Why is Ubuntu so slow?

[PrimoTurbo]

I have been using and trying Ubuntu and it's various versions since 5.10, the one problem I have always had is the slow responsiveness of the GUI and the slow speed at which applications start.

My computer specs are old, but should be enough to run Ubuntu.

Pentium 4 1.6GHz
768 DDR RAM
ATI 9700 Pro 128Mb
Western Digital 250GB 7200RPM

Even under XUbuntu 7.04 I have noticed general GUI sluggish performance.

I used both the Open Source video drivers that come with Ubuntu and various versions of the ATI Restricted drivers, there is almost no difference in their performance on the 2D desktop. Except of course that the Restricted drivers allow me to run 3d applications. I similar but a few fps lower performance in 3D games like Warsow and Tremulous, compared to Windows so it's not a video issue.

I have spent a bit of time trying to figure out if it's a hardware issue with the help of #ubuntu IRC channel but no one has been able to identify any particular problem or to provide any fix that had any significant speed increase. I have checked my hard drive configuration with out finding any problem, my read/write speeds are normal.

I'm also using little system memory, however I get high CPU usage when rendering the GUI compared to windows. I reach around 60-70% when dragging a window around, while around 40-50% on Windows.

XUbuntu is significantly faster, especially when moving around windows and minimizing but still there is an obvious redrawing effect that I see and everything is a little slow.

Firefox is significantly slower, for example switch tabs is a lot slower compared to windows.

Any help or suggestions are welcome.

I have tried other distros like Vector Linux, which is a lot faster then Ubuntu. Why is Ubuntu so slow? Under any environment? Gnome, KDE, XFCE? Beryl runs pretty good on my computer and I notice moving windows is smoother but the overall desktop still feels a bit slow.

[steven8]

I have near the same specs as you, and have no sluggishness. The only diference, really, is my vid card. Nvidia FX 5500. 128mbs.

[Tom Mann]

Are you using the ATI official drivers? I have nVidia myself, but it makes a huge difference to have the official drivers turned on for me

[steven8]

Are you using the ATI official drivers? I have nVidia myself, but it makes a huge difference to have the official drivers turned on for me

I use the open source driver.

[kvonb]

My spare system is a P4 1.6, it is quite slow compared to my server which is an AMD 2000 (1.6 real speed).

I think it is the main board, the P4 is a cheap and nasty all in one heap of junk, but the video card is an nvidia gf2/mx 400.

Have a look in your BIOS and try tweaking your RAM speed settings etc', also make usre your onboard video is disabled if it has one!

Although I do believe the old P4 chips are still on a par with a top end P3 to tell you the truth, not much faster at all!

[WalmartSniperLX]

most likely its the video drivers and the X server. Ati is notorius for bad drivers (open source drivers arent great either). High cpu usage can be a result of bad video drivers as it puts more load on the cpu and less on the gpu with all video processiing (both 2D and 3D).

Ubuntu ran VERY slow on my system with an ATI Radeon x1600pro with fglrx drivers (good specs too) and ran faster on a radeon 9250 simply because ati drivers work better with older cards (well at the time at least). And, now that Im running a GeForce 7300 I noticed the performance on the desktop is even smoother.

You can also stop certain damons (sp) or services/processes that you don't need to help speed things up. Gentoo has a very fast interface but it also doesn't have many processes (like 73MB RAM usage in Gnome on boot).

[PrimoTurbo]

I doubt it's the graphics drivers, because video rendering is very very fast on Ubuntu compared to Windows. Also like I said before I run 3d games with nearly the same FPS, over 100FPS on most Quake engine based games.

I think there is a setting problem with Ubuntu, other Linux distros preform much better like Vector Linux, PCLinuxOS, Debian, SLAX...All using modern desktop environments like Gnome/KDE.

[WalmartSniperLX]

I doubt it's the graphics drivers, because video rendering is very very fast on Ubuntu compared to Windows. Also like I said before I run 3d games with nearly the same FPS, over 100FPS on most Quake engine based games.

I think there is a setting problem with Ubuntu, other Linux distros preform much better like Vector Linux, PCLinuxOS, Debian, SLAX...All using modern desktop environments like Gnome/KDE.

Then its probably services. However having high FPS in a 3D game and fast video rendering doesnt justify it isn't your gpu. Ive worked with many linux distros and with ati/nv hardware and ati has horrible 2D support

Fedora is just as slow as Ubuntu. I used Slax and it did run a litle faster than ubuntu but it is also a live distro inwhich runs in your ram and fsb. And, it's lightweight.

It's still something to consider because like many users, I noticed a great increase in video performance (2D, 3D, and video) by just switching to NV.


But you can also try replacing the Ubuntu Gnome desktop with gnome-core. I believe there are several posts on the forum about doing this. But, you will lose a lot of the programs that come with Ubuntu that don't normally come with the Gnome package. But, it will run faster because you wont have as many processes going on that ubuntu's desktop usually has to allow super user friendliness resulting in a faster desktop. I did this with Kubutnu; I removed the kubuntu desktop and intsalled kde-core from the repos.

**gnome-core is the basic gnone desktop env. package without all the Ubuntu mods and tweaks.

[misfitpierce]

glxinfo | grep 'direct rendering' in console = does it say yes?

[ssam]

system -> administration -> service.
disable anything you don't need.

run

top

in a terminal and see if anything in particular is slowing you down.

try different themes. i am sure once i found one to be slower than others.

try enabling desktop effects (system->preferences->desktop-effects), and disable cube and wobble. this may speed up moving windows around, and take some work off the cpu (by moving it to gpu)

install

preload

it tries to keep useful files cached in RAM, based on watching your usage patterns.