Making the Most of Ubuntu

Recently I wrote about Virtual Box and its usefulness as both a testing platform and for grabbing video caps.

Unfortunately I had to turn to my Windows machine to do the grunt work because it has plenty of spare RAM to share with the software. This prompted me to review the hardware requirements of my Ubuntu desktop: it was undoubtedly capable of running Ubuntu 10.04LTS with a paltry 1GB of RAM already installed but it was going to be a struggle capturing video once that memory had been distributed between operating systems. Time for an upgrade!

I bought two Kingston 1GB memory modules (tripling my RAM) from Amazon for around £35 including delivery and VAT. Installation was pretty easy and it took longer to reconnect the cables than to insert the modules.

Under the Hood: DELL Dimension 8400

You can see the new video card in the picture above and the old memory modules tower above the new slimline versions - twice as big with half the memory! Despite this upgrade, the cost of my adventure with Ubuntu is still under £200 (excluding the sunk cost of the DELL Dimension) and I'm running a state-of-the-art system.

Virtual Box has been installed from the Ubuntu Software Centre and now it's time to have a peek at Maverick!

Sources & References:
Oracle Virtual Box
Ubuntu Desktop