Questions about improving the performance/speed of Ubuntu. Note that this is a general tag, and should be accompanied by another tag indicating what kind of performance you are referring to.
161
votes
31answers
57k views
How can I improve overall system performance?
What are your tips for improving overall system performance on ubuntu? Inspired by this question I realized that some default settings may be rather conservative on Ubuntu and that it's possible to ...
78
votes
9answers
45k views
How do I optimize the OS for SSDs?
What steps should be taken before/during/after installation of Ubuntu on a Solid State Drive to optimize performance and ensure maximum durability of the drive?
58
votes
6answers
9k views
How do we get this magic performance-boosting 200 line patch?
I read today on Phoronix that there is a 200 line patch to the Linux Kernel which dramatically improves desktop responsiveness.
How can Ubuntu users get this in a way that's supported?
40
votes
2answers
19k views
Is it worth to tune Ext4 with noatime?
With previous versions of Ubuntu (using Ext3 filesystem) I used to tune it for better performance with noticeable results by setting the noatime parameter in /etc/fstab.
Is it still worth it to do ...
32
votes
10answers
12k views
How can I strip down Ubuntu?
I'm trying to fix what I consider a bloated install of Ubuntu. When I install Ubuntu on a machine, I get things that I don't want - web browsers, office applications, media players, accessibility ...
26
votes
14answers
14k views
How do I improve boot speed?
I have seen many videos that make Ubuntu faster, but only makes the desktop faster.
I am looking to make my computer boot faster. Is their anything i can do to make Ubuntu boot significantly faster?
23
votes
11answers
4k views
Why are Flash applications so sluggish?
I've noticed that Flash applications tend to be more sluggish under Ubuntu than they do under Windows on the same machine. This is particularly noticeable when watching HD video or playing ...
19
votes
3answers
14k views
What performance differences are there when installing with Wubi?
I know that Wubi is slower in disk IO, but I can't find anything about it online other than vague statements such as "slightly slower disk seeks". Has anyone done any benchmarks to quantify the speed ...
18
votes
8answers
9k views
How to empty swap if there is free RAM?
When I open a RAM-intensive app (VirtualBox set at 2 Gb RAM), Some swap space is generally used, depending on what else I have open at the time.
However, when I quit that last application, the 2 Gb ...
18
votes
1answer
6k views
Google Chrome 20: How to workaround poor performance with Flash? [closed]
After the update to "Google Chrome 20.0.1132.47" google-chrome started to lag. It gets stuck for couple of seconds and then it resumes. The issue seems to start after I enter any flash site
Running ...
17
votes
3answers
5k views
How to remove the graphical user interface?
Okay my question is that, I want to run a heavy application, on a Virtual Machine (VirtualBox) with just 2 GB RAM (Windows 7 32Bit Host has 4 GB, 3.5 GB effective). Initially I thought of installing ...
17
votes
2answers
25k views
How to check hard disk performance
How to check the performance of a hard drive (Either via terminal or GUI). The write speed. The read speed. Cache size and speed. Random speed.
17
votes
4answers
4k views
What are the common maintenance tasks?
When i was using windows, i used to run defrags, ccleaner and revouninstaller once a month to keep the system and the registry clean.
I know ubuntu (and all linux distro) has a different system ...
17
votes
3answers
4k views
What is the performance overhead of encrypted /home?
I have a netbook with Windows on the second partition and Xubuntu (/ and /home) on the third partition. I selected to encrypt my home folder during installation. The performance of the netbook is ...
15
votes
5answers
18k views
How to perform a detailed and quick 3D performance test
I am wondering how to quickly test performance of my 3D graphics. Since glxgears is not benchmark what should I use. Also glxgears sometimes stuck at 60FPS, you cannot even compare before/after driver ...
15
votes
5answers
3k views
How can I find out if a process is CPU, Memory or Disk-bound? [closed]
How can I find out if a process is bound to CPU, Memory or Disk?
13
votes
2answers
777 views
Why is mainstream Ubuntu still i386-compiled?
I pretty much believe (am I wrong?) that over 90% (if not over 99.9%) of Ubuntu 10.x i386 installations are run on i686 computers. So why is Ubuntu still not i686-optimized?
The only case I can ...
