Thanks, OpenMPT seems the best that I have tried so far (on my Windows 10 machine at least).
I was very surprised with how badly I got on with MadTracker as I had expected this to be the best alternative! Samples loaded as white noise and that was after the third install attempt which installed then asked me if I wanted to open MT but then said it couldn’t find the file! The first attempt to download it attempted to install sth dodgy too 
Good point! I used Renoise 2.7 with Windows XP 32bit on a 2008 PC for more than 8 years and it worked perfectly. This should also work on a 2003 laptop with Windows Vista.
I can also recommend SkaleTracker, which is a FastTracker clone for free. It was my DAW from 2008 to 2011 right before Renoise was recommended to me. You can download it right here. But I’m not sure how many VSTs are supported. It’s probably not that much, but as far as I know there is some VST support.
Thanks, I will grab the old Renoise versions.
Renoise and Protrekkr are both based on an earlier tracker named Noisetrekkr. The Free/Libre Open Source Software source code to Protrekkr is at this Github link and it has a win32 binary in the archive under release/distrib/ called ptk_win.exe so I think if you take the contents of the distrib folder and copy it to a memory stick, it should work.
I use it on Manjaro Linux though I had to build the previous release from source and use the OSS emulator under PulseAudio to get it to work. Although it doesn’t have VST support it does have synths and 303s. I see that the file requester on Renoise claims to load .PTK files still but the example songs don’t work from Protrekkr release 2.5.5 on Renoise that I can tell.
A brand-new one on itch.io: Oxide Tracker by Paranoid Cactus
Has some nice features, missing some others, but has that chiptune sound/look some of 'ya’s are after!
This is a tad late…But I think alot of these responses would not work if you have a 2003 laptop…Since I use laptops from that era let me put in some ideas…
You probably don’t have much RAM…What maybe a GB?..DON"T USE RENOISE!..As you progress through a tune renoise starts using a buttload of RAM holding samples in RAM, I have reached the ceiling several times in renoise…
SVArTracker is very efficient, uses VST-VSTi, has a nice sampler that can be set to stream from disc OR use RAM for samples, has some advanced features that even renoise don’t have, version 1.22 100% free, has machine view for easier hookups, can be setup for regular MIDI triggered audio OR 100% MIDI workflow…
I recently posted here-
EvoBeats Sequential Vibes is a rare oldie abandonware that uses VST-VSTi-DX plugs as well as samples & is one of the SIMPLEST TRACKERS to get started with…Like SVArTracker very efficient…
Here-
MED SoundStudio is free now & has nice plug scanning & many other cool features, very efficient…
Here-
https://www.warmplace.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5955
IoNeo Aero Studio is very efficient, fast workflow, piano roll as well as tracker I use it on old Dell 400 (2003) to ASUS Transformer with windows 10…I’ll be reuploading over at oldschooldaw soon…
The most recent Psycle uses VSTi-VST and has a LUA piano roll as well…
SkaleTracker is older now but a great cadillac can load AKAI & SF2, sounds great & can use VSTi-VST but picky about them, has a mixer that’s unreal!!!
I could go on but you get the picture…
Thanks again for all the suggestions here, you guys went above and beyond with suggestions of trackers I never knew existed!
I declared lame defeat by simply saying I need to buy a new laptop 
Am def curious to hear some tunes made on these trackers though!
Well, most of them come with demo tunes…Some with more, some with less…I would not worry about that better to install & try out to find the best for your workflow…Everybody different & trackers are all different…
All of these sound just fine…BUTT! Aero Studio is best for painting in notes in piano roll (with Mouse) & then readjusting using tracker view…I made a tune in it 6 years ago here-
NO FX at all on it, probably would’ve added a few nowadays…used all VSTi on it…
Arguru’s Aodix 4.2 pretty good too it’s VSTi-VST only & ASIO only…Song can be an entire singular pattern but segments can repeat via pattern calls…Ingenious VERTICAL piano roll is RIGHT THERE with tracker view & pattern view is ‘tickless’ you can shove notes underneath one-another…I have an intro I did using just QWERTY & then a joystick for pitch-bends on bass harmonics-
SkaleTracker has alot of great tunes available in .SKM format…I remixed an XM module I liked alot (not mine) here-
To sum it up simplest is Sequential Vibes, next Aero Studio, MED, Aodix, Skale & SVArTracker has most complexity with 4 different forms of automation…
Best for VST plugs SVArTracker, MED, Aero Studio, Aodix, Sequential Vibes then SkaleTracker the most problematic…
Machine View Trackers are Aodix, SVArTracker & Aero Studio…
For drawing curves type automation SVArTracker best then Aero Studio, SkaleTracker has some ‘vertical draw’ of curves of certain parameters that can be done…
Record ‘turning knob’ style automation in Aodix & Sequential Vibes…
MED no real automation, use self-LFO filters & such…
MED though has most different ways of sound generation of all & built-in HighLife engine (for sampling CPU-Intensive VSTi to sampled instrument)…
Did not include Psycle as I have not used much, just kinda started…
I couldn’t build this one as i’m pretty much useless these days, however it will run in a terminal:
trying to get it working as I have a great idea, although I will most likely never get to see it working. maybe someone else will have better luck.
then some of these have binaries for win lin & osx
curious online tracker
https://play.blipkit.audio/
That is a weird one. Obviously a direct clone of Renoise, but no mention of Renoise at all on their website…
Boy, I don’t know how anything web based can be a renoise clone…Can’t think of anything more useless than ‘web based’ apps that can’t be used if no service is available or the host ‘takes a shit’ & leaves for good, You get banned for speaking your mind, etc, etc…
I have 11 Laptops & only ONE is hooked or ever sees internet…
BTW, regarding thread originator I bought an old Toshiba Satellite P-25 off ebay a few months ago…It is from 2003 and was showroom condition with recovery disc…For me a bargain at $40.00 plus ship…
Upgraded RAM from 512MB to 2GB…So far EVERYTHING I run on it function perfect, directsound or ASIO…This was a media center edition so that figgers…Also this was a single-core but it is 2.8 GHZ so very fast for a 2003 laptop & big 17" Screen…
?Man, does anyone know of a curses or ncurses tracker like that plebtracker, but not plebtracker? I’ve been going through looking for all the best different programs that can be used primarily in a terminal, while being still easy to use, and that are customizable small and written to be omnicapable platform independent. omnicapable meaning written to be capable with any architecture with the machinery to hook into it.
MilkyTracker X
Looks interesting
wow, looks awesome…
unfortunately no mac builds 
Hi. U could technically build minimal tracker in this GitHub - hundredrabbits/Orca-c: Live Programming Environment(C Port) . But u would need to hook up some kind of sound engine. This is tutorial using non terminal version of ORCA how to make a tracker Learn ORCΛ Livecoding ~ IN DEPTH TUTORIAL (Pt.2) - YouTube
It’s very very basic. You don’t miss much… Still curious how it will develop
well, i have sweet spot for Milkytracker - and its simplicity… Sometimes i think too much when making music… Milkytracker spares me 
That’s what I thought first too BUT …
… take a look at their release page on GitHub and voilà: There is a build for macOS!
Easy to oversee this on the download page due to all the other platform versions listed there.
At the time being this is the direct link: https://github.com/milkytracker/MilkyTracker/releases/download/v1.03.00/milkytracker-1.03.00-macos.dmg (might change of course when there is a new version).
After playing around with MilkyTracker for some days now I can say that I like because of it’s retro look and feel.
EDIT: I just noticed that maybe I’m talking about another MT variant here (the “original” one and not X).
yeah, regular version is available for mac, whereas X is not (yet)… 