Purpose: learn process of installation and work of distributives of operating systems Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE and Window 7 Ultimate in low-spec computer which you can find in school.
Computer configuration:
- Motherboard Asus TUSI-M (7-9 years old, cannot tell more exact)
- Processor Celeron 1100MHz
- HDD 40Gb, IDE of course
- DVD-ROM Sony
- build-in video card
- built-in network card.
- Experiments ran on memory cards 64, 128, 256 Mb, and also with external network card. External video card was not tested because there is not AGP slot on motherboard, and I didn’t have PCI video card available.
- Screen Samsung SyncMaster 550s, 15"
Installation conditions for OSs:
Both OSs were installed as single systems on HDD.HDD was divided into
- 3 partitions for Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE: swap 2Gb, / -15Gb, /home – 22Gb.
- 2 partitions for Window 7 Ultimate с: - 30Gb, d: - 10Gb
What was tested:
Simple everyday operations were used as performance tests:- Opening of graphic file, map - size 80*80cm, file size 5,2Mb
- Opening of OpenOffice.org document, file size 560Kb, 198 pages
- Music file playback, artist Moby, track in my heart.wma
- Movie file playback. 2 movies were selected for tests 1. Our Russia: Eggs of Fate (avi), and 2. The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (avi). Also note: Eggs has better quality, but file size is almost equal for both movies: 700Mb. Probably, new coding methods are used in Eggs, but I am not sure. But playback went differently for those files.
Both Linux and Windows worked in their default graphical environments after installation.
Results:
Results are in tables, plus somewhere commented in words.
Installation time
| OS/RAM | 256 | 512 |
Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE | 40min | 35min |
| Window 7 Ultimate | 256Mb required | 45min |
Please note, Alt Linux is workable system after installation, Window 7 Ultimate needs adjustments.
Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE found all the equipment during installation and was ready to use. Window 7 Ultimate did not find soundcard and network cards. I found soundcard drivers after 30 minutes of Internet research, but nothing for network card. Therefore I decided to plug in the coolest external network card Realtek8139, after that Window 7 Ultimate fulfilled minimal requirements (you can listen to music and browse network).
Additionally, OpenOffice.org took 9 minutes to install.
By the way, Window 7 Ultimate qualified my hero system block as performance rate 1.
- processor 1,5
- memory 1,5
- graphics 1,0
- graphics for games1,0
- HDD 4,8
Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE: 2Gb swap , 3.6Gb taken on /, 2,8Gb taken on /home, in total ready to use system took 8.5Gb (including selected packages for graphics processing, sound and video), probably swap-file is too big, but I always make it 2Gb.
Window 7 Ultimate took something more than 7Gb after installation, which increased to almost 8Gb after OOo addition. Plus 100Mb recovery partition.
Overall, both systems are roughly equal here, but I’d like to remind again that Alt is ready for use while Window 7 Ultimate is just basic, and additional software will take more space on HDD.
As I learned during the experiment, installed Window 7 Ultimate does not require all 512Mb for work, you can also work with 256Mb. In other words, you need 512Mb for installation, later this parameter is not so critical.
Video tests
Video is most interesting here.Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE RAM/video:
256/16: Neither Eggs nor Habits cannot be played from network. Neither with built-in network card, nor external. Caffeine player died with black screen. When copied to /home, Eggs could be played with normal sound but slow video.
240/32: Neither Eggs nor Habits can be played over the network. But locally films can be viewed OK.
512/16-32: I still did not get video from network. Reasons are unknown.
Window 7 Ultimate RAM/video:
512/16: Both Eggs and Habits could be open from network. Eggs have slow sound and video, Habits are OK. Opening Eggs from D: drive resulted in normal sound, but still slow video.
496/32: Nothing changed. Habits are OK, Eggs are slow in video even locally.
464/64: Video is still slow in Eggs, even after re-installation of codecs (mega codeck pack 5.6.1). I don’t know why it is so. Further test ran in Window 7 Ultimate with movie Habits.
Comment: subjectively Window 7 Ultimate opens video faster
Memory requirements
In parallel to “performance test”, I tested with which memory size both systems became unusable.
