What do you think of Ubuntu Linux?

[barnabas1969]

OK, so I've been a Windows guy ever since I saw Win 3.1 for the first time back in 1992. Before that, the first GUI O/S I saw was the Mac (in high school). After high school, I used VMS on the largest VAX cluster in the world (we actually had on-site techs from DEC 24x7, we were the largest single DEC site in the world)... until I quit that job and went to work in a Microsoft shop.

So, I'm looking into home security systems... and the most interesting software I've seen runs in Linux (it's called Zone Minder). One of my co-workers is infatuated with Ubuntu. He thinks that Ubuntu is the best thing since sliced bread.

I have an old laptop running a Celeron 1.5GHz processor with 1GB of RAM. I decided to wipe off WinXP, and install Ubuntu 11.10 on the old laptop, at my co-worker's suggestion.

OK... I'm actually posting this from the laptop in Ubuntu 11.10... running Chromium as the browser. The browser looks and feels just like the Windows version of Chrome.

I tried starting the system monitor while nothing else was running. I'm shocked to see that 25-35% of the CPU is in use while NOTHING is running. I can attest that this same laptop would usually sit at 5-10% busy when nothing was running in WinXP (unless Windows Update was running). I will admit that Ubuntu is using less RAM... around 300MB is in use on Ubuntu compared to approx. 500MB in WinXP. But... I cannot understand how Ubuntu, which is supposed to be MORE efficient than Windows, could be using 25-35% of the CPU when NOTHING is running.

What's your opinion of Ubuntu vs. Windows XP? Besides the fact that Ubuntu is free, are there any other redeeming qualities?

[xegroeg]

for your system to be using 35% cpu something had/has to be running. to see what is, install htop (sudo apt-get install htop) and take a look at CPU (sort by clicking CPU w/ the mouse). I'm on a laptop running arch with 4 programs (2 terminals, thunderbird, and luakit) open and by cpu is at 0-2%. 0-1% of that is X jumping up and down from 0%.

i run an assorted number of systems running many different OS's. the rule is the right tool for the job, not what brand you identify with. if zone minder works and run of linux, run linux. you will be better in the long run the more you learn. regarding your question linux vs. xp. xp is almost out of support and is like ~11 years old. learning to run a linux system will allow you to learn something new and open you up to many possibilties that aren't available if you don't.

[barnabas1969]

Yeah, I get that. I have Win 7 on all my other systems. This is a really old laptop that was sitting around collecting dust. Since Linux is supposed to be much more efficient, I installed it on this laptop (a completely fresh install from an ISO downloaded from the ubuntu.com website, and I formatted the drive... so there was nothing else on the machine). Right now, I'm re-installing XP just to be sure of my numbers. After that, I'll install Ubuntu again... and try your idea with htop (whatever that is)... I'm guessing that it displays the top CPU "hogs".

OK... I'm a dummy. I know what sudo is... from a UNIX prompt in HP/UX. But... from the Ubuntu GUI... how do I get there? And what is "apt-get"?

[barnabas1969]

I re-installed XP, SP3... and the only "hog" process is the "system idle process". It's taking 98-99% of the CPU. RAM, before anything else is installed, is sitting at 219MB in use. Hmmm... and Linux is more efficient?

[xegroeg]

Yeah, I get that. I have Win 7 on all my other systems. This is a really old laptop that was sitting around collecting dust. Since Linux is supposed to be much more efficient, I installed it on this laptop (a completely fresh install from an ISO downloaded from the ubuntu.com website, and I formatted the drive... so there was nothing else on the machine). Right now, I'm re-installing XP just to be sure of my numbers. After that, I'll install Ubuntu again... and try your idea with htop (whatever that is)... I'm guessing that it displays the top CPU "hogs".

OK... I'm a dummy. I know what sudo is... from a UNIX prompt in HP/UX. But... from the Ubuntu GUI... how do I get there? And what is "apt-get"?

whoops, sorry. i should have been more specific. open a terminal first.

* sudo is a command that allows you to run a command with elevated privledges (as "root", which is the linux equiv. of administrator in Windows)
* apt-get is the package manager ubuntu uses...it lets you install any software (package) you want my just typing apt-get install 'whatever you want', and it will suck down whatever and install -- all automatically. or as some say automagically...
* Htop is like task manager in Windows -- http://htop.sourceforge.net

so the command you run will be: sudo apt-get install htop, all in one line in the terminal.

[xegroeg]

Yeah, I get that. I have Win 7 on all my other systems. This is a really old laptop that was sitting around collecting dust. Since Linux is supposed to be much more efficient, I installed it on this laptop (a completely fresh install from an ISO downloaded from the ubuntu.com website, and I formatted the drive... so there was nothing else on the machine). Right now, I'm re-installing XP just to be sure of my numbers. After that, I'll install Ubuntu again... and try your idea with htop (whatever that is)... I'm guessing that it displays the top CPU "hogs".

OK... I'm a dummy. I know what sudo is... from a UNIX prompt in HP/UX. But... from the Ubuntu GUI... how do I get there? And what is "apt-get"?

whoops, sorry. i should have been more specific. open a terminal first.

* sudo is a command that allows you to run a command with elevated privledges (as "root", which is the linux equiv. of administrator in Windows)
* apt-get is the package manager ubuntu uses...it lets you install any software (package) you want my just typing apt-get install 'whatever you want', and it will suck down whatever and install -- all automatically. or as some say automagically...
* Htop is like task manager in Windows -- http://htop.sourceforge.net

so the command you run will be: sudo apt-get install htop

Also, because your machine is older I would recommend something less graphic heavy that will do better on older hardware. Xubuntu might be something you want to look into. It uses a different GUI (XFCE) that is more lightweight than Unity, which is what ubuntu uses. It may also be more intuitive. http://xubuntu.org

[STC]

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080608

[xegroeg]

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080608

[barnabas1969]

Funny stuff. I got what sudo does. Use that sometimes in my job... but I'm not a Unix/Linux guru... I'm a Windows guy.

I'll have to poke around to find the terminal. So far, Ubuntu is not anything close to what I would call "intuitive"... at least not for someone who has been using Windows his whole adult life.

Also, I kind of figured that htop would list the top CPU users. I found a GUI in Ubuntu that does the same thing. Problem is that the GUI "task manager" is the biggest user (around 8%)... and all the other processes show 0%... so there's no way to explain the 25-35% total that I was seeing in the same GUI app.

I'll see about playing with Linux more tomorrow. So far, I'm not real impressed. But the Zone Minder software looks pretty impressive... and it doesn't hurt to learn a new O/S.

[barnabas1969]

OK, So my co-worker showed me his (much more powerful) laptop running Ubuntu. It was sucking up 20-30% CPU while doing nothing also. He reassured me that it would be faster... so I re-installed Ubuntu 11.10 on the old laptop.

I gotta say... the installation of Ubuntu takes WAYY longer than installing XP SP3. But... it boots a lot faster.

I then installed 435 !!! updates to Ubuntu. And Windows has a lot of patches??? This is the latest "stable" release of Ubuntu... and there are 435 updates? Wow. It took forever.

So... now it's running. It seems OK. I'm not sure if the browsing experience is any faster. But I'm willing to try it out.

No time tonight to install all the confusing pre-requisites for Zone Minder. I'll try later.