LinuxQuestions.org - Why is 10.1 so freakin' slow?

- Slackware (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/)

- - Why is 10.1 so freakin' slow? (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/why-is-10-1-so-freakin-slow-339263/)

Why is 10.1 so freakin' slow?

My God Slackware 10.1 is SLOW!!!!!! Jesus Christ, Im running on a p4 and it takes forever to execute anything. Am I missing something here? Is there a way to fix this!!!!???????

I can open a file browser and click on a file to look inside of it and if that files large, I can smoke an entire cigarette before it ever shows me the contents on the file!

Well, since your post isn't very specific about the problem, can you post your output of:

free (so we can see if you have any swap)
ps aux (so we can see what's all running on your box, maybe there are processes taking up much CPU or RAM)

Something's gotta be wrong with your setup...I'm running a P3 500Mhz, and the only time I put a load on my system is when I compile.

Rik

i have a p4 with 256mb of RAM and slack is the fastest distro i have ever used, so i agree something must be wrong with your setup, post some more info and we may be able to help.

Maybe your dma is turned off.

What is the output from hdparm /dev/hda ?

It should show you something like this:

/dev/hda:
multcount = 16 (on)
IO_support = 1 (32-bit)
unmaskirq = 1 (on)
using_dma = 1 (on)
keepsettings = 0 (off)
readonly = 0 (off)
readahead = 256 (on)
geometry = 16383/255/63, sectors = 160836480, start = 0

If using_dma = 0 (off) you should turn it on with:

hdparm -d1 /dev/hda (as root)

Quote:

My God Slackware 10.1 is SLOW!!!!!!

I'm going to have to disagree here. I just installed 10.1 this weekend on a system that was running SuSE 9.1. Let me tell ya, it was like a whole new computer. I couldn't believe how much faster Slack was. I'd have to agree with the others here though, you may want to take a look at why it's so slow.

free output:

total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 515276 496532 18744 0 173796 85692
-/+ buffers/cache: 237044 278232
Swap: 497972 0 497972

psaux output:

USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND
root 1 0.0 0.0 588 228 ? S 01:09 0:04 init [3]
root 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 01:09 0:00 [keventd]
root 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? SN 01:09 0:00 [ksoftirqd_CPU0]
root 4 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 01:09 0:00 [kswapd]
root 5 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 01:09 0:00 [bdflush]
root 6 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 01:09 0:00 [kupdated]
root 10 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< 01:09 0:00 [mdrecoveryd]
root 11 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 01:09 0:00 [kreiserfsd]
root 61 0.0 0.1 1444 596 ? Ss 01:09 0:00 /usr/sbin/syslogd
root 64 0.0 0.0 1400 448 ? Ss 01:09 0:00 /usr/sbin/klogd -c 3 -x
root 124 0.0 0.0 1376 304 ? Ss 01:09 0:00 udevd
root 237 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S 01:09 0:00 [khubd]
root 254 0.0 0.1 1424 520 ? Ss 01:09 0:00 /sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 10 eth0
root 2415 0.0 0.0 1428 512 ? Ss 01:10 0:00 /usr/sbin/inetd
root 2419 0.0 0.2 3280 1516 ? Ss 01:10 0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd
root 2437 0.0 0.4 4948 2360 ? Ss 01:10 0:00 /usr/sbin/cupsd
root 2452 0.0 0.1 1588 620 ? S 01:10 0:00 /usr/sbin/crond -l10
daemon 2454 0.0 0.1 1596 664 ? Ss 01:10 0:00 /usr/sbin/atd -b 15 -l 1
root 2457 0.0 0.4 5000 2188 ? Ss 01:10 0:00 sendmail: accepting connect
smmsp 2460 0.0 0.3 4976 2012 ? Ss 01:10 0:00 sendmail: Queue runner@00:2
root 2467 0.0 0.0 1440 512 ? Ss 01:10 0:00 /usr/sbin/gpm -m /dev/mouse
root 2470 0.0 0.8 5704 4516 ? Ss 01:10 0:00 /usr/bin/perl /usr/local/sr
ritch 2471 0.0 0.3 2700 1604 tty1 Ss 01:10 0:00 -bash
root 2472 0.0 0.0 1392 476 tty2 Ss+ 01:10 0:00 /sbin/agetty 38400 tty2 lin
root 2473 0.0 0.0 1392 476 tty3 Ss+ 01:10 0:00 /sbin/agetty 38400 tty3 lin
root 2474 0.0 0.0 1392 476 tty4 Ss+ 01:10 0:00 /sbin/agetty 38400 tty4 lin
root 2475 0.0 0.0 1392 476 tty5 Ss+ 01:10 0:00 /sbin/agetty 38400 tty5 lin
root 2476 0.0 0.0 1392 476 tty6 Ss+ 01:10 0:00 /sbin/agetty 38400 tty6 lin
ritch 2486 0.0 0.2 2368 1252 tty1 S+ 01:13 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/X11R6/bin/star
ritch 2498 0.0 0.1 2216 640 tty1 S+ 01:13 0:00 xinit /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xi
root 2499 62.5 9.4 68340 48488 ? R 01:13 364:25 X :0
ritch 2503 0.0 0.2 2360 1200 tty1 S 01:13 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/
ritch 2504 0.0 0.2 2376 1268 tty1 S 01:13 0:00 /bin/sh /opt/kde/bin/startk
ritch 2526 0.0 2.1 23824 11224 ? Ss 01:13 0:00 kdeinit Running...
ritch 2529 0.0 2.0 23100 10456 ? S 01:13 0:00 kdeinit: dcopserver --nosid
ritch 2531 0.0 2.3 25420 12272 ? S 01:13 0:00 kdeinit: klauncher
ritch 2534 0.0 3.1 27316 16012 ? S 01:13 0:01 kdeinit: kded
ritch 2543 0.0 1.2 10784 6216 ? S 01:13 0:00 artsd -F 10 -S 4096 -a alsa
ritch 2545 0.0 3.0 30952 15516 ? S 01:13 0:00 kdeinit: knotify
ritch 2546 0.0 0.0 1392 336 tty1 S 01:13 0:00 kwrapper ksmserver
ritch 2548 0.0 2.4 24236 12680 ? S 01:13 0:00 kdeinit: ksmserver
ritch 2549 0.0 2.8 25660 14612 ? S 01:13 0:07 kdeinit: kwin -session 10da
ritch 2551 0.0 2.5 24824 13192 ? S 01:13 0:01 kdeinit: khotkeys
ritch 2553 0.0 3.2 26896 16644 ? S 01:13 0:04 kdeinit: kdesktop
ritch 2555 0.4 4.0 34448 21000 ? S 01:13 2:29 kdeinit: kicker
ritch 2558 0.0 2.5 25116 13220 ? S 01:13 0:02 kweatherservice
ritch 2602 0.0 1.2 16276 6536 ? S 01:22 0:00 /opt/kde/bin/kdesud
ritch 2637 0.0 0.2 2400 1312 ? S 01:29 0:00 /bin/sh /opt/firefox/firefo
ritch 2649 0.0 0.2 2436 1336 ? S 01:29 0:00 /bin/sh /opt/firefox/run-mo
ritch 2654 0.4 6.7 52380 34876 ? S 01:29 2:34 /opt/firefox/firefox-bin
ritch 2656 0.0 6.7 52380 34876 ? S 01:29 0:00 /opt/firefox/firefox-bin
ritch 2657 0.0 6.7 52380 34876 ? S 01:29 0:02 /opt/firefox/firefox-bin
ritch 2659 0.0 0.5 4676 2976 ? S 01:29 0:00 /usr/libexec/gconfd-2 11
ritch 2661 0.0 6.7 52380 34876 ? S 01:29 0:01 /opt/firefox/firefox-bin
ritch 2900 0.0 2.8 26112 14552 ? S 02:03 0:00 kdeinit: kio_uiserver
ritch 2919 0.0 2.3 25536 12240 ? S 02:04 0:00 kdeinit: kio_file file /tmp
ritch 6990 0.7 5.0 41604 26240 ? S 10:50 0:02 kmail -caption KMail -icon
ritch 6991 0.0 2.3 31448 12172 ? S 10:50 0:00 kdeinit: kio_newimap4 newim
ritch 6992 0.0 2.3 31448 12172 ? S 10:50 0:00 kdeinit: kio_newimap4 newim
ritch 6993 0.0 2.3 31448 12172 ? S 10:50 0:00 kdeinit: kio_newimap4 newim
ritch 6994 0.0 2.3 31448 12172 ? S 10:50 0:00 kdeinit: kio_newimap4 newim
ritch 6995 0.0 2.3 31448 12172 ? S 10:50 0:00 kdeinit: kio_newimap4 newim
ritch 6999 0.7 3.1 27908 16044 ? S 10:54 0:00 kdeinit: konsole --ls
ritch 7000 0.0 0.3 2700 1604 pts/1 Ss 10:54 0:00 -bash
root 7011 0.0 0.3 2704 1564 pts/1 S 10:54 0:00 bash
ritch 7014 1.8 2.3 23980 12056 ? S 10:54 0:01 gedit
ritch 7016 0.3 0.5 5472 2956 ? Ss 10:54 0:00 /usr/libexec/bonobo-activat
root 7018 0.0 0.1 2408 844 pts/1 R+ 10:55 0:00 ps aux

