Why does Phoronix use Ubuntu for Benchmarking ?

[MetalheadGautham]

I see every phoronix hardware review using Ubuntu. Often there are issues like the latest version of ubuntu NOT having the latest version of the linux kernel and phoronix using alpha or beta releases of future versions of ubuntu, which may give wrong results because of buggy software.

Why can't you guys use a Rolling Release distro or a distro with instant updates to the latest stable bleeding edge software like Gentoo or ArchLinux ?

[Zhick]

Because (A) the majority of linux-users use Ubuntu, so benchmarking on/with Ubuntu reflects the experience of most users and more importantly because (B) Michael is an Ubuntu-fanboy. :P

[RealNC]

And (C) Gentoo can be much slower than Ubuntu if you don't know how to set it up properly (Gentoo is, and tries to be only as smart as the person sitting in front of the keyboard.)

[fat_chris]

You would have to try pretty hard to make Gentoo slow, it's not easy to mess up an installation if you can follow instructions when needed.

[deanjo]

Because (A) the majority of linux-users use Ubuntu

Ubuntu may be the most popular but it's not what a majority of linux users use. A majority implies more then half of all linux users would be using ubuntu which is not the case at all.

Here is a interesting little break down of the various distro's popularity.

http://royal.pingdom.com/2008/08/21/linux-popularity-across-the-globe/

[MetalheadGautham]

and those who care for performance are often also those who use extreme distros like gentoo and arch.

[combuster]

Gentoo had the fastest boot times but as a matter of speed - every linux distro can be fast as the other if set propperly, some feature can be slower (packet management etc) then the other.

Phoronix perform their benchmark on Ubuntu, ok, I don't have anything against ubuntu, I've used it for two years, but when an article comes up stating that on 2.6.31 kernel with 2.8.0 intel drivers are slower and 100% unstable then the 2.6.30 and 2.7.0 then u got to ask yourself: is testing a feature on early alpha a smart move?

[energyman]

Phoronix should use a distri using KDE. Since the majority uses it.

Since kubuntu's kde is utterly broken, SLACKWARE or opensuse would be a good choice.

In fact, Slackware would be the best choice, because there are no patches that can screw up the results. Mean, lean, unpatched.

[germulvey]

I would welcome a review that was carried out on Ubuntu and another distro. Or at least one that uses say the rpm package system and also one of the more techie distros.
I have noticed that the results I see in rpm based distros for nvidia performance seems better. No idea why, but I definately get better video playback than on ubuntu in Mandriva and openSuSE.

[d2kx]

Phoronix should use a distri using KDE. Since the majority uses it.

Since kubuntu's kde is utterly broken, SLACKWARE or opensuse would be a good choice.

In fact, Slackware would be the best choice, because there are no patches that can screw up the results. Mean, lean, unpatched.

I have used Slackware some years ago, but like to try it out again. Is there anywhere a howto that helps with the first steps with Slackware? Can you set up slackware-current directly or do you have to use the release first? Do you still need to install slapt-get for good package management? Is there any special configuration needed like adding the user to specific groups like with Arch? Thank you