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ZDNET: Have we arrived in the post-Windows era?

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40hz:
Does linux still support 386?
-f0dder (April 26, 2009, 06:43 AM)
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AFAIK, the only thing that still supports the 386 in any useful way is NetBSD. It also has driver support for the ISA architecture - which you'll need if you're using a machine of this vintage.

You can even run NetBSD on an old IBM Personal System/2 with MCA slots if you're that kinky! ;D

Just how useful it would be is anybody's guess since an X server wouldn't be doable. But then again, an 80386 is also a more sophisticated CPU than what UNIX was originally developed on so...

I'll bet a real NIX gearhead (who had EMACS down cold) could probably blow my doors off with what he/she could do with such an 'obsolete' setup.

 Like Gypsy Rose Lee said: It ain't how much you got. It's how you use it that counts." 8)

MilesAhead:
I'm still wondering where all the 386s went.  It's like the Gremlins scarfed 'em all up and hid 'em in a landfill before people found out you could run Linux on 'em.  You'd think you should be able to buy one for $20 or something. Is the scrap value really more than a running PC?  Strange.-MilesAhead (April 25, 2009, 06:02 PM)
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Does linux still support 386?

Even if the kernel does, I wonder how useful it would be... would you be able to get acceptable X11 performance, for instance?
-f0dder (April 26, 2009, 06:43 AM)
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For an old machine you could get old code.  When 486 was it, most code was 386.  After Pentium came in you got a lot of optimization branches.  Just going from memory.  I used to run a 16 MHz 386 with 12 MB ram running OS/2 with about 5 layers of network software.  Didn't crash. Once you got your applications loaded off the disk it was fine.  Also you don't need X to run Linux.  Back in 2.0 and earlier kernels most installs put console mode Linux with 6 terminals hooked to F1 to F6 function keys.  If you wanted X you had to configure it yourself.  There are many Linux terminal mode mail programs, newsreaders etc..

40hz:
Also you don't need X to run Linux.
-MilesAhead (April 26, 2009, 12:01 PM)
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Agree. You don't need X at all really. But since the apps most people want to use depend on a GUI, it's a showstopper for about 96% of the people out there.

Getting old code would definitely be a smart move if you could get your hands on some.

I've got an antique 386-20 w/8mb of RAM and WFWG loaded on it that still surprises me with what it can do. I have copies of WordPerfect, MS Word, Quark XPress, Aldus (pre-Adobe) Freehand, Interleaf, Lotus1-2-3. TopSpeed Modula2, Turbo Pascal, Turbo Prolog and a pile of other stuff that all still works quite nicely. You could actually get some serious work done on this machine. Lord knows I did.
 8)

MilesAhead:
Also you don't need X to run Linux.
-MilesAhead (April 26, 2009, 12:01 PM)
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Agree. You don't need X at all really. But since the apps most people want to use depend on a GUI, it's a showstopper for about 96% of the people out there.

Getting old code would definitely be a smart move if you could get your hands on some.

I've got an antique 386-20 w/8mb of RAM and WFWG loaded on it that still surprises me with what it can do. I have copies of WordPerfect, MS Word, Quark XPress, Aldus (pre-Adobe) Freehand, Interleaf, Lotus1-2-3. TopSpeed Modula2, Turbo Pascal, Turbo Prolog and a pile of other stuff that all still works quite nicely. You could actually get some serious work done on this machine. Lord knows I did.
 8)

-40hz (April 26, 2009, 04:15 PM)
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Best bet would probably be a used bookstore.  If you could find a book like Slackware 3.0 with the CD still in it.  That thing had the 2.0 kernel.  Once Linux got off the 1.x kernels I don't think I ever got a hard lock.  Had a 486 w/16 MB ram running XWindows.  The X window manager might crash, but I'd just hotkey to a console window, kill X and start it again. Never had to cycle power with that baby!!  Of course what I did have to do was rip my hair out to get stuff to work!!  It's like the inverse of Windows.  Windows you double click install and it goes on, but it breaks easily.  Back then it wasn't just apt-get.  You had to mess with scripts and configure stuff.  Once you got it solid, unless you crashed the file system it didn't break. If you had a UPS you had it made... until you wanted to do something like print stuff on a non-postscript printer.. then more hair loss. :)


It just seems weird to me that you can still find rotary dial phones, but you can't find a 386 that ain't in a museum.  There must be a govt. program where they sent 'em all to India or something.

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