Let's run Win10 on really really old hardware

muchomurka said:

Strange. But I tested it for win10 x64 1709 version only @ singlecore atom/different chipset.

Well, it's not really a big problem. The Microsoft Basic adapter supports the maximum 1024x600 resolution of this little netbook and as a 'take anywhere' web browser it does just fine.

Even videos up to 640x480 are watchable full screen (though it drops the frame rate as bit). It struggles with anything higher resolution than that, but if I must watch an HD video, then I can watch it in a window (about half-size seems to work best).

thomaseg1 said:

how about an acer aspire one AOD250 Intel Atom N270 / 1.6 GHz 2gig ram ddr2 oringinal xp

Ark Intel info about Atom N270. launched 2nd quarter of 2008.

Bree said:

I have. Unfortunately with my N2600 I get a BSoD in x86 1809.

Ark Intel info about Atom N2600. launched 4th quarter of 2011.

muchomurka said:

Strange. But I tested it for win10 x64 1709 version only @ singlecore atom/different chipset.

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Edit: out of curiosity tested 32-bit 1809 with intel driver, no problem, 'Display1_DownScalingSupported' hack for 1024x768 works too.

Ark Intel info about Atom N450. launched in 1st quarter of 2010.

thomaseg1, Bree & muchomurka: your intel atom CPUs seem to check out fine. its the Intel & AMD CPUs from year 2006/07 & earlier (like the intel Yonah series) that may not work with v1809.

erpster4 said:

..., Bree ... your intel atom CPUs seem to check out fine. its the Intel & AMD CPUs from year 2006/07 & earlier (like the intel Yonah series) that may not work with v1809.

Yes the CPU works fine with 1809. It's the integrated graphics that isn't supported in Windows 10. But, as I said, the Microsoft Basic Adapter works well enough.

windows 10 home 32 bit, runs a bit slow. not 1809 , with only 2 gigs memory (the most it will hold) its still good for
travel/email/and interestingly runs you tube quite well.

erpster4: All three procs share the same intel 3150 graphics; intel win7 graphics driver runs ok for me but not for Bree... Maybe because his system has different chipset with DDR3 memory or for some other oddity. Anyway, imo Mint Cinnamon x64 is the best choice for these machines, because of their catastrophic performance under windows.

muchomurka said:

Anyway, imo Mint Cinnamon x64 is the best choice for these machines, because of their catastrophic performance under windows.

I haven't found this to be true at all. I find running any recent Linux is much more of a PITA on old hardware than Windows. The reason is they pushed graphics into the kernel.

At the moment I am running the 5.0.3 kernel I compiled myself from kernel.org with an extra patch to add X1600 drivers and this works OK. I compile a new kernel every couple of weeks but due to my crappy hardware it takes around about 5 hours to do so. It still panics more often than Windows and panics cause a freeze or poweroff while Windows will just log them and carry on.

With regards to macOS on the same machine I'm stuck on El Capitain as even with hacks my CPU just doesn't have instructions to go further (it is a Core2Duo and OSX Lion is the last supported version).

If you want to run Linux on old hardware then you better run an old version (before 2012 or so). Or run it with nomodeset and have no graphics or X at all. Or compile your own kernel as I do.

Of the three I have tried (macOS, Linux, Windows) Windows 10 is by far the easiest - assuming your CPU has required instructions.

It just works - as they say

If you want to run Linux on old hardware then you better run an old version (before 2012 or so). Or run it with nomodeset and have no graphics or X at all. Or compile your own kernel as I do.

Not "want to run", I run Mint in dualboot with win7/10 on this eee 1005 for years. So I definitely know what I say.

I have windows 10 32 Bit running on a
Dell Optiplex GX280 P4 from 2004.
It's 32 bit and has 2Gb Ram.

mazza said:

I have windows 10 32 Bit running on a
Dell Optiplex GX280 P4 from 2004.
It's 32 bit and has 2Gb Ram.

though you did not say what edition (and build #) of Win10 that you are running (and did not mention what specific Pentium 4 CPU you have).
type winver.exe either on the Run dialog box or Administrative command prompt (cmd.exe) to show Win10 version & edition AND run the CPU-Z tool to determine the type of P4 processor you have on the Dell GX280 computer.

the problem is when running recent versions of Win10 (like v1809 [build 17763.x] & higher) on very old hardware
running older Win10 versions like v1607 on a hyperthreaded Pentium 4 in Socket LGA775 form is okay