Comments on: New Laptop for the First Time Since 2001 http://blog.zx2c4.com/230 {{{ ZX2C4 }}} Sat, 12 May 2012 12:43:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Samat Jain http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-921 Samat Jain Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:30:14 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-921 With 8 GB of RAM for a desktop machine, I'd forgo a swap partition and make a small swap file instead (512 MB or so). The Linux VM performs best if a swap partition is available, even if it is rarely used. I don't see the point in having more swap than that---I rather it OOM or just crash immediately, rather than sit thrashing for minutes. With two disks and that much RAM, I'd go with LVM and Linux RAID-10. While RAID-10 has "interesting" performance characteristics, in the end you'll get twice the disk space, and twice the throughput (in most cases). With 8 GB of RAM for a desktop machine, I’d forgo a swap partition and make a small swap file instead (512 MB or so). The Linux VM performs best if a swap partition is available, even if it is rarely used. I don’t see the point in having more swap than that—I rather it OOM or just crash immediately, rather than sit thrashing for minutes.

With two disks and that much RAM, I’d go with LVM and Linux RAID-10. While RAID-10 has “interesting” performance characteristics, in the end you’ll get twice the disk space, and twice the throughput (in most cases).

]]> By: Ritesh Raj Sarraf http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-920 Ritesh Raj Sarraf Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:10:19 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-920 Yes, you can omit the swap if you don't plan on hibernating your laptop. Linux, lately has been very reliable at Stand-By (STR). Yes, you can omit the swap if you don’t plan on hibernating your laptop.

Linux, lately has been very reliable at Stand-By (STR).

]]> By: John http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-904 John Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:52:27 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-904 > How do you feel about swap? Swap partition? Swap file? No swap at all cuz 8 > gigs is a lot of ram? > I have 2 GB and I rarely swap. On those rare cases I do I restart because using swap is unbearably show. > Yeah, but compilation time is a pain. I was thinking about maybe Arch. > Or if Gentoo is aging but I like source-based, I was thinking about > Exherbo.... > You're probably right though - I've been using Gentoo for so long. > You're getting a core i7 with turbo mode up to 3.0 GHz with 8 GB of ram and you're complaining about compile time? Arch, Is nice enough. However I know you will have problems with the lack of use flags. The packages have been compiled with certain option and thus have certain dependencies. If you don't like it in most cases you can recompile it yourself and in a few you're stuck with their choices. It's a fast distro with a decent community. It offers a lot of the down to the metal, configure it yourselfness of Gentoo. But again it's still binary. You're going to fall into one of three groups. Happy with how it works. Unhappy and re compiling everything. Unhappy and not compiling anything. It does have a source build system but it's no where near the level of Gentoo's because it is an after though. Oh and all non official packages (think overlay) from AUR have to be compiled. So the time savings might be none because you have to use their lesser source build tools to build and rebuild a large number of packages. For Exherbo, Ciaran is all I have to say. You can/have your own opinion about the guy and he seems to be the one running the project. > Have you messed with VirtualBox at all? > VirtualBox is getting better every release. It makes a good desktop (run a second OS on your desktop) visualization tool. It does not even approach the level of the commercial offering from VMWare. If all you need is Windows in a Window to use a few Windows apps, it's sufficient. If you want a hypervisor with cross server replication and migration than it's the wrong product. You probably only need the former so it will do everything you need. You might also look into KVM and libvirt. > How do you feel about swap? Swap partition? Swap file? No swap at all cuz 8
> gigs is a lot of ram?
>
I have 2 GB and I rarely swap. On those rare cases I do I restart
because using swap is unbearably show.

> Yeah, but compilation time is a pain. I was thinking about maybe Arch.
> Or if Gentoo is aging but I like source-based, I was thinking about
> Exherbo….
> You’re probably right though – I’ve been using Gentoo for so long.
>
You’re getting a core i7 with turbo mode up to 3.0 GHz with 8 GB of
ram and you’re complaining about compile time?

Arch, Is nice enough. However I know you will have problems with the
lack of use flags. The packages have been compiled with certain option
and thus have certain dependencies. If you don’t like it in most cases
you can recompile it yourself and in a few you’re stuck with their
choices. It’s a fast distro with a decent community. It offers a lot
of the down to the metal, configure it yourselfness of Gentoo. But
again it’s still binary. You’re going to fall into one of three
groups. Happy with how it works. Unhappy and re compiling everything.
Unhappy and not compiling anything. It does have a source build system
but it’s no where near the level of Gentoo’s because it is an after
though. Oh and all non official packages (think overlay) from AUR have
to be compiled. So the time savings might be none because you have to
use their lesser source build tools to build and rebuild a large
number of packages.

