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Change in the testing Algorithm

Posted 03-02-2011 at 08:17 AM by caieng

02 March 2011

A long overdue change has been made in the process of evaluating Linux distributions. The main reason for making the change is the obvious deficiency in the previous testing method. Do we turn off the radio, every time we wish to change a station?

The central web site I use for testing is Mike's Classical Music, found here:
http://www.listenlive.eu/classical.html

There are three different non-proprietary formats employed by sites broadcasting streaming audio. Perhaps, in the months and years ahead, one or more of these three different formats will disappear, but for now, a Linux distribution, to be useful in receiving these radio broadcasts, must accept ALL THREE formats, to be included in my evaluation.

The three non-proprietary formats are mp3, aac+, and OGG. I have selected, rather arbitrarily, twelve radio stations from Mike's website, and measured the times required to receive a broadcast. Each testing sequence requires successive access to the same twelve stations, in the same order, on each of three days. The times are then summed, and presented as a single integer. Each number thus represents the sum of thirty six different measurements.

Streaming Web Site........location..................format.......Kbps
(1) Radio Stephansdom.....Vienna, Austria...........mp3..........128
(2) VRT Radio Klara.......Brussels, Belgium..........mp3..........96
(3) RTBF Musiq 3..........Brussels, Belgium.........mp3..........128
(4) Cro D-dur.............Prague, Czech Republic.....ogg..........256
(5) Accent-4..............Strasbourg, France.........aac+..........48
(6) BR-Klassik............Munich, Germany............mp3..........128
(7) NDR Kultur............Hamburg, Germany...........mp3..........128
(8) Radio 4...............Hilversum, Netherlands.....aac+..........64
(9)ConcertzenderKlassiek..Hilversum, Netherlands.....mp3..........128
(10)NRK Klassisk..........Oslo, Norway...............mp3..........192
(11)SRO Radio Klasika.....Bratislava, Slovakia.......ogg..........256
(12)Sveriges Radio SR.....Stockholm, Sweden..........aac+.........192

To emulate the concept of using one's computer concurrently to perform some sort of additional task, while listening to music, a background task is invoked-->downloading a 4GB DVD from the Debian web site. This has the net effect of slowing down reception, upon changing stations, compared with operating the computer engaged in no task other than receipt of broadcast streaming audio.

Some Linux distributions fail to include VLC, the standard for receipt of streaming audio, with the initial release of the distro, however, many of those distributions, do provide for post-installation upgrade of the capabilities of the operating system by means of downloading VLC from a central depository, maintained by each distribution, uniquely. The other streaming audio players (mplayer, clementine, aqualung, etc) are all useless, in my testing experience. I no longer test a distro which fails to permit a user to employ VLC.

Further, in harmony with the underlying goal: internet radio station receiver, I refuse to accept for testing, any distribution (such as Suse or Slackware) which DEMANDS that the user enter nnn alphanumeric characters for either user name or password. I did not need to enter even ONE character, when I first turned on a radio, in the 1940's and I see no reason to require the user to employ passwords, etc, for this application.

Browsers: Some browsers work very well, others barely, and still others poorly. Midori, unfortunately belongs in the latter category, because it requires the user to acknowledge repeatedly, i.e. forever, an intention to convey the streaming audio signal to the sound system for output.

Google's chrome, much beloved by many folks, has a pathological personality trait: For at least SOME Linux distributions, Chrome fails to recognize incoming audio signals as data intended for VLC, even though VLC is installed, available, and working with other browsers. Instead, Chrome sends the data to a word processor. There exists such a paucity of options with Chrome, there is no method to direct it to deliver the data to VLC instead of the editor.

Procedure: After booting, a background task is begun: downloading from the internet, a 4 gigabyte file. The browser under investigation is then invoked, and directed to Mike's web site above. VLC is successively
invoked and then closed, by clicking on first, an mp3 icon, then an aac+ icon, and finally an ogg icon, all three icons representing web sites not included in the list of twelve sites, above. VLC is closed again, and the trial then commences. Each trial consists of twelve different times corresponding to the time needed to hear music after clicking successively on the icon representing each of these twelve sites, closing VLC after each time has been recorded. The twelve times are then summed to represent total time for that particular trial. After discarding the downloaded 4 gigabyte file, the machine is rebooted, a new 4 gigabyte download task begun, and the next browser is tested. Each browser is tested in this fashion, three times, on three different days, and the total times are then summed for each browser on each distribution
on the various computers. Each number below thus represents the sum of thirty six different measurements.

