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I yet to have to find my new great OS. Im 100% sure it wont be Windows. I have an eyes on some minimalistic Linux distro. But who knows, maybe Haiku will grow e

by Borg3 3y ago

I yet to have to find my new great OS. Im 100% sure it wont be Windows. I have an eyes on some minimalistic Linux distro. But who knows, maybe Haiku will grow enough, before I will be forced to make a switch. As for staying in past, im not that much afraid for SW part. I have all toys mirrored. What worries me is the HW part. Those scrapyards where I get pretty decent HW will eventually run dry. And we know what new HW is...

shrubble 3y ago
You could have a look at Plan9 which has a small community of enthusiasts.
- Borg3 3y ago
  Yeah, I know Plan9. Similar problem, low HW coverage. Additionaly, it doest give me anything I already have, and I get drivers problem. Not worth of switch IMO. I can stay in Win2003 then and utilize VMs for newer stuff. Big plus of staying is that I have all the apps/tools mirrored and I know this system pretty well.
replete 3y ago
Have a look at SerenityOS, it's early days but I think it's a truly awesome project and expecting good things in future years. It's a completely new OS. The founder just hired two developers full time which is promising
- HeckFeck 3y ago
  I really hope that one becomes daily driveable. The pairing of the consistent UI and the BSD-style holistic unix is something I'd relish. The biggest hindrance will be, as ever, drivers. They are making consistent progress with USB and PCIe from what I can tell in the Discord. If they targeted a known platform like RPI4 and got all the drivers for that right it could be big.
  - replete 3y ago
    Serenity WINE port could be decent. Tried ReactOS a few times but it also seems some ways off
- Borg3 3y ago
  Hmm, I think I never heard of it.. Looks really cool.. Ill keep an eye on it! Thanks.
jmclnx 3y ago
The article does not mention memory, and to me, that is the largest constraint on old systems when choosing an OS. For a Minimal OS on an Old system, you can try NetBSD or OpenBSD, i386. Modern Browsers will be a no-go, but you will find NetBSD and OpenBSD very usable. One note for OpenBSD, if you have less than say ~2 gig of memory, you may need to disable the kernel re-link. It will work, but will hammer the system. For NetBSD, I have it on a system with 512M and it works great. Both fully are able to handle the 2038 issue on their i386 builds (32 bit) and has been able for a while. That is something you should be aware of for long term use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem
- Borg3 3y ago
  Yeah, I am aware of that problem. Windows seems to store TIME differently that UNIX so it should be all right here. But I have dozens of old Linux 32 bit servers here and there... As for RAM, well I have 16GB RAM and its pretty much upper limit Win2003 can handle. Ideal seems to be 8GB because you will have more Pools and PTEs. For todays web, limiting factor is per process 2GB limit (or 3GB on Linux). It barelly enough to browse using new FF browser. Older browsers like Palemoon are much more memory efficient. When it uses 300MB of RAM, its already quite a lot for it.
- j_not_j 3y ago
  For OpenBSD, only 512MB is needed even with the kernel relinks. Or so my experience with virtual machines says. I sometimes run two VMs at 512MB each on my 4GB Windows 10 laptop. And I can use Windows apps too at the same time. (VMware workstation.) If you want to shrink the kernel and the relink memory footprint, @unangst has an unofficial recipe.

by Borg3 3y ago

shrubble 3y ago

You could have a look at Plan9 which has a small community of enthusiasts.

Borg3 3y ago
Yeah, I know Plan9. Similar problem, low HW coverage. Additionaly, it doest give me anything I already have, and I get drivers problem. Not worth of switch IMO. I can stay in Win2003 then and utilize VMs for newer stuff. Big plus of staying is that I have all the apps/tools mirrored and I know this system pretty well.

replete 3y ago

Have a look at SerenityOS, it's early days but I think it's a truly awesome project and expecting good things in future years. It's a completely new OS. The founder just hired two developers full time which is promising

HeckFeck 3y ago
I really hope that one becomes daily driveable. The pairing of the consistent UI and the BSD-style holistic unix is something I'd relish. The biggest hindrance will be, as ever, drivers. They are making consistent progress with USB and PCIe from what I can tell in the Discord. If they targeted a known platform like RPI4 and got all the drivers for that right it could be big.
- replete 3y ago
  Serenity WINE port could be decent. Tried ReactOS a few times but it also seems some ways off
Borg3 3y ago
Hmm, I think I never heard of it.. Looks really cool.. Ill keep an eye on it! Thanks.

jmclnx 3y ago

The article does not mention memory, and to me, that is the largest constraint on old systems when choosing an OS. For a Minimal OS on an Old system, you can try NetBSD or OpenBSD, i386. Modern Browsers will be a no-go, but you will find NetBSD and OpenBSD very usable. One note for OpenBSD, if you have less than say ~2 gig of memory, you may need to disable the kernel re-link. It will work, but will hammer the system. For NetBSD, I have it on a system with 512M and it works great. Both fully are able to handle the 2038 issue on their i386 builds (32 bit) and has been able for a while. That is something you should be aware of for long term use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem

Borg3 3y ago
Yeah, I am aware of that problem. Windows seems to store TIME differently that UNIX so it should be all right here. But I have dozens of old Linux 32 bit servers here and there... As for RAM, well I have 16GB RAM and its pretty much upper limit Win2003 can handle. Ideal seems to be 8GB because you will have more Pools and PTEs. For todays web, limiting factor is per process 2GB limit (or 3GB on Linux). It barelly enough to browse using new FF browser. Older browsers like Palemoon are much more memory efficient. When it uses 300MB of RAM, its already quite a lot for it.
j_not_j 3y ago
For OpenBSD, only 512MB is needed even with the kernel relinks. Or so my experience with virtual machines says. I sometimes run two VMs at 512MB each on my 4GB Windows 10 laptop. And I can use Windows apps too at the same time. (VMware workstation.) If you want to shrink the kernel and the relink memory footprint, @unangst has an unofficial recipe.