Netbook Performance: Ubuntu vs. OpenSolaris

When converting image files from RAW to PPM using dcraw, Ubuntu 9.04 was substantially better than OpenSolaris 2009.06. It took 325 seconds for this test to complete under OpenSolaris, but a mere 136 seconds for Ubuntu 9.04.

While OpenSolaris did better with GnuPG file encryption, when it came to measuring the disk latency with the Threaded I/O Tester, Ubuntu did much better. The latency when carrying out four threads of 64MB writes was several times better under Ubuntu than OpenSolaris.

Four threads of 64MB reads were also very much in Ubuntu's favor.