System Requirements

[Tainted_Girl]

I've been looking at some of the system requirements for various disto's of Linux and BSD and noticed that some requirements such as for DesktopBSD support a i386 processor and atleast 256mb of ram. Who the hell is running an i386 with 256mb of ram?

[budman7]

I haven't seen any i386's lately, but I do see quite a few systems with 256 MB ram or even less.
In fact I have my parents machine running XP pro with only 128 MB ram.

[Ajax4Hire]

The Amish, grandparents, my parents, anyone who bought a computer in the 1900's and still thinks AOL is the cat's meow.

You really need to watch out for these people when they want to give you this computer because they know "you like to play with them." Its like giving a 1972 Ford Pinto to the Ferarri owner because "she likes to play with cars."

Just smile, thank them and slowly back away.

[genesus]

What? I love it when people give me old hardware to play with, especially really ancient comps...

[Dapper Dan]

What? I love it when people give me old hardware to play with, especially really ancient comps...

I do too! There are few things in computing more satisfying than getting RedHat 6.2 running perfectly on an old 1997 286 Packard Bell desktop with a 2 gig hard drive!

[Tainted_Girl]

But why even brag about supporting i386 when no i386 supports 128mb let alone 256mb of ram?

[AndrewB]

I have ran a few distros on my computer with 64mb ram!
Cant say I have seen any i386's either.

Atleast it shows linux can run on just about ANY hardware!

[bigtomrodney]

It's not a matter of bragging, stating i386 compatibility is a way of stating baseline compatibility i.e. no specific processor extensions have been assumed. Each new generation of processor is basically the old one overclocked with a few extensions. i386 has none of these modern extensions - hence the statement. I'd like to see you try get 256MB of ram into and i386. You just won't anyway

[jaboua]

What? I love it when people give me old hardware to play with, especially really ancient comps...

Same here

But about RAM, my current computer ran with 128 MB ram until half a year ago or something (Now it's 512MB )

[fingal]

Same here

But about RAM, my current computer ran with 128 MB ram until half a year ago or something (Now it's 512MB )

Yep - I only have 256MB ... I keep trying to find an excuse to upgrade, but everything seems to fly along so I can't think of one. It would be great to have a hugely powerful machine, but it would only be good for bragging about.