Re: Query

[Patrick Bartek <nemommxiv@gmail.com>]

On Mon, 7 Feb 2022 08:50:36 -0700
William Lee Valentine <vsc@lobo.net> wrote:

> I am wondering whether a current Debian distribution can be installed
> and run on an older Pentium III computer. (I have Debian 11.2 on a
> DVD.)

And have something usable? With the default GNOME desktop? Probably
not. With a lightweight desktop like XFCE? Maybe.  With a window
manager only? Better chance, but still iffy.  Main problem is lack of
RAM and slow CPU. You'll need the 32-bit version of Debian.

Here's a real example with equivalent hardware from around 2004 or 5:
1GHz Duron (PIII equivalent), 1 GB or so RAM, Fedora Core 6, GNOME
desktop.  My system at the time. After numerous upgrades from FC2,
system had become sluggish, particularly with menus -- a second or so
pause before appearing. I was able to get a usable system for another
year or so by a very custom install of Debian Wheezy. Started with a
terminal-only install, then added a minimal X with a window manager
(Openbox), a few utilities and lastly apps. However, I doubt if
Debian 11 would run well on it, even if you abandoned a desktop and
went with a window manager.

All you can do is try and see what happens. Good luck.

> The computer is
> 
>     Dell Dimension XPS T500: Intel Pentium III processor (Katnai)
>     memory: 756 megabytes, running at 500 megahertz
>     IDE disc drive: 60 gigabytes
>     Debian partition: currently 42 gigabytes
>     Debian 6.0: Squeeze
> 
> If I install Debian 11.2, will it run on this machine? Will it
> preserve the files and directories that I have on Squeeze?