[Test Report 2] Minimum RAM required to install 'saucy-desktop-i386.iso' from LiveCD

Ali Linx (amjjawad) amjjawad at gmail.com
Tue Jun 18 22:57:46 UTC 2013


Hi again,

This is my 2nd Test Report :D
One of the best tests in my whole life!


*Information:*

   - Test for: saucy-desktop-i386.iso
   - Daily build: 17-June-2013
   - Media: LiveCD
   - Burned: using Xfburn at 10x Speed
   - Tested on: Real Hardware


*Machine Hardware Details:*

   - Desktop Computer
   - Intel Motherboard
   - CPU: Hyper Threading 64-bit Intel Pentium 4 @3.06GHz
   - Cache: L1: 16KB - L2: 1MB
   - RAM: DIMM DDR 200 MHz 512MB
   - Graphics: Radeon Xpress 200 Host Bridge (built-in)
   - HDD1: Seagate IDE 80GB - *Disabled/Not used*
   - HDD2: Samsung IDE 20GB - *Wiped and has no partitons at all*
   - CD/DVD Drive
   - *From BIOS*: http://i44.tinypic.com/a4ug5s.jpg


*Test Case A - 242MB RAM*
*
*
*Information:*

   - RAM used by the OS: 242MB only -- Onboard Video Memroy Size = 256MB [
   http://i44.tinypic.com/a4ug5s.jpg]
   - HDD: Samsung 20GB IDE wiped with no partitions at all
   - Installation Media: LiveCD
   - LiveCD Booting Menu: Selecting 'Install Lubuntu' From the LiveCD Boot
   Menu
   - Installation Type: 'Something Else' - I wanted to create two
   partitions manually.
   - Partitions: Two Partitions (Root and SWAP).

*
*
*Notes:*

   - Installation Period (time): From Selecting 'Install Lubuntu' from the
   Boot Menu until the last reboot at the end of the installation process, the
   time period of this installation was 40 minutes.
   - The installation Process was *'slow' *at the 7 steps of installation,
   specially the Keyboard Layout Step and Who Are You Step but *usable*. It
   was NOT very slow.
   - On the very same machine, I have previously installed older releases
   and I can tell for sure adding zRAM by default have doubled the speed.
   Before, I was waiting for so long time until my mouse moves. Now, I need to
   wait 1-3 seconds Maximum and only on the previous two steps I have
   mentioned above.
   - The installer never crashed during any step whatsoever - this is a one
   try test.


*Results:*

   - The installation has been done successfully - *100% PASS*
   - Time Rating: *LONG* - *40 - 45 minutes* from the very beginning
   (booting, menu, etc) to the very end (taking the LiveCD out and reboot).
   - Slowness Rating: *SLOW but Usable* - IMHO, it was slow on two steps as
   mentioned above and a bit slow on the other steps.
   - zRAM Rating: *100% Helpful* - it was a very wise decision to add it.
   zRAM has made a great noticeable difference.


*My Recommendation:*

   - Overall Rating for this experience/test is *6.5/10*.
   - *I do recommend to set the limit of 256MB RAM as the Minimum
RAMrequired to install Lubuntu 13.10 From the Desktop ISO using a
LiveCD.
   *
   - My Test is done on 242MB RAM, not 256MB and IMHO, the 14MB difference
   could make a bit of improvement to the time (less than 40mins) but I *do
   NOT* recommend to set the Minimum RAM required to install Lubuntu 13.10
   to anything below 256MB. That should be the Red Line.
   - 256MB is NOT going to be the recommended option for New Users, but
   rather the Minimum. IMHO, we should mention clearly:


   1. *Minimum* RAM required to install Lubuntu 13.10 is 256MB
   2. *Recommended* RAM required to install Lubuntu 13.10 is 384MB - I will
   explain later why :)


= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
= = = =


*Test Case B - 368MB RAM*
*
*
*Information:*

   - RAM used by the OS: 368MB only -- Onboard Video Memroy Size = 128MB [
   http://i44.tinypic.com/a4ug5s.jpg]
   - HDD: Samsung 20GB IDE wiped with no partitions at all
   - Installation Media: LiveCD
   - LiveCD Booting Menu: Selecting 'Install Lubuntu' From the LiveCD Boot
   Menu
   - Installation Type: 'Something Else' - I wanted to create two
   partitions manually.
   - Partitions: Two Partitions (Root and SWAP).

