[Test Report 1] Minimum System Requirement for Xubuntu 12.04 LTS

Ali Linx (amjjawad) amjjawad at gmail.com
Wed Jul 17 04:33:14 UTC 2013


Hi,

*Information:*
- Xubuntu 12.04.1.ISO
- LiveUSB Created by UNetbootin
- Installation on Real Hardware - http://phillw.net/hardware/BnA9pw11
- RAM Used: 242MB - http://i44.tinypic.com/a4ug5s.jpg
- Note that: LiveUSB is faster than LiveCD


*Test Case:*

   1. Machine has two HDD1 and HDD2
   2. HDD1 is Samsung 20GB IDE (Lubuntu 13.10 Saucy is installed on the
   whole HDD).
   3. HHD2 is Segate 80GB IDE
   4. Booting the machine from the LiveUSB
   5. Choosing "Try Xubuntu without installation"
   6. Booted successfully to the Live Desktop
   7. http://i44.tinypic.com/2hf5tgj.jpg
   8. The Live Desktop was slow and I had to wait few seconds until Right
   Click > Menu shows up.
   9. Ran GParted to turn SWAP OFF.
   10. Once SWAP is OFF, the machine became VERY SLOW. If I press CAPS
   Lock, the LED on the Keyboards needs few mins to be ON.
   11. Obviously, because Physical RAM was already being used (FULLY) -
   http://i44.tinypic.com/2hf5tgj.jpg - then once SWAP is OFF, definitely
   the whole machine will stop responding and this is very easy to re-produce
   (I'm expert to make old machine not usable and not responding).
   12. Clicked on "Install Xubuntu" from the Desktop
   13. I waited for 30 mins and the machine is totally not responding and
   the mouse pointer is stuck on the circle icon (when the system is
   processing something, the pointer turns to be a circle - I'm sure you know
   what I mean).
   14. I had to reboot the machine.
   15. Repeated the same above steps - same result
   16. Even though the Live Desktop did not crash after 30mins of waiting,
   the whole system/machine is not usable and not responding so whether it
   crashes or not, same - you can not do anything and you must reboot.




*Summary:*
Having all the above said, long story short, there is *NO WAY* to 'Try'
Xubuntu on 256MB of RAM nor 'Installing' it with 256MB of RAM. Again, see
this: http://i44.tinypic.com/2hf5tgj.jpg


*Suggestion:*
I think by far, it is very much safe to say that the *Minimum RAM* required
to Try Xubuntu and/or Install it is 512MB AT LEAST.


*Please Note:*
You need to understand that having a pre-exist SWAP Partition is NOT the
default/standard case for all users. Users may have only one HDD. User may
have not installer another Linux System on a different or same HDD so they
do have SWAP.

Also, please note that it is NOT advisable to ask from a new user to create
a SWAP Partition just to install Xubuntu on LESS than 512MB RAM. This is
not helpful at all, IMHO.

Having that said, in order to do a real test with a worse case scenario,
you need to follow the steps I have done to get the same results (SWAP OFF).

*By the way ... if zRAM was enabled by default, I'm sure the results would
be different - just saying *:)


*What Next?*
On the same machine, I am going to increase the RAM used by system by
entering BIOS and: http://i44.tinypic.com/a4ug5s.jpg

I will set it to 64MB so the RAM that will be used by the system will be
432MB RAM. I know what you are thinking. There is 16MB any Linux OS I have
tried on that machine can not read/detect that is why the usable RAM by the
system is 432MB not 448MB. Yes, I will turn SWAP OFF as well.

Ok, I have tried that and I did not work.

I had to set the RAM to 464MB so that I can install Xubuntu 12.04 from the
LiveUSB while I'm on the Live Desktop (Try Xubuntu without installation >
Live Desktop).

and ...

Installation is successful - Time:13mins


*After Installation Xubuntu 12.04*

This is what I did after the installation:


   1. sudo nano /etc/fstab
   2. Removed SWAP entry
   3. Saved
   4. Rebooted
   5. sudo apt-get install zram-config
   6. http://i40.tinypic.com/n2cqq9.jpg

I'm currently upgrading my system:

sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Now, Xubuntu 12.04 installation has NO Physical SWAP Partition.
The SWAP that you see here: http://i40.tinypic.com/n2cqq9.jpg
This is from zram-config


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZRam
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/zram-config


*End of Test Report 1*

Thank you for reading!

-- 

"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>
*
*My Own Business <http://alilinx.blogspot.com/>*
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