[Lubuntu-qa] RAM needed for desktop installer reduced to half by zRAM

[Nio Wiklund]

Hi Jonathan,
See inline comments
Best regards/Nio

On 2013-06-20 05:00, Jonathan Marsden wrote:
> On 06/19/2013 03:05 AM, Nio Wiklund wrote:
> 
>> Results with 'grub-n-iso-n-swap' and Pentium M indicate that using the
>> default installation (starting from a blank drive or overwriting it) is
>> maybe slightly smoother than a complicated manual partitioning at the
>> 'Something else' page.
> 
> Good :)  Let's test this "use all the defaults" way as much as we can,
> so we mimic what a newcomer is likely to do, and so we can easily
> document it!
> 
>> But I succeeded three times at 320 MB RAM without swap, and failed
>> twice.
> 
> Something seems odd there.  Logically we seem to have the same image,
> booted on the same hardware, and the same preexisting disk setup.  So
> *why* would that system act differently on each occasion?  It should not
> be dependent on the time of day, or small variations in air temperature.

Well, I think small variations of the content of the target drive make
the difference (which in turn create more or less data to squeeze into
the memory). Maybe there are also variations of my patience to wait and
allow swapping to finish before I press the next button.

>> In other words, the default installation is at least as easy as the 
>> manual partitioning: tested directly in one system and indirectly in 
>> another system, both of which have 8-10 years old hardware.
> 
> Sounds good to me!
> 
>> - How common are computers with 320 MB and 384 MB RAM? I think
>> standard step is from 256 to 512 MB RAM.
> 
> It depends on the owner of the PC upgrading RAM.  Few computers were
> sold with 384MB.  But it was fairly common to buy a 128MB machine, and
> upgrade a couple of years later when a 256MB RAM module was
> cost-effective, so you added a 256MB module to the existing 128MB for a
> total of 384.  [ I've seen 1.5GB machines, and 1.25GB machines, caused
> by upgrades in the same way -- start with 256MB, and by the time you
> upgrade, it makes sense to buy a 1GB moduke, so you add that. ]

I agree. There is a fair percentage with 384 MB but very few with
(128*2+64=256+64=320) MB, so we need not mention 320 MB at all.

>> - Would it be possible to add the Ubiquity command to the Openbox 
>> right-click menu? It would make it much easier to get the lighter 
>> environment afterwards, if the first attempt fails. This makes it 
>> possible to wipe the partitions before Ubiquity is started without 
>> having to reboot twice. (But it is definitely not 'mainstream'.)
> 
> If you are techie enough to play around like that, you are probably
> techie enough to remember a command :)

I was thinking, that people could be adviced to use that method: To log
into the ultra-light Openbox session, and the more that is built into
the system, the less must be described in the tutorial or wiki page.

... because this way it is possible to edit or wipe partitions and
'swapon' before ubiquity is started, which helps when there is very low RAM.

>> - But zRAM in the alternate installer is probably a better alternative.
> 
> Agreed.  I definitely want us to test this... let's see if it helps!

Yes, it is more straight-forward :-)

I'm happy that the alternate iso is maintained and I hope it will be
developed too :-)

> Jonathan
>