Ubuntu vs XP - Old Hardware Shootout

Now that I've upgraded the hard drive in my testbed laptop it is time to do a re-install to get things back to the way I want them.

Seeing as I'm setting up the laptop for Dual Booting, this is a good chance to compare the "out of the box" settings for Windows XP versus Ubuntu 7.10.

"But Windows XP is old hat now!" I hear you cry. Well, not so. In fact Microsoft are targeting XP on the new low-spec laptops such as the Asus Eee PC, system specs that aren't a million miles away from my test laptop.

System spec: Toshiba Satellite Pro 2600 @800mhz, 256meg ram, 40gb hd, 1024x768 lcd display, built-in wireless.


Working hard drive transferred from older PC

OK, so this isn't something that the regular user is going to do very often, but sometimes if you are upgrading your hardware moving the OS may be something you need to do.

In my case a hard drive was taken from a working dual-booting laptop, which had been set to boot between Windows XP Service Pack 2 and FreeSpire.

On booting the disk on the new PC, FreeSpire autodetected all the new hardware including the on-board wireless card, the higher-resolution screen and sound. Even the new wireless network card auto-connected to my home network.

Windows XP refused to boot. Not even into Safe Mode.

Winner: Linux


Installing a Dual Boot system from scratch

If you do want a dual boot system then the easiest way to do so is to install XP first, making sure that you size your Windows partition to leave enough space to install Linux. In my case I'm dedicating 15GB to Windows XP and the remainder of the 40GB drive to Ubuntu.

Installing XP is a breeze, boot from the CD, follow the prompts and an hour or so later we have a working version of XP. Surprisingly XP actually detected all the hardware. Usually this isn't the case, but here I've been really lucky. Everything including the on-board 3D, built-in wireless card and sound works perfectly.

Ubuntu is installed next. Again, installation is a piece of cake and took a similar amount of time. Ubuntu detected the Windows install and added it into the boot menu. All the hardware except for the 3D card worked perfectly. Accelerated 2D is supported on Linux for the onboard graphics, but no 3D support. Sound and wireless worked perfectly. Even the onboard modem Toshiba Soft-Modem was detected and worked. Ubuntu also mounted the XP partition at login.

Winner: Windows XP


Security

Windows XP Pro makes the first created user account a full administrator. This account has full control over the system. The Windows XP firewall is automatically installed and active. Windows also gives warnings relating to missing AV software.

The first created account in Ubuntu is given regular user access, but can perform administrative tasks by re-entering your password. A firewall is available (it is part of the Kernel) but not configured. GUI front ends for the firewall can be installed via the package manager. Generally speaking AV software is not required but can also be installed in the same way.

Pro's and cons on both sides here (although personally I'd edge towards Linux).

Winner: Draw

OS Updates

For OS updates both Windows XP and Ubuntu performed identically, both allow you to either have notifications, download ready for install, or automatic install of updates.

Windows Update now allows updates for some Microsoft products, such as Office. Ubuntu allows updates for all software packages that have been installed via its package manager.

Ubuntu also allows a complete distribution upgrade via the package manager, so if you've installed Ubuntu 7.10 upgrading to 8.04 is a simple task.

Winner: Linux


Wireless Support

Both XP and Ubuntu were identical in network support. Both were able to connect to my home wireless point, both were able to browse the network from the GUI, both saved the network password and auto-connected every time after.

Winner: Draw


Power Saving support

This is another case where both OS's were identical. Both support suspend to RAM, both support full hibernation. The CPU's speed-step facilities were supported on both. Soft power-down worked identically.

Winner: Draw


Internet / Email support

Both OS's come with web browsers, both support install of Flash Player via the browser.

Both can connect to a variety of instant messenging services.

Both come with email packages (although the Linux one has more features).

Winner: Draw


Multimedia Support

First with Windows we have Media Player. Browsing to my videos share I chose a couple of videos using a variety of codecs (XVid / DivX, Ogg). On each occasion Media Player gave the message that it was searching for the codec, before giving up and failing to play. After manually searching for codecs on the internet and running the installers most videos were able to play. MP3 support was there out of the box.

Ubuntu defaults to Totem for its media player. On trying the first video (which used XVid) Totem gives the message that it is searching for the required codecs, launches the installer, allows you to choose three sets of codec packages, installs them and plays the video. After the initial codec install all other videos played without any problems. MP3 support was added the same way.

