Arch Linux

mixtr

Member

From: Ottawa

Registered: 2007-02-27

Posts: 47

My laptop is now a wuss

It is something that happened way back when in the last 6 month or so and I'm tired of it NOW (I'm patient like that). I did some upgrade, mostly something to do with X, and since then whenever I do something with graphics I can hear my fans running at max and my computer slowing down.

I have some folder that have lots of pictures (no not what some of you might think..) and I used to be able to view them all with gqview without putting much load on my CPU. But now, since that upgrade, I can't review that same folder without slow down and watching my CPU load meter get to 100%. I checked with top and it is always the X process that bogs everything down. This also happen with any YouTube-like video on the net or website with lots of thumbnails like lynucs.org.

Does anyone know why it happens?

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-- mixtr

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finferflu

Forum Fellow

From: Manchester, UK

Registered: 2007-06-21

Posts: 1,899

Website

Re: My laptop is now a wuss

What's your graphics card model?
What drivers are you using?

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mixtr

Member

From: Ottawa

Registered: 2007-02-27

Posts: 47

Re: My laptop is now a wuss

ATI Mobility Radeon X300 w/ fglrx 8.47.3

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-- mixtr

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MoonSwan

Member

From: Great White North

Registered: 2008-01-23

Posts: 815

Re: My laptop is now a wuss

Try the Radeon (free) drivers.  I had much success with those on my laptop the only issue being I've heard they're tough to set up if you want TV-out through an S-Video connection that might be on the laptop.

At the least you might learn something.  The wiki article on setting them up is very thorough & easy to follow too.

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I'm torn apart between worlds. Basically, using vim in a highly visual environment with a lot of mouse features feels like soldering a lose wire to a motherboard with a Zippo and a needle, while working with ANY TEXT AT ALL with a "modern GUI" text editor feels like joining the London Philharmonic Orchestra with a Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Magical Musical Mirror.  --Awebb

mixtr

Member

From: Ottawa

Registered: 2007-02-27

Posts: 47

Re: My laptop is now a wuss

There doesn't appear to be any differences between the two drivers.

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-- mixtr

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