Arch Linux

Archadept

Member

Registered: 2010-07-30

Posts: 11

[SOLVED]Archshot AMP

The reason I am posting here despite of fact that I did not obtained a cool nick is that I want to find out that it is possible to get best performance using latest Linux software on an ancient machine. So lets named it then an Ancient Machine Project. It seemed that Arch is best choice for making this experiment. However if any of my assumptions are false please do not hesitate to verify it.

Assumptions:
Arch claims to be lightweight, so it should use less machine resources
Its full-scale Linux distribution, it has most common applications
It is compiled for newer architectures so in theory it should perform better.
I count on this that it includes better graphic driver (see target machine).

Target machine:
RAM: 1,5 GB
CPU: Celeron 1,3 Ghz
GPU: Radeon 9000
HDD: 80 GB

From description it looks like quite decent machine, right? In past millennium, sure it was!

Target software:
I was considering jfs as file system to use due to its low CPU usage, but this what I have learned from Arch wiki about it did not looked good. This part about possible data loss during unexpected power failure because of way this file system works with its journal.
So I think I will use ext3 for every partition except tmp which will be ext2. Generally I prefer reiserfs, but its more CPU intensive.
Xfce as a desktop environment although its labelled as a lightest from the heaviest
Standard office applications
Some multimedia applications like Totem, Smplayer and audacious
Some games like wesnoth and scorch

Some suggestions about software would not be bad too.

Why to bother?
Mainly for fun!
But if it is not enough lets say that it is an opportunity to check is Arch really more efficient and less boost hungry then other distros. Currently target machine is running Debian squeez/sid with reiserfs and Xfce as desktop environment so its possible to run some tests on it for later comparison. If you are interested in it you can post here a proposed testing procedure.

Last edited by Archadept (2011-08-14 15:03:40)

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: [SOLVED]Archshot AMP

You don't need to make assumptions, or ask anyone here to verify them - the wiki has the facts.

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED]Archshot AMP

Your processor is rather weak, but you can even install full-blown KDE 4.x and it should still run. It did run on a similar setup with less RAM but I has hitting swap to often.

Archadept

Member

Registered: 2010-07-30

Posts: 11

Re: [SOLVED]Archshot AMP

Thanks.

Anyway all of this just mean that if I do not try I will never know. So, additionally I will run few tests from PTS and post them here for comparison!