13
votes
5answers
10k views
Is it normal for compiz to consume 40% of my CPU with no other programs running?
When I have no other programs running, compiz takes up at least 40% of my CPU.
Is this normal? If it is normal, is there anyway I could make this program take a smaller percentage?
13
votes
3answers
1k views
What in /home would benefit from being on an SSD?
In Is a 40GB SSD practical to use for ' / ' Jorge describes how he symlinks directories in his /home that would benefit from being on an SSD. The directories he names are
~/.cache
~/.config
...
13
votes
2answers
2k views
How to diagnose Ubuntu CPU spikes / IO wait?
I'm using Ubuntu and every couple minutes it goes unresponsive for a half second to a full second, which isn't normally a problem but makes trying to code extremely frustrating when your trying to hit ...
12
votes
5answers
2k views
What is the performance loss if you run an ubuntu desktop edition for a server machine?
Hello we have installed an ubuntu desktop edition on our dev server.
I was wondering if there is any noticeable performance loss compared to the server edition.
12
votes
3answers
2k views
Is Gnome 3 lighter than Gnome 2?
As we are going toward Gnome 3, I would like to know what to expect. May be a more responsive desktop, faster startup of apps? Or should I start to thinking in another DE if performance is a concern? ...
11
votes
3answers
610 views
How can I log my SSD's read performance over time?
I'd like to keep a log over time, perhaps weekly, of my solid state drive's read rate as determined by a tool like System -> Administration -> Disk Utility -> Benchmark:
Is there a way to archive ...
10
votes
4answers
1k views
Can I limit the CPU usage of a single application?
Is there a way to stop ClamScan eating my server CPU?
10
votes
4answers
1k views
How to fully utilize RAM to increase overall system performance
I have a low profile machine but with a lot of fast RAM, 4 Gb, which is really an amount of memory that i probably will never use, not even an half, since i just use this machine for coding and ...
10
votes
9answers
3k views
Is 1GB RAM with integrated graphics sufficient for Unity 3D on 12.04?
I have been using Ubuntu since Hardy Heron (8.04). I used Natty, Oneiric with Unity. But When I recently (more than 1 month now) upgraded My Ubuntu to Precise (12.04), the performance of my laptop is ...
9
votes
4answers
2k views
Is there a tool to measure speed of your pc/laptop?
In Windows 7 there is a tool that calculates some kind of index of your machine: the performance index. I am not sure how it is done, but it is nice to know, to be able to compare machines.
Does ...
9
votes
5answers
14k views
Unity runs slow, how can I improve its performance?
I like how Unity looks but I have 2 problems:
Unity 3D
When I login with Unity 3D, my pc becomes slower, I got an AMD II X3 with 2GB of RAM, Nvidia Gforce 6150SE nForce 430/PCI/SSE2 integrated.
When ...
9
votes
1answer
4k views
How do I monitor disk activity on a specific drive?
I'd like to watch disk activity on my USB external hard drive. I know that I can use iotop to monitor disk I/O for each running process, but is there a way to get a measure per filesystem?
9
votes
1answer
2k views
How do I improve my server disk performance
I have an HP Microserver running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. It's a low power server with 5 internal drive bays. I use it to backup my remote servers, VPSs and local laptops over the network. I want to get the ...
8
votes
5answers
6k views
How much faster is Lubuntu?
Will I notice performance increases if I switch to Lubuntu? In what areas will I see the most significant changes? And in what areas am I unlikely to notice any?
Would switching to Lubuntu be ...
8
votes
5answers
11k views
Best way to set up DNS caching?
In order to speed up DNS lookups, I want to install a DNS cache or proxy.
I can see at least three programs I think will do the job: bind9, pdnsd, or dnsmasq.
I would like to make sure that if I ...
8
votes
1answer
1k views
Why does Chrome video performance substantially degrade after waking from suspend in 10.10?
Note: For some more details, some of which may not be true given what I've figured out, see this post.
When I first boot my computer, video performance (both native H.264 HTML5 in YouTube and Vimeo, ...
7
votes
8answers
901 views
Can I simulate a slow hard drive?
I have hunch that a certain intermittent bug might only manifest itself when there is a slow disk read rate. Troubleshooting is difficult because I can't reliably reproduce it.
Short of simply ...
