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Hello again, Some more help needed with ubuntu

post #1 of 17
8/24/06 at 1:25pm
Thread Starter 
So after couple of weeks with ubuntu, i love it but it has (or i have) some minor problems.
First, i use GAIM and it's absolutely GREAT! but there is no tray icon. not when i start it and not when i click the close button. when i click the close button it just closes the program.
And some more minor problems that i don't like, like icons that changes their place on the toolbars and fonts that are changed when i change themes but does not revert themselves back when i choose the default theme and some more stuff like that.
and another thing is that the general use and workflow is slower then windows , it takes 2-3 seconds to open firefox and in windows it takes barely one sec.
maybe it's some drivers problems, how do i know if all my hardware is working the best way with the best drivers?
and one more question, what is this thing that everyone always say about compiling programs to work in linux?? i never understood it.
i'm a programmer and i know what compiling is but what does it have to do with running a writted program on linux? there is no such thing in windows.

Thanks alot!
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post #2 of 17
8/24/06 at 3:19pm
Ill let other people handle the theme issues and taskbar issues as I dont use gnome myself much. I will mention my first thought about fonts and themes is that you switched to a theme that defined a font to go with it, and then switched back to one that didnt is something I might look at, but that is just a guess. I had heard of Firefox running slow in Ubuntu because of something they did, but I dont know if that is still the case, maybe BT or someone will jump in and confirm that. At any rate...
Quote:
and one more question, what is this thing that everyone always say about compiling programs to work in linux?? i never understood it. i'm a programmer and i know what compiling is but what does it have to do with running a writted program on linux? there is no such thing in windows.
Welcome to the world of Open Source Software. You dont typically have to compile to much on Ubuntu but it is always an option for you. For open source software, compiling the source code is always an option. Because Linux can be so varied, precomiled programs on one system wont nessecarily work on a different one, depending on what libs are installed, what architecture you are running, etc. As such sometimes you would want to compile it from source, and since it is an open source program, the source code is always availiable, for you to play with or compile yourself. Compiling on linux for most programs is a 3 step process, but always check the documentation that comes with the source code to see if they have installation instructions(Most will) 1.> ./configure 2.> make 3.> sudo make install ./configure creates the make files and configures them for your system and your libraries. You can also usually pass options to the ./configure in order to enable or disable some features of certain programs. ./configure --help will usually give you more info about what you can or cant do at this step for this software make will read those make files and actually compile all the source code. make install will install all the binaries in the appropriates locations as defined by $PREFIX environmental variable. You can change the $PREFIX for that compilation by passing the appropriate option to ./configure. By Default on most systems $PREFIX will be set to /usr and that is where your software will be installed. Seablade
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post #3 of 17
8/24/06 at 6:03pm
to solve the gaim problem: Go to Tools> Preferances > Plugins (in 1.5) or Tools > Plugins (in 2.0) and check the box next to "System Tray Icon"

themes: i'm pretty sure seablade is on to something. if a theme defines something (say icons or fonts) then they will be changed, but if the theme doesn't define it then it will remain with the previous selections for the undefined parts. best solution for this is to create your own theme and define the parts the way you like it, or download some themes with gnome-art or from gnome-look.org

firefox: ubuntu is compiled in i386, which means it takes absolutely no advantage of the latest CPU instruction set technologies therefore things will run slower than on those distros which are cpu-optimized or evne in windows to some degree. one solution is to install swiftfox for your processor..best way to go about that is via automatix. option #2 is dump ubuntu in favor of an i686 optimized distro (i recommend Arch) which uses these instructions.
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post #4 of 17
8/24/06 at 6:26pm
Thread Starter 
First of all, thanks both of you.
About the gaim problem, i checked that already and that checkbox is indeed checked.
About the themes, never mind it's ok now.
And about that i386, i didn't fully understand, because i don't know what i386 is but i understand that ubuntu does not take full advantage of the latest cpu technology. Anyway to fix it? Because it really is performing slower in everyday tasks. And that firefox thing was just an example of a fairly simple operation that takes 3 times more time than it takes on windows but it's not only firefox, it's opening windows and dialogs and so on.

