Dell 5100 - Ubuntu or Xubuntu?

[grausch]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on these forums!

Anyway, I have a Dell Inspiron 5100 - P4 2.4Ghz with 1 Gb RAM. Recently, with all the required Windows upgrades and all the various anti-spyware, anti-malware, etc. it has gotten so slow that I never use it anymore.

I have another laptop that I use, and was considering using the Dell to start testing Linux (I have never used Linux before).

I originally thought of installing Ubuntu, but have seen that Xubuntu is in essence a lighter (thus hopefully faster) version of Ubuntu.

In essence, my questions are:
1. Will the speed difference between Ubuntu and Xubuntu be noticeable?
2. What are the main drawbacks when using Xubuntu?
3. Other than the use of harddisk space, are there any other drawbacks to installing both? (and which one should I install first?)

The Dell will primarily used for internet and email. If I can find good photo-editing software the wife might play with it. Also, I will give OpenOffice a try, but I have another laptop which can handle my office applications. I suspect Xubuntu will be able to handle all of the above.

Any answers or suggestions will be appreciated!

[matthewboh]

A gig of memory? Believe me, you'll be able to run almost anything. For example, I have four different programs running (OpenOffice, FireFox, Evolution, SSH) and yeah - and System Monitor to get you the number.

Right now, I'm using 600 M of memory - and it's speeding along. Personally, I would go with Ubuntu - it's a little more of a hassle to keep Xfce up and running across upgrades and you've got a good enough system to run either Gnome or KDE.

Also, I have another box running as a server with two different database servers, two different web servers, a file and a print server and I rarely use over 200 MB of memory on the server at any given time.

[jml]

The easiest solution is to download both Ubuntu and Xbuntu. The disks are both live and install CD's. That way you can get a feel for the different applications on the two versions. Realize that as live CD's they will run slower than they will after an install. My experience with Ubuntu suggests that your Dell should run either disto well. To answer your questions:

1. Xbuntu may seem to run a bit faster than Ubuntu. Of the two, I generally prefer Ubuntu for Pentium 4 class machines. I would recommend Xubuntu or other light weight distros for Pentium 3 and older hardware.

2. Drawbacks: There are fewer applications included in Xbuntu. And I find the system configuration applications a bit less intuitive for users new to Linux. Finally most of the online documentation and virtually all of the books in print deal with Ubuntu not Xbuntu. Having said that, it still is a very good distro.

3. If you have the space, then there really is no drawback. It really does not matter which one gets installed first. The Grub boot loader will list both distros on boot up for you to choose from. The only reason to choose one over the other is that once Grub loads, I believe the first distro installed will be run loaded after o certain amount of time if no choice is made.

4. There is a great photo editing application include called The GIMP which is very powerful.

Hope that this helps.

Joe

[minws]

Hi

Iam running Ubuntu on dell inspiron 2.8Ghz and 512 Mb ram with no problems in every day to day task. Right now its skype, pidgin, google gadgets,evolution, firefox up and its using the 62% of my ram.

[paul101]

personally it is a bit of a personal choice, burn both ubuntu and xubuntu and see what one suits you best / you like most (note: the live cd will be slower than the actual installation :) )


while i have a powerful computer, i still prefer xfce!

[grausch]

Thank you for all the responses.

I ran Ubuntu from a live CD and was very impressed. I did not do a speed test between the boot times on Windows and Ubuntu, but Ubuntu feels faster (even from CD). It should be noted though that my Windows setup has a lot of spyware and anti-virus protection which definitely slows down the whole system.

General speed within Ubuntu is definitely faster than XP and applications load faster.

What also impressed me a lot was that Ubuntu picked up my Linksys NAS200 external storage immediately. To get this working on XP must have taken 30 minutes and meant installing the Linsys programs. Without these I need to map the nework drive on each reboot. No such issues with Ubuntu.:cool:

The only thing that was not working was my Linksys WPC300N wireless card, but I'm sure once I install Ubuntu I will find a fix for that.

On a side note, I got the RAM from Circuit City for under $200. Fairly easy to install and a great way to boost performance.

Cheers,

Gunter

[grausch]

The only thing that was not working was my Linksys WPC300N wireless card, but I'm sure once I install Ubuntu I will find a fix for that.

After doing some more research on the internet, I guess this card is not going to work with Linux.:(

Oh well, there seem to be plenty others that do, although I couldn't find any N supported cards.