Re: [ubuntu-uk] Zoostorm laptop at ebuyer.com
On 23/01/13 15:57, Mark Fraser wrote: On 18 January 2013 09:32, Simon Greenwood sfgreenw...@gmail.com mailto:sfgreenw...@gmail.com wrote: On 18 Jan 2013 07:59, Mark Fraser mfraz74+ubu...@gmail.com mailto:mfraz74%2bubu...@gmail.com wrote: Found this zoostorm laptop on ebuyer's website http://www.ebuyer.com/411061- zoostorm-laptop-7873-9042 and was wondering if it would be suitable for installing Ubuntu on. Some of the comments mention lack of Debian drivers for wi-fi, but there are instructions on how to compile drivers although I don't fancy going through that every time the kernel changes. There are plenty of more well known names around that price that have better support for Ubuntu. The Lenovo G700 series immediately come to mind, mostly because I've got one. A Clemo laptop from pcspecialist.co.uk http://pcspecialist.co.uk should have a similar spec for that price and they support Ubuntu as they are the same models that System76 sell. Had a look around PCSpecialist and am considering either the Genesis IV or Enigma IV. I was thinking of including a blu-ray driver seeing as VLC now supports them, but would Intel HD Graphics 4000 work or should I go for the NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M? I also buy from PCSpecialist, their laptops are a similar Clevo chassis to the Zoostorm but you get higher spec for lower price with the Zoostorm laptop. I just bought a PCSpecialist mini ITX since Zoostorm desktop boxes sound like low-flying aircraft. I bought the Zoostorm laptop to replace a Lenovo G500 which I accidentally left in Starbucks on Freiburg Central Station before xmas. The Lenovo was fine but it weighed a ton, I had to pay Windows tax on it (not available naked) and the spec per £ ratio is even lower with low-end Lenovos than it is with the (naked) PCSpecialist Clevos. the more expensive PC specialist laptops have prettier cases, I'd rather have the RAM though ;) Paula Paula -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Zoostorm laptop at ebuyer.com
On 06/02/13 13:37, Paula Graham wrote: I also buy from PCSpecialist, their laptops are a similar Clevo chassis to the Zoostorm but you get higher spec for lower price with the Zoostorm laptop. I just bought a PCSpecialist mini ITX since Zoostorm desktop boxes sound like low-flying aircraft. I bought the Zoostorm laptop to replace a Lenovo G500 which I accidentally left in Starbucks on Freiburg Central Station before xmas. The Lenovo was fine but it weighed a ton, I had to pay Windows tax on it (not available naked) and the spec per £ ratio is even lower with low-end Lenovos than it is with the (naked) PCSpecialist Clevos. the more expensive PC specialist laptops have prettier cases, I'd rather have the RAM though ;) Paula Linux Emporium do quite a range of Lenovo's with Ubuntu ready installed. I suppose when you rate the machines against the prices, you find that for any given price you're getting less of a machine, because the margin they charge for the installation is not inconsiderable. But they do work - even the radio interfaces, and for all I know, the Bluetooth interfaces too. Their installations, incidentally, are quite elaborate multi-partition affairs, probably intended for developers rather than mere nerds like me. When you run a major upgrade on them, you have the option of losing all that and getting some more free space. Rowan -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Logon to desktop lag
I'm getting concerned about my log-on to desktop time of 30-40 seconds! It used to be 10 seconds. A while ago possible* after some updates it slowed to the above [as it has been now for some time]. This has been my experience soon after [ still using] 12.04. It used to be: 9 secs when good on this pooter. 30 secs when first slowed, now up to 40 secs - no recent updates would account for it. Once loaded everything is fast hunky dory. Instinct tells me wifi is slowing it - but no proof whatsoever. I cannot pin down what happens to slow it down or, indeed, what magic occasionally brings it back to 10secs. All ideas [apart from get a new pooter, update to 12.10, move to 13.04] gratefully received. Running: Precise [12.04.2] Dell Dimension E520 Graphics card added is nVidia GeForce 210 PCIe Kernel is 3.2.0-37 Memory 2GB Processor Intel Core2 CPU 6420 @ 2.13GHz × 2 nVidia driver 304.64 I'm sure there's a 100 other bits of info that would be helpful... please ask if wanted. I'm also sure a boot logger *might* help - but darned if I can remember name of it! Used it a long time ago but name eludes me, can't find it in synaptic searches - doh! Thanks in anticipation. -- Cheers, Bill B. [SuperEngineer] -- -Registered Linux User 523667- -Registered Ubuntu User 32366- -Free as in Freedom-- -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Logon to desktop lag
On 06/02/13 20:38, SuperEngineer wrote: I'm also sure a boot logger *might* help - but darned if I can remember name of it! Used it a long time ago but name eludes me, can't find it in synaptic searches - doh! Bootchart probably. Click this to install it.. apt://bootchart Once installed, reboot, login, wait for everything to settle. Once done the bootchart should be in /var/log/bootchart. Cheers, -- Alan Pope Engineering Manager Canonical - Product Strategy +44 (0) 7973 620 164 alan.p...@canonical.com http://ubuntu.com/ -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Logon to desktop lag
On Wed, 2013-02-06 at 21:53 +, Alan Pope wrote: Bootchart probably. Click this to install it.. apt://bootchart Thanks Alan. -- Cheers, Bill B. [SuperEngineer] -- -Registered Linux User 523667- -Registered Ubuntu User 32366- -Free as in Freedom-- -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Logon to desktop lag
On 6 February 2013 20:38, SuperEngineer boo...@gmail.com wrote: I'm getting concerned about my log-on to desktop time of 30-40 seconds! When you say log-on to desktop time do you mean the time between logging on and getting to the desktop, or do you mean the time taken to boot the PC? Colin It used to be 10 seconds. A while ago possible* after some updates it slowed to the above [as it has been now for some time]. This has been my experience soon after [ still using] 12.04. It used to be: 9 secs when good on this pooter. 30 secs when first slowed, now up to 40 secs - no recent updates would account for it. Once loaded everything is fast hunky dory. Instinct tells me wifi is slowing it - but no proof whatsoever. I cannot pin down what happens to slow it down or, indeed, what magic occasionally brings it back to 10secs. All ideas [apart from get a new pooter, update to 12.10, move to 13.04] gratefully received. Running: Precise [12.04.2] Dell Dimension E520 Graphics card added is nVidia GeForce 210 PCIe Kernel is 3.2.0-37 Memory 2GB Processor Intel Core2 CPU 6420 @ 2.13GHz × 2 nVidia driver 304.64 I'm sure there's a 100 other bits of info that would be helpful... please ask if wanted. I'm also sure a boot logger *might* help - but darned if I can remember name of it! Used it a long time ago but name eludes me, can't find it in synaptic searches - doh! Thanks in anticipation. -- Cheers, Bill B. [SuperEngineer] -- -Registered Linux User 523667- -Registered Ubuntu User 32366- -Free as in Freedom-- -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/ -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Logon to desktop lag
On Wed, 2013-02-06 at 22:04 +, Colin Law wrote: do you mean the time between logging on and getting to the desktop, or do you mean the time taken to boot the PC? Colin, I mean the time from entering password at lightdm screen pressing Enter to the time for a working desktop to fully load. [ by fully load - I mean showing notification area launcher] -- Cheers, Bill B. [SuperEngineer] -- -Registered Linux User 523667- -Registered Ubuntu User 32366- -Free as in Freedom-- -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu unusably slow
My system has never been much cop. Despite being only 5 months old it struggles to play an mp3 and browse the web at the same time. No idea why. However tonight it ground to a halt, the hard drive access light went mad and the mouse stopped moving. Then it moved in jerks and a variety of windows greyed out and came back again over and over. The system did recover eventually but I've never seen Ubuntu act in this way, something I used to see all the time with Windows. I was able to load the system monitor and capture a few snapshots of the running processes. They don't look right to me, the useage of Thunderbird and Firefox seems far too high and the duplicated processes seemed a bit odd too. I just wondered what you guys made of it. www.cliftonts.co.uk/system1.png www.cliftonts.co.uk/system1.png www.cliftonts.co.uk/system2.png -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Logon to desktop lag
On Wed, 2013-02-06 at 21:53 +, Alan Pope wrote: Bootchart probably. Alan, solved. A thousand thanks. Bootchart proved the one thing I'd got so used to I'd forgotten it might be a cause. Cairo dock loading at start up on a Unity desktop - used to be fine but no longer so it appears... it's in constant conflict when used with Unity if loaded at start up [rather than after start up]. I'd report a bug but I suspect it's just a case that I was pushing boundaries too far for this ol' pooter. Again, thank you. -- Cheers, Bill B. [SuperEngineer] -- -Registered Linux User 523667- -Registered Ubuntu User 32366- -Free as in Freedom-- -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu unusably slow
On 6 Feb 2013 22:31, Gareth France gareth.fra...@gmail.com wrote: My system has never been much cop. Despite being only 5 months old it struggles to play an mp3 and browse the web at the same time. No idea why. However tonight it ground to a halt, the hard drive access light went mad and the mouse stopped moving. Then it moved in jerks and a variety of windows greyed out and came back again over and over. The system did recover eventually but I've never seen Ubuntu act in this way, something I used to see all the time with Windows. I was able to load the system monitor and capture a few snapshots of the running processes. They don't look right to me, the useage of Thunderbird and Firefox seems far too high and the duplicated processes seemed a bit odd too. I just wondered what you guys made of it. That usage seems pretty typical for firefox under heavy load. What are the specs of your machine and have you chrcked the hard drive is passing the SMART test in Disk Utility? -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu unusably slow
On 06/02/13 22:49, Kris Douglas wrote: On 6 Feb 2013 22:31, Gareth France gareth.fra...@gmail.com mailto:gareth.fra...@gmail.com wrote: My system has never been much cop. Despite being only 5 months old it struggles to play an mp3 and browse the web at the same time. No idea why. However tonight it ground to a halt, the hard drive access light went mad and the mouse stopped moving. Then it moved in jerks and a variety of windows greyed out and came back again over and over. The system did recover eventually but I've never seen Ubuntu act in this way, something I used to see all the time with Windows. I was able to load the system monitor and capture a few snapshots of the running processes. They don't look right to me, the useage of Thunderbird and Firefox seems far too high and the duplicated processes seemed a bit odd too. I just wondered what you guys made of it. That usage seems pretty typical for firefox under heavy load. What are the specs of your machine and have you chrcked the hard drive is passing the SMART test in Disk Utility? The laptop has a P6200 processor, Intel HD graphics, 500GB healthy hard disk and 4GB DDR3 RAM, however continues to be outshone by the antique with 60GB HDD it replaced. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu unusably slow
On Wed, 6 Feb 2013, Gareth France wrote: www.cliftonts.co.uk/system1.png www.cliftonts.co.uk/system2.png 'plugin-container' 100% That's the flash player; something flash on a website has probably gone AWOL. Various streaming sites still use flash-based media-players and one of these probably has suboptimal programming. Either that or a flash-based advert. Killing 'plugin-container', or closing and restarting Firefox may help considerably. -Paul -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu unusably slow
On 6 February 2013 22:30, Gareth France gareth.fra...@gmail.com wrote: My system has never been much cop. Despite being only 5 months old it struggles to play an mp3 and browse the web at the same time. No idea why. However tonight it ground to a halt, the hard drive access light went mad and the mouse stopped moving. Then it moved in jerks and a variety of windows greyed out and came back again over and over. The system did recover eventually but I've never seen Ubuntu act in this way, something I used to see all the time with Windows. I was able to load the system monitor and capture a few snapshots of the running processes. They don't look right to me, the useage of Thunderbird and Firefox seems far too high and the duplicated processes seemed a bit odd too. I just wondered what you guys made of it. www.cliftonts.co.uk/system1.png www.cliftonts.co.uk/system2.png -- I had this with 9.04 64 bit on a Dell XPS with a Mobile Centrino CPU and it also related to Firefox, Thunderbird and Adobe plugins - YouTube would cause the Flash plugin to spin up to 99% CPU as it seems to be on the way to doing on your machine. Adobe Air also did the same, so the answer was to stop using Adobe products. I never really got to the bottom of it and it didn't happen with 10.04 and hasn't happened since. s/ -- Twitter: @sfgreenwood TBA are particularly glib -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu unusably slow
On 06/02/13 22:59, Paul Sladen wrote: On Wed, 6 Feb 2013, Gareth France wrote: www.cliftonts.co.uk/system1.png www.cliftonts.co.uk/system2.png 'plugin-container' 100% That's the flash player; something flash on a website has probably gone AWOL. Various streaming sites still use flash-based media-players and one of these probably has suboptimal programming. Either that or a flash-based advert. Killing 'plugin-container', or closing and restarting Firefox may help considerably. -Paul I have thought for a while now that selected websites seem to bring this machine to it's knees. But why is this brand new machine so easily affected when my antique one would happily run 5 tabs in firefox, music and video in vlc and thunderbird without breaking a sweat? -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu unusably slow
On 06/02/13 23:01, Simon Greenwood wrote: On 6 February 2013 22:30, Gareth France gareth.fra...@gmail.com mailto:gareth.fra...@gmail.com wrote: My system has never been much cop. Despite being only 5 months old it struggles to play an mp3 and browse the web at the same time. No idea why. However tonight it ground to a halt, the hard drive access light went mad and the mouse stopped moving. Then it moved in jerks and a variety of windows greyed out and came back again over and over. The system did recover eventually but I've never seen Ubuntu act in this way, something I used to see all the time with Windows. I was able to load the system monitor and capture a few snapshots of the running processes. They don't look right to me, the useage of Thunderbird and Firefox seems far too high and the duplicated processes seemed a bit odd too. I just wondered what you guys made of it. www.cliftonts.co.uk/system1.png http://www.cliftonts.co.uk/system1.png www.cliftonts.co.uk/system2.png http://www.cliftonts.co.uk/system2.png -- I had this with 9.04 64 bit on a Dell XPS with a Mobile Centrino CPU and it also related to Firefox, Thunderbird and Adobe plugins - YouTube would cause the Flash plugin to spin up to 99% CPU as it seems to be on the way to doing on your machine. Adobe Air also did the same, so the answer was to stop using Adobe products. I never really got to the bottom of it and it didn't happen with 10.04 and hasn't happened since. s/ -- Twitter: @sfgreenwood TBA are particularly glib To the best of my knowledge I wasn't using Adobe Air at the time. And as for Flash, of course I don't choose how others design their sites. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu unusably slow
On 6 February 2013 23:05, Gareth France gareth.fra...@gmail.com wrote: To the best of my knowledge I wasn't using Adobe Air at the time. And as for Flash, of course I don't choose how others design their sites. But you can choose what software to run on your computer. Have you tried a flash blocker? Or a different browser? Or a different version of the flash plugin? If you open the same tabs in Chrome, does it behave differently? I seem to remember that Chrome comes with its own flash plugin, so may well be worth a try. It could be that the new machine hits a bug in the flash plugin that the old machine did not. -- Philip Stubbs -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
