I have the following kernels installed:
- linux-zen (Zen)
- linux-rt (RealTime)
- linux-hardened (Security Hardened)
- linux-lts (Long Term Support)
- linux-tr-lts (Realtime LTS)
When I boot up, I try the different kernels from time to time just to see if anything interesting happens. It never does.
My question: How do I actually physically notice the difference between these kernels? If I use RT, does Firefox spawn quicker (in my testing, no, not really)?
What are some use cases when I can really see the difference in these kernels?
On Linux, the OOM reaper should come for the memory cannibal eventually, but it can take quite a while. Certainly it’s unlikely to be quick enough to avoid the desktop going unresponsive for a while. And it may take out a couple of other processes first, since it takes out the process holding the most memory rather than the one that’s trying to allocate, if I recall correctly.