Old Computer Challenge
Have you heard of the Old Computer Challenge running from July 10th to July 16th 2023? It is a chance to dig out your really old computers and relive those far gone days. The challenge is to use a computer with 512MB RAM and 1 CPU throttled to it's lowest frequency.
My Plan
So far this is my plan for equipment. I don't have a really old computer so I will need to throttle some not-so-old equipment.
==Lenovo IdeaPad==
I have a 12 year old IdeaPad with an AMD E1 CPU. I have managed to hobble this device and will run:
- OS: antiX Linux
- RAM: 512MB limited via Grub options
- CPU: Limit to 1 CPU core via Grub options
- CPU frequency: Limit to the lowest value via TLP settings
To accomplish this you can set the Grub command line value to:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet maxcpus=1 mem=512M"
For TLP settings edit /etc/tlp.conf to set these values:
TLP_ENABLE=1
CPU_SCALING_GOVERNOR_ON_AC=powersave
CPU_SCALING_GOVERNOR_ON_BAT=powersave
And there, I now have 777Mhz single core IdeaPad with 512MB RAM!
Backup Plan
As a backup plan I also have a Knoppix install. However this is a bit more of a pain since I have to use these options manually at every boot:
knoppix maxcpus=1 mem=512M
Then after booting I need to rate limit the CPU by changing the value of a file like so:
su
echo 777000 | tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
HaikuOS Virtual Machine
I will also be running HaikuOS in a VirtualBox virtual machine. I tried running HaikuOS on my IdeaPad but there was no way to limit the CPU frequency, apparently there aren't power saving drivers to do that with this CPU. But in a VM I can set it to use only 1 CPU then set an execution cap on the CPU. So I will be running:
- Host OS: Windows 10
- Host CPU: i5 8500 3GHz
- VirtualBox OS: Haiku OS
- VirtualBox RAM: 512MB
- VirtualBox CPU: 1 with execution cap of 25%
Will you join us on July 10th?
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tags: Linux, HaikuOS, Old Computer Challenge timestamp: 2023-06-16T19:00:57-04:00