Hi everyone, my name is Babul. I'm new to the group and look forward to meeting you in the July southampton meeting.
I have recently started using Linux (~1month) and looking to recreate my XP desktop in KVM virtualisation.
I have a quick question regarding whether an Ubuntu Desktop 9.04 x86 install would be faster interms of overall system/GUI performance (so GUI+PC more responsive in general) compared to installing a bare server install of Ubuntu Server 9.04 x86 and then adding the core of the desktop gnome GUI (I know xfce/lxde are lighter/faster but need to use gnome for consistency with other users).
I tried Ubuntu Desktop but found it very sluggish on the laptop, especially with VM guests. I am using (Intel CoreDuo T7100 1.8GHz 2MB Cache 800MHz FSB, 3GB 800MHz Ram, 320GB Samsung HM320JI HDD, ATI Radeon x2300, Atheros Wifi) and did not want to start removing components as desktop becomes broken due to package dependency issues.
Initial tests with server+gui was better but am not sure how other server features (deadline queue method compared to CFQ in desktop etc etc) effects things and simply want the fastest desktop environment with KVM and Samba especially geared towards running XP guests.
I'm using guide below...
Server+GUI minimal install
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1155961
...also if you use XP in linux guest VM, have you tried the paravirtualised drivers or anything else to improve the graphic performance (I am getting screen corruption even in MS Word and think this is due to VM using 16/24bit colours whereas host uses 32bit and hence the translation is causing corruption) e.g.
http://www.linux-kvm.com/content/tip-how-setup-windows-guest-paravirtual-network-drivers
Thanks!
