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I'm running ubuntu lucid lynx on the following config:

  • 2GB DDR2 Ram
  • 1.50Ghz Core2Duo
  • Nvidia 128MB 8400GS GFX Card

Due to some reason the entire operating system feels laggy. The window manager, firefox and rhythmbox and almost all apps feel a bit slow. There is almost a second time lag between the time I press ctrl+T to open a new tab on firefox and the time it actually opens. This site itself renders in frames and the scrolling up and down is a pain. Rhythmbox takes 1 sec to maximize and minimize and I cant even dream of a changing the workspace.

My question is if Windows 7 is running perfectly on my comp why isnt Ubuntu? I really hope there is a way because I would love to ditch windows and move over to linux full time.

Is there anyone for whom ubuntu works as it should while running a similar config? Thanks

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  • Recent Linux kernels encode videos and run multiple tasks better than ever, however I do feel that the user interface is less responsive than it used to be. It is by no means slow though. Dec 19, 2010 at 8:31

5 Answers 5

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Prakhar, this is really the hardest kind of question. There are so many things that could make an OS run badly, that it would be impossible to give you a direct answer.

For starters, you could try: cold boot, and as soon as you log in, open GEdit (or any text editor you might use), open /var/log/syslog and copy it on http://paste.ubuntu.com and paste the link for us here. So guys around can try to spot weird things.

It's not fair to compare it to Windows 7. Any OS could do bad when the conditions are innapropriate. I can assure you there are guys around who can't use their computer with any Windows version, but run Linux flawlesly. BTW, I have an older computer (but I'm lucky to have 1GB RAM on it) running both Win7 & Ubuntu 10.10 with no problems. Slowly, but not as slowly as you described for yours.

I'm still guessing it could be some part of your hardware slowing you down (in this case, Win7 probably supports it with no problems). But it's just a wild guess.

Waiting for any logs you could provide us with.

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    +1 for mentioning paste.ubuntu.com - never knew it existed!
    – JannieT
    Aug 4, 2011 at 19:38
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I suspect it is the graphics card slowing you down (it is a low end model) - what driver are you using for the card?

You should install the Nvidia restricted driver for the best possible performance.

Also you mention no issues on Win7 - does it work on the aero interface OK?

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  • Yes, aero interface is perfectly fine.
    – Prakhar
    Dec 20, 2010 at 8:16
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One of possible solutions: Install previous Ubuntu version (for instance, starting from 9.10) then gradually upgrade to the latest one. In many cases it works fine. Anyway you will see how perfomance is changing from previous version to next one.

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It is most likely due to a bad VGA driver. You can easily confirm this by selecting Ubuntu 2D before you log in by pressing the button next to the password field. If that gives you a fast desktop, then you need to get some drivers for your VGA. If you need help doing that, you should open a new question.

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Maybe there is a problem with your ACPI. y'know, i installed Ubuntu on My computer and my friend's. we have exactly the same hardware on different Motherboards. It didn't installed normally on my pc, i used the 'ACPI Workarounds' option to make it go, but on her PC everything was okay. Ubuntu runs perfectly smooth and fast on her PC, but it's very very slow on mine.

to check this, -if you're using Windows- go to 'Device Manager' and see if there is an item probably named 'Unknown Device'

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