ASUS Eee PC 901 / Intel Atom: Linux Distribution Comparison

[phoronix]

Phoronix: ASUS Eee PC 901 / Intel Atom: Linux Distribution Comparison

Late last month we published our preview of the ASUS Eee PC 901 and we shared our plans for a number of benchmarks using this netbook with Intel's Atom processor. Following our Linux desktop encryption benchmarks of the ASUS Eee PC 901 and Intel Atom N270 CPU we have a performance comparison of Xandros, Fedora, Ubuntu, and Mandriva on this low-cost netbook PC.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=12840

[panda84]

Was file indexing (e.g. Tracker, Strigi, Nepomuk) disabled?

[Michael]

Was file indexing (e.g. Tracker, Strigi, Nepomuk) disabled?

All settings from the distribution were left within their stock configuration.

[shenki]

It would be interesting to include the installed size of each distro.

I ask as I have recently attempted to install both Fedora 9 and Debian unstable on an OLPC XO, and Debian wins by far when trying to conserve disk space by doing a minimal sized install.

Also, do you have any insights into some of the large differences in benchmark results? Looking at the impact of default settings, and integration options, on performance would be a handy metric for choosing between distros.

[n0nsense]

what is the reason for such performance difference in compile test ?

BTW, I'm just curious, what will be the results of Gentoo compared to others. It is painful process to install (compared to binaries) it, but what the real difference in numbers is interesting question.

[jeffro-tull]

How about boot times? I'd be surprised if the tweaked Xandros didn't win, but I'm still curious to see how "vanilla" distros stack up.

...especially since my comparable-hardware Aspire One should be arriving today.

[abester]

Hi,
as an Acer Aspire One user, I'm curious if any of the following might be options for distributions tuned to the netbook platforms:

1. Compile kernel and/or userland with Intel 10.1 compiler w/Atom optimizations
2. Run any of the SSD / flash-aware file systems (JFFS2?)

For those of us with slow flash drives, ext2 + noatime results are the most relevant.

Anyway, thanks for the article. Definitely a topic that some of us will follow closely.

[Vadi]

Hmm... one of the reasons I'm waiting for an MID to come out with Ubuntu preinstalled is because of less setup headaches. Looks like there's speed optimizations thrown in there also though!

[n0nsense]

Hmm... one of the reasons I'm waiting for an MID to come out with Ubuntu preinstalled is because of less setup headaches. Looks like there's speed optimizations thrown in there also though!

you can order Dell mini with mini Ubuntu starting at 349USD

As for me, i'll defenitely wait fir some dual core powered netbook.
Preferable powered by AMD (at this moment).

As for the optimizations and compilations, GCC can handle ATom optimizations

Atom N270

CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-march=prescott -O2 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

it is not something new.
It is old cutdown core made using smaller process.
The intel way to give you something "new" (c2d/c2q was an exception)

[Vadi]

UMPC != MID, sorry!

This is an example of an MID: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Internet_Device

(no v-shape, keyboard handled differently, usable when you're standing. That's what I'd like)