Thinkpads Forum

My system specs:

Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon
ThinkPad R61 Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, 4GB RAM, 14.1" WXGA w/ X3100, 250GB 5400RPM hard drive

Questions about Ubuntu performance:

1) When I click System>Preferences the icons on the drop-down menu takes about a second to appear. This delay only happens when my laptop is powered on from a fresh power cycle. Once I click the menu and the icons appear, every time I back to System>Preferences the icons appears without delay, as expected. Given my system specs, what is mostly likely cause of this delay? This delay happens regardless of whether I'm running no desktop effects or have CompizFusion enabled. I thought that a modestly equipped pc should be able to run Linux smoothly, isn't that one of the advantages Linux is always touting--it doesn't require outrageous hardware to run?

2) I got CompizFusion set up on my laptop by commenting out the blacklisting of my video card and got the rotating desktop cube effect going. How do I configure the desktop cube to have transparent sides (transparent cube)?

Thanks for your help.

1) Dunno a solution to this, other than never rebooting (that's how I do it). It has nothing to do with Compiz, some things just aren't loaded right away at start up and get loaded when you click on them.

2) There's something called CompizConfig Settings Manager, the package is called ccsm. Lets you access all sorts of advanced effects.

aaa wrote:
2) There's something called CompizConfig Settings Manager, the package is called ccsm. Lets you access all sorts of advanced effects.

I have CCSM installed but it doesn't give me the option to configure a transparent cube.

It's there. Click on 'Desktop Cube', then there'll be a 'Transparent Cube' tab.

ah, okay, i got it. I didn't know about that option under Desktop Cube. Got it working now. Thanks, much appreciate it.

aaa wrote:1) Dunno a solution to this, other than never rebooting (that's how I do it). It has nothing to do with Compiz, some things just aren't loaded right away at start up and get loaded when you click on them.

I found a tool call "preload" that sounds like it would improve things in this area. I've been running it for a week without noticing anything different though.

Hi

As for your 1st problem.... i think it's normal and not specific to any kind of Distro. I ran Open SUSE, Fedora, Ubuntu, and many others on different kind of computers and all seem to do the exact same thing. I`m no Linux expert but after using alot of Linux Distros with different Desktop Environments (GNOME, KDE) i came to realize that most of the problems (none hardware) come from the Desktop Environment instead of Linux itself. I might be wrong on that.

For Compiz Fusion i don't use it at all so i can't help you at all

All the best

K-lite wrote:Hi

As for your 1st problem.... i think it's normal and not specific to any kind of Distro. I ran Open SUSE, Fedora, Ubuntu, and many others on different kind of computers and all seem to do the exact same thing. I`m no Linux expert but after using alot of Linux Distros with different Desktop Environments (GNOME, KDE) i came to realize that most of the problems (none hardware) come from the Desktop Environment instead of Linux itself. I might be wrong on that.

For Compiz Fusion i don't use it at all so i can't help you at all

All the best

Thanks for the reply. I don't remember that delay of the icons showing up when using KDE. I could be wrong, though, I haven't used KDE in a long time. And I'm not a fan of KDE, it looks too much like Windows. If I wanted a desktop environment that looked exactly like Windows I would've stuck with Windows.

Do you have any ideas on how to improve the fonts in Ubuntu? I've pretty much done most of the suggestions and methods that are found on the Internet and various forums (installed MS Core fonts package, Truetype fonts, Segoe UI, Liberation fonts, etc.) but the fonts still doesn't look right. The "W" and "S" letters are rendered not very nicely. I've tried so many things that I don't even remember exactly what I've done up to this point. I hope the next version of Ubuntu fixes this problem.

u0330v wrote:

K-lite wrote:Hi

As for your 1st problem.... i think it's normal and not specific to any kind of Distro. I ran Open SUSE, Fedora, Ubuntu, and many others on different kind of computers and all seem to do the exact same thing. I`m no Linux expert but after using alot of Linux Distros with different Desktop Environments (GNOME, KDE) i came to realize that most of the problems (none hardware) come from the Desktop Environment instead of Linux itself. I might be wrong on that.

For Compiz Fusion i don't use it at all so i can't help you at all

All the best

Thanks for the reply. I don't remember that delay of the icons showing up when using KDE. I could be wrong, though, I haven't used KDE in a long time. And I'm not a fan of KDE, it looks too much like Windows. If I wanted a desktop environment that looked exactly like Windows I would've stuck with Windows.

Do you have any ideas on how to improve the fonts in Ubuntu? I've pretty much done most of the suggestions and methods that are found on the Internet and various forums (installed MS Core fonts package, Truetype fonts, Segoe UI, Liberation fonts, etc.) but the fonts still doesn't look right. The "W" and "S" letters are rendered not very nicely. I've tried so many things that I don't even remember exactly what I've done up to this point. I hope the next version of Ubuntu fixes this problem.

I suffered with fonts under Fedora but fixed it with installing Truetype and MSCore. Also, playing around with the Font Tab under Look & Feel. But before you do that , check this out http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... rendering

also you may want to goto http://www.sharpfonts.com


if all don't work.......... then i suggest you start playing around with the Font tab under Look & Feel.

Let me know what happens

K-lite wrote:
I suffered with fonts under Fedora but fixed it with installing Truetype and MSCore. Also, playing around with the Font Tab under Look & Feel. But before you do that , check this out http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... rendering

also you may want to goto http://www.sharpfonts.com


if all don't work.......... then i suggest you start playing around with the Font tab under Look & Feel.

Let me know what happens

I have the MS Core and Truetype fonts installed already. I've played around with the Fonts in Ubuntu (System > Preferences > Appearance > Fonts) and have tried the different rendering, smoothing, and hinting styles but the fonts still look lacking. It's not a question of what or how many types of font packages installed, it's a question about Ubuntu (or Gnome) renders these fonts. At present there's definitely room for improvement when it comes to fonts in Ubuntu. I hope the next release addresses this issue but somehow I don't think there will be any changes, sadly.

Do you know if the new version of KDE 4.0 will have better font rendering? The screenshots look pretty good but you never know until you use it.

u0330v wrote:

K-lite wrote:

Well that's sad to hear you couldn't fix the fonts. I guess what works for me doesn't necessary mean that it will work for you ( i found that to be true in general with minor things like Fonts, etc). All i can say is just keep playing around with the font tab or maybe wait a week or two till 8.04 is released.

I used KDE 3.5 before and i don't think i had a problem with Fonts. However i haven't used KDE 4.0 till now, and looking at some screenshot i guess it looks really good.

All the best