So, I've been looking to install Linux again...

Not sure if it's just me, but since 2012ish if not before, I've struggled to find what I'm looking for.
(Gentoo and Ubuntu Studio used to be cool, but the interesting features are broken out of box these days??)

Two Machines:

Dell T7400 - circa 2007 ---> Slow FSB with lots of Cores. (But distros say XEON is not EMT64 odd)
Dell Inspiron 5558 - circa 2015 ---> This one always screws up with live disks. (Like any.)

Given such, I think building Gentoo is best on the T7400. But this new kernel stuff... I'm seriously questioning if I'd be "better off" with an older kernel and never update it?? -- My other choice is WinXP.

As for my laptop... Works "ok" during install. Reboot, and it's junk. Tether with my android get some updates. Nope. Rebuild kernel 5 times. Still... Not right. So... Too new???

One computer is legacy, and I need drivers for obsolete stuff. (old-NVidia, Palm PDA, MiniDisc...)

I'm trying to dodge the virtual machines....
(?)

Any advice/thoughts on older system as for matching a kernel?


Random: I have the gray TI-USB link. It's not supposed to work with TI-82. It does work in older OSX (USB 1.1) -- hoping that works in linux I can't find a thing....

An old kernel is unlikely to be any better - I'd expect a current kernel is less likely to have problems, barring regressions in drivers that don't really get tested anymore.

Be more specific. I doubt it's "too new".

Installing Gentoo 2012.1221 in short time...

I think my laptop is gonna be bound to windows... Came with win 10, runs 8.1 ok, no drivers for win 7 even.