Computer specifications: Four computers are employed in this study. All four have default video resolution of 1280 x 1024 with Windows 98. Some Linux distributions are unable to match that capability, "out of the box", i.e. without heroic efforts by the user, involving hours of research, typing, and frustrating fooling around with various configuration schemes. Other Linux distros (Puppy, PCLinuxOS!!) permit the user to choose the resolution, as effortlessly, as with Windows 98. The data from the fourth computer, labelled c8, is still being gathered, and will be presented next week.

c1 biostar M6VLR ...... PIII 1.4 GHz 0.5GB SDRAM
benchmarks: 3.3 GIPS...... 1.87 GFlops,0.24 GB/sec mem bandwidth;
Video Controller: Trident Blade 3D (AGP 1.0)
c2 intel 865 G (dell 4600)..PIV 2.8 GHz 0.5 GB dual channel DDR 400
benchmarks: 6.2 GIPS..... 5.1 GFLOPS,4.0 GB/sec mem bandwidth;
video controller, Intel with AGP 1.0
c4 dfi CA64-TC......PIII 1.13GHz.....1.0 GB SDRAM
benchmarks: 2.6 GIPS,......1.5 GFLOPS,0.47 GB/sec memory bandwidth
Video controller: S3 Savage4 AGP 4x.
c8 asrock 775Dual-880Pro..PIV D 3.2 GHz...1.0 GB dual channel DDR2 RAM
benchmarks: 14 GIPS,....11.65 GFlops...4.8 GB/sec memory bandwidth
video controller: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X (AGP 3.00)

Results:
#..Distro.version..type..kernel.......Date..Browser....version...VLC.....Seconds
c1..Win98....SE.....M$................1999..Sea Monkey..1.1.18...0.8.6f...329
............................................Opera.......10.10.............157
....XP......SP-II...M$................2004..Sea Monkey..2.0.11...1.1.7....163
............................................Opera.......10.10.............165
............................................Chrome......9.0.597...........214
....PCLOS..10.2....LXDE..2.6.33.7....Currently testing, results to follow.....
c2..PCLOS..10.2.... LXDE..2.6.33.7.....2010..Opera.......11.01....1.1.7.....134
............................................Konqueror....4.5.5.............203
..Ultimate.2.8Lite. Op.Box 2.6.35/686..2010..FireFox......3.6.13..1.1.4.....230
............................................SeaMonkey....2.0.7.............224
............................................Konqueror....4.5.5.............347
..Cr.Bang..20110112 XFCE..2.6.32-5/686.2011..SeaMonkey....2.0.7...1.1.3.....161
............................................Chrome.......8.0.552...........129
............................................Konqueror....4.4.5.............217
#..Distro.version..type..kernel.......Date..Browser....version...VLC.....Seconds
c4..Win98....SE.....M$................1999..Opera........10.10...0.8.6f....136
............................................SeaMonkey....1.1.18............287
....XP......SP-II...M$................2004..Opera........11.01...1.1.7.....132
............................................SeaMonkey....2.0.11............132
............................................Chrome.......9.0.597.98........180
....PCLOS...10.2...LXDE..2.6.33.7.....2010..Opera........11.01...1.1.7.....186
............................................Konqueror....4.5.5.............244
...Cr.Bang.20110112XFCE..2.6.32-5/686.2011..Chrome.......9.0.597..1.1.3....209
............................................Konqueror....4.4.5.............293
............................................SeaMonkey....2.0.7.............200
............................................FireFox......4.0.b9............256
..Ultimate.2.8 Lite Op.Box 2.6.35/686..2010..Konqueror....4.5.1....1.1.4....441
............................................FireFox......3.6.13............368
............................................SeaMonkey....2.0.11............369
#..Distro.version..type..kernel.......Date..Browser....version...VLC.....Seconds
c8...XP....SP-II....M$................2004..Opera........11.01....1.1.2.....80
............................................SeaMonkey....2.09...............82
...Cr.Bang.20110112XFCE.2.6.32-5/amd64.2011.Chrome.......9.0.597..1.1.3....129
...................................................SeaMonkey....2.07..............145
...................................................FireFox......3.6...............146
...................................................Konqueror....4.4.5.............172
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Comments

