13.04 is extremely slow

[victorche]

Well, long time since I was here... But inspired by the good reviews about the latest Ubuntu, decided to try it... What can I say?!

This is not the Microsoft's killer and it will not rule the desktop market soon... On a fresh install my Packard Bell Dot S netbook is simply unusable. After the Unity is loaded, it takes 3-4 secs just to display "Firefox" label on hover. I've never seen so slow OS, really!

So I've started reading, searching in Google... Many topics suggest to install "gnome-session-fallback" or something. I've installed this and now I have a gnome-like desktop without even a simple transparency.

Well, "great" work, Canonical! You're ready to win the world market with this "ultra fast" OS. It takes 1-2 mins to start "Software Centre" on my 6 months old netbook with 2 GB of RAM. Next time I'll buy a netbook with 8 GB RAM... I hope it will be enough for your "optimized" Unity...

[howefield]

Thread moved to the more appropriate "Ubuntu, Linux and OS Chat" forum.

[andrew.46]

Hmmm.... 1.6GHz is not a huge processor but I would have expected a bit more life under Raring. I see that you are a Slacker, I have a relatively vintage Dell (Latitude D520) with a 1.8 processor that screams along with 14.0 and Fluxbox.. perhaps this is the path you might look at?

PS Your kernel is a little dated for -current:

andrew@skamandros~$ uname -r
3.8.8

[victorche]

Thanks but I don't think this is a "Linux in general" chat and talk... This is Ubuntu specific (I am talking about 13.04 here). And I've choosen the "General Help" section, as I am asking for some kind of help here...

[victorche]

Hmmm.... 1.6GHz is not a huge processor but I would have expected a bit more life under Raring. I see that you are a Slacker, I have a relatively vintage Dell (Latitude D520) with a 1.8 processor that screams along with 14.0 and Fluxbox.. perhaps this is the path you might look at?

Thanks for the reply, @andrew.46!

I am using Slackware for some desktop PCs and for a couple of web servers. The reason I tried Ubuntu is because it's more user friendly, with some great reviews and on this netbook I am not doing anything special, except some browsing, chat and video / music stuff. Also used by my wife, so...

Anyway, the reason I am so mad is... Because we're not talking about some small bugs here. It is completely USELESS in my case...

[howefield]

Thanks but I don't think this is a "Linux in general" chat and talk... This is Ubuntu specific (I am talking about 13.04 here). And I've choosen the "General Help" section, as I am asking for some kind of help here...

What part of "Ubuntu, Linux and OS Chat" is so hard to understand ?

You haven't asked for helped, the single question in your rant is directed towards yourself. This isn't a support request.

[victorche]

What part of "Ubuntu, Linux and OS Chat" is so hard to understand ?

You haven't asked for helped, the single question in your rant is directed towards yourself. This isn't a support request.

Don't want to argue... You're the moderator here.
You can fix the thread position, but I would like if someone else can help me fix this... new OS speed and performance.

[grahammechanical]

I do not agree with you. I have found 13.04 to be fast at loading and fast at running applications. Memory usage has fallen by 15 - 20% against 12.04 according to my reckoning. Ubuntu is benefiting from all the work being done on Canonical's convergence strategy. April 2014 is the target date. Nobody but you has claimed that this release is a world market winner or that it is a Microsoft killer and will rule the desktop market.

Sales of desktop hardware are falling and as a major player in Canonical recently said: "There is a big elephant in the room." So, Canonical cannot see themselves making money out of the desktop. And as for the mobile market, there are two elephants in the room, already. Canonical is taking what it calls "a high risk, high gain" strategy with its convergence plans.

Oh, by the way, I would not call a netbook a desktop machine. But you seem to do so. You claim that netbook performance is equal to desktop performance. That tells me that you are biased to start with.

[goldshirt9]

try a lighter distro for the netbook.
kubuntu / lubuntu / mint nadia xfce / peppermint.
My netbook also ran a little slow with a full install of ubuntu.
Lubuntu ran the worst when starting the software manager, peppermint ran the best

[snowpine]

The nice thing about Linux is you can test-drive Live USB's with no commitment and choose the distro that works best for your hardware, lifestyle, and workflow. I have not tried Ubuntu 13.04 yet so I can't be of specific assistance.