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I recently started using OpenBSD on my circa 2001 Pentium 3 rig for fun. It has 384MB of RAM and no SSE2. I use i3wm for the desktop (1024×768×80Hz on a CRT),

I recently started using OpenBSD on my circa 2001 Pentium 3 rig for fun. It has 384MB of RAM and no SSE2. I use i3wm for the desktop (1024×768×80Hz on a CRT), urxvt for terminal, netsurf for browsing (no JS), leafpad for GUI editing, and VLC for streaming music. For coding the CPU supports the latest versions of Go and Python3, but Node/TypeScript no longer works since it now requires SSE2. It's surprisingly snappy and fun to use, I can even post to hn from here. :) Screenshots: https://i.imgur.com/shozUbO.png https://i.imgur.com/shozUbO.png https://i.imgur.com/F22p3Z8.png https://i.imgur.com/F22p3Z8.png

skydhash 2y ago
I'm running a Debian VM on my M1 Mac (it's a mess to cleanup dependencies and tooling after a project on macOS). I also use i3wm and before launching Firefox, the whole OS consumed only 300 MB of ram. In the past I use Arch with i3wm to have enough free ram (on a 8GB laptop) for Android Studio and Firefox. Some people are angry with Apple for their 8GB offering, but it would be great to imagine what can be done with less and the operating system being just an operating system, not an application suite.
- detourdog 2y ago
  I have always found MacPorts as the best way to manage tooling. All packages and dependencies are installed under /opt/. The consistent pathing is the only sane way to manage tooling.
  - AlexeyBrin 2y ago
    Homebrew also installs everything under /opt/ on aarch64. Pretty convenient when you want to nuke it and start fresh.
    - detourdog 2y ago
      I had thought Homebrew's purpose was to leverage Apple's bundled what not. I haven't looked at Homebrew in over a decade.
      - jetti 2y ago
        It may have started that way but now it is used to install and manage applications and it makes it really easy to do so. There is even a Linux version of homebrew now
- gawa 2y ago
  Are you saying you're using a debian VM on your Mac as a daily driver? Running i3wm and Firefox and ultimately living in Linux, but on your Mac? Does that mean you never have to use MacOS much (beside upgrading the host mac OS, and launching the VM right after boot)? If that's your setup I would love to hear more about it, the pros and the cons.
  - skydhash 2y ago
    It's not my setup and it's fairly recent. I love some of the Mac software (Bear, Things, Dash, Doppler) and the Mac hardware. But dealing with project dependencies and tooling is a pain on every OS I've been. SO I bought Parallels (issues with graphic in UTM), configured a base OS, and clone it for each project. So personal workflows are still macOS-centric, but dev workflow is Linux. I could do what you said, but the apps are nicer than Linux ones. But I still care about data portability (it's trivial to export data in all the app I use) so it's more a want, not a need.
  - malux85 2y ago
    This was exactly my setup for like 4 years a few years ago. MacOS was the host and it was immediate boot into Debian VM and it was my main machine I used to dev every day. Pros and cons: I switched to parallels vm software from virtualbox because it just seemed to run a LOT smoother which meant the machine ran dramatically cooler. I think this was due to the graphics driver - higher frame rates and no display glitches I’m not a gamer but very occasionally I like to play older strategy games - this I did outside the Linux vm, since high performance graphics wasn’t good inside the vm as one would expect. I allocated like 90% of the system RAM (machine was an Intel Mac with 64GB of ram) to the vm Once inside the booted machine running full screen it felt native, I would forget I was in a vm Bridged networking so other machines on my lan can ssh in, Any other questions you have let me know!
niutech 2y ago
384MB is plenty of RAM. Tiny Core Linux (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Core_Linux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Core_Linux) requires only 46 MB, although recommends 128 MB of RAM.
- vundercind 2y ago
  It’s a ton if you avoid things Poettering was involved in (anyone remember when Pulseaudio came out and its memory use when idle was insanely high? AFAIK that never got better, we just all got more memory; Systemd’s similar), don’t run a “modern” DE, and don’t use webapps. That’s a lot of “ifs”, but that really should be quite a bit of memory. In fact you can’t even really run Firefox or Chrome with a single light page on that, now. In one of the minimalist WebKit browsers, yes, but probably only 2-3 tabs and no webapps.
- Koshkin 2y ago
  My first PC had (what I thought of as) an infinite amount of RAM. 8 MB. I could not believe that someone (else) wanted 32 MB, it was insane.
  - SoftTalker 2y ago
    My first hard drive had 20MB. I thought I would never fill it.
anthk 2y ago
Try mocp for music, you will save tons of resources. Also, try the new dillo fork. With gopher, you have gopher://magical.fish and gopher://sdf.org as starting points to read news and blogs. Use either sacc or lynx.
grpt 2y ago
> I use... netsurf for browsing (no JS) > https://i.imgur.com/shozUbO.png https://i.imgur.com/shozUbO.png > https://i.imgur.com/F22p3Z8.png https://i.imgur.com/F22p3Z8.png > If you're seeing this message, that means JavaScript has been disabled on your browser, please enable JS to make Imgur work. Hmmm...
- accrual 2y ago
  Surprisingly, the images open just fine on this machine! Imgur sends me the actual .png and not the HTML wrapped version that requires JS. Maybe they look at the agent to decide what to send.
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 2y ago
  I have no problem retrieving the PNGs from those URLs without Javascript. I'm not using a browser nor am I using curl. I do not send a user-agent header.
DEADMINCE 2y ago
This has nothing to do with OpenBSD though. Any linux or BSD kernel can run a light WM on same or older hardware just as well.
- cenamus 2y ago
  Are you sure most Linux distros still support a pentium III by default?
  - anthk 2y ago
    Hyperbola does. Alpine should. And so does Guix.