For Exherbo, Ciaran is all I have to say. You can/have your own
opinion about the guy and he seems to be the one running the project.

> Have you messed with VirtualBox at all?
>
VirtualBox is getting better every release. It makes a good desktop
(run a second OS on your desktop) visualization tool. It does not even
approach the level of the commercial offering from VMWare. If all you
need is Windows in a Window to use a few Windows apps, it’s
sufficient. If you want a hypervisor with cross server replication and
migration than it’s the wrong product. You probably only need the
former so it will do everything you need. You might also look into KVM
and libvirt.

]]> By: Matt http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-903 Matt Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:52:03 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-903 I am not sure about the block sizes of ext4, but what I did was set a 256 KB block size for both LVM and XFS, and it improved my throughput. Yes it means that I only have 500 GB of storage, so it acts like a halfsize RAID-0, with RAID-1 redundancy. To me, that's the best of both worlds. I have not messed with VirtualBox at all. I have just been paying for Parallels, as it runs well on my MacBook Pro, and they have an office just down the street from my office. I have used the free VMware Server on a work machine, which is an i7, w/ 6 GB of RAM, and I was able to smoothly run 3 instances of Windows Server 2003 under emulation all at the same time, all with CPU at 100% (I made my own virtual cluster of machines to test distributed stuff) I am very happy with the performance. I will probably try to get OS X running under QEMU w/ KVM hardware acceleration in the future, but I have too many other projects going on at the moment. Does anyone know if VirtualBox supports running Retail Snow Leopard? For experimentation, just use an emulator to install a bunch of different Linux flavors. Then you can mess with whatever settings and filesystems you want and do some testing and benchmarking. That's how I taught myself to set up RAID, LVM, my own initramfs, custom embedded kernel. Makes a great virtual playground, plus you can backup the virtual disk when you want to try something daring, like using dd to overwrite one of your RAID disks and then seeing if you can recover it without nuking the good half. I am not sure about the block sizes of ext4, but what I did was set a 256 KB block size for both LVM and XFS, and it improved my throughput.

Yes it means that I only have 500 GB of storage, so it acts like a halfsize RAID-0, with RAID-1 redundancy. To me, that’s the best of both worlds.

I have not messed with VirtualBox at all. I have just been paying for Parallels, as it runs well on my MacBook Pro, and they have an office just down the street from my office. I have used the free VMware Server on a work machine, which is an i7, w/ 6 GB of RAM, and I was able to smoothly run 3 instances of Windows Server 2003 under emulation all at the same time, all with CPU at 100% (I made my own virtual cluster of machines to test distributed stuff) I am very happy with the performance. I will probably try to get OS X running under QEMU w/ KVM hardware acceleration in the future, but I have too many other projects going on at the moment.

Does anyone know if VirtualBox supports running Retail Snow Leopard?

For experimentation, just use an emulator to install a bunch of different Linux flavors. Then you can mess with whatever settings and filesystems you want and do some testing and benchmarking. That’s how I taught myself to set up RAID, LVM, my own initramfs, custom embedded kernel. Makes a great virtual playground, plus you can backup the virtual disk when you want to try something daring, like using dd to overwrite one of your RAID disks and then seeing if you can recover it without nuking the good half.

]]> By: Matt http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-902 Matt Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:50:57 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-902 While my system is not a laptop... I would advise against ext4, I have done benchmarking between xfs, ext3, and 4 and when used in my configuration (fully encrypted root) the system was unusable because every 5 seconds when it would flush the journal to disk my entire system would hang. Note that under these circumstances, all 4 cores were being used for encryption, though not all at 100%, and I was streaming writes to disk at 60 MB/sec. You can also see this issue if you install Debian using their default fully encrypted root with ext3. It is unusable. Switching to XFS, the problem went away completely. Also, when used with LVM, XFS will match the block size of the LVM, so you can get great performance. I have 2x 500 GB drives inside. I am using Gentoo Linux, and software RAID-10. Yes, mirrored and striped with 2 disks. For reading, this is like having a RAID-0 on the fastest halves of each drive, and for writing, you don't really see any improvement over a single disk. The second half of each disk is also a RAID-0, but swapped, so each disk still contains a full copy of the data. With 2x 7200.12's I see streaming reads of 240 MB/sec. Sure you won't get a full TB of storage, but you will have both speed and redundancy. Then use your external drive for backups. For the Linux side of things, I would set it up that way. See if you can use Parallels or VMware to run your Windows stuff inside of Linux, then you will benefit from the RAID-10 setup, something which Windows will not allow you to do. As far as getting OS X on there... I tried to make the system into a hackintosh, but it proved too much trouble, and I was going for reliability, so a hacked OS was out of the question. Supposedly QEMU and KVM have patches to run Retail Snow Leopard under emulation, but I haven't tried that out yet. I have been most impressed with XFS on Gentoo. While my system is not a laptop… I would advise against ext4, I have done benchmarking between xfs, ext3, and 4 and when used in my configuration (fully encrypted root) the system was unusable because every 5 seconds when it would flush the journal to disk my entire system would hang. Note that under these circumstances, all 4 cores were being used for encryption, though not all at 100%, and I was streaming writes to disk at 60 MB/sec. You can also see this issue if you install Debian using their default fully encrypted root with ext3. It is unusable.

