Hi !

I've done a second install of Debian tonight and now, it is very very slow !

Before installing xfce4, I would like to understand what makes it so slow : Before, I was also using Debian with Gnome. It was a bit slow but was quite usable for someone not in a hurry.
But now I can't even open a Firefox or a terminal window ! So what did I changed ?

1) I turned my partition table from msdos to amiga
2) I've made a new install (same source file, same steps from efika.org tutorial) but did change a few minor things :
-> The partition scheme
Before:
10Gb : /dev/sda1 => root /
10Gb : /dev/sda2
10Gb : /dev/sda3
10Gb : /dev/sda4
384Mb : /dev/sda5 => swap

After:
500Mb : /dev/sda1
384Mb : /dev/sda2 => swap
10Gb : /dev/sda3 => root /
...

-> The default language (This time I've selected French instead of English as the first time)...
-> The source miror (german one last time, french one this time)

So, what on hell can makes this so slow ?
Any idea ?

I run xfce4 is much faster.
And then if you want to have debian linux faster.. You must tune it up (be a linux guru).
Try flux. Try to reinstall firefox package.

There will be SLAX for EFIKA, it should be faster.




PS: Waiting for MorphOS

you just have normal speed now, i don't know anyone being able to use gnome on the Efika with debian. All Efikans i've been talking to have the same behavious under gnome. XFCE4 is a better option indeed.

The fact is that i don't understand how you managed to have it faster on your fist debian install.

So the question is not "why is it slow?" but "how the hell did you make it running well at first?"

Hi !
This is really mysterious...

So what is your partition type ?
What language do you use ?
Did you leave the default partition sheme ?

I'm going to try a new install tonight...

Note : something at least changed between the two install because I don't have the same desktop background in gdm.

msdos table / ext3
french
no, i set the partitions manually, i wanted to share the same HD with Gentoo.
on my Debian installation the gdm theme is displayed with a random wallpaper for every boot by default, i haven't changed that setting.

OK, I did a new install. Same as before but with the german mirror and with English language... and it's very slow again...
So I guess that something was changed in the Debian repository between my two installs (fast and slow one).
In fact, the current Gnome interface seems very buggy if you click a menu and wait while it is opened :
- It first displays a white menu
- Than displays again a white menu with icons
- Than displays a gray menu without icons
- Than displays again a white menu with icons
Then do it again (refresh ... refresh...)
So it currently really seems very buggy and not optimized.
I must say that I had no bug of this kind before. The menus were displayed correctly and it was working slowly but was really usable.

An the gdm background is not the same as before (but it's not random).

So now, xfce4 is on the way...

After a bit of investigation, I've found that there was something wrong in this version with Gnome bonobo and gnome-settings-daemon.

When you access the Theme settings to take the Simple look (which is faster to display) there is an error message about a conflict with gnome-settings-daemon and bonobo.

After killing bonobo the system is usable again and is not that much slower than xfce. Yes ! That rocks !

So that may be the real explanation : in the latest Debian release, two apps are accessing and changing the Gnome menus at the same time making it very sloooooowwww...

that's good to know ! well done Geoffrey !