# [Question]:Making Ubuntu 8.04 Gnome faster



## gary4gar (Jun 4, 2008)

how do i make Ubuntu Faster.
* i want to decrease boot up & shutdown time
* Firefox takes 12 secs to load
* Maybe i need to recompile the kernel, for faster performance


Hardware:
Amd Athlon 64 3000+
MSI-K8MM-V
1GB DDR RAM
NVIDIA 6200 128mb card.


Please suggestion


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## Dark Star (Jun 4, 2008)

*news.softpedia.com/news/Optimize-Ubuntu-8-04-for-Speed-86405.shtml


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## gary4gar (Jun 4, 2008)

Done The above Tips, Also i now remember i don't have a /SWAP. will having a /SWAP speed up? If yes, then how do i create SWAP without damaging the existing partition structure.

```
gaurish@Moody-Machine:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for gaurish: 

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2acb2acb

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        1958    15727603+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2            1959        3263    10482412+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3            3264        9729    51938145    7  HPFS/NTFS
```

and one more thing i just noticed,  sda3 is mounted as ext3 partition 

```
gaurish@Moody-Machine:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
# /dev/sda2
UUID=b97d29a7-6878-4c38-95c0-4fdc785cbd35 /               ext3    noatime,nodiratime,errors=remount-ro,data=writeback 0       1
[B]# /dev/sda3
UUID=e05c12c9-281a-4a3c-8c62-a4e9a7f8a817 /media/downloads ext3    relatime        0       2
[/B]# /dev/sda1
UUID=3080B56980B535E6 /media/windows  ntfs    defaults,umask=007,gid=46 0       1
/dev/scd0       /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0
/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0
```



Dark Star said:


> *news.softpedia.com/news/Optimize-Ubuntu-8-04-for-Speed-86405.shtml


THis thing just broke my install

now "/" is mounted as read-only


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## Pat (Jun 4, 2008)

Have a look at the tweaking guide for Ubuntu Ultimate Edition! Its a very comprehensive one and should definitely be of good use to you!! Just look for it on Ubuntu Ultimate forum, if you dont find, I will give you the link!!


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## MetalheadGautham (Jun 4, 2008)

forget ubuntu ultimate edition. Its just ubuntu + eyecandy + extra apps.


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## praka123 (Jun 4, 2008)

use Ubuntu "genuine"  not some forks like ultimate or mint etc.
first remove unwanted packages from ubuntu using apt.
then use "gconf-cleaner" to clean your . files.
stop unwanted services.Gnome with its HAL and gvfs thingy can be slower or buggy.
disable HAL if you dont want automount features.same with compiz too.

custom compiled kernel optmized for your architecture is a good solution.


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## gary4gar (Jun 4, 2008)

I am using "genuine" Ubuntu only
Already removed unwanted pkges and services. will try this gconf-cleaner thing
I want automount, so don't want to disable HAL. what is gvfs?



> custom compiled kernel optmized for your architecture is a good solution.


Sure, please guide


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## praka123 (Jun 4, 2008)

^go to howtoforge.com look for Debian etch kernel compile guide.
before that "apt-get install kernel-package build-essential libc6-i686  libncurses5-dev"
nothing rocket science.its easy compiling.


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## gary4gar (Jun 5, 2008)

Can you tell me what changes i am supposed to make according to my hardware?
I am confused in the menuconfig part. lots & lost of options there. i can't understand.


Also do i need to apply any patches?


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## Pat (Jun 5, 2008)

MetalheadGautham said:


> forget ubuntu ultimate edition. Its just ubuntu + eyecandy + extra apps.



Arre mere bhai..I asked him to look at the Ultimate Edition GUIDE  And FYI Ubuntu Ultimate Edition aint as lame as you make it sound!


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## gary4gar (Jun 5, 2008)

Pat said:


> Arre mere bhai..I asked him to look at the Ultimate Edition GUIDE  And FYI Ubuntu Ultimate Edition aint as lame as you make it sound!


Link Please
i found this which is made for fiesty. if you were talking of something else, then please say


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## MetalheadGautham (Jun 5, 2008)

@ gary4gar:

take a look at some of my work: Optimize Ubuntu For Speed

And yes, create swap corrosponding to your ram. If RAM < 512MB, swap = 2.2 times RAM. If 512MB <= ram <= 1GB, swap = double of RAM. If 1GB < ram < 2GB , swap = 1.75 times RAM. If ram > 2GB, swap = 1.5 times RAM.