*
*
*Notes:*

   - Installation Period (time): From Selecting 'Install Lubuntu' from the
   Boot Menu until the last reboot at the end of the installation process, the
   time period of this installation was 25 minutes.
   - The installation Process was *'normal' and 'smooth' but *slow on the
   Keyboard Layout Step ONLY.
   - Almost as twice as fast from Test Case A above.
   - The installer never crashed during any step whatsoever - this is a one
   try test. Was so smooth.


*Results:*

   - The installation has been done successfully - *100% PASS*
   - Time Rating: *NORMAL* - *25 minutes* from the very beginning (booting,
   menu, etc) to the very end (taking the LiveCD out and reboot).
   - Slowness Rating: *NORMAL* - I'm attracted to call it fast but that
   might be exaggeration.
   - zRAM Rating: *100% Helpful* - it was a very wise decision to add it.
   zRAM has made a great noticeable difference. zRAM almost provide twice as
   fast from Test Case A which means, obviously, the more RAM, the much better
   performance.


*My Recommendation:*

   - Overall Rating for this experience/test is *8/10*.
   - *I do recommend to set the limit of 256MB RAM as the Minimum RAM required
   to install Lubuntu 13.10 From the Desktop ISO using a LiveCD.*
   - While 256MB is the Minimum RAM required to install Lubuntu 13.10, the
   Recommended option, IMHO should be:


   1. *Minimum* RAM required to install Lubuntu 13.10 is 256MB
   2. *Recommended *RAM required to install Lubuntu 13.10 is 384MB - now,
   you know why :)


*Conclusion/Summary*

   1. Lubuntu 13.10 can be installed 'successfully' on 256MB of RAM *(and a
   bit below but we are NOT going below 256MB)* from LiveCD without
   problems, without crashes, etc.
   2. The Minimum RAM Required to Install Lubuntu 13.10 from a LiveCD is
   256MB.
   3. The Recommended RAM to install Lubuntu 13.10 from a LiveCD is 384MB.
   4. Adding zRAM was very very very helpful and it was a wise decision :)



Thank you so much for reading this report :)

P.S.
Imagine what could a LiveUSB do on the same above scenario ;)

-- 

"All of us are smarter than any one of us."

*Best Regards,*
*amjjawad <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/amjjawad/>*
*Start Ubuntu<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Lubuntu/CommunicationsTeam/WOWLubuntu/StartUbuntu>
*
*
*
*Test Machine1: ASUS F3F Laptop - Intel Core Duo T2350 @ 1.86GHz with 489MB
RAM*
*Test Machine 2: Desktop - Intel P4 Hyper Threading (2 Logical CPUs) @3GHz
- 512MB DDR 200MHz RAM*
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$ sudo lshw

