What's the most retro PC you could build to run a browser + Word

I just sold a Pentium II 350MHz PC with 128Mb RAM and Win XP on it today. That runs fine for Word, Internet and plays MP3s just fine.

In fact with a fresh format and install of Windows it runs suprisingly fast. It would be MUCH better with more RAM though. It uses 90Mb on idle lol
 
What about an old imac, one of the gummy bear plastic see through multicolour jobs?

Had one at work, old PowerPC architecture, worked welll enough for web browsing but we don't test on the older versions of IE on the Mac any more so it was chucked/recycled/whatever it is our facilities do with old kit.
 
I still love my sony vaio laptop, it's a p3 1gz or 800 or somthing with 256MB ram (128 onboard, 128 on stick) but the hard disks died and I'm having issues working myself up to buying a replacement one.
 
Seems like a Pentium II will be no problem - as long as you're running XP.

My original plan was to go for Windows 95 on a 486 and give it a load of RAM. There wouldn't be any sensitive information stored on the machine. Or is it really, really not worth it for security issues on an OS that old?
 
This thread is hilarious. My 1996 Viglen laptop is a 25MHz 386SX/2Mb RAM and 20Gb HDD and it runs Word and Internet Explorer just fine under Windows 3.11.

Word was around under DOS, and so were some decent web browsers.

We even had firewalls and Anti-Virus in those days too...

What we didn't have was so many know-nothing 15-year-olds...
 
WJA96 said:
This thread is hilarious. My 1996 Viglen laptop is a 25MHz 386SX/2Mb RAM and 20Gb HDD and it runs Word and Internet Explorer just fine under Windows 3.11.

Word was around under DOS, and so were some decent web browsers.

We even had firewalls and Anti-Virus in those days too...

What we didn't have was so many know-nothing 15-year-olds...
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That is clearly not the original hard disk WJA, even on a 386 laptop released during the Pentium era ;). My old 386 laptop (about 1990) has a Monochrome screen and something like a 20MB HDD.

I too remember happily running a browser and word in Windows 3.1 on a 386. I also remember playing some ace CD-ROM gems on my 386 desktop like DOTT and Monkey Island. Basically any x86 system will have a word processor and browser suitable, just install the programs that were around at the time rather than expecting to run Vista.

Personally I never find the need to go that far back though. The best OS for old(ish) kit (P2/K6 Onwards) is Xbuntu. Latest version works happily on any 128MB system and offers a safe, reasonable looking and user friendly experience. I install it on any machine I decommission from our offices and then either Freecycle them or put them in the staff canteen as browse boxes. The built in drivers cover almost all kit we have. So far only cheap old 56K modems and one Chaintech board where I couldn't get the onboard sound on with this or XP have caused problems after about 20 systems. Open Office, Firefox 3, Pidgin, etc mean this is a similar experience to a new computer. People get rid of these systems all the time so no need to go back to basics :rolleyes:
 
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I told you there was nothing wrong with 3.1. Why are you so set on Windows though? For this, Linux would do so much better and still have better features and security.
 
Superewza said:
I told you there was nothing wrong with 3.1. Why are you so set on Windows though? For this, Linux would do so much better and still have better features and security.
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Like I implied, it's kind of a nostalgia thing. I'm not sure if I used 3.1, though I may well have done. Windows 95 I definitely remember using. All I really need to know now is if security would be a massive issue under 95 [there will be little to no personal documents stored on the PC]. Would I be able to get hold of no updates whatsoever, or those up until MS released the final one?
 
Lysander said:
Like I implied, it's kind of a nostalgia thing. I'm not sure if I used 3.1, though I may well have done. Windows 95 I definitely remember using. All I really need to know now is if security would be a massive issue under 95 [there will be little to no personal documents stored on the PC]. Would I be able to get hold of no updates whatsoever, or those up until MS released the final one?
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You will be able to find old Windows updates somewhere, even if not on the MS site. Lowest windows I would use though is 2000, not just security but stability too. That has the look and feel of 95 but the stability of XP. If I am not mistaken the best 95 based Windows was Windows 98 Second Edition (SE), Millennium Edition got increasingly less stable and more prone to BSOD. Having a look at the Wiki it will run on pretty old hardware:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_98
 
The op's original request runs more than well on old pentium 2 harware with 64 meg ram and linux :)

Might dig out the old dual pentium 100 later and see if it can handle cd playing and other things all that the same time though.... (should be fine, even i remember taking a toshiba 486 satellite notebook out on the web before back in the day)
 
I remember installing windows me over windows 98se because I wanted the new version of windows media player...

But sadly the 450mhz pentium 3 is the oldest computer I've owned. Needless to say it can browse and word process, though I'm not sure it does it very 'well'
 
pingwing said:
The op's original request runs more than well on old pentium 2 harware with 64 meg ram and linux :)

Might dig out the old dual pentium 100 later and see if it can handle cd playing and other things all that the same time though.... (should be fine, even i remember taking a toshiba 486 satellite notebook out on the web before back in the day)
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I have settled on a 486/Win 95 and have started scavenging for parts. Yes, there will be problems but that's all part of it. RAM will be something in the region of 32/64 MB. I have already found a CPU + mobo [though the CPU's a SX1 only...].

My only queries at this stage are

- What PSU would be good for this kind of build?
- What form factor case should be used? [AT?]

In a couple of weeks I'll start a new topic with pics.
 
Guest2 said:
^ but windows 95 looks badass on a 10 year old machine!
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Badass? No it doesn't it looks just the same as it did a decade ago, not very good! Are you old enough to have used it first time around? I remember installing from a couple of dozen 1.44MB floppies!
 
clv101 said:
Badass? No it doesn't it looks just the same as it did a decade ago, not very good! Are you old enough to have used it first time around? I remember installing from a couple of dozen 1.44MB floppies!
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Yep, and Office Professional came on 6 3.5" floppy disks. The good old days!
 
Lysander said:
I have settled on a 486/Win 95 and have started scavenging for parts. Yes, there will be problems but that's all part of it. RAM will be something in the region of 32/64 MB. I have already found a CPU + mobo [though the CPU's a SX1 only...].

My only queries at this stage are

- What PSU would be good for this kind of build?
- What form factor case should be used? [AT?]

In a couple of weeks I'll start a new topic with pics.
Click to expand...

You need an AT case with matching PSU. On the older cases the power switch at the front connected to the PSU, not the motherboard, I actually can't remember swapping out many PSU's as they tended to be better made back then and had far less work to do. Not sure they were anywhere near as standardised as these days, that was one of the reasons for ATX (implemented starting with most Pentium 2 systems, pretty much all P3s, some AMD K6 systems and all Athlons).

If I was you I would look for a full old system to play with as matching RAM & CPU's with motherboards also used to be far more difficult than these days. The chances of finding a manual for the motherboard so you can get your jumper settings right is pretty low so if they aren't already together you may have a tough time getting it running.
 
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