Timeline for What is the oldest computer capable of running a modern version of GNU/Linux?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
29 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 16, 2020 at 22:50 | comment | added | peterh | In 1998, I've heard that 1.0 kernels work with 1MB 386. | |
| Jun 2, 2019 at 9:10 | history | edited | Peter Cordes | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Allow for the possibility of non-GNU user-space. Maybe I'm making a mess of this question and should roll it back to the original, but it clearly seems to be asking about user-space as well as a kernel (e.g. mentioning Debian). |
| Jun 2, 2019 at 8:59 | history | edited | Peter Cordes | CC BY-SA 4.0 | This is asking about user-space, too, i.e. a whole OS |
| Mar 15, 2019 at 20:41 | answer | added | tiger99 | timeline score: 8 | |
| Mar 10, 2019 at 17:05 | comment | added | Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen | You may want to look into NetBSD which has some old platforms at their Tier 2 level. The oldest I know about is the Sun 2 which was already "not new" in the late 80'es. netbsd.org/ports/#ports-tier1 | |
| Mar 5, 2019 at 16:23 | answer | added | jeffB | timeline score: 5 | |
| Jan 7, 2018 at 23:45 | comment | added | snips-n-snails | See also retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/1811/… | |
| Oct 14, 2017 at 6:36 | answer | added | Jim MacKenzie | timeline score: 12 | |
| Oct 10, 2017 at 14:36 | answer | added | user258532 | timeline score: 19 | |
| Jul 27, 2017 at 12:33 | comment | added | Tommylee2k | Linux was originally written for the i386, ... the question that remains is "what's the oldest thing that qualifies as a 'modern Linux-based OS'" | |
| Jul 26, 2017 at 15:32 | answer | added | scruss | timeline score: 10 | |
| Jul 26, 2017 at 12:20 | answer | added | Theodore Head | timeline score: 25 | |
| Apr 19, 2017 at 8:49 | answer | added | rackandboneman | timeline score: 7 | |
| Jan 3, 2017 at 18:47 | answer | added | Taryn | timeline score: 6 | |
| Jun 10, 2016 at 19:20 | comment | added | Jonas Czech | @echristopherson I'd consider that "modern" could be something from the last ~5 years or so. | |
| Jun 10, 2016 at 19:19 | comment | added | echristopherson | Also, the wording of this question is vague; how modern is "modern"? | |
| Jun 10, 2016 at 19:18 | comment | added | echristopherson | uclinux.org allows the running of Linux on microcontrollers and other things without an MMU, including some 68000 systems. | |
| Jun 6, 2016 at 20:54 | comment | added | Chris Stratton | Strictly speaking, any computer no matter how primitive which you manage to hang sufficient indirectly addresses RAM and initialized storage off of can do it, by emulating one for which you can build a modern version. Someone did this for laughs within the past few years on an 8-bit ATmega, but far older candidates would also work. | |
| May 6, 2016 at 8:29 | comment | added | mnem | The Amiga 2500 and 2500UX (released Sep.'88) both shipped with a 68020 CPU, 68881 FPU, and 68851 MMU as standard so should also be m68k linux compatible. | |
| Apr 25, 2016 at 12:46 | comment | added | SF. | AFAIR there were kernel patches that removed the MMU requirement. Of course the side effect was that whatever would be a core dump of a single program on PC, meant the OS crash on Amiga. | |
| Apr 25, 2016 at 11:33 | vote | accept | Jonas Czech | ||
| Apr 21, 2016 at 20:56 | answer | added | sendmoreinfo | timeline score: 14 | |
| Apr 21, 2016 at 20:33 | comment | added | blubberdiblub | @nsandersen yes, the MC68030 CPU has an on-die MMU and is capable of running a normal m68k Linux kernel. | |
| Apr 21, 2016 at 20:28 | answer | added | Brian Blake | timeline score: 10 | |
| Apr 21, 2016 at 20:08 | answer | added | Mark | timeline score: 49 | |
| Apr 21, 2016 at 19:57 | comment | added | snips-n-snails | The Macintosh II from 1987 is supported by Linux/m68k if you add the PMMU. | |
| Apr 21, 2016 at 19:01 | comment | added | nsandersen | In that case an Amiga 3000 (with full MC68030) should be able to run a normal-ish kernel? That would take us to 1990, but there must be older machines.. | |
| Apr 21, 2016 at 18:21 | comment | added | blubberdiblub | Be aware that it's not a stock A1200. The A1200 didn't have an MMU (also called PMMU). Normal Linux kernels require an MMU for memory protection, virtual address spaces and swapping. Debian m68k is not an exception. With an accelerator card, as used in the video, you usually gain an MMU and thus you can run Linux. Back in the day I also ran Debian on an accelerated A600. | |
| Apr 21, 2016 at 17:37 | history | asked | Jonas Czech | CC BY-SA 3.0 |