The current version of Ubuntu server has a minimum requirement of 128M according to the website. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SystemRequirements#Ubuntu_Server_.28CLI.29_Installation I've never tested Ubuntu with that little ram but I have been consistently using it on VMS with 500MB and it works very well in that environment. On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 1:04 PM, Jason Hsu <jhsu802701 at jasonhsu.com> wrote: > If the Parallela came with at least 2 GB of memory, then I'd be confident > that it could comfortably run Ubuntu or any Ubuntu-based distro. Keep in > mind that any new Dell desktop computer you can buy today comes with at > least 2 GB of memory, and any new Dell laptop computer you can buy today > comes with at least 4 GB of memory. Furthermore, you can upgrade the > memory on Dell desktop and laptop computers. (And I'm sure that most > people buying new desktop and laptop computers today get considerably more > than 2-4 GB of memory.) > > I've tried Ubuntu-based Linux Mint (with LXDE) and Xubuntu with 2 GB of > memory in VirtualBox (around late 2011), and they felt slower than Linux > Mint Debian Edition with GNOME2 and 512 MB (in VirtualBox on the same > computer) did at the time. Thus, I'm skeptical of the speed of Ubuntu with > just 1 GB of memory. Keep in mind that most brand new PCs with 1 GB of > memory had Windows XP pre-installed, and Ubuntu and its derivatives were > considerably lighter in those days. > > While the Raspberry Pi has just 256-512 MB of memory, that is plenty given > that its official OS is Debian. With no GUI or a very lightweight GUI, > Debian runs well even on 10-year-old computers lacking resale value. > > Thus, Parallela should come with more memory to support a Ubuntu base or > should come with a lighter distro. If I buy one, it won't be until there > is great support for Debian or a distro based directly on Debian. > > While there are alternatives to the official setup, there's usually less > support for these unofficial setups. In my experience from trying Linux > distros, the edition with the official DE is the smoothest, most polished, > and best-supported one. I currently have Snowlinux 4 Glacier with MATE > installed on my main desktop computer, and it's MUCH better than the Xfce > version (which I also tried). That's no surprise, as GNOME has always been > the main DE for Snowlinux. The developers have more experience with > GNOME2/MATE than with Xfce, and most of the users use MATE, so the MATE > edition gets more support and attention than the Xfce edition. And the > Linux Mint Debian Edition no longer offers the Xfce version, as few people > were using it, and supporting the MATE and Cinnamon versions was a higher > priority. > > -- > Jason Hsu <jhsu802701 at jasonhsu.com> > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- Michael Greenly http://logic-refinery.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20130610/ed41cd74/attachment.html>