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

Make

Model

RAM (boot option)

Available RAM

Install Image

Install Method

Result

Tester

Dell

Dimension 4600

1536 (384)

369

desktop-20130616

Install something else

OK

nio-wiklund

Dell

Dimension 4600

1536 (256)

242

desktop-20130616

Install something else with swap2disk

OK

nio-wiklund

Dell

Dimension 4600

1536 (256)

242

desktop-20130616

Install something else

failed

nio-wiklund

Dell

Dimension 4600

1536 (224)

211

desktop-20130616

Install something else with swap2disk

failed

nio-wiklund

IBM

Thinkpad T42

1280 (384)

369

desktop-20130617

'grub-n-iso' install to whole disk

OK

nio-wiklund

IBM

Thinkpad T42

1280 (256)

242

desktop-20130617

'grub-n-iso' install to whole disk with swap2disk

OK

nio-wiklund

IBM

Thinkpad T42

1280 (256)

242

desktop-20130617

'grub-n-iso' install to whole disk

failed

nio-wiklund

Compaq

Presario 5640

192

179?

desktop-20130616

install to whole disk

failed

nio-wiklund

mobo nVidia-nForce2

AMD Athlon XP/MP

1280 (320)

305

desktop-20130621

install to whole clean disk

OK

nio-wiklund

mobo nVidia-nForce2

AMD Athlon XP/MP

1280 (256)

242

desktop-20130621

install to whole clean disk

OK

nio-wiklund

mobo nVidia-nForce2

AMD Athlon XP/MP

1280 (208)

195

desktop-20130621

install to whole clean disk

OK

nio-wiklund

mobo nVidia-nForce2

AMD Athlon XP/MP

1280 (192)

179

desktop-20130621

install to whole clean disk

failed

nio-wiklund

mobo nVidia-nForce2

AMD Athlon XP/MP

1280 (192)

179

mini-20130614

install to whole clean disk (Lubuntu)

OK

nio-wiklund

mobo nVidia-nForce2

AMD Athlon XP/MP

1280 (160)

147

mini-20130614

install to whole clean disk (Lubuntu minimal)

OK

nio-wiklund

mobo nVidia-nForce2

AMD Athlon XP/MP

1280 (128)

118?

mini-20130614

install to whole clean disk

failed

nio-wiklund

VirtualBox

4.2.8

240

226

desktop-20130621

Install Lubuntu

OK

jmarsden

VirtualBox

4.2.8

224

211

desktop-20130621

Install Lubuntu

OK

jmarsden

VirtualBox

4.2.8

208

195

desktop-20130621

Install Lubuntu

OK

jmarsden

VirtualBox

4.2.8

192

?180?

desktop-20130621

Install Lubuntu

Failed

jmarsden

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.

Lubuntu/LowRamTesting (last edited 2013-06-22 21:55:53 by nio-wiklund)