# Is Ubuntu lighter and faster than XP ?



## d4005 (Feb 7, 2008)

I have a Fujitsu mini laptop which has XP Professional on it, but it only has a Crusoe processor that really isn't up to the job of running XP. It struggles to do anything useful. I can click on explorer and wait 15 seconds for it to appear sometimes. I really think that it's simply XP is too heavy an OS to run on it (even worse than how Vista feels even when it's running on a Supercomputer ).

I was thinking maybe I'd nuke XP and install Ubuntu on it. I'm a total noob when it comes to *nix, but I gather Ubuntu is designed for such people with it having a simpler install process and it's all wrapped up in GUI softness and has a suite of standard apps.

I've assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that Ubuntu will manage to run a lot easier on a slow machine than XP would. Rather than just trying it and maybe finding out I was wrong, and have nuked my XP for no reason, I wonder if anyone would confirm whether they think Ubuntu would be a much lighter OS. Of course, direct experience of having run XP Pro and Ubuntu on one machine would be the best reference point.

The laptop in question is extremely flexible (it's small, has a great screen and keyboard, can replace the DVD drive with a second battery etc) so I really don't want to throw it away. If I can put a quicker OS on it and salvage some usefulness from it, that'd be great. I hope the install wizard manages to do everything, this guide makes me think things won't be all that easy. I hope Ubuntu does a better job than Debian.


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## hypojam (Feb 7, 2008)

I never had any problems running xp pro on my old pentium 2 400mhz with 256mb of ram, maybe your os just needs some love tweaks


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## houssam_ballout (Feb 7, 2008)

Well as for performance Ubuntu is better than Linux
but take into consideration, its not a piece of cake to install a program on Linux, so you must know some start tips to start working with it


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## BluePlum (Feb 7, 2008)

It comes with the basics tho and once you no all the sudo commands in ubuntu gets easy.


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## _simon_ (Feb 7, 2008)

Ubuntu is lighter weight than XP but depending on your laptop you might want to look at Xubuntu which is even lighter. As mentioned there is a learning curve so you have to be prepared to put in some time and effort to get to know it.


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## d4005 (Feb 7, 2008)

_simon_ said:


> Ubuntu is lighter weight than XP but depending on your laptop you might want to look at Xubuntu which is even lighter. As mentioned there is a learning curve so you have to be prepared to put in some time and effort to get to know it.


Xubuntu sounds even more intriguing. I definitely need to raise my Linux knowledge. I have a novice understanding already, but that was learned from Knoppix boot discs and hacking my TiVo.

I'm only planning to do basic stuff on it:-

- Email (Thunderbird)
- Web (Firefox)
- Word/Excel documents handling (???)
- Making a VPN connection (???)
- A VNC viewer (???)
- An IM client like Trillian (Y!,AIM,MSN compatible) (???)

If I can surf, email, IM, handle basic MSOffice docs and VNC over VPN, that'll do me.


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## porterjw (Feb 7, 2008)

> If I can surf, email, IM, handle basic MSOffice docs and VNC over VPN, that'll do me.



Word/Excel = Open Office (www.openffice.org, or from the package list)
IM Client = Pidgin (cross-platform)
For the others, there are a few different programs. it all depends on how you like the look/feel of them. Definitely do-able, though 



> BluePlum



Don't listen to anything he says...seriously! You'll find out why soon enough.

Linux is more than 'learning sudo commands'. Though they do help over time, they are not the end-all smooth operation for your system.


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## _simon_ (Feb 7, 2008)

d4005 said:


> Xubuntu sounds even more intriguing. I definitely need to raise my Linux knowledge. I have a novice understanding already, but that was learned from Knoppix boot discs and hacking my TiVo.
> 
> I'm only planning to do basic stuff on it:-
> 
> ...



Put simply Xubuntu is basically Ubuntu using the XFCE Desktop Environment rather than the Gnome environment.

http://www.xubuntu.org/



> Minimum system requirements
> 
> To run the Desktop CD (LiveCD + Install CD), you need 128 MB RAM to run or 192 MB RAM to install. The Alternate Install CD only requires you to have 64 MB RAM.
> 
> ...


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## quagmondo23 (Feb 7, 2008)

imsati said:


> Blueplum
> 
> Don't listen to anything he says...seriously! You'll find out why soon enough.



You should really put that as your signature.


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