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This is my first Ubuntu OS - 12.04. I have a 2.79Ghz Pentium D processor (quite an old one) and 1.24 GB of RAM; only integrated graphics card ( 96 MB or something). There is a noticeable lag when I am scrolling through any app especially Firefox and Chromium). I typed about:support in the Firefox address bar and the graphics section had this:

Adapter Description Tungsten Graphics, Inc -- Mesa DRI Intel(R) 865G x86/MMX/SSE2

Vendor ID Tungsten Graphics, Inc

Device ID Mesa DRI Intel(R) 865G x86/MMX/SSE2

Driver Version 1.3 Mesa 8.0.2

WebGL Renderer Blocked for your graphics card because of unresolved driver issues.

GPU Accelerated Windows 0. Blocked for your graphics card because of unresolved driver issues.

So what should I do? should I install 10.04 cause my system is too old?
Thanks in advance.

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4 Answers 4

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Before trying 10.04, why don't you try a Live CD (or USB) of lighter derivatives of Ubuntu such as Xubuntu 12.04 or Lubuntu 12.04?

Even then, you may face problems with browser performance because most browsers and web pages seem to assume modern hardware and ample RAM.

Also, keep in mind that the end of support for 10.04 isn't too far off: April 2013. You can read more on the implications here.

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As Vasa1 said, a lighter desktop could fix the issue. I'd recommend to log in to the system using the LXDE desktop. You already have it installed! At the sign in screen click onto the Ubuntu symbol and a new menu of desktops will appear, choose the LXDE and sign in as usual. This desktop doesn't need as much resources as Unity. I hope this will do it. Best regards!

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  • Why do you say that OP already has the LXDE desktop installed? It comes by default with Lubuntu but not with Ubuntu. So users won't be able to choose LXDE at login unless they install the Lubuntu desktop on top of Ubuntu or just installs LXDE. But, my feeling is that for first-time users new to Linux, it's better to get settled with a "pure" distro and then mix-n-match as one's comfort grows.
    – user25656
    Jan 15, 2013 at 18:52
  • @vasa1 agreed, my fault for assuming that LXDE was already installed.
    – user123492
    Jan 16, 2013 at 0:36
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To install and try the other lightweight desktop environments from the command line:

sudo apt-get install lubuntu-desktop
sudo apt-get inatall xubuntu-desktop

Then from your login screen after logging out, you can choose one of the alternatives to try.

Personally, I've had great luck with lubuntu on old machines. It's not beautiful and modern looking, but it runs a lot faster and uses less memory.

I also would recommend against installing old versions of ubuntu; you're not likely to see much speed improvement by doing that, and you're going to run into more issues sooner related to package management.

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Mine is very similar, Pentium 4 2.8 GHz and 394 MB DDR1 RAM. This box was driven by Lucid for 2 years until broken recently with faulty RAM. Now it was up again by installation of Precise. And this answer was made from this born-again box. I recommend you try a new graphic adaptor. The good one can help CPU and hence the overall system would improve.

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