Before we move on to speeding up Ubuntu, let's figure out why the system becomes slower over time. There may be several reasons for this. You may have a weak computer with a normal configuration. You may have installed several applications that "eat up" resources during system startup. In fact, the reasons are endless.
Listed below are various tricks that will help speed up Ubuntu a bit. These are one of the best options that can be taken to make the system work more smoothly and efficiently. You can follow all of the tips presented or just some of them. When using them, the speed of Ubuntu noticeably increases.
I used these tricks with an older version of Ubuntu, but I think they can be applied to other versions, as well as other Linux distributions that are based on Ubuntu: Linux Mint, Elementary OS Luna, etc.
Reduce the loading time of the selection screen.
This screen gives you 10 seconds to select an operating system, enter recovery mode, etc. I think this is too much time. If you follow this system, you need to sit next to the computer and press the right key to get into Ubuntu as soon as possible. It takes some time, doesn't it? The first trick is to change the timing of this selection screen. If you're more comfortable using a GUI tool, you can check out the tutorials on changing the boot time and order in Grub Customizer .
Everyone else can simply type the following command to open the boot screen configuration settings:
sudo gedit /etc/default/grub&
You need to replace GRUB_TIMEOUT=10 with GRUB_TIMEOUT=2 . Then the download time will be 2 seconds. Better not choose 0 seconds, because then you will not be able to choose between entering the OS and recovery mode. After changing the configuration, enter the following command, which will commit the changes:
sudo update-grub
Set up autostart applications.
Over time, you start installing apps. Some of them run every time the OS boots. Of course, running these applications takes resources.
Bottom line: the computer slows down for a long period of time after startup. Go to Unity Dash and find Startup Applications there:
There you will see all applications with autoload. Think about whether there are applications that you do not need when you start the OS? They can be removed from this list.
And if you do not want to turn off autoload? For example, if you have installed any indicator application for Ubuntu, you will want it to automatically start when you start your computer.
In this case, you can delay the launch of applications. Then you will free up a certain amount of resources that are used when loading the OS, and after a while the necessary applications will be launched automatically. On the screen from the previous picture, press the "Edit" button and change the start time using the sleep option.
For example, if you want to delay the launch of the Dropbox indicator by, say, 20 seconds, you just need to add this to the existing command:
Sleep 10;
Then the command dropbox start -i changes to sleep 20; dropbox start -i. This means that Dropbox will now launch with a 20 second delay. Similarly, you can change the start time of other applications.
Install preload for applications to speed up their launch.
Preloading is a background process that analyzes user behavior and downloads applications frequently. Open a terminal and enter the following command to install the preload:
sudo apt-get install preload
After installation, restart your computer and forget about this process. It will run in the background.
Choose the best mirrors for updates.
It's a good idea to make sure you're using the best versions of mirrors to update apps. The software repository is mirrored around the world in the case of Ubuntu. The optimization is to use a server that is closer to you geographically. Thanks to this, the system will be updated faster, because the time it takes to send packets to the server is reduced.
IN Software & Updates -> Ubuntu Software tab -> Download From select Other and then click on Select Best Server:
After that, the check will start and you will be offered the best mirror. Usually it is already installed, but it is better to double-check just in case. If the mirror that contains the vault is updated infrequently, system updates may be delayed. This tip will be useful for people with relatively slow Internet speeds.
For fast updates, use apt-fast, not apt-get.
apt-fast is a shell script for apt-get. It improves the speed of updating and downloading packages, as it downloads packages simultaneously from multiple links. If you frequently use the terminal and apt-get to install and update these packages, consider giving apt-fast a try. It can be installed from the official PPA with the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:apt-fast/stable sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install apt-fast
Remove from apt-get updates ign, which refers to languages.
Ever notice what sudo apt-get update says? It contains three types of strings: hit, ign, get. If you look at the ign lines, you will notice that they are mainly related to the translation of languages. If you use applications and packages in one language, you do not need a translation into that language.
