Ubuntu

Ubunto 8.04 runs slowly on Pentium PIII 933Mhz, 384Mb

Asked by Kenny MacLeod

Hi,
I'm completely new to Linux & it shows. After much ado & prevarication I finally went for Ubunto 8.04 LTS Desktop on my Oldish PC & it's running a little slow - should I be surprised?

PC Spec:
Siemens
PIII Pentium 933Mhz
384Mb SDRAM
40Gb Hard Drive
Dell 17" CRT Monitor (Dell M770)
ATI Radeon 9250 128Mb AGP Graphics Card (Resolution set at 1024x768)
Soundblaster SB Live! PCI Sound Card

System Set-up:
Ubuntu 8.04LTS dual booting with Win2000Pro
Partitions: Windows NTFS - 8Gb; Swap - 800Mb; Root - 8Gb; Home - 23Gb
Gnome Desktop (as per original install)
USB (Sagem F@st 840) Modem - up & running with the aid of Ubuntu Help
Firefox Browser (as per original Install)

Modifications:
Installed ATI Graphics Driver off LXF Magazine disk (was given 2 options - probably should have installed the one packaged for my distribution, but didn't!)
Configured USB Modem (as above)

Problems:
I expected Ubuntu to be at least as fast as Win2000Pro (which runs well on the same machine) but it's slow to the point where scrolling causes distortion & is delayed. With nothing else running other than the desktop, System Monitor indicates the CPU is running at between 85-100%! I can't see anything on the Processes Tab to show what's making it work so hard - System Monitor itself shows as taking up 10-14% of that figure.

Ubuntu doesn't seem to recognise my monitor. When I try to change resolutions & untick "Clone" at top left it shows as a "Dell 15", which it is not. Often when I change resolutions everything freezes & I have to reboot. When I go back in "Clone" is reticked.
Is this problem related to my selection when loading the ATI Driver?
Can I re-install & choose the "packaged for my distro" option from the LXF disc or do I need to uninstall my current driver first (if so, how?)
How do I get it to recognise my monitor?

Is it just that my PC isn't up to running Ubuntu any quicker?

Many thanks,

Kenny MacLeod

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Solved by:
Gord Allott
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Gord Allott (gordallott) said : 		#1

the thing to remember is that windows 2000 came out in well, 2000. ubuntu 8.04 came out in 2008 and does take advantage of the fact that we all have much more powerful systems nowerdays, things like desktop effects can really slow your system down. alternativly you might want to consider installing xubuntu which is designed to run on less powerful systems.

first of all you should really uninstall the propriatary video card drivers you apprently installed, ati propriatary drivers do not support the radeon 9250 (i know, i have one somewhere :)) and installing the drivers may have caused problems. its reccomended to use the built in drivers that come with ubuntu's xorg server (they will do full 3d acceleration and such no problem).

Revision history for this message
Kenny MacLeod (coinneach-i) said : 		#2

Thanks Gord.

I have checked the Ubuntu website & it seems Xubuntu is what I need - a simpler, plainer desktop is what I was looking for anyway. It also seems I may be able to install Xubuntu from my current Ubuntu installation, if not I'll download the appropriate iso file.

How do I uninstall the proprietary ATI driver & replace the original driver? Is it a straightforward procedure with "add/remove"? If not I can always re-install Ubuntu/Xubuntu.

Incidentally, I wasn't having a go at Ubuntu - I'm looking forward to getting away from depending on Microsoft (and there restrictive practices) and onto something altogether more sensible i.e. Linux. I have a more modern 2.4Ghz PC running XP which I'll probably convert to dual-boot once I'm comfortable with Linux.

Thanks again,

Kenny MacLeod

Revision history for this message
Best Gord Allott (gordallott) said : 		#3

given that you installed your ati driver from a non standard source, i can't even begin to comment on how to remove it, its reccomended that next time, if you ever need to install anything you do it via the repositories so that its easly removable. (ati and nvidia binary drivers can be downloaded through the repositories, you can goto system -> administration -> hardware drivers to see if you have any hardware that needs binary drivers, it will handle installing them for you)

Revision history for this message
Kenny MacLeod (coinneach-i) said : 		#4

Thank you Gord Allott.

I will take that advice.

Revision history for this message
Kenny MacLeod (coinneach-i) said : 		#5

Thanks