New laptop - and plenty of Ubuntu on it

Discussion in 'all things UNIX' started by Mrkvonic, Aug 25, 2009.

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  1. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    Hi all,

    I bought myself a lovely new laptop:

    LG RD510 with Core 2 Duo 2.13GHz, P7450, 4GB RAM, Kingstone DDR2 800MHz, 320GB SATA 5400rpm Toshiba disk, and Nvidia 9600M GS 512MB VRAM. Works like chart.

    Eventually, it's going to be a pentaboot, with all sorts of goodies, but for now, it's hosting just one lovely Ubuntu 64-bit installation. Boot time: ~15sec. I'm sparkling it up as we speak. I'm going to write a little article on this one too.

    A few images:

    my-new-laptop-desktop-small.jpg

    my-new-laptop-nvidia-small.png

    my-new-laptop-system-monitor-small.png


    Cheers,
    Mrk
     
  2. FastGame

    FastGame Registered Member

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    Nice LT :cool:

    Why is your Ram usage so high, do you have lots of programs open ?
     
  3. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    Yup, I took a screenie while doing all sorts of things.
    Mrk
     
  4. Ocky

    Ocky Registered Member

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    Nice laptop !
    The memory usage is normal, it's being used for programs and disk cache.
    Mine at 'idle' is even higher with only System Monitor/Screenshot Tool/Compiz and AWN and a few screenlets. Right now it's about 590 MB.
    But as they say .. unused RAM is wasted RAM. :)
     

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  5. CogitoTesting

    CogitoTesting Registered Member

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    I've got to say that I'm jealous man :D . Now I have a question for you, is there a similar software in the linux world to windows media center? A software that I can use to watch TV. I'm preparing myself to move to Linux, my home computers that is, not my testing PCs. Anyway I'm torn between Ubuntu and Linux Mint, any idea?
     
  6. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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  7. CogitoTesting

    CogitoTesting Registered Member

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    That is it, I'm leaving windows, for good now :D . Everything that I need is on Linux now. :D.

    I'm still split between Ubuntu and Linux Mint. What would you choose if you were to be in my shoes? o_O
     
  8. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    Depends on the kind of shoes you wear. Ubuntu.
    Mrk
     
  9. CogitoTesting

    CogitoTesting Registered Member

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    I recant what I have said before with regard to XBMC. I just tried it and I can tell you that I cannot watch live TV with it, videos yes but NOT live TV like in Windows Media Center. Maybe I'm wrong and if I am please could tell me what exactly should be done in order to watch live TV with XBMC, some settings or configurations etc...
     
  10. chronomatic

    chronomatic Registered Member

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    400 MB is not much RAM. Sometimes mine will approach 1 GB being used.
     
  11. How in the heck do you get a fifteen second boot time, even with two cores?
     
  12. lodore

    lodore Registered Member

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    btw is 15second boot time including bios?
     
  13. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    I'll bootchart it soon, 15 sec. NOT including BIOS, sorry.

    I've installed VMware Server and VirtualBox and a whole load of goodies. I'll post more screenshots tomorrow. I'm not charging the battery, it needs 6 hours of quiet without me.

    VMware Server was a pain to install, so much hacking ... VB was sweet. I don't like the fact there's no backward compatibility for old-school Linux stuff, which VMware relies on. I had to cheat my way through about 6-7 different steps to get it finally running. Everything else was just click, click, click.

    BTW, baseline RAM usage is 260MB committed, roughly like XP ... I did not enable Compiz and such, just no effect - well one of the five boots is going to be a Compiz demonstrator, another will be for testing, another for games, another, I've not yet decided, and I might even slap a Fedora somewhere in there.

    Cheers,
    Mrk
     
  14. FastGame

    FastGame Registered Member

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    Thats more like it :D

    Mine hovers around 290-300 with Compiz and I'm using Preload.

    Happy Linux on your new lappy :D
     
  15. NGRhodes

    NGRhodes Registered Member

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    I had a 14 second boot time with XFS on my less than new laptop, a mere 786mb ram (https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=241274).

    I agree VMWare takes a lot of fiddling. Virtual box is packaged up nicely and rebuilds nicely with kernel updates, something you have to do manually with VMWare.

    Plus XMBC rocks, in daily use on an old PC of mine.
     
  16. Beavenburt

    Beavenburt Registered Member

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    Love that wallpaper Mrk. Any chance of a link?
     
  17. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    Just search ubuntu wallpaper blue, it's somewhere there ... I don't remember the exact link, but you'll find it. Basically, Mac have this one, in shades of gray and a different angle for their iMac wallpapers.

    P.S. Have not forgotten the extra screenshots, working on it. Installed the second Ubuntu today, tomorrow I hope to complete the installations. The man's gotta write article as well - plus there's the wife directive to go to IKEA.

    Cheers,
    Mrk
     
  18. lotuseclat79

    lotuseclat79 Registered Member

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    Hi Beavenburt,

    You don't need a link, just click on Save Image As in your browser to download it from this thread in Mrk's post that displayed the image. It is 600x375 pixels. It is Attachment 211553 in Mrk's post.

    -- Tom
     
  19. Beavenburt

    Beavenburt Registered Member

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    Thanks guys.
     
  20. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    OK, a few more screenshots:

    Here we have a 64-bit Ubuntu guest with 1GB RAM running from an NTFS formatted external USB drive and a 32-bit Windows XP wth 1GB RAM running from another NTFS formatted external USB drive. Crazy!

    my-new-laptop-virtualization.jpg

    And here's top for that. As you can see, I've "depleted" my RAM, but almost 3GB of it's cached & buffered, so still a plenty to go. Indeed, the System monitor reports only 1GB in actual usage.

    my-new-laptop-virtualization-top.png


    I just installed the third boot, for gaming. Will keep you posted :)

    Cheers,
    Mrk
     
  21. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    No screenshots, too tired after a basketball game, but some goodies:

    - Completed all four installs, the last user in the test instance is called Tester the Molester.
    - Timed the boot in the test instance, even though it's toward the slow end of the disk, it does that in 18 seconds! Now, on the first (main) partition, plus a 7200rpm disk, I guess we could manage 12-13 seconds!

    Will post screenies in the article. Coming soon.

    Tried new Nexuiz (2.5.1) on Ultimate settings, 30-40fps, really lovely!

    Cheers,
    Mrk
     
  22. ahriman

    ahriman Registered Member

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  23. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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  24. Ocky

    Ocky Registered Member

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    Jolly nice indeed. The emerald theme = radial - it's the one I use too. :)
    Hmmm... I think I now prefer the blue Compiz fire particle colour. Looks great
    with your theme and wallpaper. Looks like the LG is a good choice for Linux re.
    compatibility. :)
     
  25. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    Well, LG, but also underlying hardware too.
    Of course, I bought a laptop without OS (well, it had freedos + freedos CD :) ).

    Mrk
     
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