description: Desktop Computer
    product: PROD00000000
    vendor: OEM00000
    width: 32 bits
    capabilities: smbios-2.3 dmi-2.3 smp-1.4 smp
    configuration: boot=normal chassis=desktop cpus=1 uuid=7C53AF42-EEFF-11DA-B162-00E018EB0B67
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       product: D101GGC
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       version: AAD35788-308
       serial: BTGC62102TUG
     *-firmware
          description: BIOS
          vendor: Award BIOS for Intel
          physical id: 0
          version: GC11010N.86A.0311.2006.0420.1525
          date: 04/20/2006
          size: 128KiB
          capacity: 448KiB
          capabilities: isa pci pnp apm upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy360 int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb agp ls120boot zipboot biosbootspecification
     *-cpu:0
          description: CPU
          product: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz
          vendor: Intel Corp.
          physical id: 4
          bus info: cpu at 0
          version: 15.4.9
          serial: 0000-0F49-0000-0000-0000-0000
          slot: Socket 775
          size: 3066MHz
          capacity: 3800MHz
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 133MHz
          capabilities: boot fpu fpu_exception wp 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 x86-64 constant_tsc pebs bts pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl tm2 cid cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
          configuration: id=0
        *-cache:0
             description: L1 cache
             physical id: 9
             slot: L1 Cache
             size: 16KiB
             capacity: 16KiB
             capabilities: synchronous internal write-back data
        *-cache:1
             description: L2 cache
             physical id: b
             slot: L2 Cache
             size: 1MiB
             capacity: 1MiB
             capabilities: synchronous internal write-back unified
        *-logicalcpu:0
             description: Logical CPU
             physical id: 0.1
             width: 64 bits
             capabilities: logical
        *-logicalcpu:1
             description: Logical CPU
             physical id: 0.2
             width: 64 bits
             capabilities: logical
     *-cpu:1
          description: CPU
          product: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz
          vendor: Intel Corp.
          physical id: 5
          bus info: cpu at 1
          version: 15.4.9
          serial: 0000-0F49-0000-0000-0000-0000
          slot: Socket 775
          size: 3100MHz
          width: 64 bits
          capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp 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 x86-64 constant_tsc pebs bts pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl tm2 cid cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
          configuration: id=0
        *-logicalcpu:0
             description: Logical CPU
             physical id: 0.1
             width: 64 bits
             capabilities: logical
        *-logicalcpu:1
             description: Logical CPU
             physical id: 0.2
             width: 64 bits
             capabilities: logical
     *-memory
          description: System Memory
          physical id: 32
          slot: System board or motherboard
          size: 512MiB
          capacity: 1GiB
        *-bank:0
             description: DIMM [empty]
             product: None
             vendor: None
             physical id: 0
             serial: None
             slot: A0
        *-bank:1
             description: DIMM DDR 200 MHz (5.0 ns)
             product: None
             vendor: None
             physical id: 1
             serial: None
             slot: A1
             size: 512MiB
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 200MHz (5.0ns)
     *-pci
          description: Host bridge
          product: Radeon Xpress 200 Host Bridge
          vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
          physical id: 100
          bus info: pci at 0000:00:00.0
          version: 01
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 66MHz
          configuration: latency=64
          resources: memory:0-1fffffff
        *-pci:0
             description: PCI bridge
             product: RS480 PCI Bridge
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 1
             bus info: pci at 0000:00:01.0
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master cap_list
             resources: ioport:e000(size=4096) memory:fde00000-fdefffff memory:d0000000-dfffffff
           *-display
                description: VGA compatible controller
                product: RC410 [Radeon Xpress 200/1100]
                vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
                physical id: 5
                bus info: pci at 0000:01:05.0
                version: 00
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 66MHz
                capabilities: pm msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
                configuration: driver=radeon latency=64 mingnt=8
                resources: irq:17 memory:d0000000-dfffffff ioport:ee00(size=256) memory:fdef0000-fdefffff memory:fde00000-fde1ffff
        *-ide:0
             description: IDE interface
             product: IXP SB400 Serial ATA Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 11
             bus info: pci at 0000:00:11.0
             version: 80
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: ide pm msi bus_master cap_list rom
             configuration: driver=sata_sil latency=64
