XP and lunux machine

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  • March 23, 2022 at 5:43 pm #69328
    keith with the teefkeith with the teef
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      @thinktank
      Forumite Points: 0

      I have this aspiration to make the smallest XP/linux machine I can. To see that green hill again 🙂

      I recall reading that M$ wants hardware makers to make stuff that will not support old O/systems.

      So on that basis am I stuck or not. Would it just be a bios settings thing.

      Anyway I am looking for the most modern kit I can @ x86 dual core SOC. smallest mobo with sata slot for ssd. Because of XP s/pack 3.

      Single stick 4GB ram and the smallest psu I can get my hands on..

      Any Ideas

      March 23, 2022 at 9:25 pm #69330
      Dave RiceDave Rice
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        @ricedg
        Forumite Points: 7

        One of the barebones mini PCs would fit the bill and Linux shouldn’t be an issue but XP? It’s got a bit old now for drivers to put it mildly (it’s not a BIOS thing). What I do for a customer who must still use XP (old door access control system) is run it in a VM.

        Gigabyte BRIX Mini PC GB-BACE-3160 £125 2.24Ghz J3160 quad core SoC, 802.11ac, BT4 and Gigabit. You won’t get that new hardware working with XP. 4GB ram will be enough for a lightweight Linux + VM though I’d go for 8GB.

        £180 with 8GB DDR3L and a 240GB SSD, bargain. With a distro like Lubuntu or LXLE it should be very usable and bang up to date.

        For a bit more oomph look for older NUCs on E-Bay like this one: Intel NUC NUC5i3RYK Mini PC, i3 5010U 8GB RAM, 120GB SSD, Wifi, Bluetooth Win 10 £110 there are loads out there, just avoid the dual core Celerons (too weedy).

         

         

        March 23, 2022 at 10:13 pm #69331
        RSBRSB
        Keymaster
          @bdthree
          Forumite Points: 5,183

          I fancied a bit of nostalgia the other day so I put XP 2005 in a virtual machine. I must say it was nice to see it again. Not the original look of XP but I preferred the 2005 installment.

           

          Americans: Over Sexed, Over Payed and Over here, Wat Wat!

          March 24, 2022 at 7:01 am #69334
          Ed PEd P
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            @edps
            Forumite Points: 39

            As Dave said, use a vm for XP, you can then make sure that it will never connect to the Internet by removing its network adapter.  Unfortunately M$ never issued an ARM version of XP, but they have for Windows 11. This makes it possible to install Windows 11 on a £54 Raspberry Pi4.

            Other than it being (just) possible to do this, no sane person would want to use such a beast for anything in the real world. However, just in case you want to try for yourself, the method used is given in the link:

            https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/how-to/install-windows-11-raspberry-pi

            I believe M$ made ARM versions for Windows 8 and 10, but unfortunately never made one for Windows 7 as that could have made a fairly viable machine.

            March 24, 2022 at 9:47 am #69335
            Dave RiceDave Rice
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              @ricedg
              Forumite Points: 7

              Almost tempted to try that with my Pi4 for the hell of it, but have just tested positive for Covid so it’s probably just brain mush talking (I feel fine BTW).

              My customer needs the XP VM to access the local network, but of course internet access is a bad idea. Without recourse to VLANs or routers capable of running one way linked subnets there is an easy way to do this. Give the VM a fixed IP address but leave the Default Gateway blank. That way any traffic for the local subnet proceeds as normal but anything going outside of that is dropped.

              That does leave the VM potentially vulnerable to anything that gets inside the local subnet, but TBH these days the risks are negligible if you are running the other networked devices properly patched and with AV (if applicable) and are running a Firewall on XP.

              March 24, 2022 at 4:03 pm #69336
              Ed PEd P
              Participant
                @edps
                Forumite Points: 39

                Thanks Dave, that is a useful network  tip.

                March 25, 2022 at 5:47 pm #69340
                keith with the teefkeith with the teef
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                  @thinktank
                  Forumite Points: 0

                  Thanks for the replies lads. I’m on it.

                  No brain mush here.

                  Now what was I saying. erm, Doh!

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