  1. Old Comment

    improving the tables, adding data for C8 PCLOS

    Code:
    Streaming Web Site........location..................format.......Kbps
    (1) Radio Stephansdom.....Vienna, Austria............mp3..........128
    (2) VRT Radio Klara.......Brussels, Belgium..........mp3...........96
    (3) RTBF Musiq 3..........Brussels, Belgium..........mp3..........128
    (4) Cro D-dur.............Prague, Czech Republic.....ogg..........256
    (5) Accent-4..............Strasbourg, France.........aac+..........48
    (6) BR-Klassik............Munich, Germany............mp3..........128
    (7) NDR Kultur............Hamburg, Germany...........mp3..........128
    (8) Radio 4...............Hilversum, Netherlands.....aac+..........64
    (9)ConcertzenderKlassiek..Hilversum, Netherlands.....mp3..........128
    (10)NRK Klassisk..........Oslo, Norway...............mp3..........192
    (11)SRO Radio Klasika.....Bratislava, Slovakia.......ogg..........256
    (12)Sveriges Radio SR.....Stockholm, Sweden..........aac+.........192

    Results:
    Code:
    #....Distro....version....type....kernel.......Date...Browser.......version....VLC.....Seconds
    c1...Win98......SE........M$...................1999...Sea Monkey....1.1.18.....0.8.6f...329
    ......................................................Opera...........10.10.............157
    .....XP........SP-II......M$....................2004..Sea Monkey....2.0.11.....1.1.7....163
    ......................................................Opera.........10.10...............165
    ......................................................Chrome........9.0.597.............214
    
    c2...PCLOS.....10.2.......LXDE....2.6.33.7.....2010...Opera..........11.01.....1.1.7....134
    ......................................................Konqueror......4.5.5..............203
    .....Ultimate..2.8.Lite...OpenBox.2.6.35/686...2010...FireFox........3.6.13....1.1.4....230
    ......................................................SeaMonkey......2.0.7..............224
    ......................................................Konqueror......4.5.5..............347
    ....CrunchBang..20110112..XFCE..2.6.32-5/686...2011...SeaMonkey......2.0.7.....1.1.3....161
    ......................................................Chrome.........8.0.552............129
    ......................................................Konqueror......4.4.5..............217
    
    #....Distro....version....type....kernel.......Date...Browser.......version....VLC.....Seconds
    c4...Win98.....SE.........M$...................1999....Opera........10.10.....0.8.6f....136	
    .......................................................SeaMonkey....1.1.18..............287
    .....XP........SP-II......M$...................2004....Opera........11.01.....1.1.7.....132
    .......................................................SeaMonkey....2.0.11..............132
    .......................................................Chrome.......9.0.597.98..........180
    .....PCLOS.....10.2.......LXDE....2.6.33.7.....2010....Opera........11.01.....1.1.7.....186
    .......................................................Konqueror....4.5.5...............244
    ....CrunchBang.20110112...XFCE....2.6.32-5/686.2011....Chrome.......9.0.597...1.1.3.....209
    .......................................................Konqueror....4.4.5...............293
    .......................................................SeaMonkey....2.0.7...............200
    .......................................................FireFox......4.0.b9..............256
    ....Ultimate...2.8 Lite..OpenBox..2.6.35/686...2010....Konqueror....4.5.1.....1.1.4.....441
    .......................................................FireFox......3.6.13..............368
    .......................................................SeaMonkey....2.0.11..............369
    
    #....Distro....version....type....kernel.......Date...Browser.......version....VLC.....Seconds
    c8...XP........SP-II.......M$..................2004....Opera........11.01......1.1.2.....80
    .......................................................SeaMonkey.....2.09................82
    ...CrunchBang..20110112...XFCE..2.6.32-5/amd64.2011....Chrome........9.0.597...1.1.3....129
    .......................................................SeaMonkey.....2.07...............145
    .......................................................FireFox.......3.6................146
    .......................................................Konqueror.....4.4.5..............172
    ....PCLOS.......10.2......LXDE....2.6.33.7i686..2010...Konqueror.....4.5.5..............205
    .......................................................Opera.........11.01..............138
    Comments re: XP and PCLOS, both 32 bit OS, outperforming 64 bit Linux???
    Posted 03-06-2011 at 04:20 PM by caieng caieng is offline
 

  



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