ubuntu as a high performance OS?

[sk8rjess]

maybe it's just my system, but ubuntu just doesn't seem like a high performance OS.
i mean, with alot of tabs open in firefox or chrome, and thunderbird browsing too, it seems to start slowing down. it starts getting laggy too and starts seeming unstable.

i'm on a decked out alienware m17x, so i'm pretty sure it's not my system - possibly compatibility though.

windows = gaming
mac = visual editing
but where does ubuntu stand?

i could be totally wrong on all this too, seeing as this is the only system i've had it on. but i've had it on 2 different m17x's and it's the same thing.

what's everyone else's input? can ubuntu really be 'high performance'?

[earthpigg]

Google and Wikipedia both seem to think Ubuntu is high performance enough to have it be the operating system of choice for their massive server farms.

Stop using Firefox if you want speed and efficiency. FF is for features, not for speed.

Flash on Linux is also known to be horribly inefficient, regardless of the web browser choice. Unfortunately, Adobe has chosen not to allow the open source community to improve the Linux version of it's shoddy product.

[sk8rjess]

i only used FF for testing the stability.. chrome and chromium all the way for me :)

i guess it's just my system. like right now i'm on battery power and i have 4 tabs open in chrome. it takes a second for it to switch between tabs.. GETTING AGGRAVATING. haha

[kaldor]

specs? :o

[earthpigg]

right now i'm on battery power and i have 4 tabs open in chrome. it takes a second for it to switch between tabs.. GETTING AGGRAVATING. haha

I can certainly see how that would be horribly aggravating, and I myself wouldn't tolerate that.

these four tabs arent facebook, ubuntuforums.org, youtube, and some flash game are they...?

If that isn't the case, I'd suggest creating a thread on the support forums. One full second to switch between tabs in chrome on modern and functioning hardware means you have some sort of software issue going on.

is this behavior only apparent with the web browser open, or does it present with other software as well when no web browser is open?

[KL_72_TR]

maybe it's just my system, but ubuntu just doesn't seem like a high performance OS.
i mean, with alot of tabs open in firefox or chrome, and thunderbird browsing too, it seems to start slowing down. it starts getting laggy too and starts seeming unstable.

i'm on a decked out alienware m17x, so i'm pretty sure it's not my system - possibly compatibility though.

windows = gaming
mac = visual editing
but where does ubuntu stand?

i could be totally wrong on all this too, seeing as this is the only system i've had it on. but i've had it on 2 different m17x's and it's the same thing.

what's everyone else's input? can ubuntu really be 'high performance'?
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } I have to disagree with this. Personally I work a lot with Blender and that is far more than 10 Firefox put together but still Ubuntu works fine. In Windows is enough 2 or 3 windows open to slow down the system, not to mention using Blender in Windows :-(
My system now is a dual boot, mobo-ECS, CPU-E 7500, 2-GB RAM and Ubuntu in a 40-GB drive.
Never used Mac so far.

[kaldor]

I should also add that Ubuntu hasn't really cut it for me for a while and I've moved on to different distros. LMDE is a nice choice if you don't mind fooling a little.

[cariboo]

I recently set up a cli system using the alternate install iso, I then installed the gnome-desktop-environment from the repositories. There is quite a noticeable difference in speed between it and the normal ubuntu-desktop.

The system has an AMD 3800+ X2 cpu and 2Gb ram, and I was getting ready to replace it in the new year, but now it's like getting a new system without having to pay anything. :)

This is one of my Natty testing systems, I did this so that I could install gnome-shell without having any conflicts between it and Unity.

[garvinrick4]

Brother is I.T. for Lottery's thru out America and Europe for large Corporation.
They are moving to Linux servers now and training as we speak. Must have something going for it.
I have done work in the Desktop Publishing Business and cannot in anyway
shape or form say it will take Mac's place in that World. But it does and will have it's place
in the industry and keep growing with time. One man's opinion.

[sk8rjess]

specs? :o

i7 1.8ghz
4gb ram
dual ati radeon hd 4870
1tb hd
1200p rgb led screen

:) she's a brute.

[sk8rjess]

I can certainly see how that would be horribly aggravating, and I myself wouldn't tolerate that.

these four tabs arent facebook, ubuntuforums.org, youtube, and some flash game are they...?

