If you run top and send its output to a file somewhere from before you
start Gnome and go through it after your performance peak. It might be
worth checking this log to find out which process is eating up those
resources. It might be something which you can turn off.
If its a standalone often Linux is running a load of stuff that isn't
really necessary. eg. look in the crontab and startup files in /etc/rc.d
check out what daemons are running and how they are configured.
Syslogd often sends loads of stuff to /var/adm etc.
Martin Sarosi
-----Original Message-----
From: Vangrieken, Peter [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 04 February 2000 10:25
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Performance problem
Yesterday I did what you suggested, but I found nothing to worry about.
The
memory is used for about 90% (running the gnome desktop, no custom apps
running but a terminal) and swapfile is hardly used at all. CPU is more
than
90% idle. I now have an applet running in gnome where I can check
memory,
swapfile and cpu usage in real time. I noticed that when I start
linuxconf
in gnome and I want to select any sub menu (eg acces local drives, ...)
CPU
usage goes to 100% for little over 8 seconds while nothing happens on
screen. After that the page is displayed and CPU usage drops back to
10%.
Is it possible I have too much installed on hda2? That partition is used
for
88%. I also noticed that my swap partition is not 100Mb, but only 50Mb.
Maybe that's not enough (even though it is hardly used at all)? I have
the
KDE desktop and the gnome desktop installed together because I want to
see
wich one I like best. When I log on in in RedHat I can choose wich
desktop I
want. Maybe I should just install KDE? Or is there an other desktop
environment that uses less resources?
Peter
> ----------
> From: Ray Olszewski[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: donderdag 3 februari 2000 3:44
> To: Vangrieken, Peter ; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Performance problem
>
> I didn't see anyone else respond to this. I can't be of any immediate
help
> to you, but perhaps I can pose a few clarifying questions.
>
> A P110 system with 48 mB RAM should be performing better than what you
> describe. The speed problems sound like the result fo heavy swapping
...
> but
> I wouldn't expet heavy swapping on a typical, one-user system with as
much
> memory as yours. So I wonder if you are unintentionally running a lot
of
> unneeded background aps.
>
> Take a look at the output of "free" -- the second line -- the one that
> says
> "-/+ buffers/cache" and see if it shows a lot of swap space used. If
it
> does, use "ps ax" or "top" to see what the most active and largest
> processes
> are. Some background processes, like syslogd, crond, and inetd, are
pretty
> standard, but you may be running a lot of unneeded stuff.
>
> You also say you installed the system "with the gnome and KDE
desktop".
> Gnome and KDE are distinct (dare I say "competing") desktop
environments;
> I
> wonder what you are actually running. In any case, both use a lot of
> system
> resources; consdier the possibility that your X environment is using a
lot
> of memory (or CPU time) running processes you don't want running. Once
> again, "ps ax" and "top" will get you started identifying the
processes.
>
> Relatively slow startup of Linux systems, compared to Windows on the
same
> equipment, is normal. Linux does more fresh setting up at boot time;
> WIndows
> remembers more from the prior run. A custom kernel, with only the
modules
> you actually use included on the system, would shave a bit of time.
Also
> notice if there is a long delay (around 2 minutes) after the "starting
> syslogd" message -- that can indicate a DNS setup error.
>
> The consistent 10-second delay in starting applications that you
report
> does
> puzzle me. I don't even know what more to ask.
>
> At 10:04 AM 2/2/00 -0000, Vangrieken, Peter wrote:
> >
> > I'm finally getting the way linux works! But I have a
performance
> >problem: I now have a laptop (P100, 48Mb ram, 1.2 gb ide harddisk
> >partitioned like this: 500 mb windows98 (hda1), 100 mb swap, 600 mb
Linux
> >(hda2)). I installed redhat 6.1 with the gnome and KDE desktop, and
lilo
> as
> >the bootloader on hda1. When I start windows up, everything goes very
> >smoothly (like a normal P100 would do - even office 2000 runs like a
> >breeze), but with Linux everything goes abnormally slow (eg it takes
> about 6
> >seconds for the popup menus to appear, and yesterday it took me over
an
> hour
> >to install a 2.3Mb RPM file! When the computer starts up, it stops
for
> about
> >30 seconds when the message 'checking module dependencies' appears
while
> >total startup-time exceeds 4 minutes! When I start a program
(anything at
> >all either from the desktop or a terminal) the computer does nothing
for
> >about 10 seconds before the hard disk reads something even though the
> hard
> >disk is not powerd down (power management is turned off in bios).
> > Is this normal? Did I install something wrong, or is this laptop
> >just not powerful enough do run a decent OS? I noticed that when I
start
> the
> >gnome desktop (without any applications running), memory is 91% used.
I
> >guess I could just reïnstall Linux to solve this (the first time I
used
> >linux on my home pc - a PII400 with 512Mb ram and SCSI hd - I had a
> similar
> >performance problem. I reïnstalled Linux, and the problem was
solved),
> but I
> >want to know what exactly is wrong (can't learn anything if I just
take
> it
> >the easy way and reïnstall).
>
> ------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"---
> Ray Olszewski -- Han Solo
> Palo Alto, CA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
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