Since this group is all about different distros and such I thought this may be a good place to post what I am about to do.
I have been running Linux now for many years but I am an amateur compared to many gurus. There is a big difference in using an OS and really knowing the OS. I started off with Debian for about 6 months, Gentoo for a couple of years, and Ubuntu for about three years. I have dabbled with FreeBSD, Fedora, Mint and some other OS's that people told me to checkout but for no more than a week if that.
The end of last year I got my Linux+ certificate (which now also gets you LPIC1 and Novell CLA certifications) and have been looking for a Linux Admin position but most job postings are for CentOS or Redhat which I have book experience with but not much hands on experience.
In order to expand my horizons I plan on installing and running 10 different distros (listed below) on my laptop and grade them on criteria which I will list below as well. I am writing here so that others may provide there insight, thoughts, and feedback about this experiment before I get started. This is also a way for me to commit myself to completing this experiment ;-) I have not worked extensively with a lot of these distros and I am not 100% sure what to expect.
My goals in this experiment are to learn more about each distro to the point where I would feel comfortable managing it, figure out which OS is currently my favorite, and perhaps be able to provide feedback to others that plan to use Linux for the first time or that may feel ready to try out another distro.
Distros: all distros will be the AMD64 of the latest version as of today 7-13-12
Mint13-cinnamon
Ubuntu 12.04-desktop
FreeBSD-8.3
CentOS-6.3
Debian-6.0.5
Arch Linux-2011.08.19 (rolling distro)
Fedora-17
Gentoo-20120621 (rolling distro)
Mageia 2
OpenSuse-12.1
Criteria:
Ease of installation
- I already have 2 OS's (1 windows 1 nix) installed so it must recognize them and modify the boot loader to allow for an option at boot
- How much does the user need to know about the system (I will take off points for each technical question)
- expect all the OSs to use some of the same partitions such as /tmp, swap, and /home.
How long does it take for the Distro to install
- I am going to use net installs whenever possible in order to get the latest and greatest so I may end up needing to do 2 installs of some distros to compare results
- there may be a sub category for getting the distro configured for look and feel. I may attempt to change the same things on each distro and measure the number of step it takes to make the change.
Bloatware
- I don't have a good easy way to measure this yet so if anyone has any ideas let me know.
User friendly
- will be looking at the different ways to keep the distro up to date, how easy it is to run programs, how easy it is to install programs, how easy it is to run the program you just installed.
Speed
- I could use some advice here on benchmarks to use.
Hardware recognition
- this won't be an extensive list it will just be whatever I have on my computer and what I plug into the USB
Bleeding edge
- What program version is supported in the distro (this will undoubtedly involve selecting a handful of applications and in some cases downloading or installing to make a comparison)
Applications I plan to test in each environment:
- firefox (including streaming video and playing games)
- kismet
- virtualbox with 3 virtual machines (XP SP3, Win7, Backtrack 5 R2, I would like to test out that dual boot/virtual box that was covered in the meeting a few months ago if anyone has notes on that. Alas Wednesday meeting tend not to agree with my schedule)
- wine (along with a windows game from the platinum list not yet determined)
- Audacity
If you have some applications you would like me to include let me know. As I install an application in one distro I plan to do the same thing in all distros. This will help me come up with a list of what I am using, what version each distro has, and which distro has that app by default.
I plan on running in each of these environments an equal amount of time over a few months but if there is a distro I am having issues with or a learning curve problem, I will spend more time with that distro in order to level the playing field. I will be keeping each version up to date and making notes along the way as to what breaks, what is difficult, and what works well. Once I feel comfortable in each environment I plan to compile all my notes and write something up. I'm not really sure what I will do with the final project but maybe somebody will find it interesting.
