Is your Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick slow and sluggish? Make it run better.

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Is your Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick slow and sluggish? Make it run better.

By Vik ⋅ October 27, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

Filed Under 10.10, amd64, kernel, lag, linux, maverick, meerkat, power, slow, sluggish, ubuntu, wget, x86

I recently installed the latest (10.10) version of Ubuntu. My oh my. Its really unpolished under the hood to say the least. Loved the new font, love the background. But, as soon as I started using it on full power (Firefox with 30+ tabs, Compiz), it just borked. I experienced 15 second lags and it was a wholly unhappy experience. Searching through the forums proved that I wasn’t the only one who was suffering. Aware of the fact that a re-install of 10.04 would cost me hours, I was sure there was a solution out there. Thats when I stumbled across this post in Ubuntu Forums.

EDIT:Skip to updated instructions at the bottom.
~~Upgrade your kernel to 2.6.36-rc7 kernel, and you’re going to see a considerable improvement. Instructions as follows:~~

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<del datetime="2010-10-26T18:54:00+00:00">sudo su -
cd /
wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.36-rc7-maverick/linux-headers-2.6.36-020636rc7_2.6.36-020636rc7.201010070908_all.deb</del>

~~For x64~~

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<del datetime="2010-10-26T18:54:00+00:00">wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.36-rc7-maverick/linux-headers-2.6.36-020636rc7-generic_2.6.36-020636rc7.201010070908_amd64.deb
wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.36-rc7-maverick/linux-image-2.6.36-020636rc7-generic_2.6.36-020636rc7.201010070908_amd64.deb</del>

~~For x86~~

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<del datetime="2010-10-26T18:54:00+00:00">wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.36-rc7-maverick/linux-headers-2.6.36-020636rc7-generic_2.6.36-020636rc7.201010070908_i386.deb
wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.36-rc7-maverick/linux-image-2.6.36-020636rc7-generic_2.6.36-020636rc7.201010070908_i386.deb
dpkg -i linux-headers-2.6.36-020636rc7_2.6.36-020636rc7.201010070908_all.deb</del>

~~And, to end, depending on which version you’ve downloaded, change the following code to suit your needs:~~

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<del datetime="2010-10-26T18:54:00+00:00">dpkg -i linux-headers-2.6.36-020636rc7-generic_2.6.36-020636rc7.201010070908_amd64.deb
dpkg -i linux-image-2.6.36-020636rc7-generic_2.6.36-020636rc7.201010070908_i386.deb</del>

UPDATE: I’ve been informed by reader Simon that the more stable 2.6.36 is out. I’ll update the post tomorrow. In the meantime, you can download the .deb files here:

http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.36-maverick/

Install using Software Center or Synaptic. CLI users, apologies, i don’t have time to rewrite the CLI commands above. I’m sure you’ll manage.

Once this is done, you may restart, and you will be booted into the new kernel. If you have any issues, you still have the option to start with the old kernel in your GRUB screen.

Please let me know in the comments if you have any issues. Take care.

Other posts you might like:

Tags: maverick, x86, 10.10, sluggish, lag, meerkat, power, amd64

Scott Deagan

I have a Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B with Intel i7, 6GB RAM and an nVidia GT 330M graphics card. I installed 10.10, and unfortunately it’s slow and sluggish. Simple things, like scrolling down a web page is jerky. Moving a window is laggy (you move, the window stays put for about half a second). It actually performs worse (in terms of end-user experience) than my old HP dv6433 laptop. Typing in a text box on a web page or in a terminal window feels like the client is connected to a remote host over a slow link.

I should mention that I am not running the 260.xx nVidia drivers as they simply do not work on Sony F-Series laptops. Instead, I’m using the 256.53 nVidia driver. I really wish I had purchased a laptop with an ATI graphics chipset.

The kernel I’m running is 2.6.35-22. Although I can upgrade to 2.6.37, I am unable to re-install the 256.53 nVidia driver after doing so as it was built with a different version of gcc.

I love Ubuntu and have converted many, but I’m going to have to keep this release under wraps until I either get a new laptop that is compatible with 10.10, or the kernel/nVidia issues are resolved. I simply cannot show 10.10 running on a Sony Vaio F-Series to my colleagues and friends as I will just end up with egg on my face.
http://www.techgarten.com piggyslasher

Dear Scott,

I was on 2.6.37, and removing the nVidia drivers and updating to the
latest beta driver worked for me. However, there seems to be an official
2.6.35-22-generic-pae release on the official repos. Have you tried
this? I’ve just tested the nVidia drivers with this pae version and seem
to have no issues. In fact, the OS is working as it should, and is on
the performance level of 10.04 (sometimes better).

On another note, I am pretty sure that doing a purge uninstall of the
nVidia drivers and installing the latest driver would work in 2.6.37 as
well. I’ve done this before.

Hope that helps. Can you explain further what your issues were? What was
actually slowing down?

Thanks,
Vik.
http://www.techgarten.com piggyslasher

Oh yeah. Re read your comment. I had issues when scrolling down pages and such. Try the pae version. I reinstalled the nvidia drivers after a purge uninstall. All works fine now including the virtual box kernal drivers and oss.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone
Voladphau

I upgraded and faced horrible stutter in desktop and video playback (VLC etc.)

System -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Visual Effects -> None

fixed all probs.

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