Ubuntu is running slow

Elizabeth Patel4 said:Thanks for the tip! MX looks solid on paper, but unfortunately, it won't recognize the wireless card in my HP laptop, so I'm stuck without Wi-Fi. I tried Googling a fix, but nothing simple popped up—there are tons of threads about this on their forums, but I haven't been able to nail down a solution yet. As for PCLinuxOS, I haven't really warmed up to it yet, though I plan to tinker with it a bit more.

Does anyone else have any other suggestions?

That Wi-Fi card probably just needs some proprietary firmware installed—it’s pretty common with Broadcom chips—but it's usually a quick fix. I also completely forgot to mention that MX Linux handles all of this much more smoothly. AHS If you're looking for better driver support, you should really look into the AHS version. The standard release can be a bit finicky and might be exactly why you're running into that specific headache. If you haven't given the AHS version a shot yet, it’s definitely worth a go. Otherwise, your best bets are probably sticking with Fedora or Ubuntu and its various derivatives.

Jack Cook7 said:So, what's the plan?

Mint is just a clean, little system built for end users.

If you're looking to spin up virtual machines, then you aren't an end user—you're a developer, and honestly, that's a whole different breed of user entirely.

It’s kind of wild how none of those Linux experts bothered to point that out to you. I guess they've never actually dealt with regular end users before.

Maybe that's why they don't have any.

Virtual machines aren't some terrifying monster, nor do you need to be a seasoned developer to get them up and running. While they might not exactly be "entry-level" territory, they're certainly nowhere near requiring professional dev skills. If you're just starting out, setting up a VMware machine on Windows is actually pretty straightforward.

Jack Cook7 said:So, what's the plan?

Mint is just a clean, little system built for end users.

If you're looking to spin up virtual machines, then you aren't an end user—you're a developer, and honestly, that's a whole different breed of user entirely.

It’s kind of wild how none of those Linux experts bothered to point that out to you. I guess they've never actually dealt with regular end users before.

Maybe that's why they don't have any.

Look, Mint works just fine for what I need to get done. Honestly, it’s been my first and only experience with Linux, and it hasn't let me down. But now that I've finally picked up a brand new laptop, I'm feeling a bit restless. I figured it's the perfect time to dive into some other distributions—just to see if there's something out there I might be missing.

driftingcanyon2 said:That Wi-Fi card probably just needs some proprietary firmware installed—it’s pretty common with Broadcom chips—but it's usually a quick fix. I also completely forgot to mention that MX Linux handles all of this much more smoothly. AHS If you're looking for better driver support, you should really look into the AHS version. The standard release can be a bit finicky and might be exactly why you're running into that specific headache. If you haven't given the AHS version a shot yet, it’s definitely worth a go. Otherwise, your best bets are probably sticking with Fedora or Ubuntu and its various derivatives.

Virtual machines aren't some terrifying monster, nor do you need to be a seasoned developer to get them up and running. While they might not exactly be "entry-level" territory, they're certainly nowhere near requiring professional dev skills. If you're just starting out, setting up a VMware machine on Windows is actually pretty straightforward.

I just gave that AHS version a shot myself. It’s a real shame, too, because I actually really like MX Linux, but I just couldn't get it to recognize my wireless card. No matter what. I tried following a few different guides from their official forums, but absolutely nothing worked. Maybe I'll give it another go one of these days.

So, I’ve been thinking about this lately—if you're looking to dive into the world of Ubuntu derivatives, which one actually makes sense to spend your time on? Is Xubuntu really worth the effort, or should you be looking elsewhere? Honestly, there are so many options out there that it can get a bit overwhelming if you don't have a specific goal in mind.

Xubuntu is probably my top pick
Lubuntu is definitely the lightest on resources, though I find the LXQt interface a bit too stripped down for my taste
Ubuntu is decent enough, but I just never really vibed with GNOME
Kubuntu feels a little too buggy and bloated for what it is

Alright, thanks! I'm downloading Ubuntu and Fedora now. I think I'll grab Xubuntu as well, just so I can give them all a proper test run.

driftingcanyon2 said:That Wi-Fi card probably just needs some proprietary firmware installed—it’s pretty common with Broadcom chips—but it's usually a quick fix. I also completely forgot to mention that MX Linux handles all of this much more smoothly. AHS If you're looking for better driver support, you should really look into the AHS version. The standard release can be a bit finicky and might be exactly why you're running into that specific headache. If you haven't given the AHS version a shot yet, it’s definitely worth a go. Otherwise, your best bets are probably sticking with Fedora or Ubuntu and its various derivatives.

Virtual machines aren't some terrifying monster, nor do you need to be a seasoned developer to get them up and running. While they might not exactly be "entry-level" territory, they're certainly nowhere near requiring professional dev skills. If you're just starting out, setting up a VMware machine on Windows is actually pretty straightforward.

