Lazarus
Programming => Operating Systems => Linux => Topic started by: MISV on August 17, 2019, 01:21:24 am
-
Can you guys recommend a Linux Distro that
- works well with Lazarus
- is okay easy coming from Windows (also do some Mac stuff)
- preferably user friendly GUI
- can run on old PCs
-
Hi!
XUbuntu is the lightweight version of Ubuntu. Lazarus works well together with Ubuntu.
XUbuntu comes with the leightweight Desktop Xfce which is not very comfortable.
Desktops similar to Windows like KDE or gnome need a lot of RAM and disk.
XUbuntu needs only (minimum) 512 MB RAM and less than 10 GB harddisk space.
I Know this from some computer kids who use XUbuntu in school on hardware from the last millenium (nearly).
Winni
-
I'm using Ubuntu 18.04 (in a VM on macOS) with Lazarus - no issues.
-
Can you guys recommend a Linux Distro that
- works well with Lazarus
- is okay easy coming from Windows (also do some Mac stuff)
- preferably user friendly GUI
- can run on old PCs
Linux Mint MATE,
-
I like Debian with plain XFCE, made it look a bit like windows.
Not much more needed to learn than any other.
-
Having used Debian/Ubuntu/Mint for years (since Ubuntu 8 ), I switched to Manjaro more than a year ago. The primary reason is that at one point you will find yourself reinstalling a Debian based distro either because of dependency problems (outdated or incompatible libraries) or a new point release. I hardly ever have been able to actively use and keep a Debian based distro running for more than two or three years (except for my server which still runs Debian 7 :D ). Distros like Ubuntu and Mint are based on Debian testing and definitely less stable.
That said, Manjaro is a rolling release always giving you next to the newest Linux software, including kernel and firmware. It is backed by a huge up-to-date repository of software packages. New releases are added to the repo quickly, including the latest Lazarus. Manjaro's main desktop is XFCE which is pretty light-weight and easy to use and should give you no problem on older machines. Its interface is similar to that of Windows with a start menu.
I still have a Debian machine (version 9), primarily for testing purposes, and I was able to download and install Lazarus 2.0.2 without problem. But you have to manually download the packages and install them yourself.
-
Somewhat my experience too, GUI installations usually I count on only one upgrade going ok, but non gui installs can do 2-3 major updates (which is quite long with LTS->LTS upgrades only)
But still, a LTS release cycle alone is 5 years, and even one upgrade makes it an avg of 7.5 years if you start with not too new hardware (if you need to do an upgrade to get on the LTS train, it is shorter)
p.s. tried to update my ubuntu 16.04 LTS desktop distro to 18.04 2 days ago and the GUI parts of the update totally went awry. Couldn't handle the whole "unity install with some history" -> gnome it seems.
-
I've been using Ubuntu for quite a few years on a Mac in VirtualBox (and previously in Parallels). I mainly use it to run Lazarus and debug my software. It works great.
-
The primary reason is that at one point you will find yourself reinstalling a Debian based distro either because of dependency problems (outdated or incompatible libraries) or a new point release.
I'm happy ever since Ubuntu (XFCE) 15.04, upgrading that same installation.
Swapped 2 videocards, migrated filesystem from hdd to ssd, now I'm have 19.04 up and running.
Well, honestly I'm little disappointed of 18.04->19.04 upgrade (few cosmetic bugs - a price of non-LTE), but nothing really serious.
Ubuntu (with Unity DE) users were suffered a way more seriously.
So XUbuntu works for me..
-
Thank you all - I am leaning towards xubuntu / xfce ubuntu
Do you know if i will be able to run Lazarus on that with a Pentium 4 hyperhtreading with 4GB memory and gfx card for developing?
This is all very preliminary, but I want to be ready if I start getting requests for linux versions of my software
-
Yes, Pentium 4 is enough for the Ubuntu family. And 4 GB is more than enough.
Here is a german page about Ubuntu and old Hardware:
https://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Alte_Hardware/ (https://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Alte_Hardware/)
Shot it through google translator if you can't read german.
