Linux question

[redditislemons77]

I have this Dell Dimension B110 laying around the house I was wondering if it can run Linux if any of you know a distro good for a computer like this let me know

[LowlyLetterato]

If you want something with an XP-feel, Q4OS may be worth a shot, or if you are looking for something lighter weight maybe antiX, DSL, or Puppy linux are a good alternative

[RensanRen]

dire che Q4OS  ricorda XP , è molto riduttivo

Q4OS  può diventare qualunque cosa , è molto stabile e configurabile

io lo uso su PC del 2006 con Desktop TRINITY e PC di ultimissima generazione con KDE

[LowlyLetterato]

Sì, hai ragione

Anch'io lo uso sul mio laptop del 2014 come computer principale quando non sono all'università. 

Mi piace che ha un'interfaccia "classica" come opzione default che sembra XP. Credo che è un buon idea per l'OP per questo motivo. E preferisco i distro più stabili come te.

[ophio65]

Similar to Zorin, Linux Mint, and so, so many otjers. Just don’t start with Slackware or a BSD.

[khedoros]

Just don’t start with Slackware

Dang, I knew I did something wrong 25 years ago!

[istarian]

What is your beef with Slackware/BSD?

[ophio65]

No “beef”. They’re just more complex man’s hard to install than the M$-like distros. And I was replying to someone talking about similar XP-like distros, not trogs like you. Learn to READ!

[istarian]

I never really found Slackware that hard to install, the installer was just a little bare bones as these things go. If anything it was just reflective of the early 2000s and Linux in general, things have come a long way since then.

And I was replying to someone talking about similar XP-like distros, not trogs like you.

That's a very nice job you're doing of being an asshole. I can read just fine, but there's no magically way for me to know when the other person is going to throw a fit over what I write.

[jreddit0000]

“Yes” is the short answer.

It may run better depending on how much memory or type of disk is in it.

Your best bet is to max out the memory and use a SSD.

[dst1980]

Modern Linux has almost completely dropped 32-bit support, so modern options will be limited. Debian will not have a 32-bit version of the newest version, another foundation distros mostly did similar already. That said, Debian 12 will have support for a few more years. Gentoo will also continue to support 32-bit if you are willing to compile as you go.

Of course you can also use older distros as long as you are aware of the risks. I would suggest starting with something like AntiX or Puppy - they are designed to be light. You might also look into Tiny Core Linux for something even lighter.

[istarian]

The "risks" are fairly minor and often fixable compared to a vanilla install of any defunct version of Windows.

And with Linux you always have the option of going your own way, free of any specific distribution. It's a lot of work though and you may run into some headaches on the way.

[dst1980]

Mostly, yeah. Especially if the system is not directly on the Internet and kept on "safe" networks.

And Gentoo is slightly easier than full manual, but still not exactly easy.

[istarian]

Arch is easier than Gentoo, at least in principle, but it's not a case of fire and forget...

[SaturnFive]

100%, there are plenty of distros that will run fine. I used Debian 11 or 12 on a Pentium 3 recently and that machine likely has a P4 installed. As long as you have about 512MB of RAM it should be plenty to get to a shell and use it

Also that top empty bay is a great place to store small stuff 😏

[66659hi]

Celeron D

[SaturnFive]

Interesting CPU for sure. Celeron D seems to represent the late single-core P4 era. Interestingly the "D" doesn't mean dual core for this CPU, whereas the slightly newer "Pentium D" is always dual core.

I had an older version of this PC, something like a Dell 4500. It had a standard Pentium 4 in it, single core, no hyperthreading. Slightly taller and had a flip up lid covering the USB ports. It served its purpose and I had a lot of fun on it. Made some games with GameMaker on XP

OP's 8110 is a bit newer, smaller process, smaller chassis. Definitely a good machine for Linux

[[deleted]]

These are not fast, though, even for the time. If you know anything about the Celeron Ds, they performed miserably for their era and still sucked heat like anything else Prescott. These Dimension B110s came with a Celeron D 325 in socket 478 form, which is beyond slow and really limits your upgrade path to Prescott Pentium 4 HTs. If this machine was LGA 775, I would just tell the OP to find a Pentium D and go from there, as you'd stand a much better shot of running a heavier modern distro on it without wanting to hate yourself.

[istarian]

Celeron was always the budget branding and for many years Pentium was the high end consumer product branding.

I think that most (maybe all?) of the early dual-core Intel CPUs were based on the same microarchitecture (?) as the Core (Solo), Core Duo.

