3 ms·

How far back could one start and still do a practical upgrade path on commodity hardware?

• lmm 4y ago
  The article says "chiark’s OS install dates to 1993, when I installed Debian 0.93R5, the first version of Debian to advertise the ability to be upgraded without reinstalling." So that's probably the starting point.
• jeroenhd 4y ago
  On the Intel side, Debian will not run on anything without the i686 instruction set. In theory this should include the Pentium II Pro and up. You can try it for yourself without the hardware, grab https://pcem-emulator.co.uk/index.html https://pcem-emulator.co.uk/index.html, set it up for a Pentium II with contemporary hardware and see if it works. It'll be slow as molasses but it should boot!
  • rahimnathwani 4y ago
    It seems like Debian Bullseye is available for the i386 architecture (i.e. Intel 486 and above): https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/i386/iso-cd/ https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/i386/iso-cd/
    • jeroenhd 4y ago
      It's listed as i386, but current Debian actually requires a more recent instruction set: > 2.1.2.1. CPU >Nearly all x86-based (IA-32) processors still in use in personal computers are supported. This also includes 32-bit AMD and VIA (former Cyrix) processors, and processors like the Athlon XP and Intel P4 Xeon. >However, Debian GNU/Linux bullseye will not run on 586 (Pentium) or earlier processors. (https://www.debian.org/releases/bullseye/i386/ch02s01.en.html https://www.debian.org/releases/bullseye/i386/ch02s01.en.htm...)
      • rahimnathwani 4y ago
        Oh! It seems this has been the case for at least 6 years: https://lwn.net/Articles/686904/ https://lwn.net/Articles/686904/
    • deleted 4y ago
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