Winni
-
Note that there may be some problems with very old hardware. In this box (Pentium 4 HT - 3.0Ghz), for example, the BIOS doesn't allow to activate the NX bit of the processor, which makes installing newer versions of Ubuntu (and in fact most Linux distros) close to impossible.
I managed to update to Ubuntu 12.04 but anthing more modern than that is not worth the effort (for me, YMMV)
-
BTW http://yeokhengmeng.com/2018/01/make-the-486-great-again/ (http://yeokhengmeng.com/2018/01/make-the-486-great-again/)
-
Lucamars situation is the point where XUbuntu appears on the scene. It is made for old or small PCs. And if you got realy old hardware, it is said you should take LUbuntu: works with Pentium II and 128 MB (!!!!) RAM. Have not tested it.
@Abelisto: Don't say nothing angainst the good old 486! The last PC without a fan an it's noise. And the first one with an FPU on the processor! That was the computer for my first Linux distro: Slackware - on 10 (or so) Floppy discs! You needed half a night to install it. Happy that those days are gone.
Winni
-
This is very subjective and you will get different answers.
As for me, I swear by Linux Mint Cinnamon. I've been using this distro for years, have tried many others (Fedora, Ubuntu, XFCE, Manjaro, Mandrake/Mandriva/OpenMandriva, Elementary etc) but I still love my Lazarus experience with Linux Mint Cinnamon.
JD
-
Yes, but MISVs question was : Will it work with Pentium 4 hyperhtreading with 4GB memory and gfx card?
You have not answered to that question.
And definitly all this is subjective. So is mankind.
I worked with Slackware, Suse, Red Hat, Ubuntu, XUbuntu, Knoppix, Debian and a lot of Unixes - so I can't share your experience. So it is subjective!
But what about your prefered distros and old hardware? That was the question.
Winni
-
LUbuntu makes sense, you might get away with Ubuntu Mate but probably not. Lubuntu is not very pretty but works fine and probably is an easy learning curve if coming from an older windows. I suggest you steer clear of RedHat based distros, their strict adherence to Gnome 3 and its rules is not helpful and G3 is way beyond your P4
Partition your disk with a separate /home directory, that makes it easy to to do a fresh install, use the long term releases (18.04 right now) unless you enjoy upgrading/reinstalling. Ubuntu Mate and LUbuntu are good for 3 years from memory. Ubuntu has now dropped support for 32bit so if yours is a 32bit processor you will have issues beyond the life of 18.04.
Assuming you will be connected to the internet, be aware that an old, unsupported version of linux is not without risks.
At present, you can use the repository supplied FPC but you must install Lazarus from source, its easy and all documented on the wiki.
Davo
-
Hmm seems both ubuntu/manjaro ditching 32bit albeit I found https://manjaro32.org/
Anyhow - it seems like a dead bird to start try run 32bit OS now... I may ditch the idea of using my old P4 as a linux test machines for Lazarus Linux compilations.
I was leaning strongly towards xfce for speed / decent and simple ui
I guess I could still use xbunto latest 32bit and just get those 32bit packages available (can see steam hjelped made sure there was an extension of some 32bit beyond 19.10)
-
If you still want to use an old 32bit computer, I suggest Debian. I have two 32bit HP/Compaq systems from around 2003 and Debian 10 installs just fine, preferably with XFCE or LXDE desktop. Some Debian based distros may also work, but more sophisticated stuff like multimedia may give problems (I'm not sure about that).
One Debian based distro that may be a bit easier to start with is MX Linux (current version 18). It has a i386 PAE flavor. I have experience with MX Linux 16 and 17. They have tons of tools that will make life easier. It also allows you to make a new live distro from your tuned system, either for back-up or to share with others.
If you really want a 386 OS, these are probably your best (stable) options.
-
The Ubuntu 'friends', Mate, Lubuntu and Xubuntu version 18.04 will be supported until April 2021. And all include a 32bit system.
Thats a pretty life span IMHO.
Davo
-
One thing I noticed on my Compaq Evo (2001-2003) is that Application.ProcessMessages hangs up the program. My workaround is to repaint controls where needed.