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## Pat (Jun 5, 2008)

gary4gar said:


> Link Please
> i found this which is made for fiesty. if you were talking of something else, then please say



This ones for Hardy mate..Here you go:

*forumubuntusoftware.info/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=894&sid=cbb594442fc6ba9c2cee8e06a3750a4b


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## praka123 (Jun 5, 2008)

gary4gar said:


> Can you tell me what changes i am supposed to make according to my hardware?
> I am confused in the menuconfig part. lots & lost of options there. i can't understand.
> 
> 
> Also do i need to apply any patches?


*kernelnewbies.org


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## MetalheadGautham (Jun 5, 2008)

Hey prakash, help would be appritiated:
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89715
Please suggest something there.


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## gary4gar (Jun 5, 2008)

Now compiling the Kernel 2.6.25.
there are thousands of option in menuconfig.so i am pretty confused.
 i would be great full if anyone would make a _.config_ file on my behalf according to my hardware.

```
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. K8M800 Host Bridge
	Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. K8M800 Host Bridge
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 8
	Memory at <ignored> (32-bit, prefetchable)
	Capabilities: [80] AGP version 3.0
	Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [60] HyperTransport: Slave or Primary Interface
	Capabilities: [58] HyperTransport: Interrupt Discovery and Configuration

00:00.1 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. K8M800 Host Bridge
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:00.2 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. K8M800 Host Bridge
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:00.3 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. K8M800 Host Bridge
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:00.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. K8M800 Host Bridge
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:00.7 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. K8M800 Host Bridge
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI bridge [K8T800/K8T890 South] (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
	Memory behind bridge: f8000000-faffffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: e0000000-efffffff
	Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:0a.0 Modem: PCTel Inc HSP56 MicroModem (rev 04) (prog-if 00 [Generic])
	Subsystem: PCTel Inc Unknown device 1002
	Flags: bus master, stepping, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 18
	Memory at fb000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	I/O ports at e000 [size=256]
	Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:0f.0 RAID bus controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VIA VT6420 SATA RAID Controller (rev 80)
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Unknown device 7142
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 20
	I/O ports at e100 [size=8]
	I/O ports at e200 [size=4]
	I/O ports at e300 [size=8]
	I/O ports at e400 [size=4]
	I/O ports at e500 [size=16]
	I/O ports at e600 [size=256]
	Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Unknown device 7142
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 20
	[virtual] Memory at 000001f0 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8]
	[virtual] Memory at 000003f0 (type 3, non-prefetchable) [size=1]
	[virtual] Memory at 00000170 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8]
	[virtual] Memory at 00000370 (type 3, non-prefetchable) [size=1]
	I/O ports at e700 [size=16]
	Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Unknown device 7142
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 21
	I/O ports at e800 [size=32]
	Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Unknown device 7142
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 21
	I/O ports at e900 [size=32]
	Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Unknown device 7142
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 21
	I/O ports at ea00 [size=32]
	Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Unknown device 7142
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 21
	I/O ports at eb00 [size=32]
	Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:10.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 86) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Unknown device 7142
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 21
	Memory at fb001000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
	Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 ISA bridge [KT600/K8T800/K8T890 South]
	Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. DFI KT600-AL / Soltek SL-B9D-FGR Motherboard
	Flags: bus master, stepping, medium devsel, latency 0
	Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60)
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Unknown device 0430
	Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 22
	I/O ports at ec00 [size=256]
	Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 78)
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Unknown device 7142
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 23
	I/O ports at ed00 [size=256]
	Memory at fb002000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
	Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
	Flags: fast devsel
	Capabilities: [80] HyperTransport: Host or Secondary Interface

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
	Flags: fast devsel

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
	Flags: fast devsel

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
	Flags: fast devsel

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV43 [GeForce 6200] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 248, IRQ 16
	Memory at f8000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Memory at f9000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	[virtual] Expansion ROM at fa000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
	Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [44] AGP version 3.0
```


@prakash
didn't find gconf-cleaner.

@Pat
Thanks for Guide, it helped lot.
read it now, seems nicely written but can break installs

@Gautham
Read your Guide, can't change from nautilus, as i am heavily dependent on it. I further learned Pcman does not support gvfs, so protocols like smb:// or ssh:// does not work there. also there are various nautilus scripts which i use.


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## MetalheadGautham (Jun 5, 2008)

gary4gar said:


> @Gautham
> Read your Guide, can't change from nautilus, as i am heavily dependent on it. I further learned Pcman does not support gvfs, so protocols like smb:// or ssh:// does not work there. also there are various nautilus scripts which i use.


you won't need to ditch nautilus. It just won't remain the default file browser.
use it only when absolutely nessassary.
thats what I do.