If you remove language-specific updates from apt-get, then apt-get will speed up a bit. To do this, open the following file:
sudo gedit /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/00aptitude
Add the following line at the end of this file:
Acquire::Languages "none"; 
Reduce overheating.
Overheating is a common problem that occurs with most computers. An overheated computer is rather slow. It takes centuries to open a program when a CPU fan spins at the speed of Usain Bolt. There are 2 ways to reduce the degree of heating, and therefore increase the efficiency of Ubuntu, optimization will also be better. These are TLP and CPUFREQ.
To install and use TLP, enter the following commands in the terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install tlp tlp-rdw sudo tlp start
Once installed, you don't need to do anything. TLP runs in the background.
To set the CPUFREQ indicator, use the following command:
sudo apt-get install indicator-cpufreq
Restart your computer and turn on power saving mode:
Adjust LibreOffice to make these programs run faster.
If you use office programs a lot, then you might want to tweak LibreOffice to speed things up. This is where the memory will be configured. Open LibreOffice, go to Tools -> Options. There, from the left column select Memory and enable Systray Quickstarter, increase the memory allocation.
Use a lighter interface whenever possible.
If you're using the usual Unity or GNOME interface, you might be interested in switching to simpler interfaces like Xfce or LXDE.
These interfaces use less RAM and waste CPU power. They also have small programs that can also speed up Ubuntu.
Of course, these interfaces may not look as modern as Unity or GNOME. This is the kind of compromise you have to make.
Use lighter versions of applications.
This is more of a suggestion, as this question comes down to personal preference. Many standard or popular applications are resource intensive and may not be suitable for a low power computer. In such a case, alternatives to such applications should be sought. For example, you can use AppGrid instead of Ubuntu Software Center. Gdebi is suitable for installing packages. Instead of LibreOffice Writer, you can use AbiWord.
This concludes a collection of tips to help you upgrade Ubuntu 14.04, 16.04 and beyond. I'm sure the system will work much better thanks to the implementation of these tricks.
This article will give a list of tips for optimizing Ubuntu 14.04 once it's installed. The purpose of which is to increase the speed of its work and the convenience of its use.
Configuring startup programs in Ubuntu 14.04
Ubuntu, for a long time, has a graphical interface for managing startup programs. This is the "Startup Applications" program ( gnome-session-properties). You can find it in the main menu of Dash. However, there is a problem - not all automatically launched programs are displayed in this program. To fix this, you need to run two commands in the terminal:
sudo sed -i "s/NoDisplay=true/NoDisplay=false/g" /etc/xdg/autostart/*.desktop
sed -i "s/NoDisplay=true/NoDisplay=false/g" ~/.config/autostart/*.desktop
After that, in the "Startup Applications" applet, all shortcuts from the startup folders will be visible:
Disable programs carefully. If you do not know the purpose of the program you want to disable, read about it first.
Note on autoloading programs
In general, Ubuntu has two startup systems:
- Autoload along with a graphical shell (Unity, GNOME, etc.).
- Autoload along with the system kernel, in text mode.
The Startup Applications applet controls the first type of download. Physically, such a download is performed through the .desktop program file (similar to Windows shortcuts), which is placed in one of two folders:
- /etc/xdg/autostart
- ~/.config/autostart
In the first case, the program will be launched for any user. In the second case, only for the one in whose home folder the program shortcut will be placed.
You can copy shortcuts to these folders desired programs even by hand. Shortcuts of all available programs are located in the folder /usr/share/applications(Dash takes them from this folder). However, copying the shortcut is not enough, it needs the property " X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled" set to true.
Preloading programs on Ubuntu startup
There are special programs that manage the order in which binary modules are loaded during the startup of the operating system. They arrange the placement of downloaded binaries in such a way as to reduce their fragmentation within the file system. And by reducing fragmentation, speed up their loading from disk.
