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I currently installed Ubuntu Linux on a HP laptop, but I found that the update and download speed of apt-get is extremely slow. I used to have an Ubuntu installed on a Dell laptop with the same Ubuntu edition - 12.04 and the same downloading sources, but the downloading speed is quite good. Why the apt-speeds are so different? May be the Wifi driver is not suitable for this HP laptop?

  • replies: Thanks for all your answers;-), it's my first time to know and use this website, I didn't expect to get so many responses so soon.

I'll try this apt-fast when I get home today, to see if it will work good enough.

For Alvar's questions of my network card model, I don't have knowledge of this part, but it's a HP ProBook 4431s, and from HP's website, it says it's Atheros 802.11b/g/n WiFi. And for laptop model, what's this?

Since the old Dell loptop is not at my hand by now, the one thing I remember is that on Dell PC, when I installed it with ubuntu 12.04.1 it don't have wireless card's driver so I installed one latter using some methods I found on the Internet. But for this HP PC, the ubuntu 12.04.1 has direct support of its' wireless card, so I don't need to install a driver manually. I still think the problem might have something to do with the driver.

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    this sounds like a hardware issue. What's your network card model? laptop model? Is everything up-to-date? is it only slow in apt-get? What's your RAM amount? (for caching downloads). Answer these questions with an edit of your original question, thanks!
    – Alvar
    Mar 4, 2013 at 15:17
  • @Alvar for slower apt-get , apt-fast is best alternative.
    – Raja G
    Mar 4, 2013 at 15:19
  • @Jai not definitely if it's a hardware problem then it will be faster if you fix that problem. If apt-fast is faster why isn't it included in apt-get?
    – Alvar
    Mar 4, 2013 at 15:21
  • @Alvar well to be frank I am not sure why apt-fast not included but I am also user of apt-fast and I can surely say that It will provide the better download speed than apt-get.If its a network issue then OP should have the network problem everywhere right but he doesn't. He's just getting the problem only when he's dealing with apt-get. so thats all gave me a conclusion that there is no problem with his hardware and problem is due to apt-get. So I have suggested the alternative my dear friend.
    – Raja G
    Mar 4, 2013 at 15:24
  • When updating your question please make sure you are logged in. It is not always clear to us that it is really the same person when you do an anonymous edit.
    – RolandiXor
    Mar 5, 2013 at 5:41

1 Answer 1

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you have alternative to apt-get of Ubuntu and that is apt-fast.you can install it in your PC and you can use it as you use apt-get.

To install apt-fast :

open your terminal with CTRL+ALT+T and type

sudo apt-get install axel

Then do this in the terminal itself

wget http://www.mattparnell.com/linux/apt-fast/apt-fast.sh
sudo -i
cd /usr/bin
sudo mv apt-fast.sh apt-fast
chmod +x apt-fast

That's it you are done , now you can use it.

for example to update :

sudo apt-fast update

How does apt-fast work?

apt-fast is a shellscript wrapper for apt-get and aptitude that can drastically improve apt download times by downloading packages in parallel, with multiple connections per package.

Quote from github.

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  • What does this apt-fast do?
    – Alvar
    Mar 4, 2013 at 15:19
  • if this is so great why isn't included in apt-get? There must be a huge drawback!
    – Alvar
    Mar 4, 2013 at 15:22
  • The reason apt-fast works how it does is found on github . "apt-fast is a shellscript wrapper for apt-get and aptitude that can drastically improve apt download times by downloading packages in parallel, with multiple connections per package." quote from GitHub.
    – Alvar
    Mar 4, 2013 at 15:32
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    Thanks for the information and its all saying that it will improve the speed right & I am really gonna be more happy If you edit my answer and put these lines of text . Thank you my friend.
    – Raja G
    Mar 4, 2013 at 15:33
  • The problem with this is that it puts more work on the server, that might be the reason it's not included in the apt-get.
    – Alvar
    Mar 4, 2013 at 15:38

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