Everyone knows that if you want a lightweight operating system, you go with Linux. But just how low can you go with the system specs? Could you, for instance, take Linux and run it on a Pentium 1? And not just any build of Linux, mind you; we’re talking about a modern-day one.
Well, it turns out, you can do just that. It’s not exactly easy, and it’s not exactly quick, but it can be done. And that’s a win if you ask me.
Someone got Tiny Core Linux running on a CPU from 1994
As spotted by Hackster.io, this amazing trick was demonstrated by Action Retro in one of their latest YouTube videos. The goal was to get a modern-day Linux distribution running on a 133MHz CPU called the Pentium 75, which released back in 1994. Do note that it’s 133 Megahertz, not those fancy Gigahertz that we use these days.
So, which modern-day distro is up for the task of running on such a teeny-tiny CPU? Well, the obvious choice for Action Retro was Tiny Core Linux, which, at the time of writing, only takes up 23MB of space. Not only is it light on the storage, but it’s also designed to run on pretty much anything, which is proven true in the video a little later. And yes, they’re using version 16.2, which is the latest release right now.
The thing is, Tiny Core runs by taking everything the users requests, sticking it on the RAM, and running it all from there. The machine Action Retro used only had 8MB of RAM (yes, megabytes, this is 1994, remember), so they upgraded the computer to a whopping 128MB of RAM so it could comfortably store everything they’d need.
Now that’s sorted, it was time to actually get Tiny Core on this system. The good news is that the computer Action Retro was using did come with a CD-ROM drive; very modern. The bad news is that the PC didn’t really like reading CD-ROMs. So, Action Retro did what anyone would have done in this situation: squeeze Tiny Core onto a floppy disk using Plop Boot Manager and run it that way. And run it did.
I must admit, I was shocked when I saw Tiny Core Linux running on this ancient PC. Yes, it’s not lightning fast, and stuff takes a little time to load on it. However, it is absolutely usable. To prove it, Action Retro successfully got the machine onto the internet, grabbed neofetch, and showed off the system specifications with it. Stunning stuff.
link