Switching to XFS, the problem went away completely. Also, when used with LVM, XFS will match the block size of the LVM, so you can get great performance.

I have 2x 500 GB drives inside. I am using Gentoo Linux, and software RAID-10. Yes, mirrored and striped with 2 disks. For reading, this is like having a RAID-0 on the fastest halves of each drive, and for writing, you don’t really see any improvement over a single disk. The second half of each disk is also a RAID-0, but swapped, so each disk still contains a full copy of the data. With 2x 7200.12′s I see streaming reads of 240 MB/sec. Sure you won’t get a full TB of storage, but you will have both speed and redundancy. Then use your external drive for backups.

For the Linux side of things, I would set it up that way. See if you can use Parallels or VMware to run your Windows stuff inside of Linux, then you will benefit from the RAID-10 setup, something which Windows will not allow you to do.

As far as getting OS X on there… I tried to make the system into a hackintosh, but it proved too much trouble, and I was going for reliability, so a hacked OS was out of the question. Supposedly QEMU and KVM have patches to run Retail Snow Leopard under emulation, but I haven’t tried that out yet.

I have been most impressed with XFS on Gentoo.

]]> By: John http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-901 John Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:49:50 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-901 I would go with Ext4, LVM and dedicate it all to Gentoo. Probably 20 GB (you have plenty of space) for /, 128 MB for /boot and there rest for /home. You should have all you're files backed up to other places anyway. So using both disks as a single volume will be fine. As for why Gentoo. You've been using it for years. You're happy with it. You know it. You've tried other distros and have always come back to Gentoo. Other distros aren't going to provide you with any advantages over Gentoo. Ext4 because it's stable. It's here to stay. It's modern. Well maintained. It doesn't take ages to run the file system check every 30 odd boots (5 seconds for my 100 GB drive so maybe a minute for 1 TB). Mainly, it's stable. From what I can tell you don't actually need Windows and anything you would use it for you should be fine running it in a Virtual Machine. You're not a heavy gamer and you've already said Wine plays the games you want just fine. I would go with Ext4, LVM and dedicate it all to Gentoo. Probably 20
GB (you have plenty of space) for /, 128 MB for /boot and there rest
for /home. You should have all you’re files backed up to other places
anyway. So using both disks as a single volume will be fine.

As for why Gentoo. You’ve been using it for years. You’re happy with
it. You know it. You’ve tried other distros and have always come back
to Gentoo. Other distros aren’t going to provide you with any
advantages over Gentoo.

Ext4 because it’s stable. It’s here to stay. It’s modern. Well
maintained. It doesn’t take ages to run the file system check every 30
odd boots (5 seconds for my 100 GB drive so maybe a minute for 1 TB).
Mainly, it’s stable.

From what I can tell you don’t actually need Windows and anything you
would use it for you should be fine running it in a Virtual Machine.
You’re not a heavy gamer and you’ve already said Wine plays the games
you want just fine.

]]> By: Jason http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-900 Jason Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:48:59 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-900 Thanks a lot for the suggestions. Yeah Raid0 seems scary. I think LVM (linux volume manager) might support RAID5 or 6 without the need for a dedicated hardware controller. There's also the option of concatenation instead of striping, which is safer with no error recovery, but then I don't get the increased performance from continuous reads. Given that concatenation or some kind of safer RAID might be an option, what reason would I have to keep the partitions separate? Power management? Multi-OS? I'm not sure. I don't game much, and when I do, all the steam games I want run perfectly under wine now a days, for real. In fact, MSOffice also runs with 0 hitches on Wine with Linux now a days too: http://appdb.winehq.org/appimage.php?iId=19988 . The project has come a long way. In any case, I've been using open office exclusively on my linux box for about 5 years now, and I really do think that OpenOffice can do things as well as MSOffice, and some things even better too. The only drawback is that the docx import/export is bad, but the doc export/import is perfect, so that's not problem. Besides, I hate the ribbon in new office... I can't find anything! I guess the big reason for me to install Windows7 would be for Windows development, for my job and for making viruses (research only!). Other cross platform coding I can do from Linux via Qt. At this point I'm leaning away the multi OS idea because I have a MacBook and Dell Latitude (Win7) from work that suit my Windows/Mac experimentation/compilation purposes. Thank god for Windows 7 though... it's not perfect, it's not KDE, but at least it's a usable version of Windows with a more modern kernel than XP. Anyway, thanks for your suggestion. I'll still consider dual booting for the "just-in-case" reason. Thanks a lot for the suggestions.

