528 install runs very slow in old laptop with 256 MB RAM

[nico_greco]

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]

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

[Dewbie]

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.

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

PM Flash and ask him to move it to the beginner's section.

[pacer106]

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

[Dewbie]

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]

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.

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

PM Flash and ask him to move it to the beginner's section.

Wow!!! that is the fastest response i have got in forums ever! thank you guys!!!!
I tried what u suggest..to create swap partition..but for some reason gparted stop with error... ( i DO unmount my drive before using Gparted)

GParted 0.8.0

Libparted 2.3
Shrink /dev/sda1 from 18.63 GiB to 18.33 GiB 00:00:01 ( ERROR )

calibrate /dev/sda1 00:00:01 ( SUCCESS )

path: /dev/sda1
start: 2048
end: 39069695
size: 39067648 (18.63 GiB)
check file system on /dev/sda1 for errors and (if possible) fix them 00:00:00 ( ERROR )

e2fsck -f -y -v /dev/sda1

/dev/sda1 is mounted.
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
e2fsck: Cannot continue, aborting.

Also..i will pm Flash for moving post soon!

[nico_greco]

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

I will try what you suggest if nothing else works.. I will persist on this version of puppy for a while!

[Dewbie]

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

[nico_greco]

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

I pm-ed flash and told him the mess i caused... :/ sorry about that once more..

Could u please tell me how i do that..?? puppy pfic=ram (safe mode)
I just boot from the cd again right??

[Dewbie]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

There is definetly something weird happening with my laptop... in htop pocess manager when i open firefox and browse only 1 tab..it says im using 99% and 100% of my cpu...ram usage looks normal..almost 80/256 used...and swap it always says 0/256 used...

So i downloaded sea monkey..made it default.. and exactly the same thing hapened...

I tried what u suggested...and here is what it says..
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
rootfs 19G 8.0G 9.3G 47% /
/dev/root 19G 8.0G 9.3G 47% /
shmfs 59M 0 59M 0% /dev/shm
/dev/sda1 19G 8.0G 9.3G 47% /mnt/sda1
sh-4.1#

shmfs must be swap partition..but looks different in size...weird..in gpartedand htop it s 256mb

[Dewbie]

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.

[nico_greco]

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.

Thank you Dewbie for all you suggestions and support...i will be testing today all of the versions u linked above to see what fits best!
I will come back for some good conclusions..hopefully! 8D

[Dewbie]

nico_greco wrote:

Memory RAM : 247MB

I wrote:

You REALLY need a Linux swap partition...at least 256 MB

By the way, I mistakenly transposed the numbers...sorry about that.
I should have said 265.
247 + 265 = 512.
In general, 512MB is the number to shoot for, either all RAM or RAM + swap.

However, in your case, this shouldn't make any real difference.
So just leave it as is, unless you feel compelled to change it.
(Swap-resizing instructions here.)

[nico_greco]

nico_greco wrote:

Memory RAM : 247MB

I wrote:

You REALLY need a Linux swap partition...at least 256 MB

By the way, I mistakenly transposed the numbers...sorry about that.
I should have said 265.
247 + 265 = 512.
In general, 512MB is the number to shoot for, either all RAM or RAM + swap.

However, in your case, this shouldn't make any real difference.
So just leave it as is, unless you feel compelled to change it.
(Swap-resizing instructions here.)

(Swap partition changed to 265mb as suggested!)
ok....i have some feedback..but unfortunately..it doesn't look very good...

So far i ve tried with frugal install:
1) puppy 214 RC5 =>no video..no audio..no ethernet internet..in both xvesa and xorg
2)puppy 214 top4 =>no audio..no ethernet in both xorg and xvesa.. video yes only in xvesa
3)puppy Lucid Retro 525-2.6.30.5-v4 =>loads everything fine done.done.done..but does NOT start and shuts down laptop.. :S
4)Wary 5.1.1 alternate .iso=> everything works..but compared to lucid 512..maybe a 10% better..but still not good enough..glitchy videos on hdd..e.g. tv series.. glitchy browsing with seamonkey...and does not see swap partition on process manager...maybe if i full install it i could see a btter performance..but still not satisfied enough to go with it..

Any other suggestions please???

P.s. I feel i ve gone far in just 3 days of use of puppies! i feel a changed person moving from windoows.. like 65% but still a long way to go..to make crappy laptop user friendly and multimedia capable..am i asking too much maybe?? i dont know.. Any other gurus out there..wanna hack my system and fix it?? i have friends episodes on hdd in return! ehehe..

[rjbrewer]

What is the make and model number of this laptop?

I have not seen any laptops with 1Ghz cpu that will play
a youtube video smoothly; regardless of the amount of
ram available.

Usually takes something like 1.6Ghz or 1.3Ghz dual core.

The video card has a lot to do with it.
There may be a bios setting that will help.

[nico_greco]

What is the make and model number of this laptop?

I have not seen any laptops with 1Ghz cpu that will play
a youtube video smoothly; regardless of the amount of
ram available.

Usually takes something like 1.6Ghz or 1.3Ghz dual core.

The video card has a lot to do with it.
There may be a bios setting that will help.

it's a fujitsu siemens amilo d series cy23.
celeron 1.1ghz
256ram
via technologies pro savage pm133 motherboard
s3 prosavage video card probably embeded
accton technologies ethernet controller.

fujitsu siemens do not have its drivers anymore on their website...mailed them and they said they do not support it any more..
it is forgotten obviously by gods and demons..

I just need a functional laptop until i can buy a new one.. :/ life sucks