I think running Linux on ancient hardware is actually a downgrade for most people

I stuck with Windows 98 SE on my 1999 Dell Dimension XPS T500 for 8 years after they stopped supporting it, and it ran faster and crashed less than the last three Linux distros I tried to shoehorn onto the same machine, so why are we pretending a clunky OS swap fixes everything when half the time it just breaks your printer drivers and turns a 30 second boot into a 3 minute ordeal?

2 comments

2 Comments

nelson.finley5d ago

My 2005 ThinkPad took 45 seconds to boot Windows XP, and after putting Linux on it the boot time jumped to almost 4 minutes because the distro kept fighting with the old IDE controller. People treat old hardware like a cheap way to learn Linux, but they forget that those machines were built around specific proprietary chips and driver support dried up years ago. It's the same mindset as the guy who buys a 1987 truck and thinks putting modern fuel injectors on it will make it run like a 2024 model, ignoring that the frame is rotting and the transmission is held together with hope.

tessa_roberts15d ago

Oh man, that's rough. I feel your pain, I've been there with an old Dell laptop that just wouldn't play nice with any Linux flavor I tried. It's frustrating when the hype doesn't match the reality of hardware that was built around proprietary junk that nobody supports anymore.