             resources: irq:23 ioport:ff00(size=8) ioport:fe00(size=4) ioport:fd00(size=8) ioport:fc00(size=4) ioport:fb00(size=16) memory:fe02f000-fe02f1ff memory:fdf80000-fdffffff
        *-ide:1
             description: IDE interface
             product: IXP SB400 Serial ATA Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 12
             bus info: pci at 0000:00:12.0
             version: 80
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: ide pm msi bus_master cap_list rom
             configuration: driver=sata_sil latency=64
             resources: irq:22 ioport:fa00(size=8) ioport:f900(size=4) ioport:f800(size=8) ioport:f700(size=4) ioport:f600(size=16) memory:fe02e000-fe02e1ff memory:10000000-1007ffff
        *-usb:0
             description: USB controller
             product: IXP SB400 USB Host Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 13
             bus info: pci at 0000:00:13.0
             version: 80
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: msi ohci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ohci_hcd latency=64
             resources: irq:19 memory:fe02d000-fe02dfff
        *-usb:1
             description: USB controller
             product: IXP SB400 USB Host Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 13.1
             bus info: pci at 0000:00:13.1
             version: 80
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: msi ohci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ohci_hcd latency=64
             resources: irq:19 memory:fe02c000-fe02cfff
        *-usb:2
             description: USB controller
             product: IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 13.2
             bus info: pci at 0000:00:13.2
             version: 80
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: pm msi ehci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ehci-pci latency=64
             resources: irq:19 memory:fe02b000-fe02bfff
        *-serial UNCLAIMED
             description: SMBus
             product: IXP SB400 SMBus Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 14
             bus info: pci at 0000:00:14.0
             version: 82
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             configuration: latency=0
             resources: ioport:b00(size=16) memory:fe02a000-fe02a3ff
        *-ide:2
             description: IDE interface
             product: IXP SB400 IDE Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 14.1
             bus info: pci at 0000:00:14.1
             version: 80
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: ide msi bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=pata_atiixp latency=64
             resources: irq:16 ioport:1f0(size=8) ioport:3f6 ioport:170(size=8) ioport:376 ioport:f400(size=16)
        *-multimedia
             description: Audio device
             product: IXP SB4x0 High Definition Audio Controller
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 14.2
             bus info: pci at 0000:00:14.2
             version: 01
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=64
             resources: irq:16 memory:fe024000-fe027fff
        *-isa
             description: ISA bridge
             product: IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 14.3
             bus info: pci at 0000:00:14.3
             version: 80
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: isa bus_master
             configuration: latency=0
        *-pci:1
             description: PCI bridge
             product: IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge
             vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
             physical id: 14.4
             bus info: pci at 0000:00:14.4
             version: 80
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: pci subtractive_decode bus_master vga_palette
             resources: ioport:d000(size=4096) memory:fdd00000-fddfffff memory:fdc00000-fdcfffff
           *-network:0
                description: Ethernet interface
                product: RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+
                vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
                physical id: 2
                bus info: pci at 0000:02:02.0
                logical name: eth0
                version: 10
                serial: 00:16:76:85:ad:92
                size: 10Mbit/s
                capacity: 100Mbit/s
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
                configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=8139too driverversion=0.9.28 duplex=half latency=64 link=no maxlatency=64 mingnt=32 multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
                resources: irq:21 ioport:de00(size=256) memory:fddff000-fddff0ff
           *-network:1
                description: Wireless interface
                product: RT2561/RT61 rev B 802.11g
                vendor: Ralink corp.
                physical id: 3
                bus info: pci at 0000:02:03.0
                logical name: wlan0
                version: 00
                serial: 00:15:e9:47:1c:72
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
                configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rt61pci driverversion=3.9.0-6-generic firmware=0.8 latency=64 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg
                resources: irq:16 memory:fddf0000-fddf7fff
     *-scsi:0
          physical id: 1
          logical name: scsi4
          capabilities: emulated
        *-disk
             description: ATA Disk
             product: ST3802110A
