I have not done the legwork to compare this to other distros, but Debian generally supports older hardware than most other major mainstream desktop distros.

[–] LeFantome 5 points 15 hours ago

Yes, and this means all the “light weight”, “legacy hardware” distros require at least a Pentium Pro.

The only binary distro I know that still runs on Pentium is Adelie.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 16 hours ago

Gentoo still has support for i486, although you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the install media downloads page to find it. (Admittedly, this is in part because the list is in alphabetical order by arch. 😅 )

[–] [email protected] 8 points 20 hours ago

Slackware probably still supports Babbage's Difference Engine.

[+] [email protected] -16 points 20 hours ago (4 children)

Yay, ewaste!

[–] [email protected] 22 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

It's literally not worth the electricity to keep computers that old running. You could replace one with a $5 Raspberry Pi Zero or maybe even a $2 microcontroller and recoup the cost in lower power bills within a month or so.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

The Pentium Pro came out in 1995. This is dropping support for CPUs that came out before then. The 486 came out in 1989.

I personally think 36 years of support is long enough.

[–] LeFantome 6 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

There were 486 compatible SoC chips being released as late as 2010.

I think you can still buy them: https://www.vortex86.com/

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago

Do they usually run a Linux kernel? I would have expected some RTOS on a chip like that. And if it does run Linux, does the SDK use mainline Linux or some fork by the manufacturer?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

Some stuff turns to e-waste because it's no longer supported by software. Some stuff turns to e-waste because it's just so goddamn old. The last ones of these architecture had a whopping 233MHz. My first PC that I got new as a kid was faster than that (must have been a Pentium II, while i586 is Pentium). I highly doubt there are many of these systems left in operation, especially not with new kernels.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago

A lot and i mean a lot of industrial controllers are running on 486s. Intel was producing 486s up until 2007. And a lot of companies wont get rid of controllers if they continue to work.

[–] FizzyOrange 2 points 19 hours ago

Don't be an idiot.