Speed of different versions on an old machine

[Jennifer]

hi folks

I've got Oxygen 8, and although it's still doing a great job, obviously that's quite old now so I'm thinking of upgrading.

I'm interested in how version 23 is likely to compare with version 8 in terms of speed on an old machine.

Would it be an "upgrade" in terms of more efficient code which runs faster? Or are the improvements purely in terms of features, layout etc?

The reason I ask is that I currently have v8 running on the old Linux box I had when I first got Oxygen - 2.0GHz CPU, not tons of memory. And that's noticeably slow doing the conversion to HTML or PDF, though it copes fine while I'm editing.

There's also a faster machine running Win10, where I would put v23.

I realise that the licence would allow me to install the new version on both. But if v23 were going to slow down the old machine even more, it might actually make more sense to keep v8 running there, use it mainly for editing, and just run v23 on the faster Win10 machine.

What would you do?

Thanks for any thoughts on this question!

[adrian]

Hello,

I'm interested in how version 23 is likely to compare with version 8 in terms of speed on an old machine.

Oxygen v8 is from 2006-2007 and was using Java 1.5 at the time. Oxygen started using Java 1.6 in v9, Java 1.7 in v15 and eventually Java 1.8/8 since v17. Java 8 is currently still supported in v23.
So, v8 is 14 years old and 3 versions of Java behind, which makes things very difficult to compare.
Everything is relative, so when you say old machine, I can't really tell how old that machine is. A CPU model and amount of installed RAM would really help.
We haven't tested Oxygen v23 on machines older than 2009, so it's difficult to tell if it would perform poorly or not on yours. If the machine has 4GB or more memory and at least 2 cores, v23 could still work well.

The reason I ask is that I currently have v8 running on the old Linux box I had when I first got Oxygen - 2.0GHz CPU, not tons of memory. And that's noticeably slow doing the conversion to HTML or PDF, though it copes fine while I'm editing.

What type of document are you transforming to HTML or PDF (DocBook, DITA, TEI, other)?

I realise that the licence would allow me to install the new version on both. But if v23 were going to slow down the old machine even more, it might actually make more sense to keep v8 running there, use it mainly for editing, and just run v23 on the faster Win10 machine.

If you have a user-based license for v23, you can use Oxygen on both. Note that v8 uses the old format license key and will not work (technically) with the license key for v23.
You might want to consider the middle ground. Try using a more recent version of Oxygen on the old machine, but not necessarily the latest. If you have a key for v23, you can technically install and run any old version of Oxygen since v10 with that key.
I'm afraid that there's a lot of trial and error involved here as I can't really recommend a specific version. Maybe try 16.1 and 17.1 and see how those work on the old machine.
These are no longer publicly available for download, but I'll provide links.

Regards,
Adrian

[Jennifer]

Thanks for the reply! Hmm, lots to consider there.

A CPU model and amount of installed RAM would really help.

CPU is AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ (Brisbane).
Described here: https://www.techpowerup.com/cpu-specs/a ... -3600.c430
So yeah it is 2-core. I was slightly mistaken about the speed though, it's 1.9GHz.
(Basically the same vintage as my Oxygen version - I'd not long had the machine when I discovered Oxygen.)

RAM is 4GB.
There's room for another 4GB - which maybe I'll do, now that I'm thinking about it.

If the machine has 4GB or more memory and at least 2 cores, v23 could still work well.

Promising then

What type of document are you transforming to HTML or PDF (DocBook, DITA, TEI, other)?

DocBook. The most computation-demanding thing I'd typically do would be what DocBook calls an "article" (i.e. one file), of maybe 20,000-30,000 words with maybe 30 footnotes.

If you have a user-based license for v23, you can use Oxygen on both. Note that v8 uses the old format license key and will not work (technically) with the license key for v23.
You might want to consider the middle ground. Try using a more recent version of Oxygen on the old machine, but not necessarily the latest. If you have a key for v23, you can technically install and run any old version of Oxygen since v10 with that key.

Is this likely to mean that I could install v23 (or v16/17 as the case may be) in parallel to v8 without breaking v8, for trials before deciding? Or is that asking for trouble because Linux would get confused at multiple Javas?

[adrian]

Hi,

The machine is on the low end of the limit there, but 4GB of RAM should help. Not sure if investing in an additional 4GB of RAM is worth it, though. Maybe look the motherboard manual online and check if it supports it first.

I forgot to ask, what Linux distribution and version is it currently running?
I'm wondering if the OpenJDK 15 Java runtime bundled with Oxygen v23 will work on it.

Yes, you can install v23 side-by-side with v8. I honestly can't find the info on whether the v8 Linux installer bundled Java. But the v23 Linux installer Java bundle is private (used by Oxygen alone), so it won't interfere with whatever Java v8 is using.
One issue I see is with the license file. Both v8 and v23 are using the same license file which is in the user profile, ~/.com.oxygenxml.com/license.xml, so you may want to make a backup of that file (or even the entire folder) before running v23 as it will most likely update it and v8 won't recognize the license key anymore. The rest of the files shouldn't interfere as they are distinct for each version of Oxygen, but better to have a backup of the entire folder, just in case.
If you run v23 on a different user account, then there is no issue whatsoever.

Regards,
Adrian

[Jennifer]

Thanks, this is all very helpful!