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I installed Ubuntu on on a Toshiba Laptop and although it installed without any problems, it's running very slowly. I would like help diagnosing why Ubuntu is running so slowly.

It takes a long time for any application to start when I click on it. Is this to be expected? Really tired of Windows and I'd like to switch but I need to work this all out first. Also, where do I find the equivalent to Device Manager to see what hardware didn't install properly?

Toshiba Satelite Pro L300D-EZ1002X AMD Turion 64X2 2 Gig Memory Dual Boot with Windows Vista Ultimate 64

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  • Could be anything from a bad graphics driver to a bad wireless driver to a problem with Unity. Try running k/x/lubuntu (which would exclude unity).
    – Panther
    May 15, 2013 at 17:49
  • Lubuntu and Xubuntu are Ubuntu with lighter desktop environments than Unity. They will both run much faster than the standard Unity desktop on your older laptop. You download the iso file and burn a cd or usb install media the same way that you did with standard Ubuntu.
    – chaskes
    May 15, 2013 at 19:00

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Toshiba laptops are quite slow, I speak from firsthand experience (that old Portege 4000 :P) You may want to try an older version of Ubuntu, install an older desktop (gnome-shell, gnome, lxde, xfce - not Unity!), try Lubuntu, or, as you said, check out your drivers. I really recommend installing Gnome or LXDE (How To (LXDE) - yes, it says Ubuntu 12.04, but it works on 13.04 and 12.10 as well) as it will speed up your desktop, at the cost of some graphical eye candy. You can install hardinfo (search in Software Center, or sudo apt-get install hardinfo in Terminal) which is "the equivalent of Device Manager".

Hope this helps,

-whiskers75

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Enter the following command into a terminal window

sudo apt-get install hardinfo

This will allow you to at least review your hardware devices, however I'd like to point out that your hardware specs should be more than sufficient to be able to run Ubuntu (pretty much any version) without that kind of delay. Run hardinfo after installation, as that's a pretty good comparable 'Device Manager' application

Can you update/edit your original question with the version of Ubuntu you've installed, and if you see anything out of the ordinary when you are idle? Try running top and see if anything is hogging your system's resources. Alternatively, use the Desktop Search tool for "System Monitor" and observe that at idle for a bit also.

Generally, you're heading in the right direction by wanting to investigate your hardware first.

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  • ubuntu-12.04.2-desktop-amd64. Would I be better off on a HP Pavilion Laptop? I just want to get comfortable with it on one of my Laptops before I wipe out my Desktop and switch completely. I'm more interested in making sure all my hardware is set first, then I'll worry about the software. Thanks for all the comments and patience.
    – John
    May 15, 2013 at 18:11
  • I think we should at least see what kind of processes could be eating up your resources first. Did you check out any of the system monitoring functions such as top or hardinfo first? :)
    – gravity
    May 16, 2013 at 20:01

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