[GRLUG] My review of Ubuntu 7.10: Gooey Gumdrop

[Tim Schmidt]

Ubuntu bashing seems popular today :-/

Not that I'm a huge fan...

Resource usage is pretty much a non-issue with me - 2Gb of DDR2 is
~$50.  If your system is too old to use DDR2, it's eating a sizable
amount of excess electricity annually.

I built a new Celeron 420 (a single-core Core2Duo) w/ 2Gb DDR2 and
integrated Intel G965 graphics, gigabit LAN, firewire, 10 USB2 ports,
etc etc etc. for $250 recently (though I already had the MicroATX
case).  The entire system consumes ~50W at idle.  Compared to my (also
relatively conservative) Sempron 3100+ system which draws ~120W at
idle, I save $66 annually in electricity.  Compared to a P4 with an
older GeForce, my new computer might pay for itself in two years - not
to mention the performance improvement, better Linux support, extra
features, etc.  And that's not even taking into consideration the
amount I save on electricity by calming the war between my computers
and my A/C.

As for Compiz using CPU cycles, it generally doesn't.  It farms a lot
of graphics operations that would have normally been done by your CPU
out to OpenGL - and hence your GPU - which can (at least in theory)
free up CPU cycles for other things.

As for increased power draw, I haven't tested my own machines.
However, I have to assume that if one were to disable / uninstall
things like tracker, NetworkManager, etc, then ram and power usage
should decrease somewhat.  However, Gnome and KDE have never really
been 'lightweight'.  As we keep dreaming up new things for our
computers to do, I wouldn't expect them ever to be.

As far as stability and 'bugginess' go, I haven't noticed any show
stoppers here.

My 2c.

--tim