Thanks alot, love you both
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post #5 of 17
8/24/06 at 6:52pm
Quote:
And about that i386, i didn't fully understand, because i don't know what i386 is but i understand that ubuntu does not take full advantage of the latest cpu technology. Anyway to fix it? Because it really is performing slower in everyday tasks. And that firefox thing was just an example of a fairly simple operation that takes 3 times more time than it takes on windows but it's not only firefox, it's opening windows and dialogs and so on.
And here is where you start getting into why linux can be confusing to many people, and the differences between distributions. Linux can be run on a variety of computer architectures, ranging from the old Alpha Chips(Yes the original 1 GHz breakers from years ago), to MIPS chips, to x86 instruction set chips like Intel and AMD are most known for, to a 386, to PPC, to... Well you get the picture I imagine. When a distribution is put together, the maintainer(The person in charge of putting it together) makes several desicions as compiled binaries will only run on a set amount of hardware that it was compiled for. i386 is a way of defining things that will run on 386 and newer processors when compiled. Loosely it is intel 386 I believe is what it stands for, and what it translates into is that when that code is run, it uses instruction sets from the 386 processor. Now with x86 processors, with a very few exceptions, backwards compatibility is built in, a newer processor will run older code with the older instruction sets, as the newer processor uses those instruction sets itself. However the newer processor also will typically have additional instruction sets, SSE, MMX, etc are examples of extensions to the x86 base instruction set that was defined that are common in newer processors. Ubuntu decided when packaging their distribution one way to get the most hardware support was to compile everything for the generic i386 architecture(If ABF is correct on the architecture, which I have no reason to doubt), that way it would run on a wide variety of hardware at a decent speed. Other distributions will choose to compile for newer architectures, and use those instruction sets. The disadvantage is those distributions dont have as good of hardware support as a result of using compiler instruction sets that may not be supported in other processors. For instance a x86_64 is compiled for a 64 Bit architecture which obviously wont run on a 32 bit processor, however in most cases, and with AMD especially, the opposite will work fine(32 Bit code on a 64 Bit processor), thus part of the reasoning behind using 32 bit compilation. That is why when people compare "Linux" to Windows or Mac, 95 percent of the time they are comparing a distribution, that may or may not be optomized for the hardware, or even support that hardware very well, and why that is a pet peeve of mine. Mac for example is HEAVILY optomized for the hardware it is on, because it runs on a very limited set of hardware, I would imagine. If it isnt it really should be, but that is another topic. Running a brand new eye candy distro(Suse) on older hardware and comparing that to windows 98 ont hat hardware, is not taking advantage of Linux in an approriate way for that hardware. I picked Suse because most of the time in those articles about OSes to revive older hardware, that is what I see, and it just nullifies the entire argument there. Would be like running XP on the same hardware, it may work, but dang if it aint gonna be dog slow. Seablade
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post #6 of 17
8/24/06 at 6:53pm
By the way, everyone remind me when I actually get the CMS set up, to post up a thread to take ideas for topics that I should cover(Like the distribution one above) for newcomers to linux so we dont end up retyping it every time

Seablade
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post #7 of 17
8/24/06 at 6:56pm
bah....seablade beat me to it
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post #8 of 17
8/24/06 at 7:12pm
If you want to try out a kernel for newer cpu architectures just run

sudo apt-get install linux-686

That will install the more advanced version of your kernel. At boot up Grub will give you the choice of which one you would like to use. If you don't like it you can always use Synaptic to remove it.
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post #9 of 17
8/24/06 at 9:54pm
its not all about the kernel though, its also about how the individual packages are built. sure the 686 kernel will make the core tasks a tad better, but firefox and office will still be horribly slow

on a side note:
you might wanna try a desktop lighter than gnome (see XFCE or fluxbox)... i am currently running a stripped down Xubuntu + fluxbox and things work much quicker than they did under gnome. part of it is that my current setup takes less than 1/2 the ram of the previous setup (though ram is not an issue for me, i have a gig)
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post #10 of 17
8/24/06 at 11:28pm
nadav2605,
What hardware are you using? I'm curious because I just converted my office over to linux (about 7 machines) and had to work with some older hardware in the process. I was suprised at how well even the slowest machines performed. I have 1200mhz athlons that perform well, and they are running windows 2000 in vmware.

If you have over 700mb of memory you should be using the x686 kernel (if you have an intel cpu) or the K7 kernel (amd). If you don't, you won't be using all of your memory.

You should also make sure things like DMA are enabled and that you have the latest video drivers (if they are available for your gpu). If you find that certain apps are taking too long to load then you should install prelinking. It'll solve that problem immediately.

Finally, are you using Dapper? The problems your describing were a Breezy issue, but not so much a dapper issue. I would also install SwiftFox or Opera if you want a faster browser. Opera is incredibly fast.

Once I know the details of your hardware I can recommend some things much more firmly.
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post #11 of 17
8/25/06 at 3:38am
Thread Starter 
Thanks all!
OK, so my hadrware is a brand new Dell Inspiron 640m/E1405:
Intel Core Duo 1.83Ghz
512MB DDR2 533Mhz - will soon be upgraded to 1GB
Intel GMA 950 GPU - using shared memory
Intel 945 Chipset
Intel Wireless 3945ABG Wifi Card
SigmaTel high definition audio

That's it.

but i did understad what's the sudo apt-get install linux-686 does? Is it the same old ubuntu that running faster? Or is it another distribution?

