Hey if chromium is pulling those types of low numbers then there is no question.... any ram saved on an old pute is a life line.
> Hi, all. > > I've resurrected an ancient PC to try Lubuntu. Celeron 400 MHz, 256 Mb > RAM and a 20 Gb PATA HDD. Here's my impression of running different > browsers on the specified hardware. > > Testing method: > 1. Install Lubuntu from Lucid alpha2 preview2 iso. > 2. Install additional browsers (Chromium, Midori, Arora) from default > Lucid repos. > 3. For each of the four available browsers, measure startup time and > memory usage on a freshly-booted machine (no executables cached), with > homepage set to about:blank (no downloading/rendering on startup). > 4. For each of the four available browsers, try to load three tabs: > - open google.com, search for "Lubuntu"; > - open my gmail account, navigate to a 47-letters thread in > lubuntu-desktop list ("default browser" discussion), hit "expand all" > and wait for all to expand; > - open http://www.rbc.ru, a news site in Russian with several Flash > banners on the start page. > 5. Examine memory usage afterwards. > > All memory usage numbers are listed as reported by Xfce4 Taskmanager > with default settings (ie, with "Show memory used by cache as free" > option active). These values are total numbers, including any memory > used by system. A freshly-booted system with just taskmanager running > reports 50..58 Mb RAM used. > > Startup times and memory usage after loading (homepage is about:blank, > if applicable): > Firefox: 13 seconds, 85 Mb. > Chromium: 8..10 s, 81 Mb. > Arora: 12 s, 78 Mb. > Midori: 17 s, 108 Mb. > > Common problems noticed: > 1. Standard Gmail interface is slow. After initializing, it occupies > about half CPU capacity constantly. Occasionally, several seconds' > delays happen just as I type this text. > 2. Flash literally kills everything. Several gtk-gnash processes take > up all CPU power the machine has. Several times, I had to wait for > more than 10 minutes (!) until taskmanager window gets redrawn and I'm > able to see memory usage. > > Arora problem: never finished expanding the 47 messages thread. "Still > Working" message remains shown for more than 10 minutes, and there are > about 15 messages not expanded. > > Firefox problem: while expanding 47 messages, gmail shows > "unresponsive script" warning at least once. Apparently, the script is > suspended until the user makes a choice, so the loading process needs > close user attention. > > Midori: initially, gmail did not identify it as a fully compatible > browser and loaded a reduced "compatible" interface. However, after > changing the reported browser type to Firefox in preferences, no > problems encountered with the full version of gmail interface. > > Memory usage with three tabs loaded: > Firefox: 150..160 Mb. > Arora: 175..185 Mb. > Midori: 175..185 Mb. > Chromium: 135..145 Mb. > > Conclusion: on low-grade hardware, flash and script-rich pages are > painfully slow regardless of the browser. On less than 192 Mb RAM, you > are likely to experience swapping with several pages opened in any > browser. > > Given the available options, my vote is for Chromium *and* disabling > flash by default. Best is to start playing flash only after the user > clicks on it, however I'm not sure if it's possible without hacking > the browser code. > > Regards, > Mikhail > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~lubuntu-desktop > Post to : lubuntu-desktop@lists.launchpad.net > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~lubuntu-desktop > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~lubuntu-desktop Post to : lubuntu-desktop@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~lubuntu-desktop More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp