Internet radio stations comparing 32 and 64 bit cpus
Posted 08-15-2010 at 06:01 AM by caieng
Updated 08-15-2010 at 07:17 AM by caieng (change numbers to letters, in accord with the text...)
Updated 08-15-2010 at 07:17 AM by caieng (change numbers to letters, in accord with the text...)
15 August 2010
Purpose:
Some senior forum members will remember that in olden times, we listened to radio, using devices which had rather simple knobs for power on/off and tuning, to select the radio station of our choice. This study attempts to compare several Linux distributions with the aim of identifying the best distributions available, for music enthusiasts, who wish to tune in to the world's music, without having to sit at a keyboard, typing earnestly, instead of doing whatever else one hopes to accomplish with one's life.....
Distributions which presented insurmountable obstacles, i.e. intimate knowledge of the innards of Linux, (Arch, Gentoo come to mind) in order to accomplish the simple goal desired, were eliminated from this study. Similarly, those distributions (Suse and Slackware come to mind!) which demanded, not offered, but demanded that a user enter more than one keystroke for user name or password, were eliminated. Those distributions (Fedora comes to mind) which destroyed the MBR were also eliminated. No choice for user to place Linux on the partition of his/her choosing = unfriendly distro = ELIMINATION from this study.
Several distributions (Ubuntu comes to mind) failed to play any music, for one reason or another....Ubuntu has, in my opinion, the single best installer out there, simply because it offers the user a choice of passwordless login right from the start---BRAVO, well done. The same Ubuntu installer does possess one VERY serious flaw, which ought to be corrected: The user is not properly prompted to assign the boot loader on the partition of choice, instead of the MBR. Rather, with Ubuntu, the choice is hidden in an icon labeled "advanced". This is a terrible mistake, which will prove costly to those who do not wish to see their MBR destroyed.
The Slackware Linux distribution offers one feature superior, in my experience, to all other distros: Use of Patrick Volkerding's Lilo, instead of GRUB. Lilo uniquely, in my experience, provides the user with all of the choices needed for an intelligent installation of Linux (location, time to boot, choices of OS to boot).
Puppy linux, 4.3.2 was an excellent distribution, which worked well. I cannot write the same for 5.1. Why on earth would anyone mix an excellent, user friendly distro with Ubuntu?
The two best distributions, in my experience, as shown, I hope, by the data below, are PCLinuxOS, and CrunchBang. Both of these two excellent distributions are rather easy to install, with outstanding performance on both old machines, and newer devices. I recommend them both, to anyone seeking to listen to internet radio stations.
Definitions:
I. 32 and 64 bit Linux distributions were tested for their ability to play music on internet radio stations, in all three streaming audio formats: OGG, mp3, and aaCPlus. Times were measured corresponding to installation, boot up, browser invocation, start of music, and cessation of operations.
The 6 radio stations tested were: VRT Radio Klara, Brussels, Belgium, Cro D-dur, Prague, Czech Republic, Radio Classique, Paris, France, MR-3 Bartok Radio Budapest, Hungary, Latvijas Radio3, Riga, Latvia, NRK Klassisk, Oslo, Norway.
Stations were selected by clicking on one of the three icons, OGG, mp3, or aaCPlus, at
http://www.listenlive.eu/classical.html
II. Computer specifications:
C2:.....DFI CA64-TC, PIII 1.13GHz, 1.0GB RAM, IDE hard drive;
benchmarks:....2.7 GIPS, 1.5 GFLOPS, 0.67 GB/sec memory bandwidth;
Video controller: S3 Savage4 AGP 4x.
C8:.....ASRock 775Dual-880Pro, PIV D 3.2GHz, 1.0 GB dual channel DDR-2, SATA150 hard drive,
benchmarks: 14 GIPS, 11.6 GFlops, 4.8 GB/sec memory bandwidth;
Video Controller: Nvidea, GeForce 4 MX 440 AGP 8x.
III. Requirements for a distribution to be included in this study:
...a. passwordless login, just as was our radio, 40 years ago: we turned it on, and heard music.
...b. no demand for text manipulation via keyboard, as obliged by UNIX in 1970: mouse only interaction with Linux.
...c. accepts single character user name and single character root password, during installation.
