Re: [ubuntu-uk] Firefox, ubuntu and tesco shopping online
William Anderson wrote: > Harry Rickards wrote: >> -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- >> Hash: SHA1 >> >> On 06/21/09 12:56, Lucy wrote: >> ... >>> You could try the User Agent Switcher Firefox plugin >>> (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/59), to 'pretend' that >>> it's running on Windows. Some websites try to detect what browser/OS >>> you're running and display the page differently. It's the main cause I >>> can think of if you're running the same browser on two different OSs. >>> >> Or just change general.useragent.extra.firefox in about:config. > > User Agent Switcher lets you change browser identity at the flick of a > drop down switch, having to wire into about:config and remember what > you're supposed to type in each time would tire rather quickly, methinks :) The browser identity is not the problem. The relevant tesco page is simply not being correctly nor completely shown. In fact it seems to be a bit intermittent, on one machine it at first did not work, then later it did work. It seems to be firefox version specific too. 3.0.10 is ok, while 3.0.11 is a problem However, a change of browser to Epiphany, worked very well. -- alan cocks Ubuntu user -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Churning hard disk, glacial startup
Not that old. I've had the computer less than two years. I doubt it's a hardware problem. 2009/6/21 Liam Wilson > Just out of curiosity, Paul, How old is the Hard drive your using? > -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Churning hard disk, glacial startup
Just out of curiosity, Paul, How old is the Hard drive your using? -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Churning hard disk, glacial startup
2009/6/21 Paul Webster : > The bootup time on my slightly aging Celeron M laptop is now close to 2 > mins. I thought Jaunty was meant to be quick in this department. > Do computers running Ubuntu gradually get slower and slower like Windows > computers do? No. Ubuntu and Linux in general is very good at maintaining itself and should run indefinitely without problems. That said, if you're anything like me and install lots of random fun-looking programs things may slow down, at least until you tidy up again by removing them! However, I don't think this is the problem here. You could try disabling dropbox and see what happens but I don't think that's the cause (more a symptom) because it shouldn't affect your boot time. Does the system monitor give your memory usage? If not, can you open a terminal (under the Accessories menu I think) and type 'free -m' (without the quotes). Copy and paste the result into a reply email please. In case it's not the memory, can you also type 'dmesg > dmesg.txt' into the same terminal please. This will create a file called dmesg.txt in your home directory. Can you copy the contents into a pastebin and give us a link please? If it turns out that it's the hard drive (the results of the above will give us a clue) then there's a program called smart-notifier that may give you some more information. I've not used it though so I don't know if it needs much/any configuration. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Churning hard disk, glacial startup
Hi Thanks very much for the suggestions. I installed iotop as instructed, but can't work out what to do with it, since it does not appear in any part of the applications menu (nor in any other menu, as far as I can see). In System Monitor, under resources, nothing seems to be using much, except for the normally harmless (and very useful) Dropbox, which seems to fluctuate between using 40% and 80% of CPU! How can that be? Dropbox is normally always available in the cluster of icons in the top panel. However, I then closed it down, and the hard disk seems to have calmed down. A search on Google reveals almost universal praise for Dropbox. One guy, however, wrote a Tweet saying "Dropbox needs to *not* hog 100% of my effing CPU when it does its thrice-hourly indexing of my files. Gr." The bootup time on my slightly aging Celeron M laptop is now close to 2 mins. I thought Jaunty was meant to be quick in this department. Do computers running Ubuntu gradually get slower and slower like Windows computers do? Paul 2009/6/21 Lucy > 2009/6/21 Matthew Daubney : > > On Sun, 2009-06-21 at 08:29 +0100, Paul Webster wrote: > >> Hi (again)! I'm a relative newcomer to Ubuntu, a refugee from the > >> Windows Wonderland, and I like it very much. However, lately the hard > >> disk churns and churns, almost all the time, and startup is very slow. > >> Even writing this email has taken a long time, because sometimes > >> everything else comes to a halt. > >> > >> Please, somebody, help! > >> > >> Paul > > > > > > Hi Paul, > > > > There's a couple of places to look to find the rogue process. First have > > a look in top (open a terminal, type top) and that should give you a > > list of everything that's eating your resources. If it's HD thats being > > eaten, install iotop (open a terminal sudo apt-get install iotop) and > > then run it (in a terminal type iotop) and that will tell you what's > > using all of your IO. > > > > Have a look at those, see if you can identify whats eating your HD, then > > report back and we'll see what we can do :) > > For a graphical alternative, go to the System menu -> Administration > -> System Monitor. > > This will obviously be slower to do than running 'top' from the > command line but may be easier to understand. > -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Firefox, ubuntu and tesco shopping online
