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XP On 8-MHz Pentium With 20 MB RAM

Posted by kdawson on from the golden-hourglass dept.

swehack writes "The guys over at winhistory.de managed to get their Windows XP Professional running on a very minimal box: an Intel Pentium clocked down to 8 MHz with 20 MB of RAM. (The installer won't work with less than 64 MB, but after installing you can remove memory.) The link has plenty of pictures of their progress in achieving this dubious milestone. They deserve a Golden Hourglass award for 'extreme waste of time.' What obscure hardware configurations have you managed to get Windows running on?"

18 of 410 comments (clear)

  1. My Hardware by abscissa · · Score: 5, Funny

    What obscure hardware configurations have you managed to get Windows running on?

    AMD Athlon 3000+ with 1 GB of RAM. A miracle... I know... and STILL I have to reinstall it every couple of months!!

  2. Yes but does it run by Timesprout · · Score: 5, Funny

    Vista?

    --
    Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
    What truth?
    There is no dupe
  3. Not too long ago... by CrkHead · · Score: 5, Interesting
    When Windows 98 came out the installer also checked the memory. I was doing break/fix in a shop and someone insisted we could "upgrade" their OS without them purchasing RAM. I popped in test RAM, did the install, pulled the RAM and sent it home.

    Don't think we ever heard back from them.

    1. Re:Not too long ago... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Probably because they took it to someone else the next time.

  4. Reminds me of the time I compiled Gentoo on a 286 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or rather, the time I started compiling Gentoo on a 286. It was 2004, and it's still going. I think KDE will be done by 2008.

  5. Just like 'enemy combatants' by Kadin2048 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Isn't this against the Geneva conventions?

    Sadly, computers don't have rights, so moral arguments aside, I'm afraid it's quite legal to run Windows on them.

    --
    "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
  6. Let's try a different challenge... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 5, Funny

    How about installing Windows 3.11 on a 64-bit system?

  7. It's all about the Pentiums! by Devil's+BSD · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're using a 286? Don't make me laugh. Your Windows boots up in what, a day and a half?

    --
    I'm the Devil the Windows users warned you about.
  8. Obligatory... by saturndude · · Score: 5, Funny

    20 Megs of RAM? I thought 640K was supposed to be enough for anyone!!!

  9. Mac? by duncanbojangles · · Score: 5, Funny

    What obscure hardware configurations have you managed to get Windows running on?

    iMac with an Intel Core Duo 2?

  10. Think again by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Funny

    "They deserve a Golden Hourglass award for 'extreme waste of time.'"

    Uh... I don't think they'd appreciate that - they probably see plenty of hourglasses already.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  11. Gotta love it... by MooseMuffin · · Score: 5, Funny

    As soon as a new Windows comes out, the old one is suddenly hailed as everything you would ever need, and a marvel of efficient resource usage.

  12. Worst I've seen by Tawnos · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I worked at a computer repair shop, a woman brought in her system and said it was running slowly. I start the system up and expect there to be a bunch of virii. What I saw next shocked me.

    After 30 minutes I'm looking at the default windows XP desktop. Immediately I know this is an illegal install, as the system had no sticker on it, and it looked too old to have had WinXP reasonably on it. I decide to see what service pack she's running, so I right click on my computer, click properties...and almost crap my pants. The system was running on a Cyrix M5 with 48MB of RAM. There were no service packs installed. She had about 30 worms installed and running on her system.

    Sometimes, late at night, I wake up in a cold sweat thinking about the horror of such a system.

  13. Re:last time by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 5, Informative

    "last time i used thermal compound my cat had silver crap for weeks"

    There's a warning on the thermal compound that you shouldn't take it internally. Now I realize it wasn't specific enough to mention cats....

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  14. Seems like by saibot834 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seems like they are using it as their server...

  15. Re:Imagine..... by hummassa · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wikipedia link
    AFAICT, in /. the first was "in California you can always find a party; in Soviet Russia, the Party can always find YOU!"

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
  16. Re:Imagine..... by Xichekolas · · Score: 5, Funny

    I dunno... Gentoo has been around for a long time... just welcoming them now?

    (I run Gentoo)

    --

    Self-referential Sigs are cool on /. these days...

    54

  17. Re:last time by nateb · · Score: 5, Funny

    Could someone explain how this was modded 1, Informative?

    Well, you didn't know that before you read it, did you?

    --
    -- Nate