I am no mind reader but I expect that someone is going to want the specs on the laptop I am using. It's an ASUS G73 with i72630QM (2.0Ghz), 8GB ram, 750 GB HDD, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M. For those that like more detail here is the lshw from my current distro:
link
description: Notebook
product: G73Sw ()
vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
version: 1.0
serial: B5N0AS129706186
width: 64 bits
capabilities: smbios-2.6 dmi-2.6 vsyscall32
configuration: boot=normal chassis=notebook uuid=8002972D-F379-E081-3353-F46D043FD541
*-core
description: Motherboard
product: G73Sw
vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
physical id: 0
version: 1.0
serial: BSN12345678901234567
slot: MIDDLE
*-firmware
description: BIOS
vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
physical id: 0
version: G73Sw.205
date: 02/10/2011
size: 64KiB
capacity: 2496KiB
capabilities: pci upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect edd int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer acpi usb smartbattery biosbootspecification
*-cpu
description: CPU
product: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz
vendor: Intel Corp.
physical id: 4
bus info: cpu@0
version: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz
serial: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
slot: CPU 1
size: 800MHz
capacity: 4GHz
width: 64 bits
clock: 100MHz
capabilities: x86-64 fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt tsc_deadline_timer xsave avx lahf_lm ida arat epb xsaveopt pln pts tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid cpufreq
configuration: cores=4 enabledcores=1 threads=2
*-memory
description: System Memory
physical id: 40
slot: System board or motherboard
size: 8GiB
*-bank:0
description: SODIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1333 MHz (0.8 ns)
product: M471B5773CHS-CH9
vendor: Samsung
physical id: 0
serial: 9600A9AF
slot: DIMM0
size: 2GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 1333MHz (0.8ns)
*-bank:1
description: SODIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1333 MHz (0.8 ns)
product: M471B5773CHS-CH9
vendor: Samsung
physical id: 1
serial: 752BA76F
slot: DIMM1
size: 2GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 1333MHz (0.8ns)
*-bank:2
description: SODIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1333 MHz (0.8 ns)
product: M471B5773CHS-CH9
vendor: Samsung
physical id: 2
serial: 96024137
slot: DIMM2
size: 2GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 1333MHz (0.8ns)
*-bank:3
description: SODIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1333 MHz (0.8 ns)
product: M471B5773CHS-CH9
vendor: Samsung
physical id: 3
serial: 9600AA08
slot: DIMM3
size: 2GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 1333MHz (0.8ns)
*-pci
description: Host bridge
product: 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 100
bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
version: 09
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
*-pci:0
description: PCI bridge
product: Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
version: 09
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pm msi pciexpress normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:40 ioport:d000(size=4096) memory:f2000000-f40fffff ioport:e0000000(size=201326592)
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: GF106 [GeForce GTX 460M]
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: a1
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=nouveau latency=0
resources: irq:16 memory:f2000000-f2ffffff memory:e0000000-e7ffffff memory:e8000000-e9ffffff ioport:d000(size=128) memory:f4000000-f407ffff
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: GF106 High Definition Audio Controller
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 0.1
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.1
version: a1
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=0
resources: irq:17 memory:f4080000-f4083fff
*-communication
description: Communication controller
product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 16
bus info: pci@0000:00:16.0
version: 04
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=mei latency=0
resources: irq:47 memory:f6a0b000-f6a0b00f
*-usb:0
description: USB controller
product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1a
bus info: pci@0000:00:1a.0
version: 05
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0
resources: irq:16 memory:f6a08000-f6a083ff
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1b
bus info: pci@0000:00:1b.0
version: 05
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=0
resources: irq:49 memory:f6a00000-f6a03fff
*-pci:1
description: PCI bridge
product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1c
bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.0
version: b5
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:41 ioport:c000(size=4096) memory:f6000000-f69fffff ioport:ee200000(size=10485760)
*-pci:2
description: PCI bridge
product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1c.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.1
version: b5
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:42 ioport:b000(size=4096) memory:f5600000-f5ffffff ioport:ed700000(size=10485760)
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: wlan0
version: 5f
serial: 00:23:15:93:93:c0