hdparm /dev/hda output:

/dev/hda:
multcount = 16 (on)
IO_support = 0 (default 16-bit)
unmaskirq = 0 (off)
using_dma = 1 (on)
keepsettings = 0 (off)
readonly = 0 (off)
readahead = 8 (on)
geometry = 9729/255/63, sectors = 80026361856, start = 0

I was suprised at how many people responded to my post with offers to actually help. Thank you! I see now that the Slackware community believes in standing behind it's distro and spreading the knowledge around. I've learned more about Linux in the two weeks that I have been running Slackware than I have the whole two years of running Linux.

-------------
USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND
root 2499 62.5 9.4 68340 48488 ? R 01:13 364:25 X :0
-------------

there's your resource hog.
your X server is using 62.5 % of the cpu time.

can you verify that by looking at the output of " top " ?
maybe smth. wrong with the graph. settings.

egag

Im having the sameproblem...

Code:

root@dealer:/home/dealer# hdparm /dev/hda



/dev/hda:

 multcount    = 16 (on)

 IO_support  =  0 (default 16-bit)

 unmaskirq    =  0 (off)

 using_dma    =  0 (off)

 keepsettings =  0 (off)

 readonly    =  0 (off)

 readahead    = 256 (on)

 geometry    = 65535/16/63, sectors = 80026361856, start = 0

root@dealer:/home/dealer# hdparm -d1 /dev/hda



/dev/hda:

 setting using_dma to 1 (on)

 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted

 using_dma    =  0 (off)

root@dealer:/home/dealer# hdparm -d3 /dev/hda



/dev/hda:

 setting using_dma to 3 (on)

 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Invalid argument

 using_dma    =  0 (off)

root@dealer:/home/dealer# hdparm -d2 /dev/hda



/dev/hda:

 setting using_dma to 2 (on)

 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Invalid argument

 using_dma    =  0 (off)

root@dealer:/home/dealer# hdparm -d4 /dev/hda



/dev/hda:

 setting using_dma to 4 (on)

 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Invalid argument

 using_dma    =  0 (off)

root@dealer:/home/dealer# hdparm -d5 /dev/hda



/dev/hda:

 setting using_dma to 5 (on)

 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Invalid argument

 using_dma    =  0 (off)

root@dealer:/home/dealer# hdparm -d5 /dev/hda



/dev/hda:

 setting using_dma to 5 (on)

 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Invalid argument

 using_dma    =  0 (off)

root@dealer:/home/dealer# hdparm -d6 /dev/hda



/dev/hda:

 setting using_dma to 6 (on)

 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Invalid argument

 using_dma    =  0 (off)

root@dealer:/home/dealer# hdparm -d7 /dev/hda

I do receive the DMA is turned off in the boot screen, but I checked in my bios and its On, and with 32bits, and if I remember is DMA3 ...

;////
Any Kernel compile problem??

thanks!

If you cant turn dma on did you include the driver for your hd in the kernel?

maginotjr,

did you try that as root ? ( with the "1" setting )

egag

sure, the hdparm comando even exist in my user PATH, so I logged as root, as you can see for the # :D

oh...i didn't see that....
( i have a pain in my eyes due to reading some lenghty piece of text onscreen)

did you compile your own kernel ?

egag

yeah, I compiled before yesterday the 2.6.12.1 kernel... before I was with 2.4.x

I will give a look at the Device section again!

egag, sorry about the "lengthy text", but thank you for your help. So, how would I go about tweaking the cpu usage of the x window system? I know nothing about that! If you know of some other resources online post the url's and I'll have a look at them.

Thanks Again