Many Ubuntu optimization tips mention the program preload. You can install it via terminal:
sudo apt-get install preload
sudo touch /var/lib/preload/preload.state
sudo chmod 644 /var/lib/preload/preload.state
/etc/init.d/preload restart
However, right out of the box, Ubuntu installs another program for the same task - ureadahead. You just need to enable its autorun.
Note
Using these programs makes sense only if a mechanical (HDD) disk is installed on the computer. If the disk is electronic (SSD), then there is no point in these programs.
Reduce the size of Ubuntu system logs (logs)
Ubuntu keeps a whole bunch of logs. Both system-wide and logs of individual programs and services.
As a rule, all these logs are stored in the folder /var/log. If this folder is located on the root (/) partition, then in some cases it is possible to increase the size of this folder so that all free space on the root partition will be filled, up to the impossibility of starting the operating system. It's not a typical situation, but it happens.
Therefore, it is better to configure the log storage system in such a way as to minimize the amount of information stored.
Do it more correctly by setting up a special program logrotate. This program deletes archive copies of logs at the specified intervals. The program settings are stored in the folder /etc/logrotate.d. Each file in this folder defines the management of a particular program's logs. For example file /etc/logrotate.d/rsyslog it's syslog management. To reduce the size of stored logs, you need to specify parameters in these files rotate 0 And daily. You can also add a limit on the size of the log, for example size 10M(10 megabytes).
sudo gedit /etc/logrotate.d/rsyslog
And then edit this file. You can do the same with other files in this folder. You can change the global settings for the program logrotate, via file /etc/logrotate.conf.
After changing the log rotation settings, you can delete all old logs (logs). Command in terminal:
sudo find /var/log -type f -name "*.gz" -delete
Tmp folder to RAM
You can move the temporary files folder to RAM. Through editing the fstab file:
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
and add the line tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noexec,nosuid 0 0
However, this must be done with caution.
Secondly, in this folder, some of your programs can store data that they use after the system is restarted.
In general, first examine the contents of this folder on the disk and then decide whether to transfer it to RAM.
Using swap on disk
You can change the conditions under which the system starts using disk swap. By default, Ubuntu starts using disk swap when RAM is 40% or more busy. You can change this behavior.
sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf
and add the following line to the end of the file: vm.swappiness=10
Then reload settings: sudo sysctl -p
vm.swappiness=10 specifies that disk swap will be used when seeding random access memory by 90%.
Change disk write caching options
Ubuntu caches (to RAM) all disk writes. And executes them in a delayed mode. By managing the write cache settings, you can speed up the system with the risk of data loss, or vice versa, slow down the work, reducing the risk of data loss. There are several disk write caching options that can be used to achieve different effects.
Main parameters:
- vm.dirty_background_ratio- size of RAM to accommodate cache pages prepared for writing.
- vm.dirty_ratio- size of RAM to accommodate the shared write cache.
Auxiliary parameters:
- vm.dirty_expire_centiseconds- indicates the time interval for cache pages prepared for writing in memory.
- vm.dirty_writeback_centisecs- Specifies the time interval after which the system process that flushes the cache to disk wakes up from sleep and checks for the need to perform cache flush operations.
All these parameters are written to a file sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf.
Example 1. Increasing the size of the write cache (speeding up the system):
- vm.dirty_background_ratio = 50
- vm.dirty_ratio = 80
Example 2: Reducing the write cache size:
- vm.dirty_background_ratio = 5
- vm.dirty_ratio = 10
You can find out the current values of these parameters with the command sysctl -a | grep dirty.
These settings must be changed with care. Clearly understanding their mutual influence, their relationship with the size of RAM, as well as possible side effects.
For example, increasing the cache size or time intervals can result in large amounts of data being lost during a power outage or critical system failure.
Or a large cache size combined with a high volume of write requests can periodically create a situation where write requests will be blocked for a long time, because the system will need to flush a large amount of data from a full cache to disk.
