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I have an old laptop that I installed Ubuntu 12.04 on for a family member. It's an HP xt3000 with 748MiB RAM and 60GB disk. I had to install with non-PAE support and nomodeset if that's relevant.

Everything seems to be working fine with Unity 2d, although a bit sluggish to launch applications (probably need more RAM?). The main show-stopper is youtube video performance with is very choppy.

Any thoughts whether additional RAM will fix this too, or would he proprietary fglrx drivers be a better bet?

user246142
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3 Answers3

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You should use Lubuntu but also install the latest open source Gallium drivers.

Here's a link about installing the latest drivers and making sure you get the latest updates.

How do I install Gallium3d Drivers in Ubuntu 12.10?

You could also try installing the latest mainline kernel from ubuntu for 13.10 :

http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.12-saucy/

Here's a link on how to install it.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Install-Linux-Kerrnel-3-12-in-Ubuntu-13-10-397013.shtml

These may leverage some extra performance out of your system, but the problem you have is lack of memory and processor power.

Community
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comrademike
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First and foremost for an underpowered laptop like your HP you would be much better off running Lubuntu 13.10 instead of Unity and sticking to the open-source drivers that are built-into the default installation...

Secondly, running gnome-mplayer will help with your videos as it seems to handle them better than gstreamer and failing that VLC is always available in the software-centre as a fallback...

More memory would help though for if the system runs low on memory it goes straight to using the swap file which can slow things down including video playback and youtube videos...

TenPlus1
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Install Gnome Session Fallback

sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback.

Logout. On the Ubuntu greeter Window, click on the ubuntu icon right besides your username and choose Gnome Classic - No Effects.

Log in. You will find your desktop looking like Gnome 2.x and graphics working faster.

jorejarena
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