Benchmark Test Software Running on Windows and Linux/Ubuntu - windows

Just wondering if there is any benchmark software that I can download that will run on both Windows (preferable Windows 7) and Linux (Ubuntu 9.10)? I have a brand new system and I'd like to run some standardized benchmarks with Ubuntu and also with Windows 7. The Passmark Performance test only runs under Windows.

It depends greatly of what your metric is. "Back then when" we worried more about integer vs floating-point performance the dhrystone test was popular. It will test the 'ecompiler + os' combination, but say nothing about graphics, or disk, or other aspects.
Wikipedia also has number of other open source benchmarks listed you could try.

Geekbench runs under both Windows and Linux (in addition to Mac OS X and Solaris).

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how to translate/convert a binary created in x64 Linux/GNU to a power pc?

I deployed a matlab script to an executable file which runs on linux platform.
let's say file :
$./run_test.sh
As it is created on linux, it cannot be executed on the powerPC CPU.
Is there any way to translate the binary file to a PPC readable file?
Thanks
You're mixing OS & CPU issues: the problem isn't that it was created on linux (there are versions of linux that run on PPC); the problem is that it is for a different CPU (x86, most likely). And other than running an emulator/simulator for that processor on you PPC box (which, if it works, would likely be quite slow), or getting a hold of the source to re-compile it, I believe you are out of luck.
...unless of course this really is a script, and while executable is not binary, in which case your solution may be as simple as changing the line endings. This is likely the case if you can open it in a text editor & you can read it (that is, it isn't full of funky symbols).
Complementing Scott's answer. If you have the source code of the application, you can use Software Development Toolkit for Linux on Power to help you in the migration.
The IBM Software Development Kit for Linux on Power (SDK) is a free, Eclipse-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The SDK integrates C/C++ source development with the Advance Toolchain, Post-Link Optimization, and classic Linux performance analysis tools, including Oprofile, Perf and Valgrind.

How to limit PC performance to test software

I am developing a .NET application, and have the luxury of doing this on a fairly powerful desktop PC. I want to ensure it runs okay on PCs with much lower spec, but I don't have spare machines kicking around and can't really afford to buy them. Is there any way to simulate a lower-spec PC on my current PC, to get a feel for how the software might run?
Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.
*My PC is Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit with 8-core Intel i7 and 16GB RAM.
You could install VMWare and install any OS you want, with any hardware specs you want, provided that they don't exceed your current working hardware of course.
Keep in mind that VMWare is just a virtualization layer. It emulates an OS but you are still running your code on the same i7.
http://www.asp.net/mobile/device-simulators Here is an example of several Visual Studio plug-ins that emulate devices. You can also install Windows 8 and run hyper-v. It's great for this kind of thing.

Virtual Machine: Windows 7 on Ubuntu 11 or Ubuntu 11 on Windows 7?

I wanted to begin with Android development. I intend to pursue it as a hobby and it is not my main job as a student. I use softwares like Matlab, COMSOL, MS Office, etc. on my current Windows PC. Therefore I needed isolation between my experimental projects and actual work.
For that I am going to format my pc and re-install the OS. I have two options:
1. To install Ubuntu first and then install Windows 7 on top of it (using VirtualBox).
2. Or similarly install Windows 7 first and then install Ubuntu on its top.
From a safety standpoint, it's my guess, that it's advisable to make my work OS (Win7) the base OS and then install my experimental OS (Ubuntu 11) on top. But please answer my following question purely from the standpoint of performance. Which is better: (Win + Virtual Ubuntu) or (Ubuntu + Virtual Win)? To frame it better I would ask, which is likely to be faster: a given random high performance software operating on Virtual Ubuntu (with Win base) or the same software operating on Virtual Win (with Ubuntu base)? Assume that the randomly picked high performance software has been designed to function on both operating systems (e.g. Matlab).
P.S.: Also if you know a better alternative to VirtualBox, please let me know.
From my experience Virtualbox performs quite good. For optimal performance and compatibility, you have to install additional packages though (i.e. for accessing USB drives etc, I guess you will need that anyway for android development). So, just use the system you want to use in your everyday work as the base and run the other one in virtualbox. For me, that's Ubuntu. For you it seems like Windows would be the natural choice.
However I don't really see the need to isolate on the operating system level at all. It's quite common to have different softwares for different tasks running on the same computer, on the same system. Why do you think that would be a problem?

