Comment by devit
5 years ago
Current Linux kernels support the 486 CPU from 1989, and I think you can reasonably run a current distribution and web browser on a PC from around year 2000, and you probably can't distinguish a 2005-2010 system from a current one using only a browser on common websites.
The actual minimum x86 CPU for modern Linux is a Pentium 2 (1997, source - https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch02s01.en.html).
The practical minimum for a modern distro is probably a Core 2 Duo (2006). You will likely need a lightweight DE on such a system if using it as a desktop.
Some mainstream distros (e.g. Ubuntu) set their requirements higher than that.
That's the minimum CPU for Debian.
The Linux kernel supports the 486 CPU (also used to support the 386, but it was dropped, although it's probably possible to restore it with some work - the 286 can't be easily supported because it lacks 32-bit registers).
> you probably can't distinguish a 2005-2010 system from a current one using only a browser on common websites
If only this were the case. Common websites have become script ridden monstrosities that aggressively consume RAM and CPU. I routinely have 50+ tabs open; even on fairly recent hardware that can easily cause problems depending on which pages they contain.
while agreeing that software got worse, especially websites.
opera did gracefully open 100+ tabs in 2005 on a dualcore with a gig of ram.
the key was and is: disable javascript
Tried booting an old dual Xeon (Nocona, circa 2004) with 5GB of ECC ram a few months ago with several Linux ISO's. None of the kernels would get very far into the loading process before just stopping.
Meanwhile, FreeNAS worked and booted fine on it. Even though it only had 5GB ram. ;)