Yeah Raid0 seems scary. I think LVM (linux volume manager) might support RAID5 or 6 without the need for a dedicated hardware controller. There’s also the option of concatenation instead of striping, which is safer with no error recovery, but then I don’t get the increased performance from continuous reads. Given that concatenation or some kind of safer RAID might be an option, what reason would I have to keep the partitions separate? Power management? Multi-OS? I’m not sure.

I don’t game much, and when I do, all the steam games I want run perfectly under wine now a days, for real. In fact, MSOffice also runs with 0 hitches on Wine with Linux now a days too: http://appdb.winehq.org/appimage.php?iId=19988 . The project has come a long way. In any case, I’ve been using open office exclusively on my linux box for about 5 years now, and I really do think that OpenOffice can do things as well as MSOffice, and some things even better too. The only drawback is that the docx import/export is bad, but the doc export/import is perfect, so that’s not problem. Besides, I hate the ribbon in new office… I can’t find anything!

I guess the big reason for me to install Windows7 would be for Windows development, for my job and for making viruses (research only!). Other cross platform coding I can do from Linux via Qt. At this point I’m leaning away the multi OS idea because I have a MacBook and Dell Latitude (Win7) from work that suit my Windows/Mac experimentation/compilation purposes. Thank god for Windows 7 though… it’s not perfect, it’s not KDE, but at least it’s a usable version of Windows with a more modern kernel than XP.

Anyway, thanks for your suggestion. I’ll still consider dual booting for the “just-in-case” reason.

]]> By: Ryan http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-899 Ryan Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:48:23 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-899 Well... you could try RAID0 although it might be a bit scary with no error checking or error recovery. Personally, I would dual boot Windows 7 and Linux, but I also play games so thats probably my main reason. Actually, the other reason for me would be so that I would have Microsoft Office. Yes, I've heard the argument "OpenOffice does everything Microsoft Office does!" so many times, but in all honesty... it can do everything MS Office does but not as well. And since the majority of people use MS Office, formatting gets fucked up when going between programs. What I would probably do is this: Install operating systems to Internal1. Put music, code, pictures, etc on Internal2. Put torrents and movies on External. Ryan Well… you could try RAID0 although it might be a bit scary with no error checking or error recovery. Personally, I would dual boot Windows 7 and Linux, but I also play games so thats probably my main reason. Actually, the other reason for me would be so that I would have Microsoft Office. Yes, I’ve heard the argument “OpenOffice does everything Microsoft Office does!” so many times, but in all honesty… it can do everything MS Office does but not as well. And since the majority of people use MS Office, formatting gets fucked up when going between programs.

What I would probably do is this:

Install operating systems to Internal1. Put music, code, pictures, etc on Internal2. Put torrents and movies on External.

Ryan

]]> By: Franck S. http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-896 Franck S. Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:31:36 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-896 I agree it is far too much. I don't remember more than a 1/5th of it ever being used, even in the most adverse conditions. I'd probably make that 8 gigs if I had to do it again. I agree it is far too much. I don’t remember more than a 1/5th of it ever being used, even in the most adverse conditions. I’d probably make that 8 gigs if I had to do it again.

]]> By: Jason Donenfeld http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-895 Jason Donenfeld Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:55:00 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-895 This is a really interesting setup. I will definitely consider it. Why do you have 20 gigs of swap space? Seems like an awful lot. This is a really interesting setup. I will definitely consider it. Why do you have 20 gigs of swap space? Seems like an awful lot.

]]> By: Jason Donenfeld http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-894 Jason Donenfeld Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:53:08 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-894 Ten gigs of swap is a lot... I thought the rule of thumb was half your ram. Right now on my current system with 3 gigs of ram, I have tons of apps and tabs open, and I'm only using 1 gig of ram and am not swapping at all. Apps open: 25 Chromium tabs Pidgin OpenOffice Kate QtCreator Konsole Kmix Klipper KDE4 (plasma, services...) That ebay python script Some other little things So I dunno if I really need swap with 8 gigs. Hmmm... Ten gigs of swap is a lot… I thought the rule of thumb was half your ram.

Right now on my current system with 3 gigs of ram, I have tons of apps and tabs open, and I’m only using 1 gig of ram and am not swapping at all.

Apps open:
25 Chromium tabs
Pidgin
OpenOffice
Kate
QtCreator
Konsole
Kmix
Klipper
KDE4 (plasma, services…)
That ebay python script
Some other little things

So I dunno if I really need swap with 8 gigs. Hmmm…

]]> By: Jason Donenfeld http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-893 Jason Donenfeld Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:50:20 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-893 I thought ext4 was pretty stable now a days... I've been using it since its first release and haven't had any issues. A 3 way mirror... that's an interesting idea. Can I make it so that the external drive is mirrored only when it's plugged in? To effectively have an automatic lvm backup system on demand? I thought ext4 was pretty stable now a days… I’ve been using it since its first release and haven’t had any issues.

A 3 way mirror… that’s an interesting idea. Can I make it so that the external drive is mirrored only when it’s plugged in? To effectively have an automatic lvm backup system on demand?

]]> By: Jason Donenfeld http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-892 Jason Donenfeld Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:48:34 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-892 Yeah they're bad, but I'm used to them and I pretty much know how the system works now. Yeah they’re bad, but I’m used to them and I pretty much know how the system works now.

]]> By: maninalift http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-891 maninalift Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:54:04 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-891 smart man: hadn't thought of it that way before smart man: hadn’t thought of it that way before

]]> By: Franck S. http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-890 Franck S. Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:50:53 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-890 ( sorry, I forgot closing the bittorrent client before testing I/O speed... this should be closer to real figures, though I'm not sure I removed all I/O activity: md0: Timing buffered disk reads: 722 MB in 3.00 seconds = 240.42 MB/sec md2: Timing buffered disk reads: 358 MB in 3.00 seconds = 119.19 MB/sec) ( sorry, I forgot closing the bittorrent client before testing I/O speed…
this should be closer to real figures, though I’m not sure I removed all I/O activity:
md0: Timing buffered disk reads: 722 MB in 3.00 seconds = 240.42 MB/sec
md2: Timing buffered disk reads: 358 MB in 3.00 seconds = 119.19 MB/sec)

]]> By: Franck S. http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-889 Franck S. Mon, 14 Dec 2009 02:31:06 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-889 on my quad core AMD system, I also have dual 500gig. I partitioned them as follow with software raid: sda: /boot:156 MB raid (->md0): 63GB raid (->md1): 9.7 GB raid (->md2): 392 GB sdb: raid (->md0): 63GB raid (->md1): 9.7 GB raid (->md2): 392 GB raid: /home: md2 (Reiser) raid 1 [swap]: md1 (Swap) raid 0 / : md0 (Reiser) raid 0 I'm really happy of this set up. It gives nice read speed and redundancy on /home, and top performance on both read/write everywhere else (at expense of security, but I don't mind losing system data.) I also set up a build directory in /usr/build so that compilation takes advantage of raid 0. # hdparm -tT /dev/md0 /dev/md0: Timing cached reads: 6314 MB in 2.00 seconds = 3157.35 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 522 MB in 3.00 seconds = 173.77 MB/sec # hdparm -tT /dev/md2 /dev/md2: Timing cached reads: 6132 MB in 2.00 seconds = 3066.72 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 310 MB in 3.02 seconds = 102.60 MB/sec (both disks are ST3500418AS barracudas) HTH. on my quad core AMD system, I also have dual 500gig.
I partitioned them as follow with software raid:

sda:
/boot:156 MB
raid (->md0): 63GB
raid (->md1): 9.7 GB
raid (->md2): 392 GB

sdb:
raid (->md0): 63GB
raid (->md1): 9.7 GB
raid (->md2): 392 GB

raid:
/home: md2 (Reiser) raid 1
[swap]: md1 (Swap) raid 0
/ : md0 (Reiser) raid 0

I’m really happy of this set up. It gives nice read speed and redundancy on /home, and top performance on both read/write everywhere else (at expense of security, but I don’t mind losing system data.)

I also set up a build directory in /usr/build so that compilation takes advantage of raid 0.
# hdparm -tT /dev/md0
/dev/md0:
Timing cached reads: 6314 MB in 2.00 seconds = 3157.35 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 522 MB in 3.00 seconds = 173.77 MB/sec
# hdparm -tT /dev/md2
/dev/md2:
Timing cached reads: 6132 MB in 2.00 seconds = 3066.72 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 310 MB in 3.02 seconds = 102.60 MB/sec

(both disks are ST3500418AS barracudas)

HTH.

]]> By: ikkefc3 http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-887 ikkefc3 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:54:45 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-887 Thank you! Thanks to your comment, I tried Ubuntu 9.10 on a pc with an ATi card (HD 3300, the dedicated nvidia card is currently in repair), and man, what a difference between now and when I tried it about a year ago! Everything is working smooth! Although I must say it's using the FGLRX driver. Thank you!
Thanks to your comment, I tried Ubuntu 9.10 on a pc with an ATi card (HD 3300, the dedicated nvidia card is currently in repair), and man, what a difference between now and when I tried it about a year ago! Everything is working smooth! Although I must say it’s using the FGLRX driver.

]]> By: Andreas Nilsson http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-886 Andreas Nilsson Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:52:54 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-886 My last experience with ati wasn't very uplifting, but that was a while back. I'd go with a Lenovo Thinkpad for quality... But this machine should be nice performance wise. If you go with linux I personally recommend a swapfile(s), as it allows to vary the amount of swap. You really should have some swap, otherwise a make -j in /usr/src/linux/ will bring down the computer rather quickly :) Ext4 as a fs may cause dataloss, i'd not recommend it. Stick with something that works and ext3 is upgradeable to ext4 should it be stable in the future. You might choose something a bit more optimized for small files for /usr/portage. If you care about the data using raid1 is worth it. You might even make it a 3way mirror where the 3 drive is you external disk. Maybe using a 32gb partition for / and the rest for /data My last experience with ati wasn’t very uplifting, but that was a while back.

I’d go with a Lenovo Thinkpad for quality… But this machine should be nice performance wise. If you go with linux I personally recommend a swapfile(s), as it allows to vary the amount of swap. You really should have some swap, otherwise a make -j in /usr/src/linux/ will bring down the computer rather quickly :)

Ext4 as a fs may cause dataloss, i’d not recommend it. Stick with something that works and ext3 is upgradeable to ext4 should it be stable in the future. You might choose something a bit more optimized for small files for /usr/portage.

If you care about the data using raid1 is worth it. You might even make it a 3way mirror where the 3 drive is you external disk. Maybe using a 32gb partition for / and the rest for /data

]]> By: Luke http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-885 Luke Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:12:23 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-885 I picked up a Studio 1555 this summer. It's a lovely, robust piece of equipment. Quite frankly, it's the best laptop I've ever owned. No stupid hardware flaws, no problems with coming out of standby.... It just works very well. I'm getting about 6hrs 20mins on a charge with a power-saving profile at the moment. Don't blame the quality of the machine for destruction caused by UPS/FedEX/etc. They can break anything :D I picked up a Studio 1555 this summer. It’s a lovely, robust piece of equipment. Quite frankly, it’s the best laptop I’ve ever owned. No stupid hardware flaws, no problems with coming out of standby…. It just works very well.

I’m getting about 6hrs 20mins on a charge with a power-saving profile at the moment.

Don’t blame the quality of the machine for destruction caused by UPS/FedEX/etc. They can break anything :D

]]> By: STiAT http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-884 STiAT Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:35:48 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-884 I've a laptop with a Intel 4500 HD and I'm also satisfied with it. I think that depends on the needs you have, I don't really need a fast graphics card, and the Intel driver isn't lacking that much anymore. But yea, my next one will probably also have some radeon mobility inside. I’ve a laptop with a Intel 4500 HD and I’m also satisfied with it. I think that depends on the needs you have, I don’t really need a fast graphics card, and the Intel driver isn’t lacking that much anymore.

But yea, my next one will probably also have some radeon mobility inside.

]]> By: z http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-883 z Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:03:18 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-883 I forgot to mention, the Dell hotlines are the worst thing I ever had to deal with on the phone. The dell hotlines are outsourced in thirdworldia and their accent is TERRIBLE, you have to make them repeat every line they say before you can make any sense out of it, not to mention their creeping incompetence (they didn't have the serial number of my laptop registered in their database which was the cause for the delay before they could repair my laptop. What the flying fuck !) I forgot to mention, the Dell hotlines are the worst thing I ever had to deal with on the phone. The dell hotlines are outsourced in thirdworldia and their accent is TERRIBLE, you have to make them repeat every line they say before you can make any sense out of it, not to mention their creeping incompetence (they didn’t have the serial number of my laptop registered in their database which was the cause for the delay before they could repair my laptop. What the flying fuck !)