Doing coding in Linux through a virtual machine on Windows VS partitioning

I already have experience with setting up virtual machines, running them and other minor tasks. Im a gamer, so I wont get rid of windows (for now at least...) but I do want to be a great programmer and to be involved with the Open-Source community.
Id like to know if its a good idea to do my programming in linux through a virtual machine, vs giving it a partitioned section of the HDD. Id like to know about performance pros and cons and functionality.
All responses are appreciated, thanks in advance.
The type of programming I intend to dive into :
Android Dev, Web Dev, Desktop Dev...More Android and Web right now though.
So im looking at C#,C,C++,Java,PHP,HTML,MySQL...Off the top of the dome.
I do web designing as well, so dreamweaver is added as an "essential". But im sure I can do dreamweaver files and upload them to the server after programming in Linux...Right?
And any info on IDE's in Linux for the above mentioned are appreciated, but i would prefer going the coding route and understanding the essence of whats happening "under the covers"
Thanks to all for reading, I appreciate it.
Hope this isnt confusing :S
There is an easier solution..
I still have to use Windows for Symbian programming so I use a Wubi and Ubuntu to provide my double bout into Linux..you deploy Wubi uses a large file and thus no need to worry or mess with creating a partition..
I have used it for 18 months with no data loss and no worries..
There is also another tool called andlinux:
http://www.andlinux.org/
It uses colinux to run Linux as a program inside windows..
A couple things:
If you're using an IDE, there's no point to coding on Linux. Linux is nice for programming because the command line tools are awesome. Netbeans and Eclipse both work fine on Windows. All you'd be missing is makefiles (which IDEs don't use anyway).
Using a virtual machine would be annoying (working with the window and stuff) and slow. Try AndLinux if you want to have Linux running in Windows. It sets up X and Pulseaudio for you, so all of your programs will appear to be native. It's basically a way to run Ubuntu as a Windows service (all Ubuntu packages for your architecture are installable).
If you just want the fun of Linux command line programs without access to all of Ubuntu, cygwin is smaller and might be faster.
If by "Dreamweaver files", you mean HTML/PHP/CSS, then yes, you can just upload them to the server. As far as I know, the only ASP or ASP.net compatible server is Microsoft's, but why use that anyway?
EDIT: SO didn't give me enough space in the comments to answer your question..
AndLinux and Cygwin are basically just better ways to do your "virtual machine" idea.
Cygwin adds a posix layer to Windows (basically everything you need to compile Unix/Linux/BSD programs). This means that you can generally take a Linux program and just compile it on Windows and have it work. They also have repositories, but in my experience, the cygwin installer is slow and hard to use.
AndLinux runs the Linux kernel as a Windows service, giving you a similar experience as running it in VirtualBox/other virtualization programs. However, it also sets up X (the graphics layer for Linux) and PulseAudio (a sound system that lets you run sound over a network), so that when you run Linux programs they act and sound like native programs. I also like AndLinux better because you have access to all of Ubuntu's programs, and apt-get is easier to use than cygwin's installer. Also, if you use AndLinux and later to decide to go 100% Linux, you're basically already using it that way.
What I'm getting at is: If you want to run Linux in a virtual machine, don't. Just install AndLinux. It will be faster and it's much easier to work with (since everything is just a normal window).
Here's an example of the difference:
Screenshot of AndLinux: The program in the bottom right corner is running in AndLinux. Notice how it just looks like a badly themed Windows program? Compare that to something like this, where you have another desktop in a Window.
And still.. there's no reason to virtualize Netbeans. It's a native Windows program and you can gain nothing and lose a lot of speed.
If you're interested in Android development and you want to use Linux, then I would recommend you do your development in Eclipse. Eclipse is available for Linux and if you get Ubuntu then Eclipse is amazingly easy to install. I used VirtualBox + Ubuntu + Eclipse for several projects I worked on. If you decide that Linux is not for you and your project was in Eclipse then you will have no problem switching back to Windows since Eclipse is available for both operating systems.
The ONLY problem I had was the screen size on the virtual machine... if you have a big screen and you use a virtual machine then you might get limited to a fraction of your actual screen resolution. It's very easy to install Linux on a second partition, so I would just recommend you go with a second partition if you want to fully utilize the size of your monitor.
My setup is sort of the opposite: I run Linux as my main OS, both at work an at home, and I have Windows in a virtual machine. On a modern computer with adequate memory the performance of development tools is not a problem. I work with Visual Studio in the virtual machine, and I have seen few performance issues. (But note that this is on a fast computer, and that you may need more memory than otherwise, since you are running two OS:es at the same time. On an old computer with less memory it can become unbearable.)
Dual-boot, where you have to restart the computer to switch OS, doesn't work well for me. It takes way too much time to switch, and really need to switch back and forth. Having Windows in a window works much better for me, and you can maximize that "Windows window", so it looks like you're just running Windows.
One thing you may want to look at is to have Linux running in a VM, then configuring Samba to allow the host to network-mount pieces of the Linux filesystem so that you can operate using Windows tools, and have Linux running the server processes (e.g., httpd). Alternatively, I'm sure that there are shell extensions for using FTP, NFS, or SSH/SFTP servers from within Explorer, but I've not looked at any for a long time.
If you should happen to need to use graphical Linux tools then you can use the X server found in cygwin for that.
The downside of this plan is that Samba can be a bit tricky to configure, but you get to use the Windows tools you're already familiar with.
I had no issues running Ubuntu via VMWare. You can easily switch to full screen mode anytime. Strongly recommended. One shortcoming is that Linux will not be exposed to the full potential of your hardware. Compbiz Fusion failed to work as a result.
Given that you're a gamer, I'm thinking your machine should be fast enough to run Linux in a VM. Best to try out the VM before messing with disk partitions.
I use physically separate machines to run Linux and Windows (and MacOS X). This means that I don't have to reboot to do something different, and each system gets the full power of the hardware.
Disadvantages: more desk space used, more time and money spent maintaining hardware (though if you do a rolling upgrade, this is mitigated - Linux runs most happily on not-quite-new machines). Doesn't work so well if you like carrying laptops around.
Be aware that VMs universally don't give you full graphics acceleration. This can be a non-issue (many programs must cope with Intel GMA anyway), or it can be a showstopper. Your choice.

What RTOS is best for working on the same PC with Windows?

What RTOS is best for working on the same PC with Windows?
I know about RTX and INtime, but have not used them. Are there any others? Which one is your favorite and why?
I would try eCos. It is runs on the i386, is free, has great tool support, and includes board support packages ready made.
QNX is used extensively for aircraft electronics. However, pretty much any OS will run inside of Windows using VMWare or dual-booting though.
If you are looking to have a lot of fun with real-time systems, why not play around with Ubuntu's real-time patch and turn an old computer you have into a real-time desktop or use virtualbox or something of course. Here is a link you will find useful in getting it setup:
http://viswanathj.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/real-time-operating-system-installation-on-ubuntu-linux/
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio/RealTimeKernel
This works with 10.04 LTS , x86 architectures with Intel, AMD & ARM processors, etc.
Cheers!!

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