I installed Debian following these instructions:

http://book.efika.org/index.php?option= ... &Itemid=29

It was all fine and dandy until I got to actually using. It is S-U-P-E-R-S-L-O-W. If I click on the menu toolbar, the menu takes around 5-10 seconds to appear, and if I try to open a sub-menu, it takes another 5-10 seconds.

To open Firefox I think it takes around 2-3 minutes, heck, even just removing highlighting/removing text feels like an achievement.

I understand that Efika is not a super-computer in terms of speed but I do not expect it to be this slow either, so I assume that I am doing something wrong, or perhaps missing something. I would really appreciate it if someone could shed some light on this situation. I have installed Debian twice, and got the same result everytime.

I have not performed this final part of the installation yet, because it seems impossible to do - just opening a browser puts the machine on its knees.

Log in under GNOME with the password selected during installation then launch an Internet browser such as Firefox or Epiphany.
Go to http://www.efika.info and grab the debian precompiled kernel file and save it at the default location (~/Desktop/Downloads). Then, copy this file into the /boot directory.
Example :
su root
copy ~/Desktop/Downloads/kernel_efika /boot/

Now, get the modules from the same Internet page, save them at the default location (~/Desktop/Downloads) and extract them :
su root
cd ~/Desktop/Downloads
tar zxvf modules_efika.tgz
mv ./lib/modules/2.6.19-* /lib/modules/
Note : check that the modules directory name is the same as the kernel name issuing a "uname -r" command and comparing it with the modules directory.

GNOME is not usable on the Efika.
If you want to use a window manager, please use Fluxbox or XFCE4.

Thanks for the tip - how do I get it to install Fluxbox, rather than Gnome during installation?

Thanks!

E'blue

you can't, just uncheck the "desktop" option during install. When you're logged as root type :

Please check what does `free' tell you -- especially about swap space in use. Also please check what does `hdparm -tT /dev/hda' tell you. I think you will be using some swap space and that disc access is very slow (somewhere already posted to the forum). What would you expect from this scenario then?

IMHO processor is very fast for the power it uses...

Karel

Great thanks - I will try it once I get home :)

Ok I did everything as you said, when I boot linux it still goes into a terminal screen though, no fluxbox. I tried typing fluxbox and hitting enter but it gives an error.

What should I do to launch the x-windows Fluxbox now that it is installed?

Thanks!

You can change the session and choose your prefered x-window in the Desktop Manager that should come up after booting.

I prefer Xfce as desktop. You can install it with

sudo apt-get install xfce4 && apt-get install xfce4-goodies

_________________
..:: www.djbase.de ::..

When I did this bit:

su root
(then give your root password)
apt-get install fluxbox

I switched the machine off and back on.... booted linux again, but it put me back to terminal... no GUI. Is this normal?

you might have to start the X server, because I wouldn't think that it would be started by default

Well I did type fluxbox, but it gave some error :(

Hi !
The install I've described on efika.org was done with an EFIKA having a RADEON 9250 AGP gfx board.
Gnome is slow but it is usable.
Pay attention that if you want to use a gfx desktop, you need a good enough gfx board to offload the CPU.

So what gfx card do you use ?
You also need enough swap space. What is your swap partition size (it must be 2.5xRAM, so 384Mb is a good value on an EFIKA) ?

Then, when your system is bootable, you can try installing a light desktop such as xfce.
For that, just type :
sudo apt-get install xfce

Hope that helps.
Geoffrey.

PS: did you install a display manager such as gdm, kdm or xdm.
If you have one of these, just launch is with a command such as "gdm".
And to launch X directly, you can also do a "startx" command (that always work - if X is installed).
Also think to check your .xinitrc or .xsession files.

I cant get rid of this problem :(

I tried this:

sudo apt-get install xfce

It said sudo unknown command.

Then i tried

apt-get install xfce

And it said - cant find package xfce

Help :)

Notice the number '4' at the end of xfce :-)

_________________
CzP
http://czanik.blogs.balabit.com/

Hi,

Thanks a lot!

That worked :)

Now, how do I launch it? I tried startx, says unknown command - is there anything else I have to install?

Thanks!

E'blue