bloat page size and load up the CPU to render something that should be instant even on very old hardware.

Flash was not installed for the fact that it's a useless drag on any system and offers no benefit to anyone but DRM obsessed media companies.
intok

intok (banned) to neochu

Member

to neochu
My 800Mhz G4 w/ PC133 can handle WebM and H.264 videos up to 720p depending on bitrate.
BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13

BlitzenZeus to intok

Premium Member

to intok
There's various online solutions these days, including pre-k education for children, and a celeron processor computer couldn't handle these sites as they use flash and javascript. You should go back to lynx if you're going to think that way, apparently you don't use the web for much anway so you don't care, and that is why you are completely irrelevant, along with your opinion.

Trihexagonal5
join:2004-08-29
US

Trihexagonal5

Member

said by BlitzenZeus:

You should go back to lynx if you're going to think that way, apparently you don't use the web for much anway so you don't care, and that is why you are completely irrelevant, along with your opinion.

What do you mean, go back to lynx?

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

Davesnothere to StuartMW

Premium Member

to StuartMW
said by StuartMW:

....Your setup had way more goodies than mine

 
Hold that thought, and view this :

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· K5kChbRw

StuartMW
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06

StuartMW

Premium Member

They'd be (mostly) Monty Python not The Goodies

BTW I had to walk barefoot uphill through the snow, both ways, to school
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20 to BlitzenZeus

Premium Member

to BlitzenZeus
said by BlitzenZeus:

I know for a fact even older dual core processors faster than the last single cores, excluding some xeon processors, couldn't process hd video on the cpu without gpu acceleration, and most of those system have a really old onboard gpu now.

My seven year old XP Pro machine does just fine with Fx 4 showing youtube videos in HTML5 HD at 720p or 1080i. It has a Pentium 4 processor (the last one from Intel - the extreme) at 3.8Ghz with hyperthreading. GPU acceleration is by default disabled on Fx4.
BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13

BlitzenZeus

Premium Member

Youtube doesn't mean crap, try apple quicktime.
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20

Premium Member

Huh? I haven't allowed that piece of shit on my computers since I got my computer in the late 90's. Utter garbage designed for sheeple (just like all Apple products).
BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13

BlitzenZeus

Premium Member

I knew you would say something like that. I've seen how the more compressed codecs like youtube uses still display a lesser quality of hd video ok on a machine, but when when you played a real hd video in a player like quicktime at 720 it choked on processing that it couldn't maintain the standard cinema fps. They are not the same. Just like playing a blu-ray movie is not the same as watching a youtube video.