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## infra_red_dude (Jun 5, 2008)

MetalheadGautham said:


> @ gary4gar:
> 
> take a look at some of my work: Optimize Ubuntu For Speed
> 
> And yes, create swap corrosponding to your ram.If 1GB < ram < 2GB , swap = 1.75 times RAM. If ram > 2GB, swap = 1.5 times RAM.


Are you crazy? You don't even need a swap file if you haf 1GB+ RAM. I haf 2GB RAM and haf a 188MB swap part. just for the sake of it. The RAM consumption never exceeds 800MB no matter how many apps I load.. and the swap has NEVER been used till date... 

So to speed up things.. the best things are:

1) Upgrade RAM to highest amount and frequency you can afford
2) Upgarde processor with the highest cache you are afford
3) Chuck GNOME and use something lighter (Xfce, LXDE etc.)
4) Use utils like preload, readahead, writeback etc.

These are the only practical things I can think of which haf given a boost. Other than this.. all those "speed up your ubuntu guides" are useless.

And yes, if you use a fairly modern processor and kernel then there is major difference in speed even if you compile your own kernel in ubuntu. Ubuntu is slow by nature compared to other distros.


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## MetalheadGautham (Jun 5, 2008)

infra_red_dude said:


> Are you crazy? You don't even need a swap file if you haf 1GB+ RAM. I haf 2GB RAM and haf a 188MB swap part. just for the sake of it. The RAM consumption never exceeds 800MB no matter how many apps I load.. and the swap has NEVER been used till date...
> 
> So to speed up things.. the best things are:
> 
> ...


are yaar, swap is needed if you want to hibernate system.

and the speed up ubuntu guide is nothing but some software replacements.

upgrading hardware is easier said than done.

what are preload, readahead, writeback, etc ?

Never heard of LXDE. Is it a WM like Xfce ?


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## gary4gar (Jun 5, 2008)

compiling the kernel, *www.howtoforge.com/kernel_compilation_debian_etch_p2
i am stuck at last step


> gaurish@Moody-Machine:/lib/modules/2.6.25.4$ sudo mkinitrd.yaird -o /boot/initrd.img-2.6.25.4 2.6.25.4
> yaird error: unrecognised device: /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input
> yaird error: unrecognised device: /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input1
> yaird error: unrecognised device: /sys/devices/virtual
> ...


please help


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## praka123 (Jun 5, 2008)

*How to custom kernel .deb*

you are doing the wrong way boy!.that method is good for distros like fedora/suse.
remember 2.6.25 kernel faces problem with nvidia driver though latest driver 173.x does support .25 but without xen support.

I dont like "sudo" .so for the next steps ,I assume you are on a root terminal with "#" prompt generally.

In ubuntu, you do this to get root terminal :

```
sudo su -
```

I will brief  my tutorial here: 
1. 
	
	



```
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade
```
 with internet ON

2. 
	
	



```
apt-get install build-essential kernel-package libc6-i686  initramfs-tools libncurses5-dev
```

3.extract kernel source in .tar.bz2 format into /usr/src/ directory (in terminal use "tar -jxvf linux.tar.bz2)

4.change into /usr/src/linux-2.6.25 from terminal using :

```
cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.25
```

5.now, 
	
	



```
make clean && make mrproper
```

6.
	
	



```
cp /boot/config-`uname -r` /usr/src/.config
```

7. now we have to customize :-

```
make menuconfig
```

8.press exit once you finishes.

9.now 
	
	



```
make-kpkg clean
```

10. run : 
	
	



```
make-kpkg --initrd --append-to-version=-gary-kernel kernel_headers kernel_image
```

Once the compilation is successfully finished ,the kernel .deb will be available  in /usr/src directory.

there are some optimization using gcc for saving time like giving makeopts=-j3 for a normal SMP processor.that you can google I suppose.
best of Luck.

regarding kernel compile.this is the link with pictures:
*www.howtoforge.com/kernel_compilation_debian_p2

but you may not like to follow it as it is!


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## gary4gar (Jun 6, 2008)

Thanks installed

now its little faster but firefox is slow, it takes long time to start up
around 12-13secs


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## praka123 (Jun 6, 2008)

^use swiftfox 
*getswiftfox.com/deb.htm

I think u can install preload also.


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