]]> By: z http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-882 z Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:56:34 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-882 Dell studios are crap, I bought one five months ago and it had a broken screen (in that it twisted all the colors like a film negative) on arrival. Dell told me it'd take them a week to replace it (even though I had waited for two weeks before I got the freaking laptop), I said no, asked for a refund, walked to an Apple premium reseller and bought a macbook instead. Best thing I ever did in my life, the unibody case feels much stronger and safer than the flimsy plastic of the dell studio and the laptop lasts up to five hours in continuous use (maybe up to seven hours if you tone down the screen backlights, switch the keyboard lights off and so on) Sure, the specs of the dell are better if you compare dollar-to-dollar but at the cost of service and quality. It just ain't the same. Dell studios are crap, I bought one five months ago and it had a broken screen (in that it twisted all the colors like a film negative) on arrival. Dell told me it’d take them a week to replace it (even though I had waited for two weeks before I got the freaking laptop), I said no, asked for a refund, walked to an Apple premium reseller and bought a macbook instead. Best thing I ever did in my life, the unibody case feels much stronger and safer than the flimsy plastic of the dell studio and the laptop lasts up to five hours in continuous use (maybe up to seven hours if you tone down the screen backlights, switch the keyboard lights off and so on)

Sure, the specs of the dell are better if you compare dollar-to-dollar but at the cost of service and quality. It just ain’t the same.

]]> By: vespas http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-881 vespas Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:54:52 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-881 I think it can, but make sure your grub/initrd et al can boot from it properly (opensuse currently can't). there is a lot of relevant info by the eee-pc guys that use swapfiles that can be turned on and off to avoid wearing out the ssd. I would definitely create a swap partition since you have so much disk space, maybe 10Gb (come on, it's 1%!) and forget about it. the kernel is smart enough to know when to use it. and if you wait for the oom killer to take care of your processes, you are asking for trouble; imo it is a last resort measure to avoid a hard reset. the "i don't have to close applications due to a lot of ram" argument isn't very sound: I said the same for my P1-200 with 64Mb ram... :) I mean it only lasts so long; imagine using digikam to index your gb's of images, strigi for 500gb of downloads, etc. ok, things aren't so tight as before but you definately have to close applications. logging out every now and then takes care of a lot of loose ends... have fun! I think it can, but make sure your grub/initrd et al can boot from it properly (opensuse currently can’t). there is a lot of relevant info by the eee-pc guys that use swapfiles that can be turned on and off to avoid wearing out the ssd.
I would definitely create a swap partition since you have so much disk space, maybe 10Gb (come on, it’s 1%!) and forget about it. the kernel is smart enough to know when to use it. and if you wait for the oom killer to take care of your processes, you are asking for trouble; imo it is a last resort measure to avoid a hard reset. the “i don’t have to close applications due to a lot of ram” argument isn’t very sound: I said the same for my P1-200 with 64Mb ram… :) I mean it only lasts so long; imagine using digikam to index your gb’s of images, strigi for 500gb of downloads, etc. ok, things aren’t so tight as before but you definately have to close applications. logging out every now and then takes care of a lot of loose ends…
have fun!

]]> By: d2kx http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-880 d2kx Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:48:33 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-880 Due to AMD's opensource strategy, a Radeon card is pretty much the best thing you can buy. Have a look at xorg-edgers PPA. Due to AMD’s opensource strategy, a Radeon card is pretty much the best thing you can buy. Have a look at xorg-edgers PPA.

]]> By: Gusar http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-879 Gusar Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:24:49 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-879 ikkefc3, I think you've missed all the open source development regarding ATI. Sure things might not be completely ready right at this minute, but it's just a matter of months really. The kernel stuff for ATI cards is planned to leave staging with the next kernel release. @Jason: The only reason I'd advise you to go with Arch instead of Gentoo is compile times. But with the monster you're buying, compile times won't be a nuisance, so I'd just go with Gentoo if I were you. ikkefc3, I think you’ve missed all the open source development regarding ATI. Sure things might not be completely ready right at this minute, but it’s just a matter of months really. The kernel stuff for ATI cards is planned to leave staging with the next kernel release.

@Jason: The only reason I’d advise you to go with Arch instead of Gentoo is compile times. But with the monster you’re buying, compile times won’t be a nuisance, so I’d just go with Gentoo if I were you.

]]> By: ikkefc3 http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-878 ikkefc3 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:07:39 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-878 You must have misplaced your order. I clearly read: ATI Mobility Radeon HD4650 with 1GB ram You must have misplaced your order. I clearly read:
ATI Mobility Radeon HD4650 with 1GB ram

]]> By: Jason Donenfeld http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-877 Jason Donenfeld Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:27:57 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-877 This actually makes me think I shouldn't use a swap file. For run away processes that keep hogging ram, the ram is filled up very fast and then the system is ground to a halt as soon as it starts swapping t o disk, and a hard restart is required. If I didn't have a swapfile, the OOM killer would just kill the hogging process as soon as the ram filled up! This actually makes me think I shouldn’t use a swap file. For run away processes that keep hogging ram, the ram is filled up very fast and then the system is ground to a halt as soon as it starts swapping t o disk, and a hard restart is required. If I didn’t have a swapfile, the OOM killer would just kill the hogging process as soon as the ram filled up!

]]> By: Andras http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-876 Andras Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:23:31 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-876 Leaking Xorg is an experience, you just have to watch the memory usage over a longer time. If it is Xorg itself, the driver (nvidia binary) or applications leaking X resources, I'm not sure. The above case happened a few months ago and I didn't try to find the cause as I needed a working computer and it was so slow due to swapping, that I did an ugly hard reset. Leaking Xorg is an experience, you just have to watch the memory usage over a longer time. If it is Xorg itself, the driver (nvidia binary) or applications leaking X resources, I’m not sure. The above case happened a few months ago and I didn’t try to find the cause as I needed a working computer and it was so slow due to swapping, that I did an ugly hard reset.

]]> By: Jason Donenfeld http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-874 Jason Donenfeld Sun, 13 Dec 2009 10:35:55 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-874 You must have misread the article. I plan to use Linux. You must have misread the article. I plan to use Linux.

]]> By: Jason Donenfeld http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-873 Jason Donenfeld Sun, 13 Dec 2009 10:35:31 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-873 That's a good point. I know TuxOnIce can hibernate to a file... Can the hibernation packaged with the kernel also do the same? That’s a good point. I know TuxOnIce can hibernate to a file… Can the hibernation packaged with the kernel also do the same?

]]> By: Jason Donenfeld http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-872 Jason Donenfeld Sun, 13 Dec 2009 10:34:55 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-872 I don't think I've experienced such a memory leak. Is this well known or just a nuance you have? I don’t think I’ve experienced such a memory leak. Is this well known or just a nuance you have?

]]> By: ikkefc3 http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-871 ikkefc3 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 10:14:36 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-871 I see you are not planning to use Linux on it (because you put an ATi card in it). Are you going to use Windows or Mac OS X? I see you are not planning to use Linux on it (because you put an ATi card in it).
Are you going to use Windows or Mac OS X?

]]> By: g111 http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-869 g111 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:33:20 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-869 I have read (search the web) that with kernel 2.6 (different than with 2.4) a swapfile is as fast as a swap partition. But you have the advantage of better being able to resize it if required. So I would recommend to use a swapfile. A swap partition only for hibernation. I have read (search the web) that with kernel 2.6 (different than with 2.4) a swapfile is as fast as a swap partition. But you have the advantage of better being able to resize it if required. So I would recommend to use a swapfile. A swap partition only for hibernation.

]]> By: Andras http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-868 Andras Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:43:13 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-868 I have 8GB of memory. And I run out of free memory at least once because of leaking Xorg. If you constantly suspend/resume, this will happen. I also use a swap, don't know how would it be without. Unfortunate, but KDE with Linux can make a quad core 8GB machine to feel slow from time to time. :( I have 8GB of memory. And I run out of free memory at least once because of leaking Xorg. If you constantly suspend/resume, this will happen. I also use a swap, don’t know how would it be without.
Unfortunate, but KDE with Linux can make a quad core 8GB machine to feel slow from time to time. :(

]]> By: Jason Donenfeld http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-867 Jason Donenfeld Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:24:02 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-867 @Girish I think it's going to be around 8 pounds. Oy. @Girish
I think it’s going to be around 8 pounds. Oy.

]]> By: Girish http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-866 Girish Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:20:36 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-866 Good specs :-) How heavy is it? Good specs :-) How heavy is it?

]]> By: Jason Donenfeld http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-865 Jason Donenfeld Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:18:39 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-865 @CoolGoose What kind of "shit" can happen? What do you mean? Probably only software raid, but I'm not sure- I need to check. This would be very secure and fast, but then my disk space would be split in two. @CoolGoose
What kind of “shit” can happen? What do you mean?

Probably only software raid, but I’m not sure- I need to check. This would be very secure and fast, but then my disk space would be split in two.

]]> By: CoolGoose http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-864 CoolGoose Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:15:58 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-864 Imho it's always good to have a swap file / partition even if you have a lot of ram because "shit" can happen. Can you do hardware raid 1 on those two drives ? You could partition those with 50GB for / and the rest for /home and backup periodically on the external drive :). Imho it’s always good to have a swap file / partition even if you have a lot of ram because “shit” can happen.

Can you do hardware raid 1 on those two drives ?
You could partition those with 50GB for / and the rest for /home and backup periodically on the external drive :) .

]]> By: Jason Donenfeld http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-863 Jason Donenfeld Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:45:29 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-863 @wings What's with Windows? I'm not sure I understand your comment. Imma put Linux on the new laptop. @wings
What’s with Windows? I’m not sure I understand your comment. Imma put Linux on the new laptop.

]]> By: wings http://blog.zx2c4.com/230#comment-862 wings Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:43:47 +0000 http://blog.zx2c4.com/?p=230#comment-862 with windows :/( shame :-( with windows :/(

shame :-(

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