Thank you!
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post #12 of 17
8/25/06 at 11:33am
It will install the 686 version of your current kernel. If you are currently on 2.6.16.27-i386 or whatever this would give you the 2.6.16.27-i686 kernel. It would let you see if there is any perfomance increase. Like I said above Grub will let you choose which one you would like to boot with. If you don't like it just search for Linux-image in synaptic and remove it. It wont change your version of Ubuntu at all, just your kernel.

I compiled the 2.6.17.8-686 kernel and I think it runs pretty good. I do think firefox opens a little slow, but it's fine once it's open. Menus are petty snappy too.
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post #13 of 17
8/25/06 at 12:10pm
If you are opening firefox for the first time in windows it takes much longer than 1 sec as nothing is cached. Are you sure you're comparing the two firefoxes fairly? Again, prelinking will help.
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post #14 of 17
8/25/06 at 1:40pm
I didn't want to come off that I was complaining. I personally don't have a problem with how long it takes to open Firefox, and your right, it probably does take just as long to open under Windows.
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post #15 of 17
8/25/06 at 2:43pm
Something nobody has really mentioned is the fact that just installing the i686 will get your Duocore cpu supported. If you are running the i386 kernel you'll only get single cpu support. You can check this easily by opening a console and typing in
Code:
top
. Then hit the "1" key. If you are running both CPU's you'll see them list as cpu0 and cpu1. The -686 kernel will help you launch apps faster. You'll also be utilizing the memory and threading more efficiently. The other thing nobody has mentioned is be sure to load the matching linux-headers and kernel-restricted packages. They will have the same extension as your kernel. Like the current version is linux-headers-2.6.15-26-686 and linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15-26-686. The ristricted modules will load proper 686 compiled drivers for sound card, modem, and other drivers. The nice thing is once you install them with Adept or Synaptic they will be tracked. When a new version is released, they'll show up as updates. PDR60
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post #16 of 17
8/29/06 at 2:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nadav2605
First of all, thanks both of you.
About the gaim problem, i checked that already and that checkbox is indeed checked.
Right click your Gnome Panel and click ADD TO PANEL. Then find the 'notification area' icon and add it. As far as I know, closing GAIM sends it to the Notification area and when you don't have one, the program will simply close.

At least that's how mine works
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post #17 of 17
8/29/06 at 5:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nadav2605
So after couple of weeks with ubuntu, i love it but it has (or i have) some minor problems.
First, i use GAIM and it's absolutely GREAT! but there is no tray icon. not when i start it and not when i click the close button. when i click the close button it just closes the program.
And some more minor problems that i don't like, like icons that changes their place on the toolbars and fonts that are changed when i change themes but does not revert themselves back when i choose the default theme and some more stuff like that.
and another thing is that the general use and workflow is slower then windows , it takes 2-3 seconds to open firefox and in windows it takes barely one sec.
maybe it's some drivers problems, how do i know if all my hardware is working the best way with the best drivers?
and one more question, what is this thing that everyone always say about compiling programs to work in linux?? i never understood it.
i'm a programmer and i know what compiling is but what does it have to do with running a writted program on linux? there is no such thing in windows.

Thanks alot!

Slowness of Firfox can be fixed with these step. I am copying & pasting it because ubuntu forums is kind of buggy these days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pjotor View Post
You can speed up your Firefox browser by doing the following:

Code:
cd ~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/
Code:
gedit user.js

Everyone should put there:

Code:
user_pref("network.http.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.proxy.pipelining", true);
user_pref("network.http.pipelining.maxrequests", 8);
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5);
user_pref("plugin.expose_full_path", true);
user_pref("ui.submenuDelay", 0);

and after that one of the following depending on your computer and your connection:

FAST COMPUTER, FAST CONNECTION

Code:
user_pref("content.interrupt.parsing", true);
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
user_pref(network.http.max-connections", 48);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536);

FAST COMPUTER, SLOWER CONNECTION

Code:
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536);

FAST COMPUTER, SLOW CONNECTION

Code:
user_pref("browser.xul.error_pages.enabled", true);
user_pref("content.interrupt.parsing", true);
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000);
user_pref("content.maxtextrun" 8191);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 32);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 4);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 0);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 65536);

SLOW COMPUTER, FAST CONNECTION

Code:
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 3000000);
user_pref("content.notify.backoffcount", 5);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 1000000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 1000000);
user_pref("content.maxtextrun", 4095);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 1000);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 48);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 16);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_status_change", true);

DIAL-UP

Code:
user_pref("content.max.tokenizing.time", 2250000);
user_pref("content.notify.interval", 750000);
user_pref("content.notify.ontimer", true);
user_pref("content.switch.threshold", 750000);
user_pref("nglayout.initialpaint.delay", 750);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections", 32);
user_pref("network.http.max-connections-per-server", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy", 8);
user_pref("network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server", 4);
user_pref("dom.disable_window_status_change", true);

From: http://www.tweakfactor.com/articles/...oxtweak/4.html

Here's the link to the thread.
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