Linux notes from DarkDuck Low-spec computer Alt

How to pick running program for the computer and how you can run it there.
Bears, vodka, linux, from Russia with really like! Best regards, Sergey Trenin, aka greyzy.
Sergey is owner of resource This is guest post written by Sergey Trenin, aka greyzy
Purpose: learn process of installation and work of distributives of running systems Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE and Window 7 Ultimate in low-spec laptop or computer which you'll be able to find in school.
Personal 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,Buy Full Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit, discount price, 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"
Comment: videocard has standard RAM 16Mb, but can be extended in BIOS, effectively reducing RAM available for applications.
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.
Comment. All these files were opened from fileserver in the network (working on Samba).
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 method 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'll be able to listen to music and browse network).
Additionally, OpenOffice.org took 9 minutes to install.
By the way, Window 7 Ultimate qualified my hero program block as performance rate 1.
processor 1,5
memory 1,5
graphics 1,0
graphics for games1,0
HDD 4,8
Space taken by systems
Alt Linux Desktop 5.0 KDE: 2Gb swap , 3.6Gb taken on /, 2,8Gb taken on /home, in total ready to use method 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'll be able to also work with 256Mb. In other words, you need 512Mb for installation,Windows 7 Home Basic 64 Bit Key, later this parameter is not so critical.
Video testsVideo 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,Office Standard 2010 X64, 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,Office Standard 2007, but still work Booted, but later several errors and frozen method 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 method.
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 very 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 really 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 shutdownAnother 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
OutcomeInstallationInstalling 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 operate.
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,Office 2007 Professional Plus Sale, out of the box. Either OS did not make good video test,Window 7 Ultimate, 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 method 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!