# Linux distro for Pentium 4



## Red_Machine (Jan 22, 2016)

I have an old Compaq P4 doing nothing and I thought about putting Linux on it to play around with.  Can somsone recommend me a good distro for these specs?

2.4GHz Pentium 4
2GB RAM
Intel Extreme Graphics
160GB HDD


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## Hillbilly (Jan 22, 2016)

I recommend lubuntu. http://lubuntu.net/


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## alucasa (Jan 22, 2016)

I will always recommend Fedora. 

https://getfedora.org/


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## Devon68 (Jan 22, 2016)

I cant really recommend anything but linux mint since that's the only one I used for a bit.


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## Frick (Jan 22, 2016)

Slitaz.


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## Kursah (Jan 23, 2016)

I'd say try em all. I was super impressed how well Ubuntu 15 ran on an old low grade Core2 lappy I setup as a temporary OpenVPN server this summer. I tried Debian, Lubuntu and Xubuntu on that lappy...an old Toshiba...and Ubuuntu worked out of the chute better and also made CLI setting up OpenVPN easier.

Fedora and Lubuntu are good options tho. You can always do some live CDs or just install each and see which works best for you...that's the best way to find out.


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## Blue-Knight (Jan 23, 2016)

LinuxMint XFCE or MATE might do the job. But I'd rather choose Debian 8 with XFCE or Gnome, or Xubuntu.


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## Aquinus (Jan 23, 2016)

Lubuntu or Xubuntu are probably pretty good options out of the box. Debian might take a little more work to get it where you want it (in my opinion.)

A lot of people seem to like Mint but, I personally haven't used it.

I tend to stay away from Fedora based distros, mainly because I don't like yum, the package manager in Fedora based systems. I personally like apt.


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## Liquid Cool (Jan 23, 2016)

Xubuntu is probably the first version I'd try...if it doesn't run well, then I'd step down to Lubuntu.  That's what I usually do with P4's.  Blue-Knight mentioned  Linux XFCE, I forgot about this distro...I think it's new from Mint.  My personal favorite is MATE.  Whether MATE is ubuntu or mint....I personally don't care.  I'm with Aquinus...as long as it has apt, I feel at home.

Good luck....,

Liquid Cool

P.S.  As a side note.....Ubuntu MATE has been steadily climbing the charts at Distrowatch since its inception.  It just surpassed Elementary OS last week...I was kind of surprised to see that.


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## micropage7 (Jan 23, 2016)

what about damn small linux
www.damnsmalllinux.org


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## Red_Machine (Jan 23, 2016)

Everything I've tried so far has had a problem.  First one wouldn't update, Debian wouldn't log in, Xubuntu only updated to a certain point and then refused to install the latest version of the OS, Ubuntu was slow as hell.  Now I'm burning Lubuntu to a DVD and will try that.


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## GoldenX (Jan 23, 2016)

What version did you download?
Ubuntu will be slow because of the InteLgrated, to me the best option in your PC is any distro running XFCE or LXDE, so little to no desktop hardware acceleration.
Xubuntu 15.10, Fedora 23 XFCE or if you dare to, Archlinux running XFCE are my recommendations, all x64, 2GB is more than enought for that on Linux.


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## Frick (Jan 23, 2016)

Kursah said:


> I'd say try em all. I was super impressed how well Ubuntu 15 ran on an old low grade Core2 lappy I setup as a temporary OpenVPN server this summer. I tried Debian, Lubuntu and Xubuntu on that lappy...an old Toshiba...and Ubuuntu worked out of the chute better and also made CLI setting up OpenVPN easier.
> 
> Fedora and Lubuntu are good options tho. You can always do some live CDs or just install each and see which works best for you...that's the best way to find out.



There's a big difference between P4 and Core 2. It will need a frugal distro.


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## Red_Machine (Jan 23, 2016)

GoldenX said:


> What version did you download?
> Ubuntu will be slow because of the InteLgrated, to me the best option in your PC is any distro running XFCE or LXDE, so little to no desktop hardware acceleration.
> Xubuntu 15.10, Fedora 23 XFCE or if you dare to, Archlinux running XFCE are my recommendations, all x64, 2GB is more than enought for that on Linux.


This Pentium 4 doesn't have EM64T, so I'm limited to i386 distros.


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## Aquinus (Jan 23, 2016)

If the latest version of any Ubuntu distro doesn't work, give 14.04 LTS a try instead. It's entire possible support for some older devices could have been removed if the OP is having issues with it running stably.


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## GoldenX (Jan 23, 2016)

I think the only remomed drivers from the kernel are for old VIA IGPs.
I've been using Lubuntu on a Pentium 4 notebook with 512mb for some good 5 years, it's still running 15.04. Didn't have time to upgrade it.


