Zorin 9 appears slow

I have just installed Zorin 9 and I think that it is great. However, for some reason it appears to be running slow. For example, when I go into the file manager Nautilus, or Mozilla or any package it takes several seconds for them to appear. After reviewing this forum I found that if I turn off animation these problems disappear with one exception. When I switch between workspaces -- still very slow. My questions is what is happening? Is there a better way to resolve this problem?

Hi, could you provide us with your machine specifications please?

Sorry, I should have supplied that info on my first post. Here it is:
Computer: Dell Desktop Dimension C521
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3600+ X2
Graphics: Gallium 0.4 llvmpipe (LLVM 3.4 128 bits)
Memory: 2 GB
Operating systems: Zorin 9, Zorin 8 and Windows XP
Harddrive Partitions: Windows XP 48GB, Data 59GB, Zorin 8 16GB, Zorin 9 24GB, linux swap 1.9GB

Size shouldn't really matter but your Zorin partitions seem very low - how does Zorin 8 perform in comparison?

Zorin 8 performs just fine. I reduced its partition size when installing Zorin 9.

Whilst you have unchecked animation, have you unchecked all the other boxes that are in that sub-group to?

Not before this post. I did it after looking at your post and there was no change. So, I rechecked them except for animation. Just to be sure I was not imagining that it was slow I rebooted into Zorin 8. When I switched between workspaces in Zorin 8 it was very fast. This is not a major issue, just an annoyance.

Another piece of information that may be completely irrelavant is that Zorin 8 was installed as 32bit while Zorin 9 is installed as 64bit.

OK, guess you would be better off with 32-bit - Wolfman has 64-bit machine and always runs 32-bit on his!

119 installs later..... I can tell ya.......
There's nothing wrong with Zorin OS 9 except for the installation glitches and a few minor bugs that will sooner or later vanish.
GNU/Linux & Zorin OS for the most part has to be compared to the unit [ computer ] itself hardware compatibility ..... speed. [ These Days ]
Like Swarfendor has said... you should have no problems with the 32-bit installation.
Long as everythging has been done/installed [ SOP ]
Now trying to deside on which version of ZOS9 is based on [ RAM ] [ Graphics ] [ Power Supply ] [ CPU is CPU ]
Lite >>> Core >>> Ultimate [ Can be thought of....how high can one climb a latter ]
The more gusto you/computer has... the higher version of ZOS9 you can play.

I have an old Toshiba Satelite with ZOS9 Ultimate 32-bit....and it runs like [ Grease Lightning ]
Example

Windows 7 32-bit >>>> Zorin OS 9 32-bit
Windows 7 64-bit >>>> Zorin OS 9 64-bit

I never ever go by the minimum requirements for any GNU/Linux Distro [ This is the real world talking. ]
Hate to say... but sooner or later in the 3-4 years...the pre Intel Pent3 machines will have to be placed on the shelf for good.
The present and future kernel has to be kept up to date with recent hardware that has come online.
Time factor would be from present day back 6 years.

Thanks to all. I think that I'll just stay with the 64bit version for now. If it becomes intolerable then I may switch to 32 bit later. I don't want to deal with the hassle of removing the 64bit Zorin 9 from a multiple OS PC (I now have Zorin 9, Zorin 8 and Windows XP) and then installing the 32bit Zorin 9 while keeping the other OS's intact.

Zio if you can spare the few $$$$ ...boosting the [ RAM to 4gb will make a world of difference for ya !!!! ]

Just a thought !!!!
Regards
Gizzy

I ordered 2GB RAM today. Great idea. Thanks Gizmuntu

I installed 2GB more RAM today and still switching between workspaces is slow. Otherwise, everything else appears OK. I am now convinced it is a setting that I need to disable. I just have no idea what it might be. I'll keep trying. In the meantime I plan to stay with 64bit since everything else is OK and the system appears to be very stable.

Hi, uncheck all animations in Menu | System Tools | Preferences | CompizConfig Settings Manager - you lose the cube but it will switch between desktops that bit quicker (should do!)

