Installation: FC-5, U-5.10, XP-SP2
Chirag Shukla
On an IBM PC 300PL (6862-N4U) P-III with 256 MB RAM, 5 GB HDD, Gateway
VX700 monitor, Video-S3 Graphics Trio3D, Intel 8255-x based network
card FC-5 was installed followed by Ubuntu 5.10, followed by XP w/ SP2.
This machine was chosen at random. The time taken for each OS to reach
the login screen from the beginning of installation was noted, and the
time to boot from starting to login screen.
FC-5 was installed with custom package selection using graphical
installation. A few packages were deselected (OO/Java).GNOME was kept
as default selection
Ubuntu does not give package selection, so was used as is.
XP w/ SP2 is without extra packages anyway.
FC5 took 78 min to reach login screen. There were 2 reboots. 2 CDs were
used. No sound, fine graphics. Resolution was set to 1024x768 before
logging in. FC5 took 1 min 37 sec to boot (avg. of 4 tries). Time was
counted from when grub menu disappeared. I know that FC5 is optimized
for P4.
Ubuntu took 71 min to reach login screen. Needed 1 reboot. No sound,
fine graphics. Ubuntu took 1 min 39 sec to boot (avg. of 4 tries). Time
was counted as soon as Ubuntu started to load. Started off with
1280x1024 resolution.
XP took 58 min to reach login screen. Needed 1 reboot. Sound played,
fine graphics. Default resolution was 800x600 (Was set to 1024x768
after logging in). XP took 54 seconds to boot (avg. of 4 tries). Time
was noted as soon as PXE information disappeared. No yellow exclamation
marks.
No problems were encountered installing either of these OSes. All 3
OSes are equally easy to install, according to me. Ubuntu's login
screen looked most appealing to work with, followed by FC5, followed by
XP (didnt have any).
These are my observations. It is quite possible your observations may
differ. It is my personal opinion that Linux and Windows are equally
easy to install. Comparisons of both OSes inevitably leave
holes/questions, lead to arguments off-topic discussions and lengthy
postings. I post this not to start an argument or lengthy posting but
to present an observation so that we could compare our results of
different OS installations on 1 single machine.
And there is no doubt in my mind that Linux is a superior OS than
Windows. I agree there are several post-installation stuffs to be done
on Windows to make it fully useable, whereas nothing has to be done on
Ubuntu. FC5 was trimmed down a little, so maybe a few more packages
need to be installed there.
This machine will eventually run Ubuntu 5.10 or newer. Installation or
boot-up times are not my criteria for selecting Ubuntu. It is my
personal belief that users will accept Ubuntu.
Chirag Shukla
is PIII 500MHz