             vendor: Seagate
             physical id: 0.0.0
             bus info: scsi at 4:0.0.0
             logical name: /dev/sda
             version: 3.AA
             serial: 5LR6RKT9
             size: 74GiB (80GB)
             capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
             configuration: ansiversion=5 sectorsize=512 signature=000420be
           *-volume:0
                description: EXT4 volume
                vendor: Linux
                physical id: 1
                bus info: scsi at 4:0.0.0,1
                logical name: /dev/sda1
                version: 1.0
                serial: 147f17dc-5faf-4667-bb66-14ebfd2481a2
                size: 27GiB
                capacity: 27GiB
                capabilities: primary bootable journaled extended_attributes large_files huge_files dir_nlink recover extents ext4 ext2 initialized
                configuration: created=2013-04-25 17:02:48 filesystem=ext4 lastmountpoint=/ modified=2013-04-25 17:34:36 mounted=2013-06-17 21:32:06 state=clean
           *-volume:1
                description: Linux swap / Solaris partition
                physical id: 2
                bus info: scsi at 4:0.0.0,2
                logical name: /dev/sda2
                capacity: 1907MiB
                capabilities: primary nofs
           *-volume:2
                description: Windows FAT volume
                vendor: MSWIN4.1
                physical id: 3
                bus info: scsi at 4:0.0.0,3
                logical name: /dev/sda3
                version: FAT32
                serial: 810f-c506
                size: 44GiB
                capacity: 44GiB
                capabilities: primary fat initialized
                configuration: FATs=2 filesystem=fat
     *-scsi:1
          physical id: 2
          logical name: scsi5
          capabilities: emulated
        *-cdrom
             description: DVD reader
             product: RW/DVD GCC-4522B
             vendor: HL-DT-ST
             physical id: 0.0.0
             bus info: scsi at 5:0.0.0
             logical name: /dev/cdrom
             logical name: /dev/sr0
             version: 1.08
             capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd
             configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc
        *-disk
             description: ATA Disk
             product: SAMSUNG SV0221H
             physical id: 0.1.0
             bus info: scsi at 5:0.1.0
             logical name: /dev/sdb
             version: SJ10
             serial: 0511J1ET800751
             size: 18GiB (20GB)
             capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
             configuration: ansiversion=5 sectorsize=512 signature=00073148
           *-volume:0
                description: Linux swap volume
                physical id: 1
                bus info: scsi at 5:0.1.0,1
                logical name: /dev/sdb1
                version: 1
                serial: 8279c4dd-55db-44ef-9112-49cfc0b5100a
                size: 487MiB
                capacity: 487MiB
                capabilities: primary nofs swap initialized
                configuration: filesystem=swap pagesize=4096
           *-volume:1
                description: EXT4 volume
                vendor: Linux
                physical id: 2
                bus info: scsi at 5:0.1.0,2
                logical name: /dev/sdb2
                logical name: /
                version: 1.0
                serial: d243fb95-daed-435c-b4e1-3e7c83fe69ab
                size: 18GiB
                capacity: 18GiB
                capabilities: primary bootable journaled extended_attributes large_files huge_files dir_nlink recover extents ext4 ext2 initialized
                configuration: created=2013-06-18 22:09:15 filesystem=ext4 lastmountpoint=/ modified=2013-06-18 23:22:11 mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered mounted=2013-06-18 23:22:11 state=mounted
  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       physical id: 1
       bus info: usb at 1:1
       logical name: wlan1
       serial: 00:1f:1f:a8:e5:21
       capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rt2800usb driverversion=3.9.0-6-generic firmware=0.29 ip=192.168.0.18 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn

============================================================================================================================================

$ lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Radeon Xpress 200 Host Bridge (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RS480 PCI Bridge
00:11.0 IDE interface: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] IXP SB400 Serial ATA Controller (rev 80)
00:12.0 IDE interface: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] IXP SB400 Serial ATA Controller (rev 80)
00:13.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
00:13.1 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
00:13.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller (rev 80)
00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 82)
00:14.1 IDE interface: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] IXP SB400 IDE Controller (rev 80)
00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] IXP SB4x0 High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge (rev 80)
00:14.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge (rev 80)
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RC410 [Radeon Xpress 200/1100]
02:02.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
02:03.0 Network controller: Ralink corp. RT2561/RT61 rev B 802.11g


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