Ubuntu extremely slow on Dell D520

[mvsrinivas]

Hi,

I own a DELL laptop, the model is Latitude D520 which runs on 1.6Ghz Intel processor and has 256MB RAM. I purchased it in 2006. I have always run Windows XP professional on it.

Two days ago I installed Ubuntu 11.10 using the Wubi windows installer and now i have both Windows XP and Ubuntu on laptop in the C: drive of 20GB. After the installation of Ubuntu there is 4GB of free space left in C: drive.

The problem I am facing with Ubuntu is that it is extremely SLOW and i have to wait for atleast 1 min everytime I click an icon on the desktop. Even minimizing and maximizing windows takes a very long time. However, surfing speed is very fast.

What could be the reason behind my SLOW Ubuntu, please help.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Srinivas

[mikewhatever]

You machine doesn't meet the hardware requirements for 11.10, namely the 384MB of RAM limit. Xubuntu or Lubuntu should run much faster.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/OneiricOcelo...m_Requirements

[mvsrinivas]

You machine doesn't meet the hardware requirements for 11.10, namely the 384MB of RAM limit. Xubuntu or Lubuntu should run much faster.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/OneiricOcelo...m_Requirements

Thanks Mike for your reply. My laptop actually has 512MB RAM. Sorry i quoted it wrongly before.

But based on the reading i have done today, I am doubting if the fault lies with the Intel 945 chipset. I have read articles that 9xx and 8xx series of Intel have some graphic driver problems with later versions of Ubuntu.

Cheers
Srinivas

[mvsrinivas]

Hello,

Any suggestions or tips will be highly appreciated, Please help. I could not find any resolution yet. Ubuntu 11.10 continues to be very slow on my Dell.

Cheers,
Srinivas

[andrew.46]

I can see this is a bit of an old thread but I also have a Latitude D520 and I suspect that you really need to add some RAM. The D520 has its RAM in 2 places: under the keyboard and under a plate at the back of the machine. If your RAM is only at the back it is a simple matter to swap it out for a 1 gig chip and the difference will be amazing. Pretty cheap upgrade these days as well. Don't forget that this laptop can run a 64bit OS btw.

I would however not recommend more recent releases of Ubuntu with Unity as the laptop finds this heavy going. My own D520 is currently running Slackware 14.0 with Fluxbox and runs very nicely. If you were keen to remain with Ubuntu perhaps Lubuntu?