7
votes
10answers
2k views
Long wait time on login
When I log in on my server I get this:
No mail.
Last login: Fri Nov 5 14:22:45 2010...
then I must wait for 5 sec and then is ready...
wolfy@ubuntu-server:~$
Is this wait time normal or should ...
7
votes
6answers
5k views
Will running dual monitors have any significant impact on system speed?
Will setting up dual monitors on a decent-but-not-too-powerful machine significantly slow down my system?
For specifics to my system, this is a 2GHz Intel Dual-core laptop with 4GB RAM and a decent ...
7
votes
6answers
6k views
Is Xubuntu really faster than Ubuntu?
I installed xubuntu desktop on top of ubuntu 12.04. The usage of RAM and CPU is in general lower than in ubuntu. But when it comes to some serious computations I did not see much of a difference ...
7
votes
2answers
2k views
Performance cost of running Ubuntu from external hard drive
A friend just complained to me about Ubuntu being slow.
Although I've noticed a certain lack of snappiness with Linux vs Windows in the past, I really can't say I've had much to grumble about with ...
7
votes
6answers
12k views
My system is very slow running Ubuntu [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How can I improve overall system performance?
I recently installed Ubuntu. I was using Windows XP for years, then I decided to try Linux.
This is my computer: 2.40 Ghz, ...
7
votes
5answers
702 views
How to make dash load faster in unity-2d
My dash always takes 10-15 seconds to show up. Is there a way to make it stay permanently loaded in the RAM or something so that it shows up faster?
7
votes
6answers
2k views
Firefox Slow Performance
I have to say, firefox on ubuntu's performance is attrocious. Very quickly it gets into 100% cpu use (thank god I have multiple cores) and hundreds of megs of ram. Even closing tabs does not help the ...
7
votes
4answers
3k views
What to do against game performance drop in 12.04 when using unity (3D)?
I experience a huge drop in game performance since my fresh install of ubuntu 12.04
My PC consists of an Nvidia Geforce GTX 460, AMD Phenom II X4 965 CPU and 4GB of RAM and I use nvidias proprietary ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views
Is my boot process normal? It takes 50 seconds boot
Here's my boot.log
resume: libgcrypt version: 1.5.0
fsck from util-linux 2.19.1
fsck from util-linux 2.19.1
fsck from util-linux 2.19.1
/dev/sda5: clean, 668102/3276800 files, 4449436/13107200 blocks
...
7
votes
2answers
2k views
How to restore/change Alt+Tab behaviour/ram usage and a few other things after Ubuntu upgrade from 11.04 to 11.10? [closed]
I use Ubuntu for programming. I recently updated it from 11.04 to 11.10. There are some things I don't like in the new version of Unity desktop interface. I don't actually know if it is hard to ...
7
votes
2answers
586 views
Get flash drive to cache disk reads to primary partition
Basically I'm looking for a way to mimic Windows' ReadyBoost.
I asked this question on Unix.SE to get an idea of whether this was even possible and it seems like it is. Appparently there is a cachefs ...
6
votes
1answer
543 views
Assign more than 1 CPU/core to a process
I lost the password to open a PDF file I need to access, so I installed pdfcrack with the hope to recover my password. Actually it's one month that pdfcrack is running but I still am waiting for the ...
6
votes
3answers
148 views
Will a package I compile myself perform better than installing from the repositories?
Does a package performance is different when it's compiled from sources, or installed from repository ? Is it possible, what during the compilation, the package will be "more adapted" (performance, ...
6
votes
2answers
3k views
Why most people recommend to reduce swappiness to 10-20?
I have seen in several site which recommend to reduce swappiness to 10-20 for better performance.
http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/998
...
6
votes
6answers
2k views
What's a good cheap video card?
Can anyone recommend a good, cheap video card that can handle modern desktop requirements? Cheap is somewhere under $50.
I'm talking about decent 3d effects for Unity and friends, as well as playing ...
6
votes
11answers
2k views
Desktop runs very slick, animations are all fast and flawless. Moving windows around, however, is very laggy. Why?
This isn't a question about Ubuntu being laggy in general - not at all, in fact, it's very slick and fast for me. Clicking the "Workspace Switcher" in the dock performs the animation immediately and ...