If that isn't the case, I'd suggest creating a thread on the support forums. One full second to switch between tabs in chrome on modern and functioning hardware means you have some sort of software issue going on.

is this behavior only apparent with the web browser open, or does it present with other software as well when no web browser is open?

facebook, hackaday, ubuntuforums, and xda developers are my usuals.
and it's with other software. i'm thinking it might have something to do with the gpu drivers being the newest from ati. i'll try the preferred driver for ubuntu
^edit. nope didn't change anything. and it may not be exactly a second, but there should be no wait time for basic browsing. (not to compare) but especially since in windows can have all adobe products open, a game at highest quality running, and all basic apps running without my browser being laggy. i was hoping it was just an issue on my end :\

[P1C0]

My humble amd 3800+ x2 gets a bit slowed down only when multiple tabs with flash are open, but is still quite responsive.

A friend of mine has an i7 and flash is not an issue there. Having open tabs with flash in opera gives a 5-10% cpu usage, even with a bunch of other stuff open.

[sk8rjess]

2 tabs with flash video are not even an option. even with one tab, full screen is sometimes sketchy.
and even when just watching a movie with movie player, full screen videos in an action scene have the "lag lines" in the middle. vlc won't even play them smoothly at all.

EDIT i can apparently play 2 flash videos at the same time. but usually it lags so bad i can't.

[rg4w]

can ubuntu really be 'high performance'?
FWIW, Steve Jobs' Pixar runs their render farm on Linux.

[Warpnow]

On my desktop I regularily have a video playing on my second monitor, 5-6 spreadsheets open, 4-5 abiword documents, and and 40-50 tabs open in chromium. I have so many tabs open that there is no room on the tabs for website's logo. A dozen or more of these are usually flash related.

I've never had a second's lag switching tabs.

My desktop is much lower end than yours. Its just an e6750 w/2gb of DDR2 ram, which is now outdated, and a really crappy 8400gs video card.

If you are having delays switching tabs on any computer that has something faster than an atom or a p3, you have more going on than a performance issue...

Even when stress testing my desktop, I don't have problems with those kinds of things...

[Shining Arcanine]

Google and Wikipedia both seem to think Ubuntu is high performance enough to have it be the operating system of choice for their massive server farms.

Stop using Firefox if you want speed and efficiency. FF is for features, not for speed.

Flash on Linux is also known to be horribly inefficient, regardless of the web browser choice. Unfortunately, Adobe has chosen not to allow the open source community to improve the Linux version of it's shoddy product.

Google does not use Ubuntu on its servers. Talking to Google employees revealed to me that they maintain an internal fork of Ubuntu Linux for their workstations. I never asked about the servers, but it seems that it is some custom version of Linux.

Neither of the two are Ubuntu Linux. On the other hand, if you keep throwing hardware at something and have good algorithms, it should scale fairly well.

If you want a "high performance OS", then I suggest that you look at CentOS (RHEL), Gentoo Linux and FreeBSD.

[Legendary_Bibo]

i7 1.8ghz
4gb ram
dual ati radeon hd 4870
1tb hd
1200p rgb led screen

:) she's a brute.

My laptop is significantly weaker than that, and it's running every piece of eyecandy imaginable, and I don't have as slow performance as you. It could be the underclocked CPU you have.

[3Miro]

Check whether you are using the default or the proprietary ATI driver. Whichever one you are using, try the other one (with ATI you never know which one will work better). Turn visual effects off too, that will tell you if the problem is with video or something else.

[treesurf]

I've got a bottom of the barrel system here as well and do not have the problems you're having. I wonder if it's the ATI drivers.

[madjr]

maybe it's just my system, but ubuntu just doesn't seem like a high performance OS.
i mean, with alot of tabs open in firefox or chrome, and thunderbird browsing too, it seems to start slowing down. it starts getting laggy too and starts seeming unstable.

i'm on a decked out alienware m17x, so i'm pretty sure it's not my system - possibly compatibility though.

windows = gaming
mac = visual editing
but where does ubuntu stand?

i could be totally wrong on all this too, seeing as this is the only system i've had it on. but i've had it on 2 different m17x's and it's the same thing.

what's everyone else's input? can ubuntu really be 'high performance'?

get some more answers you want here:

http://www.phoronix.com/

[slooksterpsv]

For me, Ubuntu is a high performance OS. Here's my reasons:

1. Filesystem is fast, slick, and easier to repair - EXT4
2. Some games run faster on Ubuntu via WINE rather than Windows (rare, but a few games I own do).
3. Compatibility due to WINE - some games I can't run on Windows Vista or Windows 7 - especially on the 64-bit version. WINE runs them just fine :D
4. Websites load quicker in Linux than Windows; I find myself waiting more on Windows (Windows 7, light-weight antivirus, etc. even with no Antivirus it still lags). Flash is better on Windows for my AMD, but for my nieces Intel ATOM, Flash is faster on Linux.
5. Don't have to worry about licensing really.
6. More customizable - especially with Avant Window Navigator (dock).
7. Uses less space than Windows, even with 1000s of apps installed.
8. Software Center to quickly find what app you need/want - not having to google or search for the app or for a free version for windows.
9. VMs (VirtualBox) perform better due to less memory consumption in ubuntu vs windows.
10. more...