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## Red_Machine (Jan 23, 2016)

I think anything based on modern Ubuntu would be a problem.  I got Lubuntu up and running, and the updates work, but the Intel driver (which specifically mentions support for the 845 series chipset) doesn't seem to work, it just uses a generic video driver.


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## GoldenX (Jan 23, 2016)

Mmm, that can be the usual Canonical hand at work.
Try Fedora 23 XFCE or LXDE, but if I had the time I would use Archlinux, install X11, the mesa intel driver, ALSA, XFCE and done, barely over 150MB of RAM used.


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## Aquinus (Jan 23, 2016)

Red_Machine said:


> I think anything based on modern Ubuntu would be a problem.  I got Lubuntu up and running, and the updates work, but the Intel driver (which specifically mentions support for the 845 series chipset) doesn't seem to work, it just uses a generic video driver.


Try installing this package: xserver-xorg-video-intel

```
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel
```


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## Red_Machine (Jan 23, 2016)

Says it's already installed.  Perhaps an older distro might be a better choice?


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## uuuaaaaaa (Jan 23, 2016)

I have found XUbuntu to be the best compromise!


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## Aquinus (Jan 23, 2016)

Red_Machine said:


> Says it's already installed.  Perhaps an older distro might be a better choice?


Maybe but, it still might not give you what you think you're getting. Give the steps on the first answer of this article a try:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/500911/ubuntu-14-04-not-recognizing-installed-intel-graphics-driver


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## Red_Machine (Jan 23, 2016)

No good, that guy has a MUCH newer system and the instructions provided give links to old driver versions that are a) 64bit, and b) maybe not even available anymore.


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## GoldenX (Jan 23, 2016)

The driver is included in the kernel, the problem is that Ubuntu (both Unity and Gnome 3) uses the CPU generic driver if it doesn't detect a capable GPU (and you can see how good is a Pentium 4 at that, plus i686 instead of amd64). Install Xubuntu or any distro with XFCE and everything will work, OpenGL 1.X included.


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## Devon68 (Jan 23, 2016)

I installed windows 7 32 bit on my old system and it works pretty well.


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## GoldenX (Jan 23, 2016)

Devon68 said:


> I installed windows 7 32 bit on my old system and it works pretty well.



There is no driver for Windows 7 o Vista for that GPU, you are limited to XP unless you get something AGP, like a Geforce 6200 or one of those awesome HD4650AGP.


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## Red_Machine (Jan 23, 2016)

GoldenX said:


> The driver is included in the kernel, the problem is that Ubuntu (both Unity and Gnome 3) uses the CPU generic driver if it doesn't detect a capable GPU (and you can see how good is a Pentium 4 at that, plus i686 instead of amd64). Install Xubuntu or any distro with XFCE and everything will work, OpenGL 1.X included.


I already said that I tried Xubuntu and it wouldn't update properly.  I don't want something that uses generic drivers, I'd rather use something older if it meant I had proper hardware acceleration.


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## SnakeDoctor (Jan 23, 2016)

PF Sense


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## Red_Machine (Jan 23, 2016)

I want a functional operating system, not a hardware firewall.  Thanks, though.


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## GoldenX (Jan 23, 2016)

And I asked you what version you downloaded, the only *ubuntu versions that don't update are the usuported older ones, like 13.04.
If you try Xubuntu 15.10 or 14.04 you won't have any problems.
To clarify, 14.04 is a Long Term Support release, something like a normal Windows 10 install, only safe updates are included. The next LTS is 16.04, they release them every 2 years and have 5 years of support.
15.10 is the latest version with newer kernel, packages, etc, something like Insider slow ring in Windows 10 (except that is not a beta), they are released every 6 months so the next one is 16.10 (skiping 16.04 that is an LTS release), and have 2 years of support.

So anything older than 14.04 is in EOL status, and requires legacy repositories to stay up to date, the stock config no longer works for them.

There is only one Intel driver in Linux, the free (open source) one included in the kernel, Intel doesn't make a privative (closed source) one like AMD or Nvidia does, they include it in the kernel and it just works.


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## m0nt3 (Jan 23, 2016)

crunchbang++


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## alucasa (Jan 23, 2016)

I sometimes forget how old P4 really is ...

Perhaps, it is time to dig a grave for the rig. The power consumption and lack of computing power coupled with lack of driver support would be enough for me to have done so.


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## Red_Machine (Jan 23, 2016)

GoldenX said:


> And I asked you what version you downloaded, the only *ubuntu versions that don't update are the usuported older ones, like 13.04.
> If you try Xubuntu 15.10 or 14.04 you won't have any problems.


