You should not be using that computer on the modern internet. I mean, you can but it will not work well. Windows 98 should not be used on the web at all.
this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2024
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Linux should be fine but hard pass on unsupported Windows versions.
No web browser is even going to support modern https versions so you'll be safe.
Also malware is targeting modern machines, not old crusty ones so you'll have security through obscurity on your side.
Assuming full GUI is preferable over CLI/TUI/tiling WM minimalism, as it was for me while toying with a 2005 Celeron laptop with 2GB RAM
Hardware:
- Use a native PATA SSD
- Take good care of the T42, it's relatively delicate as far as ThinkPads go
OS:
- antiX for more packages and less configuration
- Alpine or Adelie if you are more adventurous
Desktop:
- IceWM (default in antiX), FVWM, and wmaker are all snappy enough
- XFCE is marginal and will eat up a good chunk (~450MB) of your precious RAM
Browser:
- Netsurf is workable but there will be sites that don't work
- Librewolf with Javascript disabled by default (uBlock makes it easy to whitelist as needed) might do, but expect a severe CPU bottleneck
- Security aside, surfing the web on 98 will simply be painful
- I would also remote into my desktop's browser over LAN with either RDP or compressed X forwarding. YMMV if not over LAN
Productivity:
- Modern Libreoffice unfortunately feels a bit sluggish on old hardware. Writing in plain text and making spreadsheets in Gnumeric might be a better experience, as it was for me
Thank you for your insights. I already have some of these items on my list such as trying out Antix, restricting Windows 98 to gaming, upgrading the hardware, lifting the T42 with both hands from both sides, etc.
When it comes to web browsing, I am starting to think as long as websites that offer long form reading content work, I should be okay. For every other website, I would rather use my daily driver. It would be nice if the boards and forums I frequent also work but I won’t lose sleep over it. Besides, I am using this opportunity to get back on IRC.
As for writing, my workflows are already based on plain text (org files) so I won’t be requiring any office suites. It is also an opportunity to test out my emacs configuration on a resource constricted machine.
If I may ask, how was your experience using the Celeron laptop you mentioned? Do you still use it?
I wanted to see if having a dedicated low power writing machine with "emergency" internet access would help with my productivity. Also a bit of nostalgia as it was one of my first laptops. Nothing too remarkable about it as long as I kept to offline office tasks. But between the short battery life and the profound slowness of google docs (have to use it for work, ugh), I went back to using my X230.
I am having similar objectives as of now for the T42. I hope it goes well. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I have a t42 and its really slow. The only distro that works somewhat well is Adelie Linux XFCE and even that one is barely useable
I see. I was planning on using Antix or Bunsen Linux. I will check out Adelie Linux too. Thank you for the suggestion.
Though I will be maxing out the T42 (CPU, RAM, SSD), I am aware it is not going to be a smooth sailing after a cursory look at videos on YouTube.
LXDE and emacs mostly
Don't use it other than as a gimmic is my suggestion. For shits and giggles? Sure, go for it. But don't expect anything to work.
If you're an admin on operations person it could be used as ssh terminal, or to run Kubernetes scripts, no? Of course you can do it on any machine, but a dedicated one gives you extra screen and keyboard. Maybe use it as a display for server stats.