GaryMellor

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My machine cold boots in around 18 seconds and powers down in around 4 seconds so I'm really pleased with the performance (it can go quicker but the RAID0 configuration slightly slows things down - I use the RAID0 for performance when reading large files, which I need to do quite often). I once installed [[http://www.slitaz.org/en/|Sli''''''Taz]] GNU/Linux 4.0 and that setup resulted in a 4 second cold boot time (it is a very small, lightweight yet fully featured distro which is well worth a look). My machine cold boots in around 18 seconds and powers down in around 4 seconds so I'm really pleased with the performance (it can go quicker but the RAID0 configuration slightly slows things down - I use the RAID0 for performance when reading large files, which I need to do quite often). I once installed [[http://www.slitaz.org/en/|SliTaz]] GNU/Linux 4.0 and that setup resulted in a 4 second cold boot time (it is a very small, lightweight yet fully featured distro which is well worth a look).

About Me

Me

Email:

<mellor DOT gary AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk>

IRC:

garyjmellor on irc.freenode.net

Launchpad:

https://launchpad.net/~garyjmellor

LUG:

StaffsLUG

Keys:

To be updated after system rebuild

Background: I'm 34 years old and live in England. I am a professional software tester with around 10 years' experience in the industry. I have worked for the following companies:

I have been using Ubuntu for around four years and I really like it - so much so that I'm now testing it! I love the whole idea of FOSS and like helping to shape Ubuntu for the community.

Why Do I Use Ubuntu?

Having been exposed to Windows 'features' for as long as I can remember in both personal and professional realms, I was on the look out for alternatives. Sure, Windows is OK if you're non-technical and prepared to accept its flaws/second best (maybe non-techies don't even notice them?) - but there had to be a viable alternative.

I'd heard about Linux and after some thorough Googling during my lunch breaks and free time, I plumped for Ubuntu and I haven't looked back. After just one week of having a dual boot system I decided that Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) was infinitely better than any Windows OS and got rid of the Windows partition completely.

I have tried other distros: openSUSE, Mandriva, Fedora, SliTaz and Gentoo but I still much prefer Ubuntu. I am currently actively looking at Linux Mint 13 (Maya) with the Cinnamon desktop as I read in Ubuntu User recently that it is closely related to Ubuntu and Debian. I am running it on VirtualBox as a 64-bit guest and so far I really like what I am seeing.

My Machine

I have a Lenovo G550 (2958), which is currently running Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise). Here are the specs of my machine:

Architecture

X64

Chipset

Mobile Intel® GM45 Express

Graphics

NVIDIA® GeForce® G105M

HDD

2 x 128GB Crucial M4 SSDs 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s (500MB/s Read, 175MB/s Write) configured as RAID0[1]

CPU

Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme Processor (X9100 - 3.06 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 6M Cache)[2]

RAM

Crucial 8GB SODIMM DDR3 (1066 MHz)[3]

W/NIC

Intel® PRO/Wireless 5100 AGN [Shiloh]

My machine cold boots in around 18 seconds and powers down in around 4 seconds so I'm really pleased with the performance (it can go quicker but the RAID0 configuration slightly slows things down - I use the RAID0 for performance when reading large files, which I need to do quite often). I once installed SliTaz GNU/Linux 4.0 and that setup resulted in a 4 second cold boot time (it is a very small, lightweight yet fully featured distro which is well worth a look).

[1] Replaces manufacturer's standard HDD (Fujitsu/Toshiba SATA 500GB @ 5400rpm).

[2] Replaces manufacturer's standard CPU (Intel® Core™ 2 Duo (T6600 - 2.20GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2M Cache).

[3] Replaces manufacturer's standard RAM (Nanya 4GB SODIMM DDR3 (1066MHz)).

Testing Interests

Having looked at the Testing Team Activities I was interested in testing the following areas:

  • ISO Testing
  • Laptop testing (naturally)
  • General Testing

I have also become fairly proficient at networking, CUPS and HPLIP and have been involved on IRC channels and forums in these areas, helping other people get these elements working for their setup.

Hobbies & Interests

I weight train in my spare time and also enjoy bike riding. In my fitter, more youthful days, I have cycled to the coast for charitable causes on several occasions. The most I have cycled in a day is 126 miles.

I enjoy watching films either in the comfort of my own living room or at the cinema. Some of my favourite films include Event Horizon, Glory, Predator, Titanic and Unbreakable.

I like travelling and have spent 3 months in Australia, 9 months in Germany and I've been to various other places on holiday with my favourite place being the Maldives.

I'm fascinated with technology and spend many hours performing what I have termed 'geekery' Big Grin :) . The last gadgets I bought were a Blackberry PlayBook 64GB and a Blackberry Bold 9790 smartphone. I always try and keep up with what is happening in the IT and tech/gadgets realms by regularly checking in with The Register and the Appy Geek app on my PlayBook.

Lastly, I find theoretical subjects, philosophy and reasoned debate very engaging. I read The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and found it to be really interesting and thought provoking so I have now picked up another of his books called The God Delusion. One of my favourite popular science books is A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. I don't pretend to understand it all but I really enjoy the subject matter and thinking upon it afterwards.

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GaryMellor (last edited 2012-11-01 14:24:52 by host217-34-36-113)