(OLD) (ARCHIVED) Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

nico_greco · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 14

Hello everybody!

My name is Nico and I am a newbie in the linux world... My regular laptop died which was running on xp and now I am stuck with an old one that was saved in a closet for ages..(i will give description of the stonehedge laptop below).

The problem is that this laptop is reeealy old..it used to be running (if u can say that) on xp too like my other machine.. but it was tooooo damn slow...Ii manged to install Puppy Linux on hard disk..! i did that because i was hoping for much better performance than runnning the live CD..

I was really hoping for that..but unfortunately it looks even slower than stupid xp.. is that possible?????

Browsing with Firefox is toooooo slow...multi tabs are almost impossible! 4 is the limit and id you go further you have to wait until you are 50 years old to see response.
Youtube is out of the question..facebook takes 1-2 mins to load.
And also..and equally important videos on my hdd are out of synd..audio with video..and framerate is almost like a slideshow..no kidding...
Even just writing feels slow write now!!!!!

Do u have any idea what i am doing wrong?? or what i should do??
Is something wrong with the drivers???
P.S. everything works(sound video etc) but everything is toooooo slow!

Below are my laptop's specs!

Puppy version 528 installed on HDD

Processor : Celeron (Coppermine)
Vendor : Intel
-Configuration-
Cache Size : 128kb
Frequency : 1094.35MHz
BogoMIPS : 2188.70
Byte Order : Little Endian
-Features-
FDIV Bug : no
HLT Bug : no
F00F Bug : no
Coma Bug : no
Has FPU : yes

Memory RAM : 247MB

-OpenGL-
Vendor : S3 Graphics Inc.
Renderer : Mesa DRI Twister 20061110 x86/MMX/SSE

Audio Adapter : VIA686A - VIA 82C686A/B rev50

nico_greco · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 14

i think i should NOT post this here...sorry for that..but i cannot find how to delete it now.. :/

Dewbie · Joined: 15 Apr 2010 Posts: 1779

You REALLY need a Linux swap partition...at least 256 MB:
http://puppylinux.org/main/Manual-English.htm#Manual04
Which version of Puppy Linux are you using?

With 1.1G, video shouldn't be a problem.
I think the lack of swap is killing it.

pacer106 · Joined: 11 Jan 2011 Posts: 365

There are a few threads that address versions of puppy for older hardware/computers.

Here is 1. http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=72583

Depending on the processor speed watching videos is probably out of the question. I would suggest Classic Pup which can be found here:http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=42553

You can also do a little searching around with wellminded puppy search: http://www.wellminded.com/puppy/pupsearch.html

Hope you find something to work Smile

Dewbie · Joined: 15 Apr 2010 Posts: 1779

He has 1.1G, though.
Usually the cut-off point for decent video is around 600-700MHz.

That box should be able to run Wary, no problem.
(This one's a 350MHz--probably 2-3 years older than his--and runs both Wary 5.1.1 alternate .isos just fine.)

nico_greco · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 14

nico_greco · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 14

Dewbie · Joined: 15 Apr 2010 Posts: 1779

Sorry I forgot to mention this, but you have to boot to puppy pfix=ram mode (safe mode) before using GParted.

nico_greco · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 14

Dewbie · Joined: 15 Apr 2010 Posts: 1779

Yes, just boot from CD.
You should be given a list of options.
Choose puppy pfix=ram.
(quickly; you only have 5 seconds)

If you need to resize swap partition, go here.

nico_greco · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 14

Well.. I did as you guys suggested..created a swap partition...but nothing is changed..still..slow as death..
Am i supposed to do something else after creating the swap partition??
Also..any other suggestions other than..trying older puppy versions..
Ps. im running lucid 528 right now..
Thanx

Dewbie · Joined: 15 Apr 2010 Posts: 1779

Wary and Classic Pup 2.14x are not older versions.
They are current, but built for older computers.
Give them a try:

Wary
(Wary 5.1.1 has an alternate .iso folder; kernel 2.6.30.5 runs well with lots of older hardware.)

Classic Pup 2.14x

muggins · Joined: 20 Jan 2006 Posts: 6759 Location: hobart

If you open a console, (Menu>Utility>Urxvt), and enter the command free it will show you the amount of ram you have &, hopefully, also your swap.

nico_greco · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 14

Dewbie · Joined: 15 Apr 2010 Posts: 1779

Theoretically, nico's box has enough horsepower to run Lucid.
But there are always exceptions.

For example, this old 350MHz PII should run Classic Pup 2.14x, no problem.

But it does the same thing that Lucid does with nico's box...redlines the CPU (as soon as I go online) and binds things up really bad.

Wary 5.1.1, and Puppy Linux 4.3.1 and 4.1.2 are all easy on my processor.
With them, everything's nice and quick.

It's time to experiment with some of the above suggestions, nico.
And make sure you keep that swap, because eventually you're gonna need it. Smile