[linux] Fun with Ubuntu

[Doug McLean]

This is a good point.  It may simply not be worth the extra effort to 
squeeze out, say %5.  But I always hear about how 64-bit processors are 
revolutionary compared to 32-bit ones, and wanted to see this.  The 
Athlon64 I have really is alot faster than my old computer, even with 
32-bit windows.  I haven't had quite such luck with Linux though.  It 
always seems to still be a bit slow, though I haven't spent the time to 
find out why.  :p

Phillip Garland wrote:
> How much improvement does compiling for a specific CPU get you vs. the 
> standard compilation for the architecture? I seem to recall hearing 
> 20-30% for pentium vs. i386, but I don't think I've seen numbers for 
> more recent CPUs. I doubt most desktop and server usage is cpu-limited 
> enough for cpu-specific compilation to be worth it for most people.
> 
> ~Phillip
> 
> On Mon, 7 Mar 2005, Doug McLean wrote:
> 
>> *flame*
>>
>> Just kidding.  ANyhow, I understand your grievances.  One thing that 
>> really did intrigue me about Gentoo is the fact that, provided it 
>> works,  you will have a VERY optomized machine, and I am really eager 
>> to see what an AMD64 is capable of doing (at least in theory).
>>
>> Still, the guy at work who uses Gentoo on a G4 has had apparently very 
>> pleasant results.  I am not sure if that reflects the norm (maybe 
>> not), but I guess if you're willing to put in the time, it could be 
>> really cool.
>>
>> The only big steamy pile of poo out there in my opinion is WIndows 
>> 98.  ;)
>>
>> --Doug
>>
>> peter woodman wrote:
>>
>>> this is flamebait, but gentoo is a big steamy pile of poo as far as 
>>> i'm concerned. it's not practical to use unless you have endless 
>>> amounts of time (i.e. you're still in high school or something and 
>>> don't play sports). it's a from-scratch distribution that takes most 
>>> of the learning out of from-scratch. oh, and portage gets broken 
>>> fairly frequently (for one weekend, X was broken. boy, was that fun).
>>>
>>> i don't think it's worth your time...
>>>
>>> -peter
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mar 7, 2005, at 5:16 PM, Doug McLean wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hey all,
>>>>
>>>> Not to fill up your INBOXes (too late), but I decided on a whim this 
>>>> weekend to take off Fedora Core 3 on my home computer, and put 
>>>> something else on.
>>>>
>>>> I remember way back when I was asking for suggestions on a good 
>>>> distro for this computer (it is an Athlon64 with an MSI mobo) and 
>>>> heard some really good suggestions including Gentoo and Ubuntu.
>>>>
>>>> So I had lots of fun downloading ISOs from my ultra-slow DSL 
>>>> connection (I got downgraded recently because I was "too far 
>>>> downstream from their network") and then installing them.
>>>>
>>>> Out of all the ones I tried, I was really impressed with Ubuntu.  It 
>>>> was really solid, and fairly easy to install (it had the Debian-ish 
>>>> style install, but took a lot of guess-work out of it).
>>>>
>>>> What really impressed me was that it worked so well out of the box.  
>>>> I actually didn't have to configure anything.  It detected my screwy 
>>>> sound card (AC'97) and for the first time I could listen to CDs and 
>>>> such.  I couldn't do so on Fedora.
>>>>
>>>> Also, I haven't used Gnome since RedHat 7.0 and since Ubuntu is 
>>>> Gnome-only, I was unsure at first if I would like that.  However, 
>>>> Gnome has really matured into a nice WM that is pretty solid, and at 
>>>> the same time, nicely uncluttered.
>>>>
>>>> Best of all, Ubuntu, being a descendant of Debian, has the 
>>>> ever-so-nice apt toolset.
>>>>
>>>> Incidentally, I really wanted to try Gentoo, but I had trouble 
>>>> getting past step 1 "Preparing the Media", so I wasn't able to even 
>>>> get a chance to install it.  :(  I would like to have spent more 
>>>> time on it, but the Ms. wanted to hurry up and use the Internet, so 
>>>> I had to try something else.
>>>>
>>>> Once I get some time, I will give Gentoo another go.  There are 
>>>> folks here at work who love it and swear by it.  Apparently it runs 
>>>> nicely Mac G4s. :)
>>>>
>>>> Anyhow, big thanks to whoever recommended Ubuntu to me before.  :)  
>>>> It was definitely a good choice.  I won't go back to Fedora anytime 
>>>> soon.
>>>>
>>>> Later!
>>>> Doug
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>