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-   -   I just installed linux but it's driving me crazy! (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/i-just-installed-linux-but-its-driving-me-crazy-444661/)

mrHoff 05-14-2006 09:44 AM

I just installed linux but it's driving me crazy!
 
I'm completely new to Linux, and downloaded Fedora Core 5 on 5 CD's and intalled the damn thing on this PC. Well - it's working! I'm sitting on my new OS typing this message!

But the damn system is driving me crazy because it won't stop loading!!!! At the time I'm writing this message the harddrive is making write noises and the led is blinking profusely and it just never stops!!!!! *TJST**TJST**TJST**TJST**TJST* and then it will take a break for five seconds...... *TJST**TJST**TJST**TJST**TJST* SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STOP LOADING!!!!!!!!!! I have to restrain myself to write this message cause what I really want to do is get an AXE and smash the bastard :mad:

What should I do?????????? I hate windows but at this rate I'm gonna hate Linux more!

meng 05-14-2006 09:53 AM

What sort of system specs do you have?

Oh yeah, and don't take an axe to your system. ;)

XavierP 05-14-2006 10:02 AM

Open up a console and type in "top" (without the quotes) and see what is working so hard. It could be that as your system is so newly installed, it's running a number of jobs in the background.

Welcome to LQ :D

And seconding the "no axe" suggestion ;)

lotusjps46 05-14-2006 11:39 AM

Something else that might tell us what is going on: What kind of computer is this? What processor and how much memory makes a difference. If there is not enough RAM to run KDE (the default window manager) it could be using the swap partition alot, and making alot of hardrive noises.

C

Ryuji Yamazaki 05-14-2006 12:32 PM

I had the same problem when i first decided to give linux a try, i increased the swap partition size and that seems to solve it.

mrHoff 05-14-2006 12:36 PM

Thanks a lot for your advice.

My computer is pentium2, 192 MB ram. The windows environment is "gnome" (I Have no idea if that is a good choice by the way).

I turned off all services to see if that helped, that was before XavierP's advice on typing top. Well... it seemed to help anyway, I had to turn on the service "network" before getting online again, but the loading has calmed down and seems normal - like a friendly purr compared to the barking I had earlier.

I tried typing "top" in the terminal - Something called "Xorg" is taking the most, but nothing seems heavy. I see in the system monitor that about 50% of my memory is being used and the swap is thank god not doing anything.

The question is now if turning off most of the services is a good idea - I only have "messagebus" and "network" running now - what else do I need if any?

BobNutfield 05-14-2006 03:46 PM

http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/releas...rchSpecificx86

Hi

Just wanted to mention that your specs are the very bare minimum for an FC5 graphical installation, as noted in the above link. Your system, even with almost all services turned off, may struggle with FC5. The disk activity you are hearing, is, I am certain, your swap partition. Adding more memory may help. I am running FC5 with an AMD64 3400+ (2.2GHz) with 1.5gb memory and it is still not as fast as some other distros I use. Both Gnome and KDE are pretty memory hungry.

Bob

lotusjps46 05-14-2006 06:13 PM

mrHoff,

On the graphical screen where you log in there is a menu or drop-down thing that should offer different window managers (KDE, Gnome, IceWM, maybe XFCE). Try anything but KDE and Gnome; they suck resources. You can still use the KDE and Gnome stuff, but there is alot less running in th background of XFCE or Icewm. If you get bored you can install Blackbox, Fluxbox, Enlightenment, and maybe some other window managers.

I have a PII with 366mhz processor and 192 megs of ram, and I use Vector Linux on it. VL is made for older hardware, and really runs alot better that FC would.

Have fun.

C

pixellany 05-14-2006 06:25 PM

first, glad to see you have calmed down and gotten past the 4-letter words...;)

For a while, my Ubuntu install would slow to a crawl. It turned out that the updatedb function was running amok. I found some Google hits to the effect that: "Yes, this happens." It went away before I ever figured out the cause. (Computers are like that)

Emmanuel_uk 05-16-2006 02:11 AM

Quote:

offer different window managers (KDE, Gnome, IceWM, maybe XFCE). Try anything but KDE and Gnome
yes you definitely need a light weight windows manager such
as Icewm or windowsmaker, I run a PII 300 MHz that way.
I doubt you can increase the ram more than 192

Have a look at hdparm (there are tutorials around), to check
that the dma is on for your HD

Check the swap size is at least 400 Mb


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