Why the hell is linux running so slow! plz help

sendas4 · 08-01-2004, 11:02 PM

Im running a Athlon Xp 2500+ 512MBs of Kingston ValueRam DDR400, Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe. MSI Nvidia 5200fx (i know it sucky card :P) and 40GB 7200 Western Digital HD. gentoo with 2.6.7.

I cant figure out why my computer bogs down so bad. When im emerging i can barely move the mouse. and games that ran perfect like neverwinternights in windows run pretty bad. I made sure DMA is enabled on my hd. And glx is on for my video card im using Fluxbox as my wm. glxgears gives me only 1000fps. im at a lose please does anyone have any ideas?

dalek · 08-02-2004, 12:34 AM

try this command:

Code:

ps aux

That will show everything that is running in the background.

A trick I use when I plan to be using the computer and emerge something is this:

Code:

nice -n +10 emerge ****

That gives emerge a lower priority since most everything runs at 0. It tells it to give me priority over the emerge. It will emerge at about the same speed just keeps you from being able to tell it is running.

Hope that helps. Post back if it don't.

BUMP if anyone else has ideas.

WMD · 08-02-2004, 12:36 AM

Does this only happen when you emerge? Emerge uses all your CPU time to compile, and makes stuff slow.

Easiest solution is to emerge stuff right as you're getting off the computer.

dalek · 08-02-2004, 12:46 AM

I forgot to add this bit. You can change the nice level in make.conf too. Then it will do it for you.

Lster

sendas4 · 08-02-2004, 03:42 AM

It also happens when I decompress rar or gz files. Do you guys think 1000 is normal Fps on glxgears for my setup?
And thanks that command did help for when im emerging and using the comp.

dalek · 08-02-2004, 04:26 AM

Well this is what I get:

Code:

dale@smoker ~ $ glxgears
2782 frames in 5.0 seconds = 556.400 FPS
3191 frames in 5.0 seconds = 638.200 FPS
3619 frames in 5.0 seconds = 723.800 FPS
3586 frames in 5.0 seconds = 717.200 FPS

dale@smoker ~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
cpu family      : 6
model           : 10
model name      : AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2500+
stepping        : 0
cpu MHz         : 1830.110
cache size      : 512 KB
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 1
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse syscall mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow
bogomips        : 3612.67

dale@smoker ~ $

That is with the screen the size it pops up as, ya know, kind of small. I run 1280x1024 for my 19" monitor. We have a similiar rig.

I'd say that ain't to bad myself. I'm no gaming guru though.

Later

sendas4 · 08-02-2004, 11:37 AM

Thanks for the help dalek.
this has helped out alot when i need to use the computer when Im emerging.

Code:

nice -n +10 emerge ****

dalek · 08-02-2004, 11:51 AM

Don't forget you can set this in make.conf. Looks something like this:

Code:

# PORTAGE_NICENESS provides a default increment to emerge's niceness level.
#     Note: This is an increment. Running emerge in a niced environment will
#     reduce it further. Default is unset.
#PORTAGE_NICENESS=3

Note this also. The lower the number, the higher the priority. -10 has more priority than +10 for example. It is sort of the opisite of what you would think.

Glad that helps a bit.

Later

masand · 08-02-2004, 01:17 PM

going further
check for unecessary services running
also one of the best option
recopmile ur kernel

dalek · 08-02-2004, 08:00 PM

Quote:

going further
check for unecessary services running
also one of the best option
recopmile ur kernel

He runs Gentoo. He did compile his own kernel. Since he runs Gentoo, the only services running are those he typed in to run through rc-update. There are very few that are installed and run without you knowing about it. It does updatedb, as a cron job, and the file system maintanence of course but that is required anyway. Gentoo is not like Mandrake or Redhat.

I have read where most people set the nice to a different level. It runs so well you can't even tell it is running.

NOTE: updatedb is set to run a 3:00AM. If you, like me, are up and about at that time, you may want to change the cron job for that. If for example you boot up at 8:00AM and the machine was off at 3:00AM when it was set to run, it will start shortly when cron does the next check. If you don't use locate, you can remove the updatedb process all together. This usually only takes a few minutes though.

If you want to see what services are set to run, type in rc-update show, that will list them.

Hope all this info helps.