{"id":3974,"date":"2014-04-24T12:19:55","date_gmt":"2014-04-24T16:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/?p=3974"},"modified":"2014-04-24T12:23:08","modified_gmt":"2014-04-24T16:23:08","slug":"debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\/","title":{"rendered":"Debian: The only Linux distro for your really old hardware"},"content":{"rendered":"

I first used Unix in the late 80’s, that was my first interaction with a programmable system that did not need punch cards. Then MINIX came along, on the PC, something that seemed fun at the time as it gave the illusion of shrinking a computer monolith down to desktop size.<\/p>\n

Linux was released almost 23 years ago, and since the early 90’s my love affair with every new release and flavor has been consistent; sometimes, even rewarding.<\/p>\n

As I build my own PC rigs, most hardware these days is several times capable of working with the OS of the day, such as Windows and including Linux.<\/p>\n

With old hardware, the challenge is to make it work well enough, if at all.<\/p>\n

I’ve a 10 year old Compaq laptop – affectionately called, ‘the brick’ – that lost its Windows XP during a crash four years ago, just in time to buy a new one. It worked well being a dual boot system with Ubuntu, until the latter’s releases reached version 9 and above.<\/p>\n

To be fair, hardware depends on driver support in order not to become obsolete, and that’s exactly what happened: the video card, an Nvidia Go 440, received fewer support over the years, and now it has become the thorn of my interaction with Linux.<\/p>\n

Since I work with Linux daily, on my servers or via the Oracle VM, not being able to conquer that final frontier became a challenge.<\/p>\n

Ubuntu 14.04 was released recently, and no matter how hard I tried, it refused to surrender my aged laptop’s video card full control and OpenGL support. Without hardware acceleration for video, your Linux experience is like drinking beer with a straw.<\/p>\n

I tried OpenSUSE and other Linux flavors and there were fewer problems, but the final destination was unattainable – until Debian 7.4<\/strong><\/a> aka ‘Wheezy’ came to my rescue. I installed the AMD64 variant and kept my fingers crossed for the graphics part.<\/p>\n

This time around I did not rely on the proprietary Nvidia binaries that failed to compile for a myriad of reasons on my previous attempts; the Debian distribution provides ample support for my 10+ year old video card and hardware, including the Broadcom wireless card that was a bitch to enable on other distros. Once I updated these, I was on a fully functioning machine that performs flawlessly.<\/p>\n

So if you’re a Linux fan and want to utilize an old piece of hardware that has not reached ‘dinosaur’ status yet, I’d wholeheartedly recommend giving Debian Linux a try.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I first used Unix in the late 80’s, that was my first interaction with a programmable system that did not need punch cards. Then MINIX came along, on the PC, something that seemed fun at the time as it gave the illusion of shrinking a computer monolith down to desktop size. Linux was released almost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1050,1049,1051,1052,1053],"class_list":["post-3974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-domains","tag-debian-7-4","tag-debian-linux","tag-nvidia","tag-nvidia-and-linux","tag-nvidia-legacy-drivers-on-linux","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nDebian: The only Linux distro for your really old hardware - Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Debian: The only Linux distro for your really old hardware - Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I first used Unix in the late 80’s, that was my first interaction with a programmable system that did not need punch cards. Then MINIX came along, on the PC, something that seemed fun at the time as it gave the illusion of shrinking a computer monolith down to desktop size. Linux was released almost […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-24T16:19:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-24T16:23:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Theo Develegas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Theo Develegas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Theo Develegas\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c9625f061a0e603a87f5bf0f6f781fe\"},\"headline\":\"Debian: The only Linux distro for your really old hardware\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-24T16:19:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-24T16:23:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":432,\"commentCount\":2,\"keywords\":[\"Debian 7.4\",\"Debian Linux\",\"Nvidia\",\"Nvidia and Linux\",\"Nvidia legacy drivers on Linux\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Domains\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\\\/\",\"name\":\"Debian: The only Linux distro for your really old hardware - Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-24T16:19:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-24T16:23:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c9625f061a0e603a87f5bf0f6f781fe\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Debian: The only Linux distro for your really old hardware\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c9625f061a0e603a87f5bf0f6f781fe\",\"name\":\"Theo Develegas\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6794630c371bee89f2b833c1f4b777d9ba75767b217c8fce2cfd6e6d7d90960d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6794630c371bee89f2b833c1f4b777d9ba75767b217c8fce2cfd6e6d7d90960d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6794630c371bee89f2b833c1f4b777d9ba75767b217c8fce2cfd6e6d7d90960d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Theo Develegas\"},\"description\":\"Theo Develegas - News and opinions on domain name investing, brand development, design, and the occasional rant or two about life's challenges. Founder of Acroplex LLC.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/acroplex\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acro.net\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Debian: The only Linux distro for your really old hardware - Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Debian: The only Linux distro for your really old hardware - Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas","og_description":"I first used Unix in the late 80’s, that was my first interaction with a programmable system that did not need punch cards. Then MINIX came along, on the PC, something that seemed fun at the time as it gave the illusion of shrinking a computer monolith down to desktop size. Linux was released almost […]","og_url":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\/","og_site_name":"Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas","article_published_time":"2014-04-24T16:19:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-04-24T16:23:08+00:00","author":"Theo Develegas","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Theo Develegas","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\/"},"author":{"name":"Theo Develegas","@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9c9625f061a0e603a87f5bf0f6f781fe"},"headline":"Debian: The only Linux distro for your really old hardware","datePublished":"2014-04-24T16:19:55+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-24T16:23:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\/"},"wordCount":432,"commentCount":2,"keywords":["Debian 7.4","Debian Linux","Nvidia","Nvidia and Linux","Nvidia legacy drivers on Linux"],"articleSection":["Domains"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\/","url":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\/","name":"Debian: The only Linux distro for your really old hardware - Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-04-24T16:19:55+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-24T16:23:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9c9625f061a0e603a87f5bf0f6f781fe"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/debian-linux-distro-really-old-hardware\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Debian: The only Linux distro for your really old hardware"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/","name":"Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9c9625f061a0e603a87f5bf0f6f781fe","name":"Theo Develegas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6794630c371bee89f2b833c1f4b777d9ba75767b217c8fce2cfd6e6d7d90960d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6794630c371bee89f2b833c1f4b777d9ba75767b217c8fce2cfd6e6d7d90960d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6794630c371bee89f2b833c1f4b777d9ba75767b217c8fce2cfd6e6d7d90960d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Theo Develegas"},"description":"Theo Develegas - News and opinions on domain name investing, brand development, design, and the occasional rant or two about life's challenges. Founder of Acroplex LLC.","sameAs":["https:\/\/acro.net","https:\/\/x.com\/acroplex"],"url":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}