[gentoo-user] New laptop is slow.

[gentoo-user] New laptop is slow.

[Grant]

I just finished installing Gentoo on a Dell Vostro 1320 laptop.  It
has a 2.2Ghz Core Duo CPU, 3GB RAM, and a 7200RPM hard drive.
Navigating within firefox is pretty slow.  It's the response time of
the application, not the network.  It's much slower than my previous
laptop which has much weaker specs.

I noticed the HD light comes on when the system is pausing in firefox
sometimes.  I don't have any swap at all, I'm using the CFQ, and /tmp
is mounted on tmpfs.  Can anyone suggest where to look?

- Grant

[gentoo-user] Re: New laptop is slow.

[James]

Grant <emailgrant <at> gmail.com> writes:


> Can anyone suggest where to look?

Could be lots of things.

/usr/portage/sys-process
contains some tools like htop and iotop.



bonnie and bonnie++ can benchmark the HDrive.


could be in the installation. Maybe sync and update
a few times to ensure all is clean.


lshw will give you detailed listing of your hardware.
Research (google) the components (cpu, ram, disk) to see
if any are slow performers.

If your running KDE4 it could be anakonda (spelling?).


Just start eliminating what is could be, and that's a large
list....


hth,


James

Re: [gentoo-user] New laptop is slow.

[Paul Hartman]

On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 10:02 PM, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
> I just finished installing Gentoo on a Dell Vostro 1320 laptop.  It
> has a 2.2Ghz Core Duo CPU, 3GB RAM, and a 7200RPM hard drive.
> Navigating within firefox is pretty slow.  It's the response time of
> the application, not the network.  It's much slower than my previous
> laptop which has much weaker specs.
>
> I noticed the HD light comes on when the system is pausing in firefox
> sometimes.  I don't have any swap at all, I'm using the CFQ, and /tmp
> is mounted on tmpfs.  Can anyone suggest where to look?

When you're not using X does it still seem slow? You don't mention
what kind of video or arch vs ~arch, but I would try different
AccelMethod options in your xorg.conf. On my laptop everything in X
was very slow until I set
Option      "AccelMethod" "EXA"

Re: [gentoo-user] New laptop is slow.

[Grant]

>> I just finished installing Gentoo on a Dell Vostro 1320 laptop.  It
>> has a 2.2Ghz Core Duo CPU, 3GB RAM, and a 7200RPM hard drive.
>> Navigating within firefox is pretty slow.  It's the response time of
>> the application, not the network.  It's much slower than my previous
>> laptop which has much weaker specs.
>>
>> I noticed the HD light comes on when the system is pausing in firefox
>> sometimes.  I don't have any swap at all, I'm using the CFQ, and /tmp
>> is mounted on tmpfs.  Can anyone suggest where to look?
>
> When you're not using X does it still seem slow? You don't mention
> what kind of video or arch vs ~arch, but I would try different
> AccelMethod options in your xorg.conf. On my laptop everything in X
> was very slow until I set
> Option      "AccelMethod" "EXA"

Thank you James and Paul.  I read this:

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/gentoo/user/195836

and downgraded to xf86-video-intel-2.7.1 and all is well.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] New laptop is slow.

[kashani]

Grant wrote:
>>> I just finished installing Gentoo on a Dell Vostro 1320 laptop.  It
>>> has a 2.2Ghz Core Duo CPU, 3GB RAM, and a 7200RPM hard drive.
>>> Navigating within firefox is pretty slow.  It's the response time of
>>> the application, not the network.  It's much slower than my previous
>>> laptop which has much weaker specs.

Now that it's working how do you like the screen, size, etc? That's one 
of the laptops I've been considering.

kashani

[gentoo-user] Re: New laptop is slow.

[James]

kashani <kashani-list <at> badapple.net> writes:


> >>> I just finished installing Gentoo on a Dell Vostro 


> Now that it's working how do you like the screen, size, etc? That's one 
> of the laptops I've been considering.


You just have to admire and honest (Dell) company....

Poking around the 1720, I found this gem:

"Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista®Business 
Bonus-Windows XP Professional downgrade"


At least Dell admits that vista sucks.....


If they'd only put Linux(gentoo) in there 
as an upgrade option, then we'd all
have to really respect (love?) Dell....


cheers!


James

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: New laptop is slow.

[daid kahl]

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>
> > >>> I just finished installing Gentoo on a Dell Vostro
>
>
> > Now that it's working how do you like the screen, size, etc? That's one
> > of the laptops I've been considering.
>
>
> You just have to admire and honest (Dell) company....
>
>
I had a Dell laptop a few years back.  It was the reason for maybe 2 years I
didn't have a PC at all (which is very strange for my life).  I think almost
every single component on it broke in a matter of 18-24 months.  It was
purchased through a university, and I think the IT department must have
thought I was using it as a frisbee on a regular basis .  A friend around
the same time had a different model and it was also a pile.

Not that N=2 statistics mean anything, of course.  Not sure anymore, but
Dell was built on two basic policies: 1) Make profit by cutting out the
middle man (you had to order things directly from Dell) 2) Buy the cheapest
(crappiest) parts in bulk and assemble.

I'm using Apple now, and aside from an entourage of complaints on the
"assume user is an idiot" (fixed by running Linux) and proprietary hardware
(everything can be hacked), the beast is rock solid.  Of course, one of my
friends has the exact same model laptop and he had to ship it back like
three times, so...who knows?

