Slow performance on Thinkpad (RH9)

[Susan Macchia]

Hi all,

I recently installed RH9 on my Thinkpad (T22); its configuration:
    20G disk (dual boot 10G for XP, 10 for linux.)
    700 mhz P3
    256 MB memory
    linux swap is 512 MB


I had RH8 on it previously, but had to reinstall everything recently (work
related security stuff).  Anyway, w/ RH8, performance was decent, X-windows
started fairly quickly and I never experienced episodes of percieved "locking".
 The 10G Linux partition, was partitioned into /, /usr, /opt, & /home (don't
remember exact sizes).  This partitioning caused problems for me when
installing work related software - I always had trouble finding a partition w/
enough space.

When I installed RH9, I decided not to partion at all because of the problem
above.  Nothing on this laptop is not reproducable, so I don't need to worry if
I have to upgrade, or reinstall, or lose data.

Now the when running RH9, it is noticably slower!  X-windows takes a looonng
time to start up on log-in/boot.  X-apps take a while too.  Also, when I am
working (a Eclipse session, mozilla), I find that when switching from one app
to the next, the system hangs for a noticeable period before I can get going
again.  Additionally, I hear the disk going more frequently that I would expect
(this is when the UI is blocked, most of the time).  Also during these periods,
the physical memory is almost completely consumed (only about 5% free), but
swap is 90% free. 

To say the least this is frustrating.

So I was wondering if anyone has any ideas why this is happening.  Could it be
the use of 1 big partition?  Did I not allocate enough swap (although, when I
look at memory, during these periods, at least half is free).

Or am I expecting more from this machine than it can deliver?  But if that is
the case, why, when running RH8, did X-Windows start up fairly quickly, while
now it is slow...

Any help is much appreciated.

TIA
-- Susan

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_____________________________
Susan Macchia
mailto:susan at smacchia.net
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- Running Linux - because life is too short for reboots...