Which 64bit to try on P4 duel core?

[Barkingmad]

Hello

I know that the only way to say which Puppy is best is to try some out in particular situation but I'd like to narrow the field a bit before starting.

I have a P4 duel core 3Ghz and 4GB RAM that I am currently using Tahr 32 on and am happy with it.

The way browsers are going I'd like to try moving to a 64bit pup but which might be the best fit for this hardware? I have tried Bionic64 that boots OK but wandered whether Xenial might be a better option or any other suggestions welcome.

Thanks for any input
Will

[mikewalsh]

@Barkingmad :-

Hiya, Barking. We need a bit more info, mate.

The Pentium 4s had 3 GHz, H/T (HyperThreading - gives you what amounts to a 'virtual' dual-core; physically, it's a single-core, but the OS sees it a dual-core) across several core generations.

Those in the Northwood & Prescott families were 32-bit ONLY, and ran in Socket 478. Those in the Cedar Mill family - the very last physical single-core Pentiums - DID have 64-bit capability, and ran in Socket 775. So.....we need to know which one you've got, y'see.

-------------------------------------

Can you run PupSysInfo for us (Menu->System->Pup-SysInfo system information), hit the 'Mainboard' tab, and select the 'CPU' readout? Just do a copy/paste between <code> tags for your next post, please. That'll give us some idea of what we're dealing with.

Intel produced such a bewildering number of variations on the P4 that you really DO need to know exactly which one you have.

Mike.

[Barkingmad]

Hello Mike

PupSysInfo output as requested

Code: Select all

—— CPU ——◀

Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz
Socket Designation: J3E1
Manufacturer: Intel(R) Corporation
Voltage: 3.0 V
External Clock: 200 MHz
Max Speed: 4000 MHz
Current Speed of Core 0:3000 MHz, 1:3000 MHz

Frequency governor   : performance
Freq. scaling driver : p4-clockmod

▶—— /proc/cpuinfo ——◀

processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 15
model		: 6
model name	: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz
stepping	: 2
microcode	: 0xd
cpu MHz		: 3000.000
cache size	: 2048 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 2
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 0
initial apicid	: 0
fdiv_bug	: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 6
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc pebs bts pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx cid cx16 xtpr pdcm lahf_lm tpr_shadow
bogomips	: 6000.44
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 128
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 1
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 15
model		: 6
model name	: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.00GHz
stepping	: 2
microcode	: 0xd
cpu MHz		: 3000.000
cache size	: 2048 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 2
core id		: 1
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 1
initial apicid	: 1
fdiv_bug	: no
f00f_bug	: no
coma_bug	: no
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 6
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc pebs bts pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx cid cx16 xtpr pdcm lahf_lm tpr_shadow
bogomips	: 6000.44
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 128
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

Also, I have booted Taha and Bionic 64bit in the past just to see if they would but I've now got more RAM than I had (got some FOC on another forum) so thought it might be worthwhile going 64 full time.

Hope the info is what you need.
Will

[mikewalsh]

@Barkingmad :-

Hallo, Will.

Well; you don't have a Pentium 4, and it doesn't have H/T..!

What you DO have there is a Pentium D; an early, pre-"Core" architecture dual-core Pentium. These are two separate physical cores, so actually an improvement over the P4's second "virtual" core.

It uses the 'p4-clockmod' governor because these Pentium D's used the same 'NetBurst' architecture as the Northwood Pentium 4s. The P4s couldn't make use of a governor because they didn't actually possess the necessary Intel 'Speedstep' technology required for the governor to work; this was introduced with the Pentium D's sibling, the Pentium M.

So, yes; you DO have a 64-bit capable CPU. As for which Puppy, given the accompanying chipset - the 945 - my recommendation would be to take a look at Xenialpup64. Others will recommend using the newest Puppy possible; I know bigpup certainly will. Xenialpup's 'parent', Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 'Xenial Xerus' has just gone EOL, but that's of no consequence to us; Xenial64's requirements are lighter than Bionic or Fossa, you've got fairly old tech there, so don't really need the newest kernel to support it, and all the current browsers still run fine with it.....I run it myself, so I can confirm that.

You can of course ignore my ramblings if you so wish, and give the newer 64-bitzers a try. It's your decision at the end of the day.

Mike.

[Barkingmad]

Thanks Mike

That confirms what I was thinking from reading lots of other posts and starting to get somewhat confused

Thanks also for the info about the speed governor - it explains why never seemed to do anything regardless of how I set it!

I'll have a bit of a hard drive tidy, check where I've saved things etc, then give Xenial a go.

Thanks again
Will