Sabayon 3.3 made my computer run very slowly...what to do?

[ThinkBayon]

I have an IBM ThinkPad T41. 1.6GHz, 1.5GB RAM, 80GB 5400 HD, ATI 7500 graphics. It's handled most anything I've thrown at it very well to this point, but Sabayon really is crippling it. Am I doing something wrong? Should I reinstall?

* Boot takes about two minutes (not first boot...every boot) to get me to the login, and about two more to get me into KDE
* Once I see the KDE screen, it's another three minutes minimum before everything (Applets, panels, etc.) are loaded.
* Every task one could perform runs incredibly slow at this point
* Applications take over a minute to launch (for example, my ports GUI)
* Many windows / apps I try to bring up never launch

As you can see, it's SLOW! XP, which came with the machine when I purchased it, always ran very quickly, as has Ubuntu, Zenwalk, and Ubuntu running KDE. I know something's not right here, and Sabayon has a very good reputation overall, so I doubt that it was designed to bog down my machine like this.

So, where do I go from here? If the speed issue can't be fixed, I'll probably go back to Zenwalk or try another KDE variant...But don't get me wrong. I really want Sabayon to work for my machine!

[igknighted]

I have an IBM ThinkPad T41. 1.6GHz, 1.5GB RAM, 80GB 5400 HD, ATI 7500 graphics. It's handled most anything I've thrown at it very well to this point, but Sabayon really is crippling it. Am I doing something wrong? Should I reinstall?

* Boot takes about two minutes (not first boot...every boot) to get me to the login, and about two more to get me into KDE
* Once I see the KDE screen, it's another three minutes minimum before everything (Applets, panels, etc.) are loaded.
* Every task one could perform runs incredibly slow at this point
* Applications take over a minute to launch (for example, my ports GUI)
* Many windows / apps I try to bring up never launch

As you can see, it's SLOW! XP, which came with the machine when I purchased it, always ran very quickly, as has Ubuntu, Zenwalk, and Ubuntu running KDE. I know something's not right here, and Sabayon has a very good reputation overall, so I doubt that it was designed to bog down my machine like this.

So, where do I go from here? If the speed issue can't be fixed, I'll probably go back to Zenwalk or try another KDE variant...But don't get me wrong. I really want Sabayon to work for my machine!

Ive replied you on UbuntuForums... but I'll put a response here too...

First, never use the Sabayon DVD. I don't even know why they release it. It's not worth it. Second, don't ever compare Sabayon to Zenwalk. They are the exact opposite in almost every way. Zenwalk is built with Xfce and is designed to be as lightweight as possible. Sabayon is cutting edge and designed to offer you everything you could ever need, with lots of eye candy along the way. So is it slower? Yup, it is. And using the DVD what you have there is about par for the course with 3.3 (at least in my experiences). The older (3.26) DVD was usable, but either way the mini is the way to go. 3.3.1 might be an OK DVD when it comes out if that is what you really are looking for.

Also, ask yourself what it is that you want to get out of Sabayon specifically, and ony OS more generally. If its features, stick with KDE and Sabayon and try the mini. If its speed and responsiveness, you should really look at sticking with Zenwalk, Wolvix, or some other lightweight distro. If you want a balance try some gnome stuff, or even a more fully featured Xfce desktop like SAM linux (based on PCLOS, but way better).

[Thrice]

Dunno if by "using the DVD" you meant installing it to the hd or working live, but I've installed it & I have no real complaints except maybe boot time is a little long & switching tabs on firefox takes +30% too long. Will the mini fix that? If not, I dont' really care.

[dave_p_b]

HI

This is a bit of a lame statement "First, never use the Sabayon DVD. I don't even know why they release it."
If i installed the mini version of SabayonLinux then I would spend 2 weeks having to emerge every thing I need!!

In my experience the DVD version is not any slower than the cd version. In fact, my 64-bit SL3.30 DVD actually runs faster then mepis of ubuntu on my computer!

It annoys me that the amount of work the devs put into SabayonLinux and you can come out with a comment like "I don't even know why they release it."

excuse my annoyances

Dave

[voxiac]

If i installed the mini version of SabayonLinux then I would spend 2 weeks having to emerge every thing I need!!

And this is where the brand new "binmerge" comes into the picture.
Although those "X"'s drive me crazy, so I stick with emerge/paludis anyway...

[ThinkBayon]

Posters in this and other forums have told me that their machines ran very smoothly with similar or worse hardware...so I know something's going wrong, and I'm not ready to chalk this up to "too many features"...

Any common issues/bugs I may be running into? I searched around a bit, but the only relevant fix I found was one about KDE taking a while to start.

[Svedge]

Have you turned on Beryl as window manager?
KDE + Metacity + XGL made my system snail slow until I turned on Beryl, or turned off XGL.

[ThinkBayon]

Nope. All desktop effects are off. I never wanted these things anyway, so no problem for me...

[davemc]

I use the Sabayon 3.3 DVD and its fast as hell; no clue wth you are talking about?!

[Appleman1234]

Use top to find out what processes are taking up memory.
Disable unnecessary system services using rc-update as root.
Disable unnecessary applets and kde services using KDE Control Center.
Ensure that beryl is off or properly optimised and configured.