mike,

I have been reading your posts on the list for some time now. I do not know
all your system specs, but it sounds like you have an older system.  I
myself am a broke college student and have many older systems.  You seem to
think that there is something wrong with your computer.  I personally think
your system is fine.  Your speed issues are being caused by X.  It is a
system hog.

Top is an excellent tool, but it is not "Real-Time".  It does not change the
moment you perform an operation.  I am also afraid you might hurt yourself
if you keep looking at it for as long as you do.

If you want to see substantially large improvements in your system speed
stop running X.  The command line is very powerful, and quick.  Software
that utilizes ncurses provides a nice graphical interface at a low system
cost.

If you can not live with out X then you have to slim it down.  Do not run
Gnome or KDE.  They have become very bloated packages over the years.  Run a
small window manger.  I prefer WindowMaker, but there are many others out
there.  A friend of mine loves FluxBox.  Next, you need to pick a slim web
browser.  No mozilla, its too big.  Also, stay away from browsers/file
managers that allow you to view file systems on your computer.  Opera is a
good slim web client.  As for e-mail, im not sure.  I stopped using POP
accounts a long time ago.  Web-Base e-mail is more practical for me.  When
selecting a POP client, follow the same rules.  Slim and to the point.  Stay
away form Big and flashy.

The best time to slim down your system is during the install.
It seems like you have been using linux for some time now and you
probably have a good idea of what
software you use. Keep this list in mind, maybe even write it down.  During
the setup, don't just click "Install Everything", "Manually Select Packages"
instead.  Under the X11 section, uncheck programs you are not going to use.
 If you have never done this be for it might take a few times to get it
accustom to it, but it is worth it.

This is my setup on a 333 celeron with 128mgs of ram.  it is my no means
Smokin Fast, but it is very usable.

If you are looking for A noticeably large increase in speed, It is probably
just time for a whole new system.

-Matt


On 12/7/06, Michael Havens <bmike101@cox.net> wrote:
>
>
> I am running opera as my email and onqueror as my browser. I was running
> top and it was reporting opera was using between 70 and 90 percent of the
> cpu (I had 3 windows on top of it incloding rxvt. Well I brought it to the
>
> top and top startesaying  cpu usage was between 14 and 30 percent and it
> has been going pretty consistant at that for about 15 minutes. Any ideas
> as to what the problem was? (konqueror cpu usage has stayed below 30%
> --
> :~)MIKE(~:
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