Results are surprisingly similar:
| OS\RAM | 512 | 256 | 192 | 128 |
| Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE | Works good | Almost no changes | Applications are opening much longer, but still work | Booted, but later several errors and frozen system |
| Window 7 Ultimate | Works good | Almost no changes | Applications took 3-5 times more time to open, but work | BSOD during boot |
As I found out, both systems behave themselves almost equally on 256-512 Mb. They are still workable on 192 Mb, but very slow. Rubicon of 128 Mb could not be crossed by either system.
Working with graphics, OOo document, music playback and video on both systems
I’d like to remind that Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE required 32Mb of video RAM to open Our Russia: Eggs of Fate movie. It was opened locally. The same file could not be opened by Window 7 Ultimate. Instead, Window 7 Ultimate opened Mating Habits from the network even on 16Mb of video RAM. Same file could not be opened by Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE even in best conditions.
Sequence of opening: graphic file was opened first, then audio file (Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE with Amarok, Window 7 Ultimate with WMP), then video file (Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE with Caffeine player locally, Window 7 Ultimate with Media Player Classic (from codecs pack) from network). Totally, all 4 files were loaded simultaneously, and I tested speed.
OS/RAM/Video | Picture | OOo file | Audio file | Video file |
Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE 496/32 | Opens relatively quickly | Opens | Opens relatively quickly | Caffeine loads longer than OOo, but still works |
Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE 240/32 Results almost the same for everything, but little bit slower | ||||
Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE 176/32 | Opens slow | Very slow | Slow | It’s better to switch off audio, video very slow |
Window 7 Ultimate 512/16 | Opens relatively quickly | Opens | Opens relatively quickly | As quickly as audio file |
Window 7 Ultimate 256/16 Results almost the same for everything, but little bit slower | ||||
Window 7 Ultimate 192/32 | Opens slow | As slow as in Alt | Slow | Opens slow. Sound is OK, video is slow. After audio file closing, audio is OK, video is still little bit slow. After closing of OOo video became OK. |
Both systems did not work on 128Mb | ||||
Boot and shutdown
Another interesting study is boot / shutdown time. Boot time counting started from pressing Enter button to welcome login screen. Shutdown – from pressing Shutdown button to power off. First value is boot time, second – shutdown time, in seconds:RAM | Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE | Window 7 Ultimate |
512 | 55/30 | 55/15 |
256 | 60/40 | 55/25 |
192 | 60/65 | 70/60 |
Outcome
Installation
Installing Window 7 Ultimate requires more from hardware, it needs at least 512Mb RAM, it has problems with equipment (i.e. drivers for on-board devices). It requires some tweaks after installation. Tested system does not have antivirus so much required in Windows, which needs additional 20-30 Mb of memory to run.Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE found all the equipment and was ready to use in 40 minutes after inserting of installation DVD into the drive.
So, Alt Linux deserves 5 (out of 5) points for installation, and Window 7 Ultimate get only 3.
Performance
I cannot tell the favorite. Nice surprises were Window 7 Ultimate work with 256Mb onboard and also work with multimedia content without any additional codecs, out of the box. Either OS did not make good video test, and I am disappointed why Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE did not show me video from network. Other than that both OSs deserve 4+.
Other
It is worth mentioning that Window 7 Ultimate boots and shuts down faster. But it is not impossible that Window 7 Ultimate will lose this parameter to Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE after additional components’ installation. But on this stage Window 7 Ultimate is ahead. Image quality subjectively was better in Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE. Window 7 Ultimate had some ripple, frequency most likely was 60Mhz, but there was no list with frequency setting in video card driver, so I could not configure. Eyes tired in Window 7 Ultimate, but not in Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE.
Conclusion
If you asked me "what would you advice for this configuration for movies, music, text editing and internet surfing, new system from Alt Linux or new system from Microsoft", I would answer: no difference. Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE can have less problems during installation, but surprisingly both systems behave themselves more or less similar in work. Both Linux and Windows can work on computers from Ancient Egypt. Of course, if you don’t ask for impossible.
Thank you!
| Bears, vodka, linux, from Russia with love! Best regards, Sergey Trenin, aka greyzy. Sergey is owner of resource http://samba-doc.ru/ |
This text was originally published by Sergey in Russian on Alt Linux forum. Translated for guest posting by DarkDuck.
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