IV. Distributions:
A. PCLINUXOS LXDE, 20 July 2010, with two downloads: Konqplugins, VLC;
B. Unity 64 Open Box, July 2010, plus two downloads: Konqplugins, VLC;
C. Crunchbang 32 bit FXCE Statler--alpha 1, April 2010;
D. Vector SOHO 6 final, 10 August 2010 (two cdroms);
E. Crunchbang 64 bit, FXCE Statler--alpha 2, June 2010;
F. Debian 64 bit Net install, May 2010, with two downloads, Konqplugins, VLC;
V. Abbreviations:
FF = Firefox, IW = IceWeasel, EP = Epiphany, KO = Konqueror, MP = Movie Player; VLC = the single best music player available, why anyone would fail to include this marvelous accomplishment (Vector, Puppy, TinyMe come to mind!) in the distribution, is a complete mystery to me.
VI. Measurements:
a. time to "install", = time from insertion of cdrom, pushing "reset", until automatic login has been
enabled, reboot, music is heard, clicking, successively, each of the 3 required formats. Distros which played only one or two of the three required formats were eliminated from this study.
b. time to boot: = measured from power on, until desktop appears--> ability to click on browser;
c. time to start: = click on the browser icon, until reach:
http://www.listenlive.eu/classical.html;
d. time for music = for each of 3 format icons to hear music (rebooting each instance)
e. time to shutdown = power OFF ("halt" in UNIX jargon).
............................mins....secs...............secs.....music....secs...secs...secs....secs. ..secs
Computer Distro Install boot browser startup player...mp3...ogg....aac+...sum....OFF
c2 ............A........ 63..... 95......FF..........6.......VLC.......10......13......19........42......23
.................C.........28......79......IW.........6......VLC.........6........8........7........ 21......11
.................D........ 78.....168.....FF..........9........?............36......28......56......120......27
c8 ............A.........34......60......FF..........4.......VLC........5........7........7.........19. .....11
.................B.........53......55......KO.........8......VLC.........4........4........5........ 13......20
.................C.........18......47......IW.........4.......VLC........4........4........5........ .13......11
.................E.........19......45......IW.........4.......VLC........4........4........4........ 12......10
.................F........335.....66......EP..........4.......MP..........5........6........5....... .16......16
Purpose:
Some senior forum members will remember that in olden times, we listened to radio, using devices which had rather simple knobs for power on/off and tuning, to select the radio station of our choice. This study attempts to compare several Linux distributions with the aim of identifying the best distributions available, for music enthusiasts, who wish to tune in to the world's music, without having to sit at a keyboard, typing earnestly, instead of doing whatever else one hopes to accomplish with one's life.....
Distributions which presented insurmountable obstacles, i.e. intimate knowledge of the innards of Linux, (Arch, Gentoo come to mind) in order to accomplish the simple goal desired, were eliminated from this study. Similarly, those distributions (Suse and Slackware come to mind!) which demanded, not offered, but demanded that a user enter more than one keystroke for user name or password, were eliminated. Those distributions (Fedora comes to mind) which destroyed the MBR were also eliminated. No choice for user to place Linux on the partition of his/her choosing = unfriendly distro = ELIMINATION from this study.
Several distributions (Ubuntu comes to mind) failed to play any music, for one reason or another....Ubuntu has, in my opinion, the single best installer out there, simply because it offers the user a choice of passwordless login right from the start---BRAVO, well done. The same Ubuntu installer does possess one VERY serious flaw, which ought to be corrected: The user is not properly prompted to assign the boot loader on the partition of choice, instead of the MBR. Rather, with Ubuntu, the choice is hidden in an icon labeled "advanced". This is a terrible mistake, which will prove costly to those who do not wish to see their MBR destroyed.
The Slackware Linux distribution offers one feature superior, in my experience, to all other distros: Use of Patrick Volkerding's Lilo, instead of GRUB. Lilo uniquely, in my experience, provides the user with all of the choices needed for an intelligent installation of Linux (location, time to boot, choices of OS to boot).
Puppy linux, 4.3.2 was an excellent distribution, which worked well. I cannot write the same for 5.1. Why on earth would anyone mix an excellent, user friendly distro with Ubuntu?
