have you got a really old computer

[sudodus]

We want to try a new 'community' kernel for Trusty Tahr. Many people help to build an Ubuntu based operating system around it, a system that should work on most computers (maybe except some of those brand new ones that cannot switch off UEFI).

We have a wide variety of computers, but have not found any really old one without PAE capability. I'm not talking about Pentium M and Celeron M, I'm talking about CPUs before Pentium II:

Pentium Pro, Pentium (i586), or Intel 486 or maybe the corresponding generation of AMD from 1993-1997.

I have an old computer from 1998, and it has a Pentium II CPU at 400 MHz, so it must be older. Check for a clock frequency at or below 200 MHz.

If you are a happy owner of such a jewel, please help us test that the non-pae kernel really works in a computer without PAE capability.

-o-

Edit 1: After testing for a couple of weeks we have found that pre-pentium computers are not really an alternative for Trusty. We have also found, that Trusty needs more RAM to be installed via the conventional installers. Even the Ubuntu mini.iso will have problems at 128 MB RAM, trying to install a basic server.

I think there are many computers around with 'more powerful' CPUs (for example Pentium III, some old Celerons, and corresponding AMD CPUs), but only 128 GB RAM. It is worthwhile to try installing Lubuntu Core Trusty or the plain text version of Trusty in such computers using 9w.

-o-

Edit 2: There is a new wiki page for the 9w installer can install systems with 80 MB RAM to install and run the Ubuntu mini.iso based text system.

Lubuntu Core Trusty needs 128 MB RAM to run and at least 256 MB RAM to be really useful.

See this wiki page https://help.ubuntu.com/community/9w

and this page, where you can download the 9w iso files http://phillw.net/isos/linux-tools/9w/


Examples of non-pae CPUs

1. Early Pentium M with 1.2 GHz clock frequency. (The later Pentium M CPUs have PAE capability even if they lack a PAE flag).
2. Old ViA-processors around 1GHz
3. Transmeta Crusoe
(4. Pre Pentium II CPUs are too old and weak to be tested for this purpose)

You can test for the PAE flag with the following command

grep --color pae /proc/cpuinfo

If you are a happy owner of such a jewel, please help us test that the non-pae kernel really works in a computer without PAE capability.