Running Modern Linux on a Pentium 133

Linux is known for being a very efficient operating system that can revitalize old hardware, but this is ridiculous. YouTuber Action Retro wanted to see just how far it could be pushed, so he installed a modern Linux desktop environment on, drum roll please… a 30-year-old Pentium 133 machine. It is one of those big Packard Bells that you used to play Doom on in the 90s. But while we know it can run Doom, can it run a current version of Linux?

For the best chance of success, Action Retro chose to attempt the installation with Tiny Core Linux, which is known for having a very small footprint and running super fast. It also has another feature that comes in real handy with old, slow, mechanical disks — each boot installs a complete, fresh operating system directly in RAM. But this P133 only came equipped with a paltry 8MB of RAM, so it was first maxed out at 128MB.

Also working in Action Retro’s favor was the fact that this machine can boot from CD-ROM, which many computers of the era could not do. However, when a CD was inserted and the computer was rebooted, a whole lot of nothing happened. Something about the modern bootable disc was not to the system’s liking, so a more modern DVD drive was installed with the help of a SATA-to-IDE adapter. Unfortunately, that didn’t work any better.

The solution ended up being software called Plop Boot Manager. This runs a boot manager from a floppy disk, and it is able to boot modern discs from old computers. Using this setup, the installation process worked without a hitch, although it was pretty slow. When the installation was done, the machine booted up into the Ice window manager. The colors were pretty screwy, but a little bit of settings tweaking fixed that in no time.

The desktop was reasonably responsive, and Action Retro even got the machine online with a modern Wi-Fi card. Can you believe it? This P133 is actually a useful machine that can connect to the modern internet. But what would you really use such a machine for? I don’t know about you, but I’d play Doom.