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Re: Query

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On 2/7/2022 4:36 PM, Greg Wooledge wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 07, 2022 at 04:31:51PM -0500, Chuck Zmudzinski wrote:
>> On 2/7/2022 10:50 AM, William Lee Valentine wrote:
>>> I am wondering whether a current Debian distribution can be installed
>>> and run on an older Pentium III computer. (I have Debian 11.2 on a DVD.)
>>>
>>> The computer is
>>>
>>>     Dell Dimension XPS T500: Intel Pentium III processor (Katnai)
>>>     memory: 756 megabytes, running at 500 megahertz
>>>     IDE disc drive: 60 gigabytes
>>>     Debian partition: currently 42 gigabytes
>>>     Debian 6.0: Squeeze
>> Based on what others are saying, it looks like a typical modern Debian
>> desktop environment such as Gnome or Plasma KDE will not work well with such
>> an old system. I suggest you look for a Distro that is tailored for old
>> hardware.
> Bah, silly.  Just use a traditional window manager instead of a bloated
> Desktop Environment.  Problem solved.

Which windows manager for an extremely resource-limited system? Debian's 
wiki page on window managers lists more than 30 possibilities. Its not 
silly to take a look at a distro based on Debian that is tailored for 
low resources as a starting point to try and build a Debian 11.2 system 
that will work OK on a Pentium III with less than 1 GB of memory. Debian 
provides so many packages, and such distros like antiX can give one an 
idea about which packages to use when trying to build a Debian 11.2 
system that will work well on an older system with such a small amount 
of memory and such an old CPU.

>
> But the *real* problem will come when they try to run a web browser.  That's
> where the truly massive memory demand is.
>
> 756 MB is plenty of RAM for daily use of everything except a web browser.
>

Yes, it will be important to try to find a web browser that is the least 
bloated as possible. Again, looking at the browser choices of distros 
tailored for old hardware can help build a Debian 11.2 system that will 
work well on old hardware.

In any case, it will need to be a carefully crafted selection of Debian 
11.2 packages to have a decent experience, and most definitely start 
with a small netinst installation with only the text console to start, 
and then build the GUI environment carefully from the ground up.

Again, good luck to the OP in trying out Debian 11.2 on his system.

Chuck

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Query William Lee Valentine <vsc@lobo.net> - 2022-02-07 17:20 +0100
  Re: Query Bijan Soleymani <bijan@psq.com> - 2022-02-07 17:30 +0100
  Re: Query Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2022-02-07 17:40 +0100
    Re: Query gene heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2022-02-07 22:40 +0100
      Re: Query Tixy <tixy@yxit.co.uk> - 2022-02-08 08:40 +0100
  Re: Query "Andrew M.A. Cater" <amacater@einval.com> - 2022-02-07 18:40 +0100
  Re: Query Patrick Bartek <nemommxiv@gmail.com> - 2022-02-07 21:20 +0100
  Re: Query Chuck Zmudzinski <brchuckz@netscape.net> - 2022-02-07 22:40 +0100
    Re: Query Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2022-02-07 22:40 +0100
      Re: Query Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2022-02-07 23:10 +0100
      Re: Query Chuck Zmudzinski <brchuckz@netscape.net> - 2022-02-08 00:10 +0100
        Re: Query Linux-Fan <Ma_Sys.ma@web.de> - 2022-02-08 21:50 +0100
        Re: Query David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2022-02-08 22:00 +0100
      Re: Query Tim Woodall <debianuser@woodall.me.uk> - 2022-02-08 08:50 +0100

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