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I am new to ubuntu (I am old time windows user and now want to shift my box).

I want to setup my new dev box. I have selected following config for the PC

  • Processes - Atom D410, 1.6 Ghz, (512K cache)
  • RAM - 2 GB (667Mhz FSB)
  • HDD - 250 GB (7200 rpm)

Is that ok to run Ubuntu server or should I go for bigger box?

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  • What kind of dev are you doing? Will it be running tiny perl scripts, or as a dev LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) server for a 100 user web app?
    – Jeremy
    Oct 14, 2010 at 12:00
  • If you're a windows convert, keep in mind that Ubuntu Server does not have X (graphical system) installed by default.
    – evgeny
    Oct 14, 2010 at 12:05
  • @Jeremy - I would use LAMP and ruby
    – mahesh
    Oct 14, 2010 at 12:12
  • @Evgeny Martynov - Yaa that i know; i was using LAPM shared hosting now i would like totry VPS. Before moving to VPS i just want to hands on server on my machine, so that I can become comfortable with VPS.
    – mahesh
    Oct 14, 2010 at 12:14
  • Really, the answer is: Yes, it will run, but it may not be responsive enough for you. See if you can borrow a 1.6 Ghz netbook to test it on?
    – Jeremy
    Oct 14, 2010 at 12:22

4 Answers 4

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I run a whole Ubuntu media centre complete with Boxee on a machine with less power than that (using an Atom N270 which is a lot less powerful than the D410). It does have a graphics card to help with the video decoding but that doesn't lift all the weight off the CPU.

You can actually rent dedicated hosting servers that use the D410. This little CPU is up to the task... Just be aware that it's (obviously) not going to be as fast as a "real" server or desktop processor.

Ubuntu Server will do just fine.

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That hardware is more than fast enough for web development. People run websites with actual users in VPS instances that have a lot less memory & CPU power...

I remember 10 years ago we ran 4 or 5 active websites (including a for that time fairly active web forum) on a Pentium 100 MHz machine with 64 MiB RAM. And that machine was running websites that used Perl, PHP and ColdFusion. And also ran a MySQL database of course. And yes, it was still "fast enough".

Of course applications have grown a bit bigger nowadays (mostly because they have more features), but they shouldn't require 20x more processing power or 10x more memory.

Let's put it like this: if it's slow on this Atom machine, it won't be able to handle a lot of requests on a much bigger machine either. So if it's slow, you need to optimize your web application, not buy bigger hardware.

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I have a Ubuntu 10.4 Server on a Atom 330 running

  • Apache
  • Deluge
  • NFS
  • Samba
  • MySql
  • SSH
  • Raid 10 (system)
  • LVM (data, 4 Partitions)

What i found out is, that data transfers are critical (maybe it's because of the software raid):
Speed NFS: 30-60MB/s (non-encrypted FS)
Speed Local encrypted FS: 15MB/s
Speed SFTP: 4MB/s

It's normal for SFTP to be slower than normal copy, but 4MB is SLOW!

Webservices run ok, Mediawiki reacts quite fast. Same with deluge. I set up a minecraft server, it worked, but it made the Computer really slow so I wouldn't recommend it.

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  • I don't want to run as a live server. I am moving form windows to ubuntu; so i want a machine which i can use as dev box for my use only. What you say?
    – mahesh
    Oct 14, 2010 at 13:23
  • Just for LAMP an Atom should be enough. However, I'd recommend a Intel I3 (and I will move to this platform eventually), because the price is similar and energy usage in standby is almost the same. So there is no real advantage in a Atom CPU, but it's always good to have some power left in case you want to install new services in the future.
    – sBlatt
    Oct 14, 2010 at 13:40
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It'll run, but it may not run fast! I run Ubuntu server on a EEE 701. It takes a couple of seconds to process a login, and I wouldn't want to be running a database server with any real amount of data on it, but it'll work as a cheap dev box.

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  • The CPU in the 701 is a lot slower than the Atom D410. The Atom D410 is actually fairly capable. I've even seen it available for dedicated hosting servers.
    – Oli
    Oct 14, 2010 at 12:08

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