Winner: Linux


Software Installation

On Windows you'll need to download and run installers for any apps you require. There is a good selection of commercial apps, and many FOSS (Free Open Source Software) apps are available for Windows.

Ubuntu has less commercial software available, but a wealth of FOSS applications, many of which can be downloaded, installed and upgraded through Ubuntu's package management tools.

If you want to use FOSS software and would like proper package management then Ubuntu wins. If, on the other hand, you want to use commercial software (and the majority of games) but have no real package management then go for Windows XP.

Winner: Draw


Overall Winner: Linux

OK, so a lot of this is down to personal opinion. Both systems work equally well for many tasks, both can give a good user experience. Ubuntu wins out on ease of use, especially when it comes to multimedia functions. Windows XP wins for choice of commercial software (especially games).

On low end hardware though Ubuntu does give a more up-to-date user experience, and comes with a full range of productivity / entertainment software, something that Windows XP will never be able to match.

I was very lucky that Windows XP detected all the hardware. It's been my experience that this usually doesn't happen. Normally you would need to install at least some separate drivers (although usually driver CDs are provided). Increasingly Linux works "out of the box."

Adventures with Ubuntu

Seeing as my Ubuntu CDs had arrived, I decided to see how the Toshiba would run with it.

First problem - installation. The install routine needs over 350 meg of ram to be able to run (!). I found this hard to believe - but three hours into trying to install via the desktop shortcut on the live CD I'm forced to agree. It doesn't work.

Since I still wanted to see Ubuntu running from a proper install on the laptop I downloaded the "Alternative Install" ISO which has a text mode installer. This works fine - in fact the only long winded part of it was waiting for the files to copy. FreeSpire took around half-an-hour to install, Ubuntu has taken that long already and is still going (and this is without installing any updates).

Select and install software

Please wait...

Well, that took some time. Over an hour for the install, and that's without any updates. But, at least it's now in and working, right?

Well, nearly.

After rebooting and logging in as my new user I received an error that the clock was probably set wrong (which was correct, I'd not got around to setting the date correctly yet, so it was showing as some time in 2000). Not to worry, there was an option to allow me to set the time. Choosing to set the time resulted in an error message that I had insufficient rights to change the clock.

At this point I was left looking at a plain orange screen. No icons, no toolbar, nothing.

Could this be Ubuntu's own "Orange screen of Death?"

One forced restart later I chose to ignore the date error and was able to log in OK.

Normally I use KDE for my desktop, so using Gnome is a new experience, but I've got to say that it isn't bad. Connecting to my wireless network was a breeze using "Network Manager" which was already running in the task bar.

Updates installed easily too, in fact installing system updates on Ubuntu is every bit as easy as on Windows, with the bonus that many of your applications can be updated too.

Watching videos was also straight forward. Connecting to my video share on my main PC, I double clicked a likely looking .AVI file which launched the Totem player, this displayed a message that it needed to look for a codec, I click Yes to install, clicked Next a couple of times and hey presto! It played back every video file I threw at it.

Adding Flash support was just as easy in FireFox as it is in Windows (you do get to choose between Adobe Flash and the GPL Gnash player, personally at the moment I'd say stick to Flash).

Adding extra programs is a doddle (as is to be expected these days) using the "Add / Remove Programs" option off the main menu.

All in all I'd say this is a mixed bag. Hardware support is good. The "Live" installer is much too bulky for what it does (350 meg memory needed just to run an installer? Oh come on!). The default desktop is good (but I still prefer KDE). Software installation and updates are as easy as you can get.

....

This was written a couple of days ago. I've stuck with Ubuntu on the Toshiba (but I've installed KDE4 as my main desktop) and I've got to say that I'm really enjoying using it.

I'm even tempted to install this on my main PC (replacing my three year old Slackware install). I'll have to see how well it handles BlitzMax before making the jump.

....

Four days later. . . .

So how well is Ubuntu standing up to regular use?

I've switched back from KDE4 to the default desktop as some of Ubuntu's features are better integrated into Gnome. Totem has remained as the media player of choice and so far has played everything that I have thrown at it.

FireFox has also impressed. Embedded video files (such as QuickTime) haven't caused any problems. More importantly YouTube videos play without any issues.

Some of the smaller touches have been really nice. For example, when trying to trace a network issue and trying to run "traceroute" from the command prompt, I received an error that the command wasn't installed, but was given full instructions on which package needed to be installed, and how to do so.