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Since installing ubuntu, I've long noticed that it runs slower than XP. I do, however, use it for it's functionality and customization. But, If ubuntu is purported to be this great, efficient o/s that is better than XP, why do people complain that it's slower than XP? Why do I notice the same thing?
For example, when I use 'Document Viewer' and 'OpenOffice Writer', scrolling through docs is much slower than PDF viewers on XP. Another example is when I install and load programs. It takes much longer to install and load a program under ubuntu than it does the same program under XP. Things are slower in loading up stuff.... why?
There usually are many possible reasons. You mentioned "document viewer", it's probably evince, which I know is damn slow at loading anything. Openoffice can also be slow, but newer versions are much faster at loading. Try different pdf viewers if you think your current one is slow, try xpdf, kpdf, etc. Another reason may be if you run GNOME or KDE, depending on your system these may slow it down as they are considerably bloated. The number of apps you load at startup is important, try disabling the ones you don't need. When I was using Ubuntu I noticed greater overall speed when using filesystems other than ext3 (which was the slowest). With Ubuntu there's not much else you can tweak, because it won't let you easily tweak them. If you want it any faster than what you can do with these recommendations, then you may want to try lighter, faster distros: Gentoo, Slackware, Debian. Of course, you should realize that these will not hold your hand when you install them, so be prepared, read up before you try them. Note that the goal of Ubuntu is NOT speed, ok, that would be the goal of Gentoo.
Last edited by H_TeXMeX_H; 08-26-2008 at 02:40 AM.
in addition to H_TeXMeX_H's post which is ofcourse was helpful and comprhensive .
i think another reason to slow up your machine is the video card , make sure you are using the correct and updated video card driver cause i had that issuse ith ubuntu and i noticed that after installing and tweaking my video card , the box was 3x faster , another thing to note is your physical memory and swap space , those also increase and enhance performance.
and maybe u can stop unwanted services as well to free some extra memory.
and just like H_TeXMeX_H said , maybe u can pick another Wm , xubuntu is recommanded or maybe u can install another distro and use xfce or fluxbox or blackbox as WM these are a lightweight Wms and works like sharm
note what H_TeXMeX_H had told you about installing debian and specially slackware , slackware is not user friendly and you will need to do alot of things all by your self so i suggest if you are going to install it is to read installation tips and howtos and expect alot of tweakings BUT , when u r done , wow it is extremely fast and powerfull distro , u will enjoy it.
hope that was helpfull .
in addition to H_TeXMeX_H's post which is ofcourse was helpful and comprhensive .
i think another reason to slow up your machine is the video card , make sure you are using the correct and updated video card driver cause i had that issuse ith ubuntu and i noticed that after installing and tweaking my video card , the box was 3x faster , another thing to note is your physical memory and swap space , those also increase and enhance performance.
and maybe u can stop unwanted services as well to free some extra memory.
and just like H_TeXMeX_H said , maybe u can pick another Wm , xubuntu is recommanded or maybe u can install another distro and use xfce or fluxbox or blackbox as WM these are a lightweight Wms and works like sharm
note what H_TeXMeX_H had told you about installing debian and specially slackware , slackware is not user friendly and you will need to do alot of things all by your self so i suggest if you are going to install it is to read installation tips and howtos and expect alot of tweakings BUT , when u r done , wow it is extremely fast and powerfull distro , u will enjoy it.
hope that was helpfull .
OK, it's got NOTHING to do with the video card since I run XP as guest on the same computer. As a result, the same computer specs affect both ubuntu and XP the same way. And I'll reiterate this again... ubuntu is meant and purported to be faster and therefore better than XP. That has been everyone's take on ubuntu which you can't deny.
And H_TeXMeX_H, you're right, it's evince. Also, I've tried all the PDF players available for ubuntu and they all suck. They all scroll S-L-O-W-L-Y and you can even see words trail as you scroll. This is not supposed to happen in ubuntu if it's such an efficient system.
You guys mentioned different o/s's. Ideally, I want what ubuntu offers, but lightweight and not bloated, fast and efficient with no problems. And I want to be able to use compiz-fusion on it just like on ubuntu. I hope these requirements can help you guys narrow down the best o/s you can recommend me, Thanks.
ok my recommendation is to use xubuntu , uses xfce and it is lightweight and extr fast and still with user friendly interface.
or u can use slackware but expect some efforts to adjust it to fit your needs .