There's more I can list, performance I kind of went in and out on. But Ubuntu is just better in the long run for me. I get bored using Windows

[Shining Arcanine]

maybe it's just my system, but ubuntu just doesn't seem like a high performance OS.
i mean, with alot of tabs open in firefox or chrome, and thunderbird browsing too, it seems to start slowing down. it starts getting laggy too and starts seeming unstable.

i'm on a decked out alienware m17x, so i'm pretty sure it's not my system - possibly compatibility though.

windows = gaming
mac = visual editing
but where does ubuntu stand?

i could be totally wrong on all this too, seeing as this is the only system i've had it on. but i've had it on 2 different m17x's and it's the same thing.

what's everyone else's input? can ubuntu really be 'high performance'?

I posted earlier thinking that you were talking about HPC, which involves super computers.

Anyway, I take it that you have 4GB of RAM or more. The issue that you are describing involves your processor's MTRR. Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst by putting "enable_mtrr_cleanup mtrr_spare_reg_nr=1" in your kernel parameters. That should fix it.

By the way, would you post the output of cat /proc/mtrr before and after you make that change. I suspect that you will have a bunch of lines labelled uncachable that will be converted into a bunch of lines labelled writeback.

[Elfy]

I posted earlier thinking that you were talking about HPC, which involves super computers.

Anyway, I take it that you have 4GB of RAM or more. The issue that you are describing involves your processor's MTRR. Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst by putting "enable_mtrr_cleanup mtrr_spare_reg_nr=1" in your kernel parameters. That should fix it.

Probably /etc/default/grub.cfg rather than /boot/grub/menu.lst but no telling without knowing for sure which grub OP has installed.

[Shining Arcanine]

Probably edit/default/grub.cfg rather than menu.lst but no telling without knowing for sure which grub OP has installed.

It is difficult to keep track of where different distributions put their configuration files. On my distribution, the correct file is /boot/grub/grub.conf. :/

Whichever one he has is the one he should edit.

[Elfy]

:)

grub.cfg here - which gets edited as soon as update-grub runs ... so best to edit the script if needed or the cfg in etc/default

/me much preferred menu.lst ...

[Shining Arcanine]

A quick Google search for how to modify GRUB on Ubuntu produced the following link, which appears to have instructions for this on Ubuntu:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto#Modifying boot options in GRUB

Hopefully, this will make up for my ignorance.

[Elfy]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Configuring%20GRUB%202

:)

I'd say this line is the one to add the option to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash addedhere"

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="orhere quiet splash"

[NightwishFan]

I will be one to concur with graphics drivers in this situation. The Ubuntu 64-bit kernel excels on my hardware with the way it is configured. (I am talking about multimedia conversions and software compliles) Also, my machine is very interactive while I do this even with server preemption.

[madjr]

about sluggish, my computer had at least 1 year of dust build up, was slow as hell and would sometimes even reboot itself. I was like WTF..

finished cleaning it up and ... wow! is now as good as new.

Am not saying thats your problem (and am sure someone here already pointed it out), but most of the time we want to blame the os for every issue.

[sk8rjess]

My laptop is significantly weaker than that, and it's running every piece of eyecandy imaginable, and I don't have as slow performance as you. It could be the underclocked CPU you have.

i'm not sure what exactly you're referring to by underclocked cpu, since this doesn't apply to me.

[sk8rjess]

I posted earlier thinking that you were talking about HPC, which involves super computers.

Anyway, I take it that you have 4GB of RAM or more. The issue that you are describing involves your processor's MTRR. Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst by putting "enable_mtrr_cleanup mtrr_spare_reg_nr=1" in your kernel parameters. That should fix it.

By the way, would you post the output of cat /proc/mtrr before and after you make that change. I suspect that you will have a bunch of lines labelled uncachable that will be converted into a bunch of lines labelled writeback.

i'll do this tomo, i'm crashing right now!
thanks for the help sofar guys, even though that wasn't the purpose of the post :) but def appreciated!