Linux distro for Pentium 4

[GoldenX]

I installed windows 7 32 bit on my old system and it works pretty well.

There is no driver for Windows 7 o Vista for that GPU, you are limited to XP unless you get something AGP, like a Geforce 6200 or one of those awesome HD4650AGP.

 

[Red_Machine]

The driver is included in the kernel, the problem is that Ubuntu (both Unity and Gnome 3) uses the CPU generic driver if it doesn't detect a capable GPU (and you can see how good is a Pentium 4 at that, plus i686 instead of amd64). Install Xubuntu or any distro with XFCE and everything will work, OpenGL 1.X included.

I already said that I tried Xubuntu and it wouldn't update properly. I don't want something that uses generic drivers, I'd rather use something older if it meant I had proper hardware acceleration.

 

[SnakeDoctor]

PF Sense

 

[Red_Machine]

I want a functional operating system, not a hardware firewall. Thanks, though.

 

[GoldenX]

And I asked you what version you downloaded, the only *ubuntu versions that don't update are the usuported older ones, like 13.04.
If you try Xubuntu 15.10 or 14.04 you won't have any problems.
To clarify, 14.04 is a Long Term Support release, something like a normal Windows 10 install, only safe updates are included. The next LTS is 16.04, they release them every 2 years and have 5 years of support.
15.10 is the latest version with newer kernel, packages, etc, something like Insider slow ring in Windows 10 (except that is not a beta), they are released every 6 months so the next one is 16.10 (skiping 16.04 that is an LTS release), and have 2 years of support.

So anything older than 14.04 is in EOL status, and requires legacy repositories to stay up to date, the stock config no longer works for them.

There is only one Intel driver in Linux, the free (open source) one included in the kernel, Intel doesn't make a privative (closed source) one like AMD or Nvidia does, they include it in the kernel and it just works.

 

[m0nt3]

crunchbang++

 

[alucasa]

I sometimes forget how old P4 really is ...

Perhaps, it is time to dig a grave for the rig. The power consumption and lack of computing power coupled with lack of driver support would be enough for me to have done so.

 

[Red_Machine]

And I asked you what version you downloaded, the only *ubuntu versions that don't update are the usuported older ones, like 13.04.
If you try Xubuntu 15.10 or 14.04 you won't have any problems.

It was downloaded from the download page of the Xubuntu site, so I'm assuming it was up-to-date.

 

[GoldenX]

If one of those is failing to update, then your local servers are down or in maintenance. In Software Updates you can change the server to the global one. I always do that because the ones from Argentina are usualy down.

You should check Fedora, is as easy to install and normaly is a more robust OS than the ubuntus.

 

[alucasa]

Try this link for older Fedora versions.

https://archive.fedoraproject.org/pub/archive/fedora/linux/releases/

Try something like Fedora 7

 

[GoldenX]

Man you don't need an old distro to use the Intel 865 driver...

 

[alucasa]

True. Just giving him options to try since nothing seems to be working for him.

 

[hellrazor]

Anybody who doesn't say Puppy is out of their fucking mind.

 

[GoldenX]

Puppy for a 2GB pc? I install Windows x64 on 2GB PCs.

 

[Red_Machine]

This is what happens when I boot Puppy from the live CD:

 

[GoldenX]

I'm starting to suspect that IGP is in bad condition.

 

[Red_Machine]

It's not. It works fine in everything else, I can even play a few 3D games on it in XP.

 

[GoldenX]

Interesting bug then.
I've found a 865g motherboard in the old bin, let me try some livecds on it.

 

[Red_Machine]

The 865 has a different iGPU, so I don't think you'll be able to replicate my problems.

 

[GoldenX]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_graphics_processing_unitsunits

Looks like the only difference is performance, worth to try.

 

[Red_Machine]

I found an article from 2012 that said Intel had finally written a stable driver that provided hardware acceleration for the i830 and i845 chipsets, but it seems like that driver isn't included in distros right now, because none of the ones I've installed have used a proper driver, it's always been the generic VGA driver.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTI1MzI

 

[GoldenX]

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=206361
Looks like archlinux uses it, it has horrible but usable opengl performance.
Look at the glxinfo quote.

 

[Red_Machine]

I just tried to manually configure the Intel driver on Xubuntu and bricked the OS. Fucking hell, it shouldn't be this hard to get a damn graphics driver working.

 

[GoldenX]

Same thing happens if you force the xp driver on 7. It's just a crappy igp.

 

[Red_Machine]

Actually, it doesn't. I have installed XP drivers on Vista and 7 many times, and even been able to play games on them. And besides, this iGPU was supported by Intel in their Linux driver up to at least 2012, so the driver isn't THAT old.