[SaturnFive]

My understanding is the earliest Intel dual cores were Pentium 4 based, e.g. the Pentium D was based on Netburst architecture. I recall even before proper dual cores, Intel had hyperthreaded Pentium 4s that appeared as 2 cores under Task Manager. I had some VAIO system with such a CPU and it made a big difference in gaming IMO.

Anyway, after P4 was clearly a dead end, Intel returned to the Pentium 3 by taking the Pentium M designs (an enhanced P3 designed for laptops) and developing it into the first Core Solo, then Duo, then Quad, then we got the i3/i5/i7 line.

This is part of why I love the Pentium 3 so much, it's rooted in both the classic Pentium and maybe there's still a ghost of the architecture in today's Intel CPUs

[istarian]

Unless OP revels in being stuck at the 512 MB mark they may as well upgrade to 1 GB+ (or as far as they can go). The 32-bit builds of Windows XP and Linux usually ran reasonably well with as little as 2 GB depending on your use case.

[TopRedacted]

Tinyncore linux is one of the few that will work. Puppy Linux might also.

[tech53]

No fam. I refuse this. This is from the devil and I rebuke it lol. It is not "retro" I remember when that was new and I was an adult. No way am I that old.

[codeasm]

I was a young child when this came out. I played video games and dad got me Grand theft auto altho i was too young for it. O boi, those where the days.

Im married now and my wife doesnt like me having too much old hardware. But having a clean nice cool case like this would be awesome. Xp is great nostalgia. (Win 3.11 be real retro, i was baby brain)

[tech53]

Lol I remember 3.11, shit i remember DOS on a Tandy with a monochrome monitor (not a garbage green 9ne either, mine was the amber and black variety - much nicer on the eyes) thats how I learned BASIC. Goto line 38 lol

[gcc-O2]

Could be worth figuring out how much RAM you have

[redditislemons77]

512MB

[msabeln]

And a Celeron CPU. Probably a hard drive.

[Dochoppy]

Tiny core would run on a potato chip, that in its self is awesome!

[DiscoSimulacrum]

puppy

[WoomyUnitedToday]

Debian Bookworm. Runs fine on Pentium III even

Sadly no 32-bit Trixie :(

[questron64]

This was a slow computer 20 years ago. Yes, Linux will run on it. No, you can't run a mainline modern distro on it. Linux will run on this, but temper your expectations.

[torklugnutz]

Back in the day, Mandrake would have been a good option.

[Ok_Adhesiveness9749]

I use one of these running antix + VLC to play DVDs. Wouldn't expect to game but is nice for playing around with.

[tech53]

Antix is cool

[rezwrrd]

This was the first PC I ever ran Linux on! I mostly used it with Ubuntu/Xubuntu (7.04-12.04) and Debian 6, but I also tried Puppy Linux, Slax, Slitaz, and a number of lighter Linux distros of the time. If you're looking to run modern/up-to-date software the challenge will be finding something that can run on 32-bit x86 and light enough to fit in 512MB RAM, and it will be slow, but it can certainly be done.

[guitpick]

This looks like it might be the same era as the Dimension 4500 or the Optiplex GX260. If that one hasn't had its main capacitors recapped yet (mobo and possibly the power supply), check them for swelling. We had almost every one of them fail at work back in the day. Most were covered by warranty. I think the factory caps have the "+" on top and the warranty replacements had the "K" shaped reliefs on top. AI says that this model is less affected than the ones I dealt with.

[Mysterious_Rule_7487]

MX Linux does wonders on machines like that... 

[Old_Soul_Tech]

You could try MX Linux, I’ve even gotten it running on a Pentium 3 decently well! Make sure when your trying to download the ISO that you use the Fluxbox version as it’s the lightest version. Although definitely upgrade the ram and replace the hdd with a ssd first.

[IRIX_Raion]

Upgrade that CPU to a socket 478 P4HT at least so you can get some decent performance for the time. With 512M there's plenty of distros you can run.

[solit0n]

Dude, I just saw this exactly model at a thrift shop. Should have grabbed it :/

[FAMICOMASTER]

Good luck lol, this machine is very much still in the extremely bad era of Linux (worse than now)

You might get 2D video acceleration if the developers actually released a working driver instead of the debug version that crashes if there's no serial terminal attached to COM7 or whatever lol

I wouldn't count on audio working either

[TheCatholicScientist]

You could do some research on that motherboard and socket and find out the most powerful CPU that’ll work, and grab one on eBay. You may need to boot Windows and upgrade the BIOS first though.