It was downloaded from the download page of the Xubuntu site, so I'm assuming it was up-to-date.


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## GoldenX (Jan 23, 2016)

If one of those is failing to update, then your local servers are down or in maintenance. In Software Updates you can change the server to the global one. I always do that because the ones from Argentina are usualy down.

You should check Fedora, is as easy to install and normaly is a more robust OS than the ubuntus.


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## alucasa (Jan 23, 2016)

Try this link for older Fedora versions.

https://archive.fedoraproject.org/pub/archive/fedora/linux/releases/

Try something like Fedora 7


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## GoldenX (Jan 23, 2016)

Man you don't need an old distro to use the Intel 865 driver...


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## alucasa (Jan 23, 2016)

True. Just giving him options to try since nothing seems to be working for him.


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## hellrazor (Jan 24, 2016)

Anybody who doesn't say Puppy is out of their fucking mind.


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## GoldenX (Jan 24, 2016)

Puppy for a 2GB pc? I install Windows x64 on 2GB PCs.


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## Red_Machine (Jan 24, 2016)

This is what happens when I boot Puppy from the live CD:


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## GoldenX (Jan 24, 2016)

I'm starting to suspect that IGP is in bad condition.


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## Red_Machine (Jan 24, 2016)

It's not.  It works fine in everything else, I can even play a few 3D games on it in XP.


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## GoldenX (Jan 24, 2016)

Interesting bug then.
I've found a 865g motherboard in the old bin, let me try some livecds on it.


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## Red_Machine (Jan 24, 2016)

The 865 has a different iGPU, so I don't think you'll be able to replicate my problems.


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## GoldenX (Jan 24, 2016)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_graphics_processing_unitsunits

Looks like the only difference is performance, worth to try.


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## Red_Machine (Jan 24, 2016)

I found an article from 2012 that said Intel had finally written a stable driver that provided hardware acceleration for the i830 and i845 chipsets, but it seems like that driver isn't included in distros right now, because none of the ones I've installed have used a proper driver, it's always been the generic VGA driver.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTI1MzI


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## GoldenX (Jan 24, 2016)

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=206361
Looks like archlinux uses it, it has horrible but usable opengl performance.
Look at the glxinfo quote.


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## Red_Machine (Jan 24, 2016)

I just tried to manually configure the Intel driver on Xubuntu and bricked the OS.  Fucking hell, it shouldn't be this hard to get a damn graphics driver working.


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## GoldenX (Jan 24, 2016)

Same thing happens if you force the xp driver on 7. It's just a crappy igp.


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## Red_Machine (Jan 24, 2016)

Actually, it doesn't.  I have installed XP drivers on Vista and 7 many times, and even been able to play games on them.  And besides, this iGPU was supported by Intel in their Linux driver up to at least 2012, so the driver isn't THAT old.


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## GoldenX (Jan 24, 2016)

You're right, I'm getting confused with an old ATI 9000 IGP.
Well it's an Ubuntu problem, they probably don't compile that driver patch in the stack.
Did you try the oibaf ppa? It install the latest mesa drivers.


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## Red_Machine (Jan 24, 2016)

I googled for ways to manually install the driver, and got a step-by-step guide that included adding a new repository, so I assume so.


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## pm5k00 (Sep 14, 2016)

I have Xubuntu 16.04.1 running on a Dell Inspirion 1150, 2.8GHz mobileP4 with 1.25GB of DDR1 and it runs great. I will be upgrading to 2GB of memory in a few days to push this old laptop a little farther.

I tried windows 7 SP1 (32bit) on it and it ran good until I installed a antivirus ( *avira - which is supposed to be very lightweight) *and then it ran at a snails pace. 

So now it only runs Xubuntu. XFCE is awesome and full featured, I highly recommend above LXDE, unless you PC is even older or with 512MB of ram or Less.

I have also ran Bunsen Labs Linux ( which is a continuation of CrunchBang, based on Debian) this is also great for older PCs.

Fedora 23/24 with XFCE or LXDE works well also..... If you feel adventuress  check out Linux BBQ there are more windows managers than you can count, that kept me busy for days.

And a few I haven't personally tried  these, but think they are work checking out.... Peppermint OS, Damn Small Linux,  Porteus (based on slackware), ARch w/ LXDE or XFCE,  Bohdi Linux.


My main Laptop Is an Lenovo Thinkpad x200 ( Core2duo p8600 2.4GHz and 4GB DDR3) I run Xubuntu 16.04.1 with Windows 10 in a dual boot.
I aslo have run Fedora 24 w/ XFCE and Solus Linux on here, both worked great.


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