Harry Rickards wrote: > -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- > Hash: SHA1 > > On 06/21/09 12:56, Lucy wrote: > ... >> You could try the User Agent Switcher Firefox plugin >> (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/59), to 'pretend' that >> it's running on Windows. Some websites try to detect what browser/OS >> you're running and display the page differently. It's the main cause I >> can think of if you're running the same browser on two different OSs. >> > Or just change general.useragent.extra.firefox in about:config. User Agent Switcher lets you change browser identity at the flick of a drop down switch, having to wire into about:config and remember what you're supposed to type in each time would tire rather quickly, methinks :) -n -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Churning hard disk, glacial startup
Paul Webster wrote: > Hi (again)! I'm a relative newcomer to Ubuntu, a refugee from the > Windows Wonderland, and I like it very much. However, lately the hard > disk churns and churns, almost all the time, and startup is very slow. > Even writing this email has taken a long time, because sometimes > everything else comes to a halt. > > Please, somebody, help! > > Paul When you say it's churning, do you mean the disk is constantly running? Is the drive making any clicking/knocking/whirring noises? It may be possible that the drive is on the way out. Open up a terminal and run the command dmesg Have a look and see if it mentions any errors, it may be an error like disk read error or something like that. Or it could be as suggested something using all the resources. Rob -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Firefox, ubuntu and tesco shopping online
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 On 06/21/09 12:56, Lucy wrote: ... > You could try the User Agent Switcher Firefox plugin > (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/59), to 'pretend' that > it's running on Windows. Some websites try to detect what browser/OS > you're running and display the page differently. It's the main cause I > can think of if you're running the same browser on two different OSs. > Or just change general.useragent.extra.firefox in about:config. - -- Many thanks Harry Rickards (GPG Key ID:58449F6F) - -BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK- Version: 3.1 GAT/GCM/GCS/GCC/GIT/GM d? s: a? C UL P- L+++ E--- W+++ N o K+ w--- O- M- V- PS+ PE Y+ PGP++ t 5 X R tv-- b+++ DI D G e* h! !r y? - --END GEEK CODE BLOCK-- -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iJwEAQECAAYFAko+INYACgkQ+9DWHFhEn29ckAP9GjEcqFV9gPnv9oSCu/eqssBZ 2lP20a/0Y9bEaJ9e7JBRy/l06D3qkJg8HTz8vriHbKAcr4UFJzgjkMQuij90A4bc AdPi1EoKLa9ZKiVjmyovRt1v/IXdebtirLUxu6RgeJUg5e3GBywAxaE5KApCS8f3 B8qqMyCmTWQmvumwOLw= =tiAN -END PGP SIGNATURE- -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Firefox, ubuntu and tesco shopping online
2009/6/21 alan c : > Harry Rickards wrote: >> On 06/21/09 11:04, alan c wrote: >>> I am helping someone with shopping online at tesco.com and it looks as >>> if the recent new version of firefox 3.0.11 in ubuntu (8.04.2) at >>> least, does not display the page completely, making shopping impossible. >> >>> The significant thing missing is the search field: right hand side: >> >>> >>> I'm looking for (enter product name) [search] >>> >> >>> I have used a windows machine, and look with firefox (same version >>> number 3.0.11) >>> the page is displayed fully correctly >> >>> I would appreciate comments to help with this, there is an elderly >>> tesco customer trying to do shopping.. >> >>> maybe different browsers might be a good idea? > >> >> You could try the testing version of Firefox 3.5, as it uses a different >> JavaScript rendering engine. Release Candidate 2 was released today (I >> think). > > thanks, although I am not keen to use beta stuff this would be for an > 89 year old user. > I have now found that epiphany works ok, in fact nicely fast, so I may > consider that. > firefox 3.0.10 in ubuntu does not have the problem, and 3.0.11 in > windows is ok too. You could try the User Agent Switcher Firefox plugin (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/59), to 'pretend' that it's running on Windows. Some websites try to detect what browser/OS you're running and display the page differently. It's the main cause I can think of if you're running the same browser on two different OSs. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Churning hard disk, glacial startup
2009/6/21 Matthew Daubney : > On Sun, 2009-06-21 at 08:29 +0100, Paul Webster wrote: >> Hi (again)! I'm a relative newcomer to Ubuntu, a refugee from the >> Windows Wonderland, and I like it very much. However, lately the hard >> disk churns and churns, almost all the time, and startup is very slow. >> Even writing this email has taken a long time, because sometimes >> everything else comes to a halt. >> >> Please, somebody, help! >> >> Paul > > > Hi Paul, > > There's a couple of places to look to find the rogue process. First have > a look in top (open a terminal, type top) and that should give you a > list of everything that's eating your resources. If it's HD thats being > eaten, install iotop (open a terminal sudo apt-get install iotop) and > then run it (in a terminal type iotop) and that will tell you what's > using all of your IO. > > Have a look at those, see if you can identify whats eating your HD, then > report back and we'll see what we can do :) For a graphical alternative, go to the System menu -> Administration -> System Monitor. This will obviously be slower to do than running 'top' from the command line but may be easier to understand. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Churning hard disk, glacial startup
On Sun, 2009-06-21 at 08:29 +0100, Paul Webster wrote: > Hi (again)! I'm a relative newcomer to Ubuntu, a refugee from the > Windows Wonderland, and I like it very much. However, lately the hard > disk churns and churns, almost all the time, and startup is very slow. > Even writing this email has taken a long time, because sometimes > everything else comes to a halt. > > Please, somebody, help! > > Paul Hi Paul, There's a couple of places to look to find the rogue process. First have a look in top (open a terminal, type top) and that should give you a list of everything that's eating your resources. If it's HD thats being eaten, install iotop (open a terminal sudo apt-get install iotop) and then run it (in a terminal type iotop) and that will tell you what's using all of your IO. Have a look at those, see if you can identify whats eating your HD, then report back and we'll see what we can do :) -Matt Daubney signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Firefox, ubuntu and tesco shopping online
Harry Rickards wrote: > On 06/21/09 11:04, alan c wrote: >> I am helping someone with shopping online at tesco.com and it looks as >> if the recent new version of firefox 3.0.11 in ubuntu (8.04.2) at >> least, does not display the page completely, making shopping impossible. > >> The significant thing missing is the search field: right hand side: > >> >> I'm looking for (enter product name) [search] >> > >> I have used a windows machine, and look with firefox (same version >> number 3.0.11) >> the page is displayed fully correctly > >> I would appreciate comments to help with this, there is an elderly >> tesco customer trying to do shopping.. > >> maybe different browsers might be a good idea? > > You could try the testing version of Firefox 3.5, as it uses a different > JavaScript rendering engine. Release Candidate 2 was released today (I > think). thanks, although I am not keen to use beta stuff this would be for an 89 year old user. I have now found that epiphany works ok, in fact nicely fast, so I may consider that. firefox 3.0.10 in ubuntu does not have the problem, and 3.0.11 in windows is ok too. -- alan cocks Ubuntu user #10391 Linux user #360648 -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Firefox, ubuntu and tesco shopping online
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 On 06/21/09 11:04, alan c wrote: > I am helping someone with shopping online at tesco.com and it looks as > if the recent new version of firefox 3.0.11 in ubuntu (8.04.2) at > least, does not display the page completely, making shopping impossible. > > The significant thing missing is the search field: right hand side: > > > I'm looking for (enter product name) [search] > > > I have used a windows machine, and look with firefox (same version > number 3.0.11) > the page is displayed fully correctly > > I would appreciate comments to help with this, there is an elderly > tesco customer trying to do shopping.. > > maybe different browsers might be a good idea? > You could try the testing version of Firefox 3.5, as it uses a different JavaScript rendering engine. Release Candidate 2 was released today (I think). - -- Many thanks Harry Rickards (GPG Key ID:58449F6F) - -BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK- Version: 3.1 GAT/GCM/GCS/GCC/GIT/GM d? s: a? C UL P- L+++ E--- W+++ N o K+ w--- O- M- V- PS+ PE Y+ PGP++ t 5 X R tv-- b+++ DI D G e* h! !r y? - --END GEEK CODE BLOCK-- -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iJwEAQECAAYFAko+DKsACgkQ+9DWHFhEn2/IkAP+PuW0QXqWdgmRdYx0RuDWGytd 9AsTDMywSrEzXjOaY11ugWPqNccU6ulv5EefIwt2ejzPXd85Yrfr5uhW78AkN6/B g2y2/RPjyaIkwLtyeU780TnfygVlPvqxM5XxIOjJC43ugrb6dDQyvrCk/Z8jinLB QxRi8Q2p4y8TQGPskVM= =7RSA -END PGP SIGNATURE- -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Firefox, ubuntu and tesco shopping online
I am helping someone with shopping online at tesco.com and it looks as if the recent new version of firefox 3.0.11 in ubuntu (8.04.2) at least, does not display the page completely, making shopping impossible. The significant thing missing is the search field: right hand side: I'm looking for (enter product name) [search] I have used a windows machine, and look with firefox (same version number 3.0.11) the page is displayed fully correctly I would appreciate comments to help with this, there is an elderly tesco customer trying to do shopping.. maybe different browsers might be a good idea? -- alan cocks Ubuntu user #10391 Linux user #360648 -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Churning hard disk, glacial startup
Hi (again)! I'm a relative newcomer to Ubuntu, a refugee from the Windows Wonderland, and I like it very much. However, lately the hard disk churns and churns, almost all the time, and startup is very slow. Even writing this email has taken a long time, because sometimes everything else comes to a halt. Please, somebody, help! Paul -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