skydhash 2y ago

I'm running a Debian VM on my M1 Mac (it's a mess to cleanup dependencies and tooling after a project on macOS). I also use i3wm and before launching Firefox, the whole OS consumed only 300 MB of ram. In the past I use Arch with i3wm to have enough free ram (on a 8GB laptop) for Android Studio and Firefox. Some people are angry with Apple for their 8GB offering, but it would be great to imagine what can be done with less and the operating system being just an operating system, not an application suite.

detourdog 2y ago
I have always found MacPorts as the best way to manage tooling. All packages and dependencies are installed under /opt/. The consistent pathing is the only sane way to manage tooling.
- AlexeyBrin 2y ago
  Homebrew also installs everything under /opt/ on aarch64. Pretty convenient when you want to nuke it and start fresh.
  - detourdog 2y ago
    I had thought Homebrew's purpose was to leverage Apple's bundled what not. I haven't looked at Homebrew in over a decade.
    - jetti 2y ago
      It may have started that way but now it is used to install and manage applications and it makes it really easy to do so. There is even a Linux version of homebrew now
gawa 2y ago
Are you saying you're using a debian VM on your Mac as a daily driver? Running i3wm and Firefox and ultimately living in Linux, but on your Mac? Does that mean you never have to use MacOS much (beside upgrading the host mac OS, and launching the VM right after boot)? If that's your setup I would love to hear more about it, the pros and the cons.
- skydhash 2y ago
  It's not my setup and it's fairly recent. I love some of the Mac software (Bear, Things, Dash, Doppler) and the Mac hardware. But dealing with project dependencies and tooling is a pain on every OS I've been. SO I bought Parallels (issues with graphic in UTM), configured a base OS, and clone it for each project. So personal workflows are still macOS-centric, but dev workflow is Linux. I could do what you said, but the apps are nicer than Linux ones. But I still care about data portability (it's trivial to export data in all the app I use) so it's more a want, not a need.
- malux85 2y ago
  This was exactly my setup for like 4 years a few years ago. MacOS was the host and it was immediate boot into Debian VM and it was my main machine I used to dev every day. Pros and cons: I switched to parallels vm software from virtualbox because it just seemed to run a LOT smoother which meant the machine ran dramatically cooler. I think this was due to the graphics driver - higher frame rates and no display glitches I’m not a gamer but very occasionally I like to play older strategy games - this I did outside the Linux vm, since high performance graphics wasn’t good inside the vm as one would expect. I allocated like 90% of the system RAM (machine was an Intel Mac with 64GB of ram) to the vm Once inside the booted machine running full screen it felt native, I would forget I was in a vm Bridged networking so other machines on my lan can ssh in, Any other questions you have let me know!

niutech 2y ago

384MB is plenty of RAM. Tiny Core Linux (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Core_Linux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Core_Linux) requires only 46 MB, although recommends 128 MB of RAM.

vundercind 2y ago
It’s a ton if you avoid things Poettering was involved in (anyone remember when Pulseaudio came out and its memory use when idle was insanely high? AFAIK that never got better, we just all got more memory; Systemd’s similar), don’t run a “modern” DE, and don’t use webapps. That’s a lot of “ifs”, but that really should be quite a bit of memory. In fact you can’t even really run Firefox or Chrome with a single light page on that, now. In one of the minimalist WebKit browsers, yes, but probably only 2-3 tabs and no webapps.
Koshkin 2y ago
My first PC had (what I thought of as) an infinite amount of RAM. 8 MB. I could not believe that someone (else) wanted 32 MB, it was insane.
- SoftTalker 2y ago
  My first hard drive had 20MB. I thought I would never fill it.

anthk 2y ago

Try mocp for music, you will save tons of resources. Also, try the new dillo fork. With gopher, you have gopher://magical.fish and gopher://sdf.org as starting points to read news and blogs. Use either sacc or lynx.

grpt 2y ago

> I use... netsurf for browsing (no JS) > https://i.imgur.com/shozUbO.png https://i.imgur.com/shozUbO.png > https://i.imgur.com/F22p3Z8.png https://i.imgur.com/F22p3Z8.png > If you're seeing this message, that means JavaScript has been disabled on your browser, please enable JS to make Imgur work. Hmmm...

accrual 2y ago
Surprisingly, the images open just fine on this machine! Imgur sends me the actual .png and not the HTML wrapped version that requires JS. Maybe they look at the agent to decide what to send.
1vuio0pswjnm7 2y ago
I have no problem retrieving the PNGs from those URLs without Javascript. I'm not using a browser nor am I using curl. I do not send a user-agent header.

DEADMINCE 2y ago

This has nothing to do with OpenBSD though. Any linux or BSD kernel can run a light WM on same or older hardware just as well.

cenamus 2y ago
Are you sure most Linux distros still support a pentium III by default?
- anthk 2y ago
  Hyperbola does. Alpine should. And so does Guix.