Help me figure out the optimal installation for my laptop.

Keeler · 2010-02-03 20:55:56

I'm trying to figure out the best setup for my laptop, including partition scheme, filesystems, desktop environment, and power management. I will be using it for work, school, playing movies, network troubleshooting, and penetration testing. It will be shut down and booted up several times daily, hibernating/sleeping frequently, so I need it to be fast and responsive, but not a power hog when running on battery power.

Here are the specs, ripped from newegg:

CPU
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo
CPU Speed T6600(2.20GHz)
CPU FSB 800MHz
CPU L2 Cache 2MB
Display
Screen Size 15.5"
Wide Screen Support Yes
Resolution 1366 x 768
Graphics
GPU/VPU Intel GMA 4500M
Video Memory Shared system memory
Graphic Type Integrated Card
Hard Drive
HDD 320GB
HDD RPM 5400rpm
HDD Interface SATA
Memory
Memory 4GB
Memory Speed DDR2 800
Memory Spec 2GB x 2
Memory Type 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM
Memory Slot (Total) 2
Memory Slot (Available) 0
Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type BD Combo
Optical Drive Interface Integrated
Optical Drive Spec Blu-ray Disc Support - BD ROM
DVD±R Double Layer/DVD±RW Drive
Communications
WLAN Atheros 802.11b/g/n Wireless Network
Power
Battery Lithium Ion

Here is the partition scheme I was thinking about, but I'd really like to here some input first:

/boot -> ext2 (100mb)
swap (10gb)
/var -> reiser4 (3gb)
/ -> ext4 (15gb)
/home -> ext4 (remainder of hard drive space)

Look good? bad? Could be improved somewhere? What about tmpfs?

For the desktop I was thinking about xfce4, but I understand it isn't as lightweight as it once was. Is this true?

Last edited by Keeler (2010-02-03 20:59:12)

dunz0r · 2010-02-03 21:21:04

XFCE is still very lightweight, my gf's almost 5 year old computer runs it very smoothly. Another option could be some lighweight window manager like fluxbox or openbox.

Dr.Paneas · 2010-02-04 01:25:42

I cannot find the Reiser4 option during installation. I only see ReiserFS (Reiser3).

Why 10GB of SWAP ?

I was watching at Youtube the Arch + KDEmod stuff. It's very quick. Also LXDE is very quick. I really want the fastest system possible, and I am completely lost.
Any help ? I share the same queries with Keeler

Sertse · 2010-02-04 01:54:40

Xfce is perfectly fine for that sort of machine. It's "lightness" only begins to be an issue around the 256 ram mark imo. and it's really just a much of apps doing it's own thing that work well together...

Dare say with your specs (Core 2 Duo, 4gb ram?), it wouldn't matter what you run.

Dr.Paneas · 2010-02-04 02:27:05

Sertse wrote:

Xfce is perfectly fine for that sort of machine. It's "lightness" only begins to be an issue around the 256 ram mark imo.

Which window manager does the Xfce uses ?
What about Xfce in combination with OpenBox ?

All I want is a fast as hell desktop. I don't care about the cool graphics or effects.

Kitty · 2010-02-04 06:00:45

You might look at:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Com … w_Managers

if you want to dispose of the graphics.

chilebiker · 2010-02-04 21:10:54

LXDE is fast. Or you might want to do a individual setup with Openbox, which requires some more work than LXDE. Or you might as well try XFCE, which is a bit more bloated, but with your specs the difference in speed will be minimal.

salmonix · 2010-02-08 22:02:08

Dr.Paneas wrote:

I cannot find the Reiser4 option during installation. I only see ReiserFS (Reiser3).
I really want the fastest system possible, and I am completely lost.
Any help ? I share the same queries with Keeler

If you are really up to it you have to use some source-base distro like SourceMage or Gentoo. There you can compile everything slimmed down to your box, using specific CFLAGS, using minimal X (kdrive), some lightweight WM (Blackbox or Fluxbox etc., but you may also try Ratpoison, only screen comes after).
You can sort applications with the less dependencies and around shared libs (eg. Worker for file managing, mplayer and vlc for media, w/o gui) and so on. I have Gentoo on my ancient boxes to have them more responsive (they are, though take ages to build the system).
However, I see little gain if you want to use multimedia gadget support in general (unless you are a diehard consoler with CD/DVD burning skilll on command line), esp. on the box you described. The most you can do is to find a light Login Manager (I use Slim) and a light WM, some Box preferably and the necessary light gadgets if missing. (stalonetray in the slit, Conky or gkrellm system monitors that have a number of useful functions), Worker or Midnight Commander, light terminal, eg. some rxvt. You may try to compile your kernel and X. Mplayer is also very configurable so if you use that you may recompile that too. Vim for editing...
Keeping all close to the console is resource friendly and usually fast. Having 4Gb - I'd make a workdir in tmpfs and put things there.
Also mounting /var/lock /var/run and /tmp may speed up (though tmp may in cases be a limit, eg. opening a big file for preview in mldonkey may surprise).
Your limitations are the dependencies the package you want to use is compiled with and the broader gcc optimisation. (i686, x86_64)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-02-03 20:55:56

Help me figure out the optimal installation for my laptop.

#2 2010-02-03 21:21:04

Re: Help me figure out the optimal installation for my laptop.

#3 2010-02-04 01:25:42

Re: Help me figure out the optimal installation for my laptop.

#4 2010-02-04 01:54:40

Re: Help me figure out the optimal installation for my laptop.

#5 2010-02-04 02:27:05

Re: Help me figure out the optimal installation for my laptop.

#6 2010-02-04 06:00:45

Re: Help me figure out the optimal installation for my laptop.

#7 2010-02-04 21:10:54

Re: Help me figure out the optimal installation for my laptop.

#8 2010-02-08 22:02:08

Re: Help me figure out the optimal installation for my laptop.

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