On 2011/08/27 14:29 (GMT+0800) George OLson composed:
Ok, next problem. I have an older pc for my kids that was running windows xp on it. It is an old Dell desktop with a dual core (I think)
Few P4s are dual core, but many are HyperThreading, which an OS may confuse for dual core.
Intel Pentium 4 processor and 256MB of RAM.
What means "older"? What model? What CPU speed? I have Dell Optiplex GX110, GX150, GX200, GX260, GX270, GX280, & GX620, all with 384M or more RAM, most with at least 512M, and all with KDE. The GX110 & GX200 are the only ones slow enough to bother me. Others might be bothered with anything slower than a GX270 or more, particularly if using the native Intel video most leave the factory with. I always disable 3D if the OS fails to disable it on its own. I tend to think of DDR as the RAM type that divides decent expectation of performance from not so good (PC133 or slower). GX240 was the last Optiplex I'm aware of using PC133, with GX260 the first using DDR.
I completely removed XP and installed 32bit OS 11.4 and it is now up and running. However, it runs really, really slow. Basically it is unusable. I kind of expected that, but I wanted to try it out anyway. I assume the problem is not enough memory, right?
High probability. If the motherboard supports at least 512M RAM, I'd try to get it at least there. If you can't, maybe you should try LXDE or XFCE instead.
So what is the best course of action to get it usable for my kids? Is the problem with KDE? Does KDE take up too much RAM to run in the new 4.6? Should I try and downgrade to an earlier version of KDE? If so, how do I get the older KDE packages and install them?
There is a KDE3 howto page on opensuse.org. Basically just add the KDE3 repo and install according to the instructions there. You may find a big difference. Some do, some not much. Signing up for and/or searching the opensuse-kde and/or opensuse-kde3 mailing lists could be useful.
Or is the problem with the whole distribution? I have disks for OS 11.1 and OS 9.3. Should I install one of those instead of 11.4?
Not likely to help much if at all. Some help can be had regardless by disabling unnecessary "services".
What do I need to look at to figure out the source of the problem and figure out how to fix it, if the easy solution is not just downgrading everything?
Take a look in /var/log/Xorg.0.log and figure out which driver is being used. You don't want it to be using VESA, as it is quite slow compared to drivers specifically for the Intel, ATI & NVidia video chips most Dells use. If you aren't sure what video chip is has, do 'lspci | grep VGA'. Give the whole output of lspci to us, plus the above referenced specs, and we may be able to provide more help, and more of what you should expect. The display type and video cable type might be useful too. -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org