Slow Performance With Mint 5 (r1) vs Mint 4 . . .

Quick to answer questions about finding your way around Linux Mint as a new user.
Forum rules
There are no such things as "stupid" questions. However if you think your question is a bit stupid, then this is the right place for you to post it. Stick to easy to-the-point questions that you feel people can answer fast. For long and complicated questions use the other forums in the support section.
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Locked
Computersleuth

Slow Performance With Mint 5 (r1) vs Mint 4 . . .

Post by Computersleuth »

I installed Mint 5 r1 over an previous installation of Mint 4. The machine is an older Compaq Presario with 768MB of RAM and an AMD 1.3Ghz CPU. I am running stock video drivers - no ATI, NVIDIA, et al.

With the new Mint, I have found that performance is substantially slower than with 4 - slower performance seems to manifest itself primarily in graphics-intensive display processing, such as screensavers, flash, and (interestingly) the system monitor when displaying a plot of resource utilization.

In looking around, I found a process called Xorg, which seems to use a lot of resources when graphics-intensive proocessing is going on. I found a thread (which I am unable to re-locate) that indicated this as a problem with the Linux kernal .16, as well as .17 and .18. A post on the thread further stated that this was fixed in .19.

My question is this . . . what procedure do I need to use to upgrade the computer to Linux .19? Is this advisable at this time? Or should I wait until .19 comes in as part of a software upgrade through standard packaging?

My thanks for whatever suggestions you provide . . .
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Husse

Re: Slow Performance With Mint 5 (r1) vs Mint 4 . . .

Post by Husse »

a process called Xorg, which seems to use a lot of resources when graphics-intensive proocessing is going on.
Not surprising - this is the graphics engine in Linux....
It is almost completely rewritten between Daryna and Elyssa - this is done upstream by the xorg team
Almost all questions about graphics problems have disappeared.....
If you use a nvidia or ATI card the restricted drivers give much better result - the best way to install is with Envy
Computersleuth

Re: Slow Performance With Mint 5 (r1) vs Mint 4 . . .

Post by Computersleuth »

Husse wrote:
a process called Xorg, which seems to use a lot of resources when graphics-intensive proocessing is going on.
Not surprising - this is the graphics engine in Linux....
It is almost completely rewritten between Daryna and Elyssa - this is done upstream by the xorg team
Almost all questions about graphics problems have disappeared.....
If you use a nvidia or ATI card the restricted drivers give much better result - the best way to install is with Envy
Husse,

Thanks for your response . . .

This machine is coming up on 7 years old. It has S3 ProSavage graphics adapter, which (unless I am mistaken) is not compatible with either ATI or NVIDIA.

A cursory search on the s3 web site shows no information on it whatsoever. Not surprising.

Unless" Xorg becomes better optimized, I see my options as these: buy an ATI or NVIDIA - based graphics adpater (with probably a new power supply), or go back to Mint 4 (or some other "older" Linux release, or stick with Windoz XP. . . . .

I wonder if the older Xorg is compatible with the current version(s) of the Linux kernal ??? . . . Just a thought.

Thanks again,
Husse

Re: Slow Performance With Mint 5 (r1) vs Mint 4 . . .

Post by Husse »

I think the kernel is compatible - but you have to completely recompile the kernel if you want to do that :)
That video card is of course no good by todays standard
I have not read that the demands on video hardware is greater with the new xorg but perhaps a bit
No I think the problem may be that you don't get the right driver, but I see that it's installed by default
Search for S3 ProSavage in Synaptic and see if you can find out if your model is supported
AK Dave

Re: Slow Performance With Mint 5 (r1) vs Mint 4 . . .

Post by AK Dave »

You can install the .19 kernel and associated xorg by selecting the "proposed" packages. Edit your sources.list to uncomment proposed, and in mintupdate go to preferences->update method and check "include dist-upgrade packages". Now the .19 packages should show up as "level 5" upgrades, if you've selected to view them.
Computersleuth

Re: Slow Performance With Mint 5 (r1) vs Mint 4 . . .

Post by Computersleuth »

Thanks very much to both of you. You have given me several options.
Locked

Return to “Beginner Questions”