How-to speed up Fedora Core 2 (FC2)

[taylor65]

Fedora Core 2 has some default settings that can slow the PC down. It's easy to change them though.

The first one is a well-known problem where IPv6 is enabled by default, and unless you're using IPv6 (99.99% of people aren't), then it slows down the response time for Internet activites (web browsing, e-mail, etc.). To fix that, add the following line in /etc/modprobe.conf:

alias net-pf-10 off

The other thing that can slow down a PC is some scripts that are run by default every day. They include things like updating rpm info, updating slocate database, etc. These scripts are useful, but they are CPU and HD intensive. And if you're like me, and turn off your PC until you're ready to use it, these scripts run when you turn the PC on, and the system will always seem sluggish. It's easy to change this. What I would suggest is not to delete these scripts, but to have them only run once a month (which is probably ok for most people). The way it works is that any script in the /etc/cron.daily directory gets run every day. If you move some of them to the /etc/cron.monthly directory, they'll only get run every month. The files I would recommend moving are:

makewhatis.cron
prelink
rpm
slocate.cron
yum.cron

[ghaefb]

Thanks

Some tweaks for FC2 speedup from my side:

If you run: system-config-services you can remove some services that you don't need.
Like(I don't need these): cups, isdn, sendmail,... but read what certain service is for before you shut down.

Use "lighter" window managers like: Fluxbox, xfce or IceWM

And for advenced users, custom compiled kernels are great for system speedup.

[daywalker]

ghaefb what is system-condif-services? is it the services you can find in the gnome menu under the system settings --> server settings?

and what about the icewm? cant really get it to work

[Jman]

system-config-services is System Settings > Server Settings > Services. If you know you don't use a service, it is best to disable it.

xfce is probably the easiest "light" window manager to install, as the rpms are on the CDs in the base repository for FC2.

[deuch]

to install xfce4 on a FC2 box :

http://fedoranews.org/contributors/diego_figueroa/xfce/

deuch

[Thoreau]

all this talk about speed has me downloading xfce right now. Can i use a Core 1 rpm for Core2, or do i have to do it from a bz2?

[ilja]

try yum search xfce it should return you a lot of packages.

[ghaefb]

Im so sory :) I meant system-config-services

[daywalker]

ok thank you, anyway disabled the services i dont need and using xfce is better.

thanks again

[Thoreau]

i got how to do it, on xfce's webpage http://www.xfce.org/index.php?page=documentation&lang=en they say that you have to install the libs before everything(duh), but you can't just yum install xfce i had to yum install libxfce* then install everything else by yum install xfce* happy happy now, just have to see if it worked :p

[gasnyder3]

Or, Tnanks to Richard Samson for this tip.

sudo yum install xffm\* xfwm4\* xfce\* xfdesktop

After installing these packages you have to create/edit two files: /etc/X11/dm/Sessions/xfce.desktop and /etc/X11/gdm/Sessions/XFCE

* /etc/X11/dm/Sessions/xfce.desktop should contain:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=XFCE4
Comment=This session logs you into XFCE4
Exec=startxfce4
Icon=
Type=Application

* /etc/X11/gdm/Sessions/XFCE should contain:

#!/bin/bash

exec /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession XFCE4

Once you have these files ready you can now logout of your current session and log back in selecting XFCE from the session menu. If you are not using the graphical login just type on your shell:

startx xfce

[gasnyder3]

Just saw that the link to this info was in a previuos reply, sorry

[shadowhand]

Xfce is awesome when you take the time to tweak it properly. and yes, a recompiled kernel makes the speed of the system very nice indeed. also shutting off RH Graphical Boot (edit the rhgb line out of /etc/grub.conf) makes a much faster starting system.

[scotty]

Ooooops!

I have just tried to install Xfce. All seemed to go ok, no errors.
When I try to run it, I get:
Your windows manager does not seem to support the new windows
manager hints as defined on www.freedesktop.org.

Any ideas....?

[deuch]

under FC1 you use Xfree ... FC2 use X.org instead ...

If you have installed FC2 rpm on a FC1 box it might be create strange problems :-)

deuch

[scotty]

I have FC2 installed and I did the following as discussed above
yum install libxfce*
yum install xfce*

I added the 2 files xfce.desctop and XFCE

And this is what happens.

Have I caused a problem?

[Paul_Vandenberg]

Fedora Core 2 has some default settings that can slow the PC down. It's easy to change them though.

The first one is a well-known problem where IPv6 is enabled by default, and unless you're using IPv6 (99.99% of people aren't), then it slows down the response time for Internet activites (web browsing, e-mail, etc.). To fix that, add the following line in /etc/modprobe.conf:

alias net-pf-10 off

The other thing that can slow down a PC is some scripts that are run by default every day. They include things like updating rpm info, updating slocate database, etc. These scripts are useful, but they are CPU and HD intensive. And if you're like me, and turn off your PC until you're ready to use it, these scripts run when you turn the PC on, and the system will always seem sluggish. It's easy to change this. What I would suggest is not to delete these scripts, but to have them only run once a month (which is probably ok for most people). The way it works is that any script in the /etc/cron.daily directory gets run every day. If you move some of them to the /etc/cron.monthly directory, they'll only get run every month. The files I would recommend moving are:

makewhatis.cron
prelink
rpm
slocate.cron
yum.cron

This is awesome. One of the things that always bugged me about Red Hat/Fedora was the high amount of disk activity about an hour after booting. Moving these cron scripts to the monthly directory solved this for me.

[deuch]

you 'd better do this as root :

uninstall what you installed with yum and do it as root

yum install xffm\* xfwm4\* xfce\* xfdesktop

keep the 2 files an restart x.

Did you use gnome or KDE after xfce ???

deuch

[scotty]

How can I uninstall ?

[scotty]

Thanks Deuch, I got it and it now works.
I think I could get used to it.
Would it be wise to remove Gnome?
If I decide to, how can I do it?

[deuch]

i think it's better to keep both in case of you breake xfce :-) ... Gnome is more stable and mature.
But it can be difficult to remove gnome ... many librairies will still there ...

try both !!!! in FC3, maybe you will be able to choose XFCE at the install !!

deuch

[scotty]

Is there any way I can make XFCE my defaullt...?

[rkl]

It's easy to change this. What I would suggest is not to delete these scripts, but to have them only run once a month (which is probably ok for most people). The way it works is that any script in the /etc/cron.daily directory gets run every day.

Not strictly true - they get run, by default, either at around 4.00am or 65 minutes after machine power on if they haven't been run in the last 24 hours - see /etc/anacrontab for the delay periods.

Some of the ones you suggest only doing monthly are actually quite useful to keep fairly up-to-date, especially if you are regularly installing or uninstalling software (which is what a lot of FC users do I bet...). I find "slocate" invaluable myself and wouldn't like to see that significantly out-of-date (yes, slocate isn't supplied with SuSE 9.1 Personal Edition, which shocked me).

Personally, I find more time spent trimming services via "chkconfig <service> off" is more beneficial because it speeds up my boot time
quite a bit. Who needs kudzu run every time you boot - that's 5 seconds you can save right there...

Of the two, I'd say FC starts up far too many "unwanted" services by default (especially the "atd" service, which I've even suggested via RH Bugzilla that they shouldn't bother enabling by default - it ships with no pre-configured at jobs at all ! - but they wouldn't budge) and the cron jobs don't worry me anywhere near as much.