Have Ubuntu

December 16, 2012 · by · in A Peregrination

This is one discovery I stumble upon thanks to Chip Magazine which is a potential money saver.

My come back to Linux was met with installation failure of Ubuntu 12.10 due to some creepy reason. Fortunately I had a Live DVD of Ubuntu 11.10 which made installation a breeze (though a little knowledge of linux technicalities was required). My test laptop ACER 4740z had a modest configuration of Intel P6200, 2GB RAM & Intel Graphics.

For those who are planning to install it:
1) Kindly ensure that installation be done without internet connectivity else it may take more than 2 hours for completion since it downloads huge data without showing any indicator.
2) Most importantly don’t forget to modify “grub” to adjust screen brightness.
3) One needs to select File System (eg EXT4) to begin installation

Once installed, the experience of using workstation changed entirely.
1) Windows 7 upon booting consumes minimum of 600MB RAM & those who have knowledge of managing services can bring this down to 400MB. Ubuntu consumes minimum 230MB RAM
2) Many useful softwares pre-installed on Ubuntu especially LibreOffice. Many others like VLC Player, Skype etc available for free in Ubuntu Software Center
3) On this modest config Windows 7 was consuming almost 1.7GB RAM on normal development usage. RAM consumption was hovering at 1GB for Ubuntu, a huge margin in performance increment
4) Availability of softwares for development of Android, .NET, PHP, Python, MYSQL etc

From a company perspective eash workstation with Windows OS equates to a minimum of Rs 8,000 in license cost. Thats approximately 30% cost on purchase of a workstation. For a startup, this is a huge cost saving measure & huge relief from relying on piracy. (Say NO to Piracy).

I would also request people “Who Can Afford” to avoid piracy since as a software developer it hurts to lose rightful returns on software developed.

FYI Ubuntu means “Humanity towards others”. In these testing times were there is a asounding lack of trust & concern for fellow human beings, I would arduosly promote Ubuntu.