On 7 February 2013 11:52, Gareth France <gareth.fra...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 07/02/13 11:11, Simon Greenwood wrote: > > > > > On 7 February 2013 10:43, Colin Law <clan...@googlemail.com> wrote: > >> On 7 February 2013 10:31, Simon Greenwood <sfgreenw...@gmail.com> wrote: >> > .. >> > On 7 February 2013 10:17, Gareth France <gareth.fra...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> > .. >> >> Thanks Alan. I think the thing that gets to me is that aside from >> whatever >> >> I may choose to run on it I expect a machine I paid £300 for to run >> properly >> >> to begin with. None of these solutions address the problem. They more >> sort >> >> of side step it. I doubt I'm going to find the problem, I'll just have >> to >> >> avoid Packard Bell next time I upgrade. >> >> >> > >> > In all honesty, that is the place to start. Packard Bell machines are >> built >> > to a price, and it's fairly likely that they need OS-based accelerators >> to >> > work properly. I'm not familiar with that processor but there are >> probably >> > features that aren't supported by Linux and require Windows-native >> software, >> > and the GPU will be integrated and underpowered. I've had similar >> problems >> > in the past with more expensive machines and have since learned my >> lesson. >> >> The guy is not talking about just not getting the ultimate out of the >> machine, he has problems such as "tonight it ground to a halt, the >> hard drive access light went mad and the mouse stopped moving. Then it >> moved in jerks and a variety of windows greyed out and came back again >> over and over." That is a software problem of some sort. Something >> is gobbling up his processor or/and his RAM. >> >> > Yes, I agree, and as previously described, I have seen exactly this > problem, and on what would seem to be a more powerful machine. In the first > instance, disable Flash and see if that stops or reduces the CPU load. In > my experience it will. However, it doesn't solve the problem, and this is > where I came to a halt with trying to analyse it. It is likely to be a > combination of the Flash plugin, Compiz and the physical hardware, possibly > one that hasn't been identified before, so to get some progress, it needs > to be documented. > > However, I believe my point still stands: for all the work done to > maximise compatibility, there are always going to be machines that don't > play for less obvious reasons, especially at the low cost end of the > market, and the rule still should be that if you want to use a Linux > desktop of any kind do a little bit of homework. There is the official > compatibility wiki but if you get the model number of any laptop and put it > into Google, someone will have attempted to run Linux on it and reported on > it. > > s/ > -- > Twitter: @sfgreenwood > "TBA are particularly glib" > > > Just to update everyone flash blocker didn't manage 5 minutes before both > Firefox and system monitor greyed out simply because I tried to close the > monitor. As I'm typing this email Thunderbird keeps greying out and the > text appears on the screen up to 45 seconds after I typed it. (So apologies > for any spelling mistakes.) Rhythmbox is playing, well stuttering. That > seems to be the biggest problem, I have noticed flash can be a drain but > any media playing and it greatly increases the chance that the system will > halt. > > Try starting Firefox and Thunderbird in safe mode. It's Help > Restart with addons disabled in both, and see how if that improves things. s/ -- Twitter: @sfgreenwood "TBA are particularly glib"
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