Ubuntu's performance : how to speed up ?

[Vincent Trouilliez]

> There are a lot of documents written about running linux entirely from
> RAM, if you really want a quick computer this is the way to do 

Well I don't want to go that far, I only would like to preload a very
restritced set of programs that I use regularly and are always too long
to load to my taste. Mostly, X-Plane.

> it but you have to remember to write out each time you shut down

I was thinking that Linux could sync the data regularly, as a cron job
or something, for example ?

> (good time to get a UPS while you're at it).

Huuuu... what is a "UPS" ?! :o)

> In addition to getting a kernel specific to your architecture 

Didn't help at all on my machine :o(

> Finally, if you're on a slightly older computer you can try running
> something a little lighter such as XFCE

I think the machine (1.5GHz and 512MB of RAM) is plenty fast enough, as
Win XP and Office and Outlook and internet explorer etc, load and
execute at the speed of light. The problem is the corresponding programs
in Linux, are 20 times slower. I fail to understand why this is the
case, so all I can do is firstly to cross fingers that developpers are
working hard on it, and secondly, try to speed up my machine to
compensate a bit for this problem.
Yesterday I was haivng problems with my internet connection (that's why
I am replying a bit late...), and started Windows to see if interent was
working there. Out of curiosity, I started Outlook Express, it loaded at
the speed of light. Then when I hit the "reply to" icon, the compsing
window was also ready in a matter of milliseconds. In comparison,
Evolution feels so slow and sluggish, why ?
Sam for Excel files. Excel loads in a heart beat, and loads files
instantly. In Linux, both OO and Gnumeric need several minutes to load
the same files. Why ?
RAM is not a problem, with 512MB, according to Gnome's system monitor, I
never use any swap at all, unless I run X-Plane.
Regardless of how much stuff they need to load from the disk, apps
always are so "sluggish" to load. But, so lightening fast in Win XP. 
This is one of the main thing that spoils the pleasure of using Linux,
in my case.  It seems that no matter how fast the machine, it's always
sluggish with some apps. :o(

> Harddrives are by far the slowest thing in a computer, 

Yes, I can't wait to put the money together (so skint right now), for a
modern IDE drive.

> Ram is cheap too so it sounds like loading up on RAM would be
> a good way for you. 

With 512MB it's plenty enough in most circunstance. But I can go up to
1GB max, which would handy when I run X-Plane or have several Gnumeric
or OOo instances running at the same time...


Vince, needs disk+RAM :-)