A little experiment (Can someone explain? ::)))

[trefall]

Hello all! I'm still trying to decide which version of Mint to upgrade to. So I downloaded (LXCE, XFCE and LTS). Then I ran them from the Live CD DVD and did the Benchmark tests in the 'system' folder. I don't understand exactly what I'm reading but maybe it will help some others decide which version is best for them.
LXCE XFCE LTS
Temp 47, 51C 44, 48C 50, 52C
Blowfish 11.9 11.94 12.04
Crypthash 112.91 (1401mhz) 111.98 (800mhz) 112.09 (1401mhz)
Fibonacci 5.97 6.06 6.2
N-Queen 15.88 13.60 15.64
FFT 5.46 5.49 5.45
Raytrcing 31.58 33.62 32.54
RAM used 215MB 195MB 257MB
Notes:
*Glib warning failed due to unknown userID * touchpad 'tap' doesn't work (patch avail I think) *Scroll bar seemed to 'stick' as does Mint 8
My questions about this - Why did XFCE have almost half the mhz? Can someone explain what the results mean in 'useable' terms?
Wireless worked on all three versions out of the box. I went online to a movie site I use and didn't notice any difference, except PERHAPS XFCE was a little clearer resolution.

[lmintnewb]

Curious about you RAM usage stats there.

That's idling or what ? ... How many apps were running there and what method was used to pull the stats 4/ram ?

Not sure about your question. Just guessing would be amount of CPU used ? Which in that case assuming that's so ... lower = better.

[trefall]

lmint,
I used the usage on the 'summary' in the 'system' folder. I'm guessing the only thing running was the LiveCd. The number is given in 'MB used (or 'in use')'. If the patch does exist for the touchpad not working I liked XFCE. It's Debian and I still didn't notice anything that didn't work. Although I must say, Lenovo seems to be a really good manufacturer for Linux. As I mentioned in a previous post it does seem to depend on the model though. How is the driver support for Debian versus Ubuntu? AP mentioned that with Debian versions linking to the 'stable' repositories makes the version more stable, or something like that.

[lmintnewb]

On my old dinosaur comp hardware drivers under debian and many others seem to work just fine. Though cannot really say how they stack up on newer hardware and laptops. Probably similar ... ubuntu is a derivative of Debian afterall.

Haven't had any probs with the Debian based linux distro installed. It's a rolling release using debian sid too me thinks. Hasn't given me any problems. But I don't update much. Worked so well at default, don't really feel the need to mess with it or get updatitis. Why mess with and attempt to fix summin that isn't broken.

Ah I get it ... it was all running from live session. Cause those were terrible RAM stats otherwise. Sure live session chomps up RAM, since everything is running from RAM. Would just go ahead and google any of the other returns/results you're unsure of the meaning for. Should at least give ya a much better understanding of what it signifies.

Just general opinion ... At this point think it's better for anyone who doesn't already 1/2 know what they're doing with linux to stick to Mint's main releases ( buntu based stuff ) Though could always go ahead a dual-tri-quad boot some of the other Minty Magic releases on a testing partition to see how ya get along. With lil or no harm befalling the hapless linux user involved.

Only would suggest taking a bit of time to understand the install process and doing it manually. It's fairly simple imo for most linux stuff with a half decent installer. With the end goal being to either install grub to the Mint debian releases partition ... Or not install it at all and figuring out how to edit grub menu.lst to manually add that install. Could also be as simple as running the command sudo update-grub in terminal to add the new install to your boot menu too. Don't quote me on that. I'm stuck on a grub legacy kick and have gotten decent at using it to add & edit stuff.

If ya let it the last distro installed will take over the mbr of your hdd. Not such a good thing if you find you don't get along well and wanna get rid of it. Though truthfully would just be a matter of reinstalling grub too I guess.

Alright this turned into a book nevermind ... got work 2 do besides.

(next day edit ) In fact grub2, doesn't have a menu.lst file. Manually editing it is a bit diff than legacy ...

[nunol]

You can see CPU speed by running in a command line:

Code: Select all

inxi -Cx

When the application measured the CPU frequency it was not yet using the CPU fully so it was measured as the base frequency. You can force the CPU to a given frequency with the "CPU frequency Scaling Monitor".

[trefall]

Nunol,
Is that some difference with XFCE? That was the only version that gave me 800mhz. The other two gave me 1401mhz.

[nunol]

No, it was by chance. You can check with:

Code: Select all

inxi -C

and see the speed for yourself.

[trefall]

I checked the speed with the -C and it gave me 1401mhz. My concern was that something in the software controlled the speed the processor ran at. That is not the case?

[nunol]

Yes, the speed is controlled by software. The default operation is "On demand", that is it's only speeds up if it needs to.