r/slackware • u/Virtual-Detective945 • 13d ago
Slackware to Intel Xeon
I have a desktop with Intel Xeon 2680v4 on X99 motherboard. Actually is with the Windows 11, but I just get 8gb RAM, Win 11 consumes a lot, I want resolve it with linux. Is the Slackware compatible with Xeon hardware? Did you have problems with Xeon?
3
u/Mindless-Tune4990 13d ago
I had Xeon E3-1220 V2 and it worked alright with Slackware, however I don't know about modern Xeon processors..
2
u/cfx_4188 13d ago
Slackware 15.0 and even more so -current contain fresh Linux kernels that correctly detect all 28 threads and manage power saving intel_pstate scheme.
Compiling programs (via make -j28) on this processor will be very fast thanks to the 14 physical cores.
The processor supports four-channel DDR4 memory.
But you have a server processor and a server motherboard. Using such a setup as a desktop will be difficult for your wallet.
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u/Inode1 13d ago
There are plenty of workstations running that CPU, the Dell T5810 being one example, power efficiency on those is quite good at idle and not terrible under load.
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u/SpidaSt8 7d ago
I think I saw that one on eBay a few times. Those things are beasts, but they like to heat the room.
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u/Inode1 7d ago
And that's why I moved off that platform, performance per watt wasn't great, but now I'm heating my house with a thread ripper system, tons more performance, just a bit less heat lol
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u/SpidaSt8 6d ago
I'm jealous. I had a dual Xeon e5-2690 v4, and if only I had paid more attention to how the CPUs were lined up.... "Why does this thing keep locking up???"
0
u/SpidaSt8 13d ago
You could always gets a Supermicro X10DRH-iT board, and a big freaking tower.... I can't remember what one I have. Thermaltake e-atx, 3 fans in front, 3 on top, 1 in back. You have to drill your own holes to match the screw pattern of the motherboard though.
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u/cfx_4188 13d ago
Obviously, this answer is not addressed to me. I have long been disappointed in server boards as a desktop.
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u/tallship 8d ago
My daily driver is a Dell lappy w/a Xeon E-2176M, 6 cores/12threads. has been running like a Lamborghini Countach forever and ever, even before I moved my slackware install over to this box - a feat that is surprisingly simple whenever you want to upgrade your hardware. 32GB RAM gives me enough elbow room to run a few KVM VMs at the same time too, NVME SSDs help a lot too.
My advice to you? Don't dip your toe into the shallow end of the Slackware pool - just get it over with by doing a cannonball into the deepend and get all your friends wet enough to want to do so too.
You will reach a point where you wonder how you could have ever lived in RPM hell or whatever constrained environment that originally brought you into the Linux/BSD world.
For those who try and tell you how many years it's been since the last release you can inform them of how many days instead by visiting the Changelog
The first thing you might want to consider, in keeping your Slackware machine up to date (since development moves so quickly) is to use that handy mirror script and then point your /etc/slackpkg/mirrors to that local mirror so that you can even update your machine when you're miles away from the nearest Internet connection!
In fact, Thanks to Eric, here's a quick little read that demonstrates just how powerful you can be, leveraging the power of that mirroring script, as the BOFH of your own UNIX world running Slackware Linux. That article is still quite contemporarily (is that even a word?) relevant, by the way, yet the link in this post to the actual mirror script will be the most current.
I hope that helps!
⛵
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u/I_am_BrokenCog 13d ago
You should ask this in /r/linux, because Slackware doesn't have anything to do with the Linux Kernel. If the kernel has been built for a specific CPU, then Linux will work on a computer with that CPU.
Xeon in particular uses the same x86_64 instruction set as does all of the "main" Intel CPUs, x486, Pentium, i5, i9 etc.
Your particular motherboard might have additional periphery components - network device, serial port, etc which are so rare that the Linux kernel does not have drivers for them, but, I find that very unlikely.
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u/jwsmythe 13d ago
It will work fine. Really, any Linux will. There's nothing special about a Xeon 2680v4. You *might* be able to make a custom kernel that'll work a little better, if there are any CPU specific features turned off in the Slackware kernel. I doubt you'd see a performance difference though.