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03-27-2021, 01:18 PM
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#1
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Mar 2021
Posts: 4
Rep: 
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Full hardware advantage distro needed
Hi,
Hope you're all well and safe.
My question is: what distro would take full advantage of the installed hardware?
I need a distro that takes full advantage of the hardware is installed on, every single ounce if possible.
I am open to either an out-of-box distro(Mint, Debian, Ubuntu) or Arch from scratch.
The hardware:
16GB DDR3 RAM
240GB solid state drive
nvidia 8600GT 512MB DDR3
AMD cpu (i forget the actual model, can post later)
Thank you.
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03-27-2021, 03:38 PM
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#3
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LQ Sage
Registered: Nov 2004
Location: Saint Amant, Acadiana
Distribution: Gentoo ~amd64
Posts: 7,675
Rep: 
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All distros run the same Linux kernel, although some may have custom patches. Kernel is the OS, kernel interacts with hardware and makes it work. You want to squeeze out everything from your hardware - build a custom kernel. Generic kernels are exactly what it sounds like - generic. There are kernels tuned for server workload and kernels configured for desktop computers, but that's all. You can take it a step further with your own. Extreme persistence and interest is a must, your first custom kernel may take weeks to polish.
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1 members found this post helpful.
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03-27-2021, 05:12 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Registered: Jan 2007
Location: Wild West Wales, UK
Distribution: Linux Mint 22 MATE, Peppermint OS-Devuan, EndeavourOS
Posts: 4,278
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hrp1575,
Welcome to LQ forums.
Your Nvidia 8600GT will probably cause problems with all Linux distros.
This tutorial using Debian 10 may be useful:
https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-insta...0-buster-linux
First, enable the non-free and contrib repositories.
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1 members found this post helpful.
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03-27-2021, 08:53 PM
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#5
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LQ Newbie
Registered: Mar 2021
Posts: 4
Original Poster
Rep: 
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Thank you all.
I've decided on compiling a custom kernel. It's been "ages" since I've done that. I got lazy and ran with the "out-of-box" kernels.
Thanks also for the tip on the nvidia card.
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03-27-2021, 11:43 PM
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#6
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LQ Guru
Registered: Aug 2016
Location: SE USA
Distribution: openSUSE 24/7; Debian, Knoppix, Mageia, Fedora, OS/2, others
Posts: 6,331
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Quote:
Originally Posted by beachboy2
Your Nvidia 8600GT will probably cause problems with all Linux distros.
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Code:
# inxi -GISayz
System:
Kernel: 5.10.16-1-default x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1
...
Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.21.2 tk: Qt 5.15.2 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 7 dm: N/A
Distro: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20210316
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA G84 [GeForce 8600 GT] vendor: XFX Pine driver: nouveau
v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:0402 class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.10 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: loaded: modesetting
unloaded: fbdev,vesa alternate: nouveau,nv,nvidia
display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x2520 s-dpi: 120 s-size: 541x533mm (21.3x21.0")
s-diag: 759mm (29.9")
Monitor-1: DVI-I-1 res: 2560x1440 hz: 60 dpi: 109
size: 598x336mm (23.5x13.2") diag: 686mm (27")
Monitor-2: DVI-I-2 res: 2560x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 97
size: 673x284mm (26.5x11.2") diag: 730mm (28.8")
OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 11.0.1 128 bits) v: 4.5 Mesa 20.3.4
compat-v: 3.1 direct render: Yes
Info:...Shell: Bash v: 5.1.4 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.03
Exactly what would those problems be?
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1 members found this post helpful.
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03-27-2021, 11:58 PM
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#7
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LQ Sage
Registered: Nov 2004
Location: Saint Amant, Acadiana
Distribution: Gentoo ~amd64
Posts: 7,675
Rep: 
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Have to agree, my laptop has oldish nVidia and runs well with noveau and also modesetting. Can't use hardware acceleration with Kodi, but nothing is perfect in this world.
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1 members found this post helpful.
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03-28-2021, 10:40 AM
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#8
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Moderator
Registered: Jan 2005
Location: Central Florida 20 minutes from Disney World
Distribution: SlackwareŽ
Posts: 13,971
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Member Response
Hi,
Welcome to LQ!
Quote:
Originally Posted by hrp1575
Hi,
Hope you're all well and safe.
My question is: what distro would take full advantage of the installed hardware?
I need a distro that takes full advantage of the hardware is installed on, every single ounce if possible.
I am open to either an out-of-box distro(Mint, Debian, Ubuntu) or Arch from scratch.
The hardware:
16GB DDR3 RAM
240GB solid state drive
nvidia 8600GT 512MB DDR3
AMD cpu (i forget the actual model, can post later)
Thank you.
|
You can look at; Download Linux to choose likely candidates. You can use a Live Gnu/Linux CD/DVD/USB to test drive a particular distribution. Most Live distribution will provide a persistence mode to allow saving of an environment. Some will even do a install to your storage media.
I use Slackware and would suggest you to look at; https://slackware.nl/slackware-live/latest/
Please remember that Slackware64-current is development and not recommended for production use.
Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy Gnu/Linux!

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