Then again, the price of Vostros will blow Macbooks out of the water.  I
guess you could just buy two Dells and cannibalize one when the
keyboard/powersupply/harddrive/optical drive/usb port/ethernet port/screen
hinge breaks (a short list of my old Dell problems).

Regards,
daid

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: New laptop is slow.

[Grant]

>> > >>> I just finished installing Gentoo on a Dell Vostro
>>
>>
>> > Now that it's working how do you like the screen, size, etc? That's one
>> > of the laptops I've been considering.
>>
>>
>> You just have to admire and honest (Dell) company....
>>
>
> I had a Dell laptop a few years back.  It was the reason for maybe 2 years I
> didn't have a PC at all (which is very strange for my life).  I think almost
> every single component on it broke in a matter of 18-24 months.  It was
> purchased through a university, and I think the IT department must have
> thought I was using it as a frisbee on a regular basis .  A friend around
> the same time had a different model and it was also a pile.
>
> Not that N=2 statistics mean anything, of course.  Not sure anymore, but
> Dell was built on two basic policies: 1) Make profit by cutting out the
> middle man (you had to order things directly from Dell) 2) Buy the cheapest
> (crappiest) parts in bulk and assemble.
>
> I'm using Apple now, and aside from an entourage of complaints on the
> "assume user is an idiot" (fixed by running Linux) and proprietary hardware
> (everything can be hacked), the beast is rock solid.  Of course, one of my
> friends has the exact same model laptop and he had to ship it back like
> three times, so...who knows?
>
> Then again, the price of Vostros will blow Macbooks out of the water.  I
> guess you could just buy two Dells and cannibalize one when the
> keyboard/powersupply/harddrive/optical drive/usb port/ethernet port/screen
> hinge breaks (a short list of my old Dell problems).
>
> Regards,
> daid

I've had the same experience with Acer laptops.  I've also had trouble
with screen hinges on Dell laptops.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: New laptop is slow.

[Paul Hartman]

On Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 12:33 PM, James <wireless@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> kashani <kashani-list <at> badapple.net> writes:
>
>
>> >>> I just finished installing Gentoo on a Dell Vostro
>
>
>> Now that it's working how do you like the screen, size, etc? That's one
>> of the laptops I've been considering.
>
>
> You just have to admire and honest (Dell) company....
>
> Poking around the 1720, I found this gem:
>
> "Operating System
> Genuine Windows Vista®Business
> Bonus-Windows XP Professional downgrade"
>
>
> At least Dell admits that vista sucks.....
>
>
> If they'd only put Linux(gentoo) in there
> as an upgrade option, then we'd all
> have to really respect (love?) Dell....

Well, they do at least have a few Ubuntu laptops... http://www.dell.com/ubuntu

Re: [gentoo-user] New laptop is slow.

[Grant]

>>>> I just finished installing Gentoo on a Dell Vostro 1320 laptop.  It
>>>> has a 2.2Ghz Core Duo CPU, 3GB RAM, and a 7200RPM hard drive.
>>>> Navigating within firefox is pretty slow.  It's the response time of
>>>> the application, not the network.  It's much slower than my previous
>>>> laptop which has much weaker specs.
>
> Now that it's working how do you like the screen, size, etc? That's one of
> the laptops I've been considering.
>
> kashani

Overall, it's great so far.  I need to get the speakers to mute when I
plug in headphones, but I think I know how to fix that and I'm going
to start a thread about it.

Check out the price here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834200026

The fan is audible when it kicks on, but it usually only comes on
during an emerge.  However, those things tend to get louder with age.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] New laptop is slow.

[Beau Henderson]

G'day,

Grant wrote:
> I just finished installing Gentoo on a Dell Vostro 1320 laptop.  It
> has a 2.2Ghz Core Duo CPU, 3GB RAM, and a 7200RPM hard drive.
> Navigating within firefox is pretty slow.  It's the response time of
> the application, not the network.  It's much slower than my previous
> laptop which has much weaker specs.
> 
> I noticed the HD light comes on when the system is pausing in firefox
> sometimes.  I don't have any swap at all, I'm using the CFQ, and /tmp
> is mounted on tmpfs.  Can anyone suggest where to look?
> 
> - Grant
> 

Slightly related, but you might want to check and make sure your HD isn't grinding itself to a quick 
death as is always the case when I'm setting up a laptop:

http://en.opensuse.org/Disk_Power_Management

--
Beau Henderson

Re: [gentoo-user] New laptop is slow.

[Grant]

>> I just finished installing Gentoo on a Dell Vostro 1320 laptop.  It
>> has a 2.2Ghz Core Duo CPU, 3GB RAM, and a 7200RPM hard drive.
>> Navigating within firefox is pretty slow.  It's the response time of
>> the application, not the network.  It's much slower than my previous
>> laptop which has much weaker specs.
>>
>> I noticed the HD light comes on when the system is pausing in firefox
>> sometimes.  I don't have any swap at all, I'm using the CFQ, and /tmp
>> is mounted on tmpfs.  Can anyone suggest where to look?
>>
>> - Grant
>>
>
> Slightly related, but you might want to check and make sure your HD isn't
> grinding itself to a quick death as is always the case when I'm setting up a
> laptop:
>
> http://en.opensuse.org/Disk_Power_Management

I plan on upgrading to a 32GB SLC SSD as soon as the price drops under
$200 for a good one.

- Grant