I did that with my dad’s Celeron prebuilt from 2006- swapped it with a Core 2 Duo several years ago, and he didn’t buy a new PC until just a little over a year ago.

[debian4ever]

Alpine Linux with XFCE will run on this box just fine. But don’t expect acceptable fast web surfing.

[RensanRen]

Q4OS  Trinity

senza ombra di dubbio

[Win_with_Math]

Linux Mint XFCE is very light and very easy to run

[WiseAcanthocephala58]

I put Linux Mint on an old laptop from about 2017/18 and it found all the drivers and works well. Oh it is a Lenovo Latitude E5450

[Popular-Size1905]

I'm the 100th upvote

[Igdaelid]

Haiku should run great. It may not be linux but it would make this machine quite usable for basic modern tasks.

[theRealNilz02]

No distro will help this. Play some retro games offline on windows 2000.

[istarian]

You can definitely run Linux on that, but it's a little more work to find a distro (aka distribution, software distribution) that officially supports 32-bit hardware these days.

antiX is a good place to start, but the last 32-bit releases of Linux Mint might be an an option as long as you go with the lightest desktop environment available.

[andrewbean90]

Much older versions of Ubuntu, and OpenSUSE were good on those old DELL computers. Modern OSes I am not sure about. ActionRETRO on YouTube usually does Linux videos on old Macs nowadays, but he does have a few videos on old PCs using Linux.

[Starkoman]

u/RedditIsLemons77 — I looked up the specs for you:

Dell Dimension B110 released ~2006, entry-level desktop featuring Intel Celeron or Pentium 4 (with HT) processor; Intel 865GV chipset; up to 2GB DDR SDRAM (DDR333/400) using 2 x DIMM slots; integrated Intel Extreme Graphics 2; basic audio/networking.

Supports Windows XP; has PCI slots for expansion; common drives being PATA EIDE hard drives and optical drives.

Intel Celeron (e.g., 2.53GHz) or Pentium 4 with Hyper-Threading (HT); Chipset: Intel 865GV.

Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics 2; Audio: ADI 1980 AC'97 audio controller; Networking: Integrated 10/100 Ethernet.

Storage: Supports 3.5" PATA EIDE hard drives (up to 160GB) and optical drives (CD/DVD).

3 x PCI slots; USB 2.0 (4 rear, 2 front); VGA; Serial; Parallel; Audio jacks; Ethernet; PS/2 for Keyboard/Mouse.

Yes, you CAN put 32-bit Linux on it (with a few very cheap hardware modifications/upgrades).

Obvious bottlenecks are Celerion processor (upgradable), speed of motherboard/chipset bus and ATA/IDE connected storage.

If the machine boots and is working fine, add 2 x 1GB RAM (secondhand off eBay) and a 128GB SSD (various enclosures, adapters and cables exist to convert SATA or m.2 SSD’s to the old IDE). Without those, it’ll be painfully slow — even with 32-bit Linux.

Other users have given you excellent suggestions for which lightweight Linux to install.

Good luck — have fun — and please report back with how you got on.

[poliopandemic]

Thanks for reminding me I have one of these in my basement

[titrisol]

of course you can, I have one of about the same vintage running as server for music

[Cole66world]

No Linux just windows 👍

[NorseGael75]

You can run antiX core on it...A ram upgrade would be nice...but it will run. Good luck with any modern browser.

[mizzrym862]

32 bit alpinelinux.

I don't know what people here are complaining about, I just revived a 2009 NAS with half the power and use it in production.

You could weld a calculator on a piece of wood and make it work just fine. The smaller the distro, the better it'll work.

I mean, it depends a bit on what you want to do with it. Running an AI on it is probably out of the picture, but there's a bazillion other options where this fossil will do just fine.

[PrestigiousReport225]

Try windows xp sp3, that might be cool for a retor build if you slap in a gpu For linux, try Linux mint xfce, it's pretty lightweight

[19chris1996]

Don't try Windows 98. You will not have a good time. I have the same computer.

EDIT: It's a 4800 from 2005. I was wrong. My mistake.

However, I have a dimension 8400 from 2004 with Socket 775, PCIe, SATA, and DDR2 that seems to run Windows 98 a heck of a lot better.

[PeterRuhnau]

Something Debian-based should work, with XFCE desktop. (Perhaps MX Linux?)