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

[Micah Gersten]

On 07/16/2013 11:33 PM, Ali Linx (amjjawad) wrote:
> 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/>*
>
I don't think that anyone says to run Xubuntu with 256MB RAM with no
swap partition.  Creating a swap partition is a part of the standard
install IIRC.  Also, this can be a swap file and does not need to be a
separate disk (though I don't know if the installer handles this
properly or not).
Having said that, I don't have an issue saying that the minimum to run
Xubuntu is 512MB at this point.  Even at 512MB, swap will be needed, but
I don't think that's a problem.

Micah
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