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Xenialpup 7x | Kernel 4.1 or 4.9
Xenialpup 4.1 vs 4.9 kernel
Intro
The most recent version of Puppy Linux Xenialpup has run well on computers the newest computers and also on computers as old as 10 and 13 years old. However, even upgraded computers that are 10 years old may preform slow with Xenialpup unless the kernel is substituted with an older kernel. For instance one forum member ran Xenialpup on the following specs:
Computer:
- HP Compaq 6715b, releasedin 2007
- Puppy installed on a 220 Gb's Solid State HD,
- 4 Gb's of RAM installed with a 2.5 Gb's sap partition.
Now while this computer was nearly 10 years old at the time of the post. It didn't originally come with a solid state drive and the ram was likely upgraded from 2GB to 4GB. The user found this setup slugish with the stock 4.9 kernal but found that it ran very fast on the 4.1 kernal with two big aps open (e.g. Opera 12.16 + PaleMoon-2.27, or U_Light browser + apacheOpenOffice) running at the same time.
Another user said that a 13 year old computer ran very well with xenialpup when using the 4.1 kernel.
The minimum specs given for xenialpup on the puppylinux.org blog are:
Minimum System Requirements: 1000MHz CPU 768MB RAM
Recommended: 1600MHz 1gb RAM
From the above discussion it seems clear that to run large aps like web browsers with multiple tabs open, almost certainly requires that for machines on the lower end of the above ram specification that Xenialpup must be installed on a fast storage medium (USB 3.0 or SATA).
The ram specs on the puppylinux.org blog suggest that a computer, which meats the minimal specification for Xenialpup is likely released in 2007 (or later) or if it was older then the ram was likely upgraded.
Also in the 2007 example above the fast write specs suggest it is not being run off slow media like USB 2.0. By constrast Tahrpup runs well of USB 2.0 with only 1GB of ram.
A dividing line for the 4.1 kernal vs the 4.9 kernal
If in the above examples we can take a 2005 era machine as near the lower end of a machine to likely be running Xenialpup well and take the mid point between then and the current date 2018 as the dividing line of which kernal to choose; then we get the following suggestiion:
- 2005 to 2010 Using the 4.1 kernal with Xenialpup
- 2011 to 2018 Using the 4.9 kernal with Xenialpup
Some discussion of how old a computer is likely to be running Xenialpup
The average installed ram for a 2005 computer was 600MB so in order to meet the above specs a 2005 era computer which runs Xenialpup well was most likely upgraded. SATA II was relased in 2004 so in this example of a 13 year old computer running xenialpup there is a high probability that it was installed on a SATA II, which is quite a bit faster usb 2.0.
Puppy1 Puppy 1 was released in 2005 so it is rather remarkable that the latest version of Puppy Linux (released in December 2017) still runs on computers built at the inception of Puppy Linux. However, even as late as Puppy2 Puppy 2 (Year 2006), the ram requirements to run Puppy Linux were only 64MB or lower (Probably a later, Pentium I, computer with around a 200MHz processor and released around the year 1998). So in in 10 years, we are requiring 10 times as much ram. However, at the time of Puppy 2's release it was suitable for computers 7 years old and the latest version of Puppy Linux will work well on computers 8-13 years old, albeit with possibly some tweaks.
So in principle, puppy being designed as an operating system to run well on older computers hasn't changed. If one is running puppy on a computer where they find the latest version of Puppy Linux unsuitable then older versions of Puppy Linux have been maintained quite recently.
A rule of Thumb
One form member suggested that Xenialpup runs well on computers from the year 2008 or newer. Tahrpup out of the box works well on computers older than this as well as the lastest computers. However, Xenialpup can also be made to work on computers older then this with some tweaks as noted above.
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