I never said you needed to be a developer to install VMware, I just meant nobody *except* developers actually has a reason to use it.

Like, 99.9% of users don't even know what a VM is. And out of that tiny 0.1% who do, 99% of them have zero clue how virtualization actually works.

If we're agreeing on those numbers, then I don't see why we're even arguing about how easy the installation is.

Jack Cook7 said:I never said you needed to be a developer to install VMware, I just meant nobody *except* developers actually has a reason to use it.

Like, 99.9% of users don't even know what a VM is. And out of that tiny 0.1% who do, 99% of them have zero clue how virtualization actually works.

If we're agreeing on those numbers, then I don't see why we're even arguing about how easy the installation is.

That isn't quite right. I find a VM comes in handy for testing out a new OS or running legacy systems, plus it's great for getting old applications or outdated hardware working when the drivers just won't play nice with Windows 10 anymore. I use VMs for all those things, and I'm certainly no developer.

driftingcanyon2 said:That isn't quite right. I find a VM comes in handy for testing out a new OS or running legacy systems, plus it's great for getting old applications or outdated hardware working when the drivers just won't play nice with Windows 10 anymore. I use VMs for all those things, and I'm certainly no developer.

But clearly, you aren't the average Joe. So why on earth are you forcing these "one-size-fits-all" solutions onto regular users?

Does the typical user even know what a VM is? Do they even care about the difference between Office 365 and LibreOffice? And where is their data actually sitting on OneDrive, and what kind of legal headaches does that cause?

Hmm... let me chew on that for a second.

Jack Cook7 said:So, what's the plan?

Mint is just a clean, little system built for end users.

If you're looking to spin up virtual machines, then you aren't an end user—you're a developer, and honestly, that's a whole different breed of user entirely.

It’s kind of wild how none of those Linux experts bothered to point that out to you. I guess they've never actually dealt with regular end users before.

Maybe that's why they don't have any.

It isn't that I'm necessarily praising Mint—I don't know the first thing about distro maintenance or open-source policies—but I run my virtual machines on Mint quite smoothly. They’ve never given me any trouble. What tends to bog it down, much like it does with Windows, is simply having too many applications installed at once.
And there is one other thing that can really kill performance: resizing partitions, specifically the one holding your swap space.

Elizabeth Patel4 said:Alright, thanks! I'm downloading Ubuntu and Fedora now. I think I'll grab Xubuntu as well, just so I can give them all a proper test run.

If you go with Ubuntu along with Matea, you'll end up with an experience very similar to what you'd get with Mint.

Jerry Murphy3 said:If you go with Ubuntu along with Matea, you'll end up with an experience very similar to what you'd get with Mint.

Thanks for the tip! I see it's actually possible to install the Windows Desktop on Fedora too, so I'll definitely be playing around with that once I have some free time.

Hi there.

I went ahead and nuked my swap partition on openSUSE, though I’m not entirely sure if that was the right move. Regardless, I’ve decided to run a Secure Erase on my SSD to boost performance before installing a different OS—specifically Fedora Security Lab (reasoning being the niche purpose of the OS and how it stacks up against "Fedora/openSUSE" here). What I really want to know is: can I use the hdparm utility within the Fedora Security Lab Live environment to perform the Secure Erase, just so I can get Fedora installed on the SSD afterward? Also, is switching to Fedora actually a smart play? P.S. I tried the Fedora Live environment earlier and couldn't get the WLAN to connect—not through the GUI, nor via the CLI.

Jack Jones3 said:Hi there.

I went ahead and nuked my swap partition on openSUSE, though I’m not entirely sure if that was the right move. Regardless, I’ve decided to run a Secure Erase on my SSD to boost performance before installing a different OS—specifically Fedora Security Lab (reasoning being the niche purpose of the OS and how it stacks up against "Fedora/openSUSE" here). What I really want to know is: can I use the hdparm utility within the Fedora Security Lab Live environment to perform the Secure Erase, just so I can get Fedora installed on the SSD afterward? Also, is switching to Fedora actually a smart play? P.S. I tried the Fedora Live environment earlier and couldn't get the WLAN to connect—not through the GUI, nor via the CLI.

It feels like you might be overthinking things a little. If this is just a single-user machine, a Secure Erase is probably overkill, much like using Red Hat Security Lab; you aren't actually going to "fix" anything regarding performance. Honestly, the only maintenance an SSD really needs is running a periodic RETRIM, and that should be about it. It's usually best to just stick to the manufacturer's own toolkit or the built-in options provided by the OS and call it a day—anything else is just extra work. Personally, I run Fedora 33 Cinnamon and SUSE Tumbleweed, and both have been perfectly fine for me.