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=3.2.0-23-generic firmware=41.28.5.1 build 33926 ip=192.168.1.7 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn
resources: irq:48 memory:f5600000-f5601fff
*-pci:3
description: PCI bridge
product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1c.3
bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.3
version: b5
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:43 ioport:a000(size=4096) memory:f4c00000-f55fffff ioport:ecc00000(size=10485760)
*-usb
description: USB controller
product: FL1000G USB 3.0 Host Controller
vendor: Fresco Logic
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
version: 04
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress xhci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=xhci_hcd latency=0
resources: irq:19 memory:f4c00000-f4c0ffff
*-pci:4
description: PCI bridge
product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 6
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1c.5
bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.5
version: b5
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport
resources: irq:44 ioport:9000(size=4096) memory:f4200000-f4bfffff ioport:ec100000(size=10485760)
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:05:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 06
serial: f4:6d:04:3f:d5:41
size: 10Mbit/s
capacity: 1Gbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half firmware=rtl_nic/rtl8168e-2.fw latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
resources: irq:46 ioport:9000(size=256) memory:ec104000-ec104fff memory:ec100000-ec103fff
*-usb:1
description: USB controller
product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0
version: 05
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0
resources: irq:23 memory:f6a07000-f6a073ff
*-isa
description: ISA bridge
product: HM65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0
version: 05
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: isa bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
*-storage
description: SATA controller
product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.2
logical name: scsi0
logical name: scsi2
version: 05
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: storage msi pm ahci_1.0 bus_master cap_list emulated
configuration: driver=ahci latency=0
resources: irq:45 ioport:e070(size=8) ioport:e060(size=4) ioport:e050(size=8) ioport:e040(size=4) ioport:e020(size=32) memory:f6a06000-f6a067ff
*-disk
description: ATA Disk
product: ST9750420AS
vendor: Seagate
physical id: 0
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sda
version: 0002
serial: 5WS09PL5
size: 698GiB (750GB)
capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=f5aa6c0e
*-volume:0
description: Windows FAT volume
vendor: MSDOS5.0
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,1
logical name: /dev/sda1
version: FAT32
serial: 061b-2182
size: 16GiB
capacity: 16GiB
capabilities: primary hidden fat initialized
configuration: FATs=2 filesystem=fat
*-volume:1
description: Windows NTFS volume
physical id: 2
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,2
logical name: /dev/sda2
version: 3.1
serial: e4c70375-0be7-d641-a8ba-f568d2c8d740
size: 93GiB
capacity: 93GiB
capabilities: primary bootable ntfs initialized
configuration: clustersize=4096 created=2012-03-29 14:17:34 filesystem=ntfs label=OS modified_by_chkdsk=true mounted_on_nt4=true resize_log_file=true state=dirty upgrade_on_mount=true
*-volume:2
description: Extended partition
physical id: 3
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,3
logical name: /dev/sda3
size: 588GiB
capacity: 588GiB
capabilities: primary extended partitioned partitioned:extended
*-logicalvolume:0
description: Linux filesystem partition
physical id: 5
logical name: /dev/sda5
logical name: /
capacity: 580GiB
configuration: mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered state=mounted
*-logicalvolume:1
description: Linux swap / Solaris partition
physical id: 6
logical name: /dev/sda6
capacity: 8536MiB
capabilities: nofs
*-cdrom
description: DVD-RAM writer
product: DVD A DS8A5SH
vendor: Slimtype
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@2:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/cdrom
logical name: /dev/cdrw
logical name: /dev/dvd
logical name: /dev/dvdrw
logical name: /dev/sr0
version: XAA2
capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc
*-serial UNCLAIMED
description: SMBus
product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f.3
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.3
version: 05
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:f6a05000-f6a050ff ioport:e000(size=32)
*-scsi
physical id: 1
bus info: usb@1:1.4
logical name: scsi6
capabilities: emulated scsi-host
configuration: driver=rts5139
*-disk
description: SCSI Disk
product: xD/SD/M.S.
vendor: Generic-
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: scsi@6:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sdb
version: 1.00
serial: 3
capabilities: removable
*-medium
physical id: 0
logical name: /dev/sdb
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
physical id: 1
bus info: usb@1:1.1
logical name: wmx0
serial: 64:d4:da:19:15:33
capabilities: ethernet physical
configuration: driver=i2400m firmware=i6050-fw-usb-1.5.sbcf link=no
If you made it all the way to here. Thanks for reading!!
David
