Chrome OS Benchmarked Against Moblin, Ubuntu

News
By Jane McEntegart
published

Chrome OS goes up against Fedora 12, openSUSE 11.2, Moblin 2.1 and Unbuntu Netbook Remix 9.10.

We've heard an awful lot about Chrome OS over the last week or so. Between hour-long Google presentations and getting the stripped down OS to run on virtual machines, there's been a lot of talk. However, for all this talk, there's been very little in the way of numbers. For example, how does Chrome OS compare to similar solutions already available?

With the release of the Chome OS source code following hot on the heels of Moblin 2.1 and Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10, the folks at Phoronix decided it was high time for some benchmarks. The resulting data covers areas such as video playback performance, encoding, battery power consumption and CPU/memory usage tests. OSes put through the wringer include Fedora 12, openSUSE 11.2, Moblin 2.1, Unbuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 and of course, Chrome OS.

Chrome OS can't handle running OpenArena so it drops off rather suddenly in some of the graphs but the results are interesting all the same. All told, Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 came out on top, with openSUSE 11.2 also performing quite well. 

While perusing the results you'd do well to remember that ChromeOS isn't actually out for another year. Google has only offered a vague release date of "next year," which suggests later is more likely than Q1 or early Q2. With approximately a year to polish things up, the final build will probably perform better than the version used by Phoronix.

Read more here.

Jane McEntegart
12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • city_zen
    It'd be interesting to know which Linux distribution is Chrome OS based on, if any
    Reply
  • ckthecerealkiller
    city_zenIt'd be interesting to know which Linux distribution is Chrome OS based on, if anyIt's based on a stripped down Ubuntu.
    Reply
  • fatkid35
    this seems nuts to me. benchmarking a rough os is like trying to enter a car, you built from scratch and finished the night before, into a race. test it some more first. either that or don't be suprized when the wheels fall off. this all seems so premature. at least with win7 they worked on it a ton, then let us test the semi-final product. at least that what it seemed like to me. maybe im wrong here.
    Reply
  • ckthecerealkiller
    fatkid35this all seems so premature. at least with win7 they worked on it a ton, then let us test the semi-final product. at least that what it seemed like to me. maybe im wrong here.That's the difference between an open source project and an internal project.
    Reply
  • Ikshaar
    This benchmark is so badly done, it's a joke.

    aka. for CPU usage, average numbers not calculated on same period for all distro, when usage was not constant... the "result" 66% versus 51% seems huge when the trace shows that they all behave same. Shame on Phoronix for that.
    Reply
  • WheelsOfConfusion
    fatkid35this seems nuts to me. benchmarking a rough os is like trying to enter a car, you built from scratch and finished the night before, into a race. test it some more first. either that or don't be suprized when the wheels fall off. this all seems so premature. at least with win7 they worked on it a ton, then let us test the semi-final product. at least that what it seemed like to me. maybe im wrong here.The good thing is that you can see where the performance penalties are for some of the design decisions being made (like the EXT3 vs. EXT4 filesystems), and since it's open-source developers can contribute back by submitting optimizations or tweaks.
    Also keep in mind that Chromium OS compiles and runs just fine right now, so people can use it if they want. With a benchmarking article like Phoronix's, they can tell what they're headed for if they choose Google's OS over its competition at the moment. When Chrome OS is officially finalized and released, by that time Ubuntu will probably be on the 10.4 version of their Netbook Remix, which is scheduled to have even more optimizations for booting fast and being usable on netbook hardware. For the time being it definitely looks like the overall best mainstream option for netbooks, and Chrome will have some work to do in order to catch up by release.
    Personally, I was suprised that Chromium OS ran as many of the benchmarks as it did, being basically a browser sitting on top of the kernel. Not really shocked that it couldn't run the games.
    Reply
  • falconqc
    I wonder if we will be able to apt-get install chromeos from Debian or Ubuntu. Hilarity would ensue.
    Reply
  • cryogenic
    falconqcI wonder if we will be able to apt-get install chromeos from Debian or Ubuntu. Hilarity would ensue.
    You already can make your own Chrome OS easy, just take the Linux kernel compile it, add Chrome, the browser, and you're done.

    What's the big fuss?
    Reply
  • fatkid35
    WheelsOfConfusion, thanks for the 411. i'm pretty interested overall in this os going mainstream. i've never had an issue paying money for an os but the prospect of a cheap/free alternative for basic pc use is very tasty indeed. i just recieved my free ubuntu cd in the mail a few weeks ago and have been contemplating loading it and trying my hand at it. linux still seems so underground to me. stick linux in a shiny box with a familiar name like google on it, and offer it to the masses and it might make the spotlight yet. google backing it might be all it takes for people to accept it. from what i understand mac os is so close in relation to linux, the marketing of it was prolly the biggest factor it was a success. that and macs os comes in some really neat hardware.maybe google can do the same. would be cool.
    Reply
  • buwish
    It seems to be keeping up quite well, at least in mid-development. Hopefully by the time that it is released to the public, the specs will be up a bit.
    Reply