Low RAM Testing

Introduction

Low RAM testing is testing the installation of Lubuntu on machines with relatively little RAM -- definitely less than the 1GB minimum that Ubuntu now requires.

The Reason for Testing

We are testing the installation of Lubuntu on various older PCs with limited RAM to see which (easy, normal, expected) approaches to installation will work successfully on them. The results will guide our Lubuntu documentation, such as the proposed "Getting Started with Lubuntu 13.10" Manual.

How To Test

• Download a current Saucy 13.10 daily image. The desktop i386 image is suggested, unless you are trying on machines it fails to install on, in which case trying the Alternate i386 image is suggested. If that fails too and you are brave (!), try the netboot mini.iso image and select "Lubuntu desktop" in the software selection screen.

• Make sure your test machine has no existing Linux image on its hard drive -- if it does, wipe it.
• If your test machine has multiple hard drives, remove all except one, as this is by far the most common configuration of older PCs.

• When using the Desktop image, select the "Install Lubuntu" boot menu item. Do not use "Try Lubuntu without installing".

• As much as possible, during the installation process, just select the default options, the way a new user to Lubuntu would do.

• If the installation succeeds, record a result of "OK". If it hung, gave you an error message, or otherwise did not result in a successful install, record a result of "Failed". Recording how you were able to do clever things to work around some issue and finally make it work are not helpful here (although they might help you, they are too complex to add to our documentation for beginners).

Test Results

Comments

• I set RAM with the mem=xxxM boot option and show available RAM = total Mem according to free -m, e.g. mem=256M shows 242. nio-wiklund

• I installed via USB cloned with dd for the Dell and the custom build with Athlon XP but via 'grub-n-iso-n-swap' for the Thinkpad with or without swap active. I booted via grub2 because the Thinkpad won't boot from syslinux (fails PAE flag test). I tried via CD with the Compaq. nio-wiklund

• The mini iso is not uploaded daily. Today (June 22 I downloaded a version from June 14)

  debian-installer (20101020ubuntu243) saucy; urgency=low
  
     * Move master kernels to 3.9.0-6.
  
   -- Adam Conrad   Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:06:44 -0600

  I also found that the installed system inherits the boot options from the mini iso installer which is different from installing with the desktop installer). I found

  GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="mem=192M"

  in /etc/default/grub nio-wiklund

Table Columns Explained

Make

The make of PC tested. Examples might be Dell or HP or Compaq or IBM.

Model

The model name or number of the PC tested. Examples might be Dimension 2400 or Pavillion 1234.

RAM

The amount of RAM installed in the machine, in MB.

Available RAM

The amount of usable RAM in MB, after any shared video RAM etc. has been deducted. This should be the amount of RAM visible to the Linux kernel when it boots (

Install Image

Which image was tested and its date in YYYYMMDD format. Images names are desktop, alternate, and mini. Example: desktop-20130619

Install Method

How the installation was attempted. Install Lubuntu, Try Lubuntu, or Other. Only "Install Lubuntu" tests are likely to be useful.

Result

OK if the installation was successful. Failed if it was not.

Tester

Link to the wiki page of the person who performed the test.