[HN Gopher] PsychOS Linux - 32-bit distro for older computers
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       PsychOS Linux - 32-bit distro for older computers
        
       Author : indigodaddy
       Score  : 37 points
       Date   : 2022-10-30 20:31 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (psychoslinux.gitlab.io)
 (TXT) w3m dump (psychoslinux.gitlab.io)
        
       | bombcar wrote:
       | There's some argument for using a 32-bit distro on systems with
       | 4GB of RAM or less - https://www.sevarg.net/2021/12/18/raspberry-
       | pi-32-bit-vs-64-...
       | 
       | (It's not likely worth it for most cases, but in theory half-size
       | pointers can help.)
        
       | bombcar wrote:
       | Gentoo still builds i486 versions:
       | https://www.gentoo.org/downloads/
       | 
       | Get going! By the time X finishes compiling we'll probably be at
       | 128 bit.
        
       | xbar wrote:
       | Black Ray-Bans, drop top Porsche, and a Maxell Metal Cassette
       | playing PsychOS trailer music.
       | 
       | It's a good Sunday.
        
       | 29athrowaway wrote:
       | Try Damn Small Linux
        
         | LAC-Tech wrote:
         | Abandoned, but one of the guys behind it went on to make Tiny
         | Core linux.
         | 
         | I have very fond memories of being a broke student with crappy
         | computers, booting stuff like DSL, slitaz and puppy.
        
         | mike_hock wrote:
         | That's been abandoned, right?
         | 
         | The last "News Milestone" is May 3, 2004, and I can't find any
         | other timestamps or dates on the website.
         | 
         | It'd be OK for a project like that to have old, frozen software
         | versions as long as it receives security updates, but the
         | website makes it damn near impossible to assess whether any
         | maintenance is taking place at all.
        
           | 29athrowaway wrote:
           | I see. It shines on old hardware.
        
           | anthk wrote:
           | Delicate Linux would be preferable. Or better, just plain
           | NetBSD.
        
           | Elv13 wrote:
           | To be fair, "old hardware" is kind of frozen in time by
           | definition. DSL is what it is. If you want to play with
           | hardware with 32mb of ram, it does what it does. It isn't
           | really an OS you want to "use" or "expand upon". I would not
           | suggest to connect it to the Internet or expect any kind of
           | updates, security or otherwise.
           | 
           | The main case for it at this point is retro computing. Most
           | retro computing enthusiasts run era correct OS (MacOS7-9, Mac
           | OS X, Win9x, DOS, AIX/IRIX/SunOS/HPUX, BeOS, Amiga 3x, etc).
           | Those are not getting security updates either.
           | 
           | I put it in the same category as Haiku, Visopsys, AROS and
           | ReactOS, fun toy for older computers. Not very relevant as
           | day-to-day. I still have and expand a collection of live CDs
           | for the P3/PR era laptop. Again, those don't get security
           | updates, but are fun to explore.
           | 
           | Personally, I am more into Linux window managers (and
           | AwesomeWM maintainer) to recreate the interesting concepts
           | from those OS rather than rice 90s silicon. However I really
           | enjoyed using a Pentium1 laptop full time for a few months in
           | university in the late 00's just to prove a point. But for
           | that I compiled my own OS rather than use a distro. If you
           | want to get the most out of these machine, that's the way.
        
       | jacob019 wrote:
       | I like bunsenlabs on old hardware. It's Debian based with
       | openbox, some bits from xfce, and some custom config utilities.
       | It's a continuation of Crunchbang Linux which was discontinued.
       | Openbox is very nice and light, but the default configuration on
       | Debian is not really usable. Xfce or Mate on Debian can be good
       | choices as well.
        
       | BMc2020 wrote:
       | Raspbian on an old dell laptop. Chrome with a reload page
       | extension updates the weather every hour.
        
         | yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
         | > Raspbian on an old dell laptop.
         | 
         | ? Raspbian is for ARM, what are you talking about?
        
           | jcelerier wrote:
           | there's an x86 version specially for old computers:
           | https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/raspberry-pi-desktop/
        
             | yjftsjthsd-h wrote:
             | Well, you learn something every day! That's fascinating;
             | I'll have to take a look. Thanks:)
        
       | prosaic-hacker wrote:
       | I like small retro hw supporting distros. Puppy Fossa is running
       | on several of my machines.
       | 
       | I don't like the background on web page enough that I got off of
       | it before downloading the distro. Please give me an option to
       | visually assaulted.
        
         | mike_hock wrote:
         | _Visually_ assaulted? That shit is still  "transferring data"
         | and pegging a core at 100%.
        
         | xenonite wrote:
         | Ironically, the background animation stutters even on fast
         | hardware.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2022-10-30 23:00 UTC)