top - 18:11:47 up 26 min, 2 users, load average: 1.75, 1.57, 1.26
Tasks: 108 total, 2 running, 106 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 46.5%us, 9.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 42.1%id, 1.7%wa, 0.4%hi, 0.3%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 250728k total, 244908k used, 5820k free, 9340k buffers
Swap: 731128k total, 5860k used, 725268k free, 117944k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
1053 wayne 20 0 18048 7884 6388 R 11.6 3.1 3:26.12 xfce4-systemloa
681 root 20 0 42244 23m 6568 S 10.0 9.7 4:39.66 Xorg
1381 wayne 20 0 2556 1044 792 R 6.6 0.4 0:00.11 top
1036 wayne 20 0 19512 9140 7520 S 1.7 3.6 0:06.84 xfwm4
1044 wayne 20 0 41104 11m 8832 S 1.7 4.6 0:33.26 xfce4-panel
1098 wayne 20 0 32880 10m 8440 S 1.7 4.4 0:03.00 notify-osd
1 root 20 0 2792 1376 1064 S 0.0 0.5 0:01.61 init
2 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01 kthreadd

Far easier to read when put in code tags.

I did it for you here:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 2348 18855936 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 2348 2439 731137 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 2348 2439 731136 82 Linux swap / Solaris

I can't copy 'top', it keeps changing

With nothing running

My system---firefox, tbird, konsole, image viewer and dolphin all running:

3 samples--edited:
Note that the CPU never gets over 4%, and none of the apps are even in the picture.

Looking at the output from Parallaxis, I'm thinking "What the @#^#% is "xfce4-systemloa" ??

I just logged into XFCE, and got this:
Nothing running except the terminal.

Slight increase with FF running, but NOTHING like the OP's.....

Repeat previous question:
Next, I would try "ps -e|grep systemloa". Get the process ID---eg 5500---then do "kill -9 5500" and see what happens.

(On my system, there is no process by that name running.)

I see light at the end of the tunnel!!

I thought it stood for "Xfce4 system load"

Maybe I should try that Lxde thing someone posted while back.

Stand by while I try you suggestions

Ok Try this.....

I forgot that I had the system monitor application running in the top tool bar. I shut it down and rescaned. It does run alittle quicker now without that running. So that atleast puts it in the almost functional range.

http://goodies.xfce.org/projects/pan...temload-plugin

Aha!! A tool to monitor system load and it winds up being the major load!!

Since this is not in my Arch system when using XFCE, I'm guessing that the Ubuntu folks put it in. To disable it, we might need a Ubuntu expert. Meanwhile, poke around in your settings.

EDIT: Oops--did not read your last post before posting.

Parallaxis;

You have just passed a test that you did not know you were taking......:)

You have now demonstrated hands-down the necessary skills to install and set up Arch. (I'm not kidding.)

I ran top on my system, gettingThe major differences with Parallaxis' top output are that the load average is lower, and that the percentage in the Cpu(s) column under "id" is higher -- on mine it is 91.4%, whereas on Parallaxis' it is 57%, or less in another of his/her postings. Interestingly, pixellany's reading from his top posting is also in the nineties (specifically, 94.9%id in one posting).

I'm not sure what this figure means, but it may point to some issue.

Ok.....

Round two! errr.... Round 32!

I just installed LXDE from the instructions above.

I can't say it's any faster, atleast according to my human eyeball.

I tried to right click and open a terminal to post some more results but LXDE seems to function just like Windows.

Anyway... Google Chrome still grinds to a hault. Midori is actually functional (not any more or any less than Xfce as far as I can tell from 30secs of use). I wouldn't want to surf all day with it this slow, but it does seem to work.

I don't know about trying Arch. I mean this will be a guest computer after all. So it has to remain as simple as possible.

Arch IS simple....

Regardless, for what you are doing, I would say get it working "good enough", and then leave it alone.

Oh, I didn't remove Xfce, I'd rather not unless you guys think it will noticeably increase performance.