Fedora 16 And GNOME Shell: Tested And Reviewed

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Ubuntu and Mint don't want it; Linus called it an “unholy mess.” While most other distros are passing up or postponing GNOME Shell, Fedora is full steam ahead. Does Red Hat know something the rest of us don't? Or is GNOME 3 really as bad as everyone says?

Test System Specs And Setup

64-bit Desktop Test System

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64-bit Desktop Test System Specs
Operating System 1Fedora 16 'Verne'
Operating System 2Ubuntu 11.10 'Oneiric Ocelot'
Operating System 3Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
ProcessorIntel Core i5-750 @ 2.88 GHz (quad-core)
MotherboardGigabyte GA-P55A-UD7 (F7 BIOS)
Memory8 GB Crucial DDR3 @ 1333 MT/s (2 x 4 GB)
Graphics 1AMD Radeon HD 4870 Reference Board 512 MB GDDR5 (PCIe 2.0)
Graphics 2EVGA GeForce GTX 260 896 MB GDDR5 (PCIe 2.0)
StorageSeagate Barracuda 7200.12 500 GB SATA 3Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 16 MB Cache
OpticalAsus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS
Power SupplyCorsair TX750W (750 W max)
ChassisZalman MS-1000 HS2
CPU CoolerScythe Mugen 2 Revision B
KeyboardLogitech Wireless Keyboard K320
MouseLogitech Cordless TrackMan Wheel

32-bit Mobile System

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32-bit Mobile Test System
Operating SystemFedora 16 'Verne'
ModelDell Inspiron Mini 10v (1st generation)
ProcessorIntel Atom N270 @ 1.6 GHz
Memory1 GB DDR2-533
GraphicsIntel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
Storage120 GB 2.5-inch 5400 RPM SATA HDD

Setup

All of the Fedora 16 benchmarks were run on a newly installed and freshly updated system as of midnight February 29th. Some of the Ubuntu 11.10 and Windows 7 scores were retained from Ubuntu 11.10 Review: Benchmarked Against Windows 7. However, due to several benchmarks being updated in the month since the Ubuntu article, the Raw Therapee, HandBrake, LAME, Blender, GeekBench, and Unigine Heaven scores are fresh. The table below lists the 23 benchmarks currently in our Linux/Windows XPlat (cross-platform) suite:

X-Plat Benchmark Suite v1.0

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CategoryTests
Start & Stop TimesBoot, Shut Down, Hibernate, and Wake
File Copy TimesHDD to HDD, HDD to USB, and USB to HDD
ArchivingZip, Un-zip, Tar.gz, and Un-Tar.gz
MultimediaHandBrake, LAME, and RawTherapee
SystemGeekBench, POV-Ray, and Blender
UnigineSanctuary, Tropics, and Heaven
GamesDoom 3, Prey, and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars