ubuntu on my laptop (possibly faster?)

Velocitee

well the title says it all.

Essentially Im wondering is it possilbe to install Ubuntu on my laptop with the current spec it has - i.e. could I expect it to run faster than XP home?

The main reason I would be looking to replace Windows on my laptop is due to how slow it is to startup basic programs etc. I mainly use my laptop for web browsing and minor things (my desktop handles all the 'heavy' apps.

I find it's quite frustrating when you have a (now) basic laptop and your anti-virus and firewall are taking up lots of valuable resources. (256 RAM will do that!) anyway the specs are in my sig.

I have disabled all unnecessary services, startup items, cleaned registry entries etc in XP and dont see much point in buying extra RAM when I will prob be buying a new laptop (hopefully Macbook) in the near future.

I have some basic experience of SUSE and the KDE environment, so Linux isn't completely new to me, I'm just wondering is it worth going through the effort of reformatting the laptop with Ubuntu and what (if any) performance gains I can expect ?

Cheers and thanks!

Cake Fiend

Possibly.



OK, to expand on that, it depends on what you install and run (as with any other OS). With Linux, you have the option of using a low-fat window manager (or none at all). Try Xubuntu for a nice setup of Xfce. I'd also recommend looking at FluxBox.

Since you won't really need anti-virus or personal firewall bloatware (check out iptables), you'll hopefully have less memory use and potentially a faster desktop load.

Oracle

Just two words for you Velocitee: Dual Boot. You could try out Ubuntu (or Xubuntu) with a Live CD, then install it and it'll automatically detect the Windows installation and config your boot menu with Windows and Ubuntu options. Then you'll be able to find out for yourself what differnce Linux would make to your laptop's performance.

AndrewMc

Oracle wrote:

Just two words for you Velocitee: Dual Boot. You could try out Ubuntu (or Xubuntu) with a Live CD, then install it and it'll automatically detect the Windows installation and config your boot menu with Windows and Ubuntu options. Then you'll be able to find out for yourself what differnce Linux would make to your laptop's performance.

And just to clarify: the Live CD will be slow - use it to see how it works with your hardware, but not as any sort of guide to performance.

Velocitee

right, that's settled

I am d/loading Xubuntu as we speak - I will try the live CD first to see how that gets on and then dual boot. if all works ok and I find myself using it more than windows (which I hope I will) I will probably reformat the laptop with just Xubuntu on to it.

Oh yes, I also noticed that my thread was posted twice - mods feel free to close the other one!

Thanks guys, I'll let you know how I get on with Xubuntu

scojones

Good choice, xfce is more lightweight than the likes of KDE and GNOME. If you've any issues let us know.

skyhighflyer

Hey OP,

I think you'll probably notice a huge improvement if my experience is anything to go by. I was so annoyed that Windows had made my 6 month old laptop intolerably slow that I installed 64 bit Ubuntu without giving it a second thought.

Everything worked well except for:

Wireless network: I have a Broadcom wireless card which are, as my luck would have it, just about the most Linux unfriendly out there. Eventually got it sorted over the weekend.

Card reader - still doesn't work although havent tried to sort it as it recognises my camera anyhow.

Flash and Shockwave: also very difficult to sort if you're running 64 bit Linux. Somehow found a solution after a weekend trawling through the ubuntu forums.

Webcam: doesn't work... again put on the long finger as I never use it.

Skype: had a bit of hassle setting it up under AMD64 ubuntu but think it's ok now.

Bear in mind I didn't know what Linux was last week. But now my laptop (Turion 64 x 2, 1 gig RAM) runs like an absolute demon. I went to make a cup of tea today cos im used to doing it when booting windows but then I remembered I didn't need to. Startup literally takes two seconds. amazing stuff.

oscarBravo

skyhighflyer wrote:

I have a Broadcom wireless card which are, as my luck would have it, just about the most Linux unfriendly out there.

Also, in my experience, a pretty shítty performer. I swapped out the Broadcom card in her indoors's Dell for a CM9, and the difference was like night and day. She's running Windows, but if she was on a real OS, madwifi would have sorted her right out.

bminish

oscarBravo wrote:

I swapped out the Broadcom card in her indoors's Dell for a CM9

Which He probably stole from Work but the rest of you can get from wi-Pipe and many other places.
The internal Antennas for most laptops will fit the connectors on the Cm9 ok

.brendan

oscarBravo

The word you're looking for is "borrowed", Brendan.

maidhc

I installed Ubuntu 6.06 on my 1.2Ghz Dell Latitude x300, and while I had a bit of fun getting my broadcom wireless and logitech bluetooth mouse to work, the result is a much quicker computer than with windows XP.

Although I'll keep Windows on my desktop for the foreseeable future (ipaq sync, psion sync, samsung phone sync, incompatibe wireless PCI card, scanner, some windows specific software), I think the NTFS partition on the laptop is an endangered species.

AndrewMc

maidhc wrote:

I installed Ubuntu 6.06 on my 1.2Ghz Dell Latitude x300, and while I had a bit of fun getting my broadcom wireless and logitech bluetooth mouse to work, the result is a much quicker computer than with windows XP.

For issues relating to hardware support (like your Broadcom card or bluetooth) you may have better luck with the more recent versions (like Edgy (6.10) or the forthcoming Fiesty (7.04)). However, compared to staying on the Long Term Support of 6.06, it would need more bandwidth to keep upgrading every 6 months.

maidhc

AndrewMc wrote:

For issues relating to hardware support (like your Broadcom card or bluetooth) you may have better luck with the more recent versions (like Edgy (6.10) or the forthcoming Fiesty (7.04)). However, compared to staying on the Long Term Support of 6.06, it would need more bandwidth to keep upgrading every 6 months.

I tried Fiesty, but found it unstable. Im using the computer for real non-techie work, so this is important to me. I don't intend to touch the install for 12 mths or so, once I am satsfied with the setup.

I'm more or less happy now though. Everything works perfect except the computer doesn't come back from suspend right. I want a more recent version of evolution with the vertical reading pane too, but that is for another day.

NutJob

maidhc wrote:

I'm more or less happy now though. Everything works perfect except the computer doesn't come back from suspend right. I want a more recent version of evolution with the vertical reading pane too, but that is for another day.

Suspend is a problem under linux with some laptops and hardware setups. Its getting better but you'll have to google you model laptop to figure out if there's a workaround.

If that fails: http://suspend2.net/

Velocitee

sorry for the length of time it took me to reply but I did get round to installing Xubuntu on the laptop - had much fun configuring belkin wireless drivers and disappearing taskbars. Also it didn't let me dual boot for some reason wven though I had plenty space - Ah well - If ever I get too annoyed I always can reinstall Windows.

Cheers Lads!

Oracle

I've found that Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper) is far better on my laptop than 6.10 (Edgy). Anyway I'll probably try Fiesty when it comes out as well. Velocitee I hope you persevere with Ubuntu now you've got it on your laptop. It does take some getting used to, but I think it's worth the effort. Well done to you for bypassing the dual boot and taking the plunge and going for a full-on install- respect!!

You haven't told us the answer to your original question; did it make your laptop run faster?

Tom Dunne

Oracle wrote:

You haven't told us the answer to your original question; did it make your laptop run faster?

I'll jump in here with my own observations.

I installed Ubuntu 6.10 on my Thinkpad (Pentium M, 512Mb of RAM) and it is noticably faster. I can't get over how fast it is to boot up.

In Windows I always had a spot of bother getting connected to wireless, never could figure out what the problem was. I don't see this problem under Ubuntu.

Velocitee

You haven't told us the answer to your original question; did it make your laptop run faster?

well the laptop now runs faster - and by that I mean Ubuntu looks to use less resources than XP - it's amazing how much in RAM my IM clients used under windows. Also The laptop was quite nippy under SP1 but install SP2 and it was well slower. This is to be expected with all the extras SP2 had I suppose.

Thanks,
V