BTW iam using ubuntu and it is as fast as a rocket for me , so according to what u r saying about trails u see while scrolling pdfs , again i think there is something about your your video card .
ok let us try something instead of replacing the whole distro and installing another , what kind of video card do you have ??
i want you to issue this 2 commands and paste the results here please :
1. $ lspci | grep VGA , and paste the results .
2. $ glxinfo | grep vendeor , do the same and paste the result.
ok awaiting your reply maybe we can sort this out.
OK, it's got NOTHING to do with the video card since I run XP as guest on the same computer. As a result, the same computer specs affect both ubuntu and XP the same way.
Well, not exactly. It's possible that the default drivers installed by Ubuntu aren't as good as the default Windows XP drivers, you might want to make sure you've got the accelerated drivers. It's also possible that the way your hard disk is recognized, especially if it's a SATA disk could have a huge impact on speed that would only impact the Ubuntu setup. I'd read some of the SATA threads on this board to check that out before you install another distro. I certainly agree with the other suggestions as well, but my experience has been that ubuntu is faster or similar in speed than xp on the same hardware. (Though I use slackware now, but that's another story...)
Memory is important, surely if you run a VM, make sure you have 1 GB, better still 1.5 GB. Monitor your memory and swap usage, if you are using swap, you are loosing clock cycles.
Double check the driver for your video card, it should have acceleration etc. enabled. If the xorg.conf shows VESA, it is slow.
On the bright side, the newest Ubuntu is still faster than the newest Windows
ok my recommendation is to use xubuntu , uses xfce and it is lightweight and extr fast and still with user friendly interface.
or u can use slackware but expect some efforts to adjust it to fit your needs .
BTW iam using ubuntu and it is as fast as a rocket for me , so according to what u r saying about trails u see while scrolling pdfs , again i think there is something about your your video card .
ok let us try something instead of replacing the whole distro and installing another , what kind of video card do you have ??
i want you to issue this 2 commands and paste the results here please :
1. $ lspci | grep VGA , and paste the results .
2. $ glxinfo | grep vendeor , do the same and paste the result.
ok awaiting your reply maybe we can sort this out.
Hi, wfareed. Thanks for replying. Here's the info that you asked me to get:
ok , youo have a intel display card installed , i need you to :
1. $ lsmod //and tell me what driver module is loaded for your intel card.
2. $ glxinfo | grep OpenGl // should give you 3 lines , please paste it here
ok , youo have a intel display card installed , i need you to :
1. $ lsmod //and tell me what driver module is loaded for your intel card.
2. $ glxinfo | grep OpenGl // should give you 3 lines , please paste it here
then unpack the new driver
$ tar -zxvf i915Graphics.tar.gz
$ cd i915Graphics
$ sudo ./install.sh
this will compile new kernel modules and compile agpgart, dri , opengl module as well
reboot
$lsmod and make sure you have agpgart , intel_agp , i915 , drm modules are loaded .
see if there is any differences with the new driver installed .
that is it , i hope that was helpful.
awaiting your reply.
Last edited by wfareed; 08-28-2008 at 02:34 AM.
Reason: i forgot the .sh for install script
then unpack the new driver
$ tar -zxvf i915Graphics.tar.gz
$ cd i915Graphics
$ sudo ./install.sh
this will compile new kernel modules and compile agpgart, dri , opengl module as well
reboot
$lsmod and make sure you have agpgart , intel_agp , i915 , drm modules are loaded .
see if there is any differences with the new driver installed .
that is it , i hope that was helpful.
awaiting your reply.
wfareed, will installing this driver mess up my system just in case it's not compatible? Is it then possible to revert back to the previous driver? Also, how do I know that I don't have the latest driver?
wfareed, will installing this driver mess up my system just in case it's not compatible? Is it then possible to revert back to the previous driver? Also, how do I know that I don't have the latest driver?
.
No it will not mess up youe system at all , it is the display driver provided by intel so dont worry , just follow the install instructions and you will be just fine dont worry ok.
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