Puppy Guideline: determining Legacy vs Modern Hardware

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belham2
Posts: 1715
Joined: Mon 15 Aug 2016, 22:47

Puppy Guideline: determining Legacy vs Modern Hardware

#1 Post by belham2 »

Hi all,

I must admit, this has always had me flummoxed. The title says it all. What got me thinking about it again was Radky's thread for his great Dpup Stretch CE:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 590#974590


Notice in the beginning of his thread this:

Code: Select all

Kernel options
• k4.1.47-i686-pae for legacy hardware
• k4.9.68-i686-pae for recent hardware 

I realize this question may be like trying to squeeze jello in your hands and not have any spill out, but is there some sort of guidelines a person (who comes to puppy or is a current user) could use to determine:

a) whether they have legacy and/or modern hardware, and:

b) exactly how to go about that (i.e. terminal commands, looking for hardware items, or graphics, or....????)?


I never know what stuff (which kernel of said offered pup or ddog) to run on the various hodge-podge of machines I own (some 5-6 yrs old, others 8-12 yrs old). It seems all a mystic guessing game to me. I'm sure some of you must be the same.

So what kind of guidelines could a person use to tell whether they should be using a pup that is offered with a kernel for legacy hardware vs a pup that is offered with a kernel for so-called "modern" (or recent) hardware. When I read, for example, a thread by Sage & he is yelling about his Eniac IBM blowing a vacuum tube, or Billtoo, constantly compiling some sort of new space-age driver for his Nvidia, I can't help but wonder we are in some sort of Never Ending wasteland here :shock:

Thus, can a "general" guideline be developed, as to just what are the deciding factors, or rankings of them, to determine this "legacy" vs "modern" hardware thing?


Let the squeezing of the jello begin
:D

Sailor Enceladus
Posts: 1543
Joined: Mon 22 Feb 2016, 19:43

#2 Post by Sailor Enceladus »

Some really old PCs don't even have pae. I think maybe it's just a guideline radky made to tell the user that the higher number is newer (in case someone thinks the opposite) and that the kernel version might make a difference in performance or compatibility.

amigo
Posts: 2629
Joined: Mon 02 Apr 2007, 06:52

#3 Post by amigo »

Yes, pae is quite restrictive and so is -i686.
Legacy hardware, 10-15 years old, is best served by kernel 2.4 or 2.6.26 at latest. i586 is a good arch -there really are no more 486's being used at all seriously. i586/PentiumI is a good compromise. One could argur for PenitumII as a minimum, but then you leave out millions of Geode and K processors which are still out there.

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Mike Walsh
Posts: 6351
Joined: Sat 28 Jun 2014, 12:42
Location: King's Lynn, UK.

#4 Post by Mike Walsh »

Y'know, this really is subjective..!

One could argue that, by definition, all hardware over 10 years old should be labelled 'legacy'. My elderly Compaq desktop - 12 yrs old, and made by Compaq shortly before HP bought 'em out, and reduced the Compaq name to a mere 'badge' in HP's, at that time, seriously shoddy line-up - has been labelled exactly that by more than one person.

Yet because it's 64-bit, employing the very first mass-produced 64-bit desktop processor (the Athlon64; in this case, an X2 3800+ dual-core.....and modernised to the hilt with all the newest hardware it's capable of running, including an SSD), it's easily capable of running relatively modern 64-bit distros. Tahr64 it's happy with, although Xenial64 it has problems with in some areas. I mostly run 32-bit Pups on her, 'cos they fly like their feet don't touch the ground.

I'm currently in Xenialpup 7.0.8.1, with the 4.9.13 kernel.....and it's absolutely rock-solid.

Yet the anciente Dell (15 yrs old this year, and P4-based; 2.6 GHz w/ 400 FSB, so 32-bit by definition) also runs this same Pup.....and seems perfectly happy with it.

Where do you draw the line?


Mike. :wink:

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8Geee
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Location: N.E. USA

#5 Post by 8Geee »

The easy way is 32bit legacy / 64bit modern.
The problem is that the kernel for a 32bit system "Should" be 3.x.y or 2.6.X. Regarding this last point to even be somewhat secure in the modern-world support for TLS 1.2 needs to exist.

Regards
8Geee
Linux user #498913 "Some people need to reimagine their thinking."
"Zuckerberg: a large city inhabited by mentally challenged people."

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