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Speed problems ubuntu 11.10?


Windashnet

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I clicked the update button kina on accident in ubuntu 11.04 and updated to ubuntu 11.10.

I notice it seems much slower, anyone else notice this?

I was looking for an updated app and kina said what the hell and clicked the update before my brain engaged. I really didn't expect a problem with a minor update in linux.

I guess it shows how close to windows its getting. Now it works just like windows, update and barf. Well I guess its not quite windows, it still works just a lot slower, windows would have been a BSOD(AKA the dreaded "blue screen of death".).

It could be my computer which while faster then the min supported is getting a bit long in the tooth. It is just a 2.66Ghz P4 Socket478, ATI9550+, 1Gig ram, so its not a speed demon.

Its not that its horribly slow but 11.04 was faster and I would rather it be faster then have all the latest bells and whistles, but on the otherhand I'm not in the mood to reformat and reinstall either.

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A few things (ie my 2c worth):

Firstly upgrading from 11.04 to 11.10 is not a 'minor upgrade'. An Ubuntu upgrade replaces pretty much every single package on your computer! So it hardy counts as a minor upgrade. Although in some respects less radical than changing from one version of Windows to another, it's still a pretty major thing.

Secondly, personally I don't like doing in place upgrades (like you've done). I much prefer to do a clean install. In my experience they're much more successful and much less prone to 'glitchy' problems, like you're reporting. This is nothing new, in fact they have got better over time, but I still prefer a clean install. I haven't used 11.10 but I strongly suspect that your issues are more to do with the fact that you've upgraded, rather than specific issues with 11.10.

Given your specs I'd be going for something a bit lighter myself. If you want to stick with Ubuntu, try Lubuntu (Ubuntu with the LXDE desktop) or if you're willing to try something else have a look at Mint LXDE edition. Mint is based on Ubuntu but it's prettied up a bit and a bit more user friendly (eg all the non-free codecs preinstalled). My personal favourite is Bodhi Linux. It's based on Ubuntu too, although on the older 10.04 (which is a LTS release - Long Term Support) but includes a number of updated packages and uses the awesome Enlightenment desktop. It's really lightweight like LXDE but much prettier. Like Ubuntu it's available as a live CD so you can give it a whirl without installing it.

Having said all that you state that you'd rather not reinstall, so rather than posting here (on a Windows forum) I'd head over to the Ubuntu forums and post there. The likelihood of you getting someone who knows enough about Ubuntu to help you solve (or at least improve) your system woes is much higher there. I doubt there are too many Ubuntu experts hanging out on these forums. Although I could be wrong...

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A few things (ie my 2c worth):

Firstly upgrading from 11.04 to 11.10 is not a 'minor upgrade'. An Ubuntu upgrade replaces pretty much every single package on your computer! So it hardy counts as a minor upgrade. Although in some respects less radical than changing from one version of Windows to another, it's still a pretty major thing.

Secondly, personally I don't like doing in place upgrades (like you've done). I much prefer to do a clean install. In my experience they're much more successful and much less prone to 'glitchy' problems, like you're reporting. This is nothing new, in fact they have got better over time, but I still prefer a clean install. I haven't used 11.10 but I strongly suspect that your issues are more to do with the fact that you've upgraded, rather than specific issues with 11.10.

Given your specs I'd be going for something a bit lighter myself. If you want to stick with Ubuntu, try Lubuntu (Ubuntu with the LXDE desktop) or if you're willing to try something else have a look at Mint LXDE edition. Mint is based on Ubuntu but it's prettied up a bit and a bit more user friendly (eg all the non-free codecs preinstalled). My personal favourite is Bodhi Linux. It's based on Ubuntu too, although on the older 10.04 (which is a LTS release - Long Term Support) but includes a number of updated packages and uses the awesome Enlightenment desktop. It's really lightweight like LXDE but much prettier. Like Ubuntu it's available as a live CD so you can give it a whirl without installing it.

Having said all that you state that you'd rather not reinstall, so rather than posting here (on a Windows forum) I'd head over to the Ubuntu forums and post there. The likelihood of you getting someone who knows enough about Ubuntu to help you solve (or at least improve) your system woes is much higher there. I doubt there are too many Ubuntu experts hanging out on these forums. Although I could be wrong...

I was not aware that going from a .04 to a .10 was a major update, I figured it was just a security patch or bug fix, it was a long time ago the last time I messed with Linux.

I had seen a distro to turn an old box into a hardware firewall but so far I haven't got that installed.

I have played with a couple of live cd's and a linux on windows but those were just fire it up and see what it is kina deals not really using it.

I installed ubuntu 11.04 a couple of times before finding out the installer has a couple of issues, but once I searched around and got a little info, every thing was working well.

I got wine working(This was simpler then it was last time I played around with it.) and loaded a bit of windows software I didn't have a good linux alternative for.

This also worked fairly well once I downloaded a config app for wine to easily change things around till I figured what worked best.

Ubuntu 11.10 is not a "god I got to shoot this computer its so slow", Nothing like some peoples windows boxes, ware they have updated to win 7 on a 500Mhz or something stupid, just kina like its busy doing something in the background all the time(I seriously hate computers doing things I don't know about.).

I'll take your advice and ask a few questions over at the ubuntu forums and see if I can find any more info.

I had looked into the smaller linux distro's but I heard that ubuntu 11.04 should work fine on that box, so I tried it and it was just as fast as winMe on that box and faster then winXP. I was actually quit surprised as originally I figured I'd have to use an old or striped linux distro as I can't live with "click this wait a day, click that wait a day ....), cripes I have no idea how people can stand a computer like that.

I'll keep those other distro's you mentioned in mind, I may play around with them one of these days.

The fix for whatever is slowing up the box will probably be some cryptic terminal fix or something. I had to use a couple of those already for DVD playing and to get the scroll bars back (I hate those scroll spot things, who ever thought that one up should be shot.).

I looked around on google but no luck there(It mite be just knowing how to word it though.).

I actually have had real good luck getting all the newer codex's installed on ubuntu, only had to look for a couple of ones to install other then those ubuntu's built in media player loads off the net. I got a couple of video files I never did get working on windows to play on the ubuntu player.

Only media issue that I have not found a fix for is VLC. I got used to using it as a media player on winME but the ubuntu version is slower then hell, many videos are like slide shows. I've been thinking of loading the windows version of VLC in wine and see how it works.

Thanks for your help.

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  • 2 weeks later...

For systems getting long in the tooth, (even if just a little) I would try Debian and maybe SliTaz.

Or for a 'buntu, I would try Kubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot or Ubuntu Lucid Lynx.

Thanks, I'll look into those too.

I think I'm gona get a couple of those swappable hard drive bays and do some sparimenting one of these days here.

I have an idea whats going on with the 11.10 now, but I haven't gotten a chance to search for some info on what to change.

Anyway I downloaded this poker game for Linux and it has a speed setting, on the default its slow as molasses in January, but if you push the speed slider over you can get it so everything flashes by in a blur.

So I'm kina thinking it mite be a time slice(s) or priority bit, that's changed between 11.04 and 11.10 as it would appear that the system ain't slowed down as much as it looks at first.

Its actually kina weird, stuff like videos still play fine, but some other things seem much slower, its most noticeable on opening apps.

I have come to suspect some default timings in 11.10 has been slowed. it doesn't seem to be in the video or execution speeds.

I originally thought it was some major system overhead problem but I don't think so anymore.

Anyway thanks for your help.

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