The two best distributions, in my experience, as shown, I hope, by the data below, are PCLinuxOS, and CrunchBang. Both of these two excellent distributions are rather easy to install, with outstanding performance on both old machines, and newer devices. I recommend them both, to anyone seeking to listen to internet radio stations.
Definitions:
I. 32 and 64 bit Linux distributions were tested for their ability to play music on internet radio stations, in all three streaming audio formats: OGG, mp3, and aaCPlus. Times were measured corresponding to installation, boot up, browser invocation, start of music, and cessation of operations.
The 6 radio stations tested were: VRT Radio Klara, Brussels, Belgium, Cro D-dur, Prague, Czech Republic, Radio Classique, Paris, France, MR-3 Bartok Radio Budapest, Hungary, Latvijas Radio3, Riga, Latvia, NRK Klassisk, Oslo, Norway.
Stations were selected by clicking on one of the three icons, OGG, mp3, or aaCPlus, at
http://www.listenlive.eu/classical.html
II. Computer specifications:
C2:.....DFI CA64-TC, PIII 1.13GHz, 1.0GB RAM, IDE hard drive;
benchmarks:....2.7 GIPS, 1.5 GFLOPS, 0.67 GB/sec memory bandwidth;
Video controller: S3 Savage4 AGP 4x.
C8:.....ASRock 775Dual-880Pro, PIV D 3.2GHz, 1.0 GB dual channel DDR-2, SATA150 hard drive,
benchmarks: 14 GIPS, 11.6 GFlops, 4.8 GB/sec memory bandwidth;
Video Controller: Nvidea, GeForce 4 MX 440 AGP 8x.
III. Requirements for a distribution to be included in this study:
...a. passwordless login, just as was our radio, 40 years ago: we turned it on, and heard music.
...b. no demand for text manipulation via keyboard, as obliged by UNIX in 1970: mouse only interaction with Linux.
...c. accepts single character user name and single character root password, during installation.
IV. Distributions:
A. PCLINUXOS LXDE, 20 July 2010, with two downloads: Konqplugins, VLC;
B. Unity 64 Open Box, July 2010, plus two downloads: Konqplugins, VLC;
C. Crunchbang 32 bit FXCE Statler--alpha 1, April 2010;
D. Vector SOHO 6 final, 10 August 2010 (two cdroms);
E. Crunchbang 64 bit, FXCE Statler--alpha 2, June 2010;
F. Debian 64 bit Net install, May 2010, with two downloads, Konqplugins, VLC;
V. Abbreviations:
FF = Firefox, IW = IceWeasel, EP = Epiphany, KO = Konqueror, MP = Movie Player; VLC = the single best music player available, why anyone would fail to include this marvelous accomplishment (Vector, Puppy, TinyMe come to mind!) in the distribution, is a complete mystery to me.
VI. Measurements:
a. time to "install", = time from insertion of cdrom, pushing "reset", until automatic login has been
enabled, reboot, music is heard, clicking, successively, each of the 3 required formats. Distros which played only one or two of the three required formats were eliminated from this study.
b. time to boot: = measured from power on, until desktop appears--> ability to click on browser;
c. time to start: = click on the browser icon, until reach:
http://www.listenlive.eu/classical.html;
d. time for music = for each of 3 format icons to hear music (rebooting each instance)
e. time to shutdown = power OFF ("halt" in UNIX jargon).
............................mins....secs...............secs.....music....secs...secs...secs....secs. ..secs
Computer Distro Install boot browser startup player...mp3...ogg....aac+...sum....OFF
c2 ............A........ 63..... 95......FF..........6.......VLC.......10......13......19........42......23
.................C.........28......79......IW.........6......VLC.........6........8........7........ 21......11
.................D........ 78.....168.....FF..........9........?............36......28......56......120......27
c8 ............A.........34......60......FF..........4.......VLC........5........7........7.........19. .....11
.................B.........53......55......KO.........8......VLC.........4........4........5........ 13......20
.................C.........18......47......IW.........4.......VLC........4........4........5........ .13......11
.................E.........19......45......IW.........4.......VLC........4........4........4........ 12......10
.................F........335.....66......EP..........4.......MP..........5........6........5....... .16......16
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