Reviving a Pentium 100 with FreeBSD: A Journey into the Past

Originally published on 2006.

In the world of technology, we often discard old machines without a second thought, assuming they no longer have any useful purpose. But sometimes, these forgotten relics have hidden potential. This post is for anyone who's ever looked at an old computer, dusted it off, and wondered if it could still serve a purpose. In our case, we brought a Pentium 100 machine back to life by installing FreeBSD, and the experience was both educational and surprisingly rewarding.

The Setup: A Pentium 100 from the Past

The machine in question was an old Pentium 100 MHz with just 46 MB of RAM and a 728 MB hard drive. A true relic of the late '90s, this PC had long since been relegated to a dusty corner, forgotten by most. However, with the release of FreeBSD 4.5, we decided to give it another shot. FreeBSD is known for its stability and performance, even on older hardware, making it the perfect candidate for this project.

The Process: Installing FreeBSD on Vintage Hardware

We started the process by installing the hard drive into a more modern Pentium II system (with 64 MB of RAM) in order to facilitate the installation. The machine was configured to boot from CD-ROM, which was an essential step since the old Pentium 100 didn’t have the capability to boot from modern USB drives.

Once the system was up and running, we used FreeBSD's built-in installer to create two partitions:

• A 32 MB partition for swap.
• The remaining 684 MB was allocated to the root partition (/) for the FreeBSD file system.

After setting up the partitions, we chose to install the vsftpd FTP server. This decision was motivated by the need for non-anonymous access to the machine, enabling us to securely transfer files to and from the server.

Once the installation completed, we disabled sendmail, which wasn’t needed for our use case. For networking configuration, we used the /stand/sysinstall command, selecting the appropriate networking options. In the end, we had a functioning FreeBSD server running on an ancient piece of hardware—without a single hitch.

The Results: Success on Vintage Hardware

It was truly satisfying to see the old Pentium 100 running smoothly with FreeBSD. The machine was given a new lease on life, and the performance was surprisingly good, considering its humble specs. What seemed like an outdated, unusable piece of hardware now had a purpose again. We were able to set up FTP services and run a reliable, secure system with a minimal footprint.

Final Thoughts: Repurposing Old Machines

This little project reaffirmed an important lesson: never underestimate the power of older hardware, especially when paired with a robust operating system like FreeBSD. These machines, which many would consider obsolete, can still be quite useful for lightweight tasks, small servers, or even just as a learning experience.

We hope this small story serves as a helpful guide for others looking to revive their old PCs. If you have a similar project in mind, don’t hesitate to give FreeBSD a try. You might be surprised at what these “obsolete” systems can still accomplish.

A special thanks to Emiliano Gavilán for inspiring us with his writings on bringing old systems back to life. And of course, a huge thanks to the FreeBSD team for developing such an amazing operating system that continues to prove its worth, even on the oldest of machines.

Reproduction and Acknowledgments

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For anyone interested in configuring vsftpd on FreeBSD, check out this fantastic vsftpd tutorial to guide you through the process.