As mentioned in a previous post I went to Menu | System Tools | Preferences | CompizConfig Settings Manage>effects and unchecked animation. That seemed to improve everything except for switching desktops. Following your advice from a previous post I then unchecked everything under "effects" and there was no difference. So, I re-checked all items under "effects" except for animation.

Are you now refering to a different section that has animation in Compiz/Config Settings Manager?

zio wrote:As mentioned in a previous post I went to Menu | System Tools | Preferences | CompizConfig Settings Manage>effects and unchecked animation. That seemed to improve everything except for switching desktops. Following your advice from a previous post I then unchecked everything under "effects" and there was no difference. So, I re-checked all items under "effects" except for animation.

Are you now refering to a different section that has animation in Compiz/Config Settings Manager?

Zio - have you tried running System Tools >> System Monitor? I was having slowness issues as well (I'm running in in a VM though) and SysMon helped clue me in to what was hogging resources and when it occurred. I'm sure the slow down is compiz related but it might provide some useful information.

I tried running System Tools > System Monitor. I am not sure what to look for in it. Can you provide some guidance?

Feeling slow and being slow can be completely different. Personally, the longer it takes before I can use use something the slower it feels (and I'm sure this will change from person to person, some may find the longer before something appears to start happening the faster the computer feels) However in my case, I find that I like to disable all the fancy animations and the machine feels SO much faster, in addition to this the size of the programs has increased over time. It may be worth getting a faster HDD and that will reduce load times of basically everything. Having this been said.
Try to get a 7200 RPM drive, applications are getting larger with time and this will result is much lower load times.
Disable animations in compiz. Zorin Menu > System Tools > Preferences > Compiz Config Settings Manager > Uncheck Animations, Uncheck Desktop Cube.
That makes it feel much more "snappy" to me. =]

Hope this helps.

I have already disabled animations. However, if I disable desktop cube, how do I switch between workspaces? What am I missing?

Hi, just add the applet 'shiny switcher' from the 'applets' menu in AWN (Panel) preferences.

zio wrote:I tried running System Tools > System Monitor. I am not sure what to look for in it. Can you provide some guidance?

Try looking at this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8088

The resources tab will tell you if your CPU is being loaded down or if some application is hogging a lot of RAM. Assuming one of those IS being loaded down, e.g. CPU running at > 90%, you can see which process is the culprit by switching to the Processes tab. In my case it was compiz.

Just to add a caution - you can stop compiz but don't uninstall it as who knows what might occur - also at login time you can opt for Zorin (no effects) by clicking on the 'cog' and selecting which DE you want to boot into - Zorin no effects does not have Compiz running!

Zio,

In an earlier post, you mention:

zio wrote:...
Graphics: Gallium 0.4 llvmpipe (LLVM 3.4 128 bits)
...

To me, this looks like Zorin has not picked up the correct driver for your graphics card, and is defaulting to a (slower) 2D graphics stack. If so, this would certainly impact something graphics-intensive as flipping workspaces. One way to check would be to boot into Zorin 8, and check which graphic driver that system is using, and compare it to the one used by Zorin 9.

Could be worth a shot...

It does appear to be compiz. How do I stop cimpiz without uninstalling it? What does clicking on the 'cog' mean?

Rather than stopping compiz, the easiest route woul be to click on the 'cog' on the login box and select 'Zorin (no effects)' - this means compiz will not be running effectively.

ScoobyDan,
The graphics card on Zorin 9 is as was stated in a previous post. For Zorin 8 it is Gallium 4 on NV4E and it switches between work spaces very fast. If this is the problem how do I fix it?
Swarfendor437,
The cog during login only has options to suspend or shut down. What am I missing.

Hi, that doesn't seem to be right - can someone else who is running Core check this out please? I am using Ultimate but I cannot see Zorin core not having 'with effects' (Zorin DE) and not 'without effects' (Zorin (no effects)). I will post a picture of my login - I have added Cairo-Dock, Mate, Gnome so I have more than most peeps!

- Screenshot of my login choices - the default ones should be XBMC, Zorin Desktop, and Zorin Desktop (No effects)