Dash Menu Speedup
It is possible to turn off searching for Internet sources (wikipedia) when you type something in the Dash menu search bar. Through the graphical interface: "Settings - security and privacy - search: display Internet search results".
Or via terminal: gsettings set "com.canonical.Unity.Lenses" remote-content-search none.
In addition, you can turn off the search commercial offers in online stores. Command in terminal:
gsettings set "com.canonical.Unity.Lenses" disabled-scopes "["more_suggestions-amazon.scope","more_suggestions-u1ms.scope","more_suggestions-populartracks.scope", "music-musicstore.scope","more_suggestions -ebay.scope", "more_suggestions-ubuntushop.scope", "more_suggestions-skimlinks.scope"]"
Add Windows Encoding to Gedit Text Editor
To avoid "crazy" when opening Windows text files, you need to add the Windows-1251 encoding in the Gedit editor. Command in terminal:
gsettings set org.gnome.gedit.preferences.encodings auto-detected "["UTF-8", "WINDOWS-1251", "CURRENT", "ISO-8859-15", "UTF-16"]"
Traditional Unity Scrollbars
By default, in Unity, scrollbars are hidden. But you can make them visible all the time. Command in terminal:
gsettings set com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode normal
Simple, convenient MP3 player for Ubuntu
The rhythmbox music player is installed out of the box in Ubuntu. He's pretty monstrous. You can remove it and install a more sane player.
sudo apt-get remove rhythmbox
sudo apt-get install Audacious
Audacious is a small player with no bells and whistles:
sudo apt-get install qmmp
Adding keyboard shortcuts to launch programs
Regularly used programs, such as Nautilus, can be launched from the keyboard by assigning a keyboard shortcut. This is done through the graphical applet "Settings - Keyboard - Keyboard Shortcuts":
In the "Additional combinations" section, you can add your own launch commands and associate them with keys.
The command is added first. Then, in the list of commands, click on the desired line with the mouse and press the desired key combination.
Minimize All Windows (Open Desktop) in Ubuntu
In Ubuntu 14.04, by default, you can minimize all open windows from the keyboard: Ctrl+Win+D. Alternatively, you can add a button to the launcher that will perform the same action. This is done through the graphic applet "Settings - Appearance - Mode":
Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Win+D, in my opinion, is inconvenient. Windows uses Win+D(this combination was also in the 11th versions of Ubuntu). In order to change this combination, you need to install the program compizconfig-settings-manager. Then run it and in the "Desktop" section open " Ubuntu Unity Plugin":
Parameter " Show desktop" defines the keyboard shortcut for this action.
For enthusiasts
For those who like to have virtual sex, I can recommend a couple of programs.
gsettings
Console program. Allows you to change a large number of system parameters. The settings are organized as a tree - schemes, in the schemes there are keys to which you can assign values.
Installed out of the box. The gsettings help command will give you a list of options. For example gsettings list-recursively returns a general list of schemas, keys, and current values.
dconf
Graphic program. It also allows you to change system settings. Need to install sudo apt-get install dconf).
In principle, using these two programs, you can stick your hand up to your elbow in Ubuntu's anus :) But be careful, she may not like it :)
If you found this article useful or just liked it, then don't be shy - support the author financially. This is easy to do by throwing money on Yandex Wallet № 410011416229354. Or on the phone +7 918-16-26-331 .
Even a small amount can help writing new articles :)
Began to noticeably slow down. This is very annoying, because I often work very quickly, on the machine, and any brakes just knock down the rhythm. But why Linux can slow down? How to speed up linux? How to optimize Linux?
There are several points that I would like to draw your attention to. Each of them to some extent affects the speed of Linux, albeit slightly. But if you optimize everything together, it can give a performance boost. And believe me, it's not difficult, most often you don't even need to go into the console... I'll show everything on Linux Mint, but by analogy, all this can be done on other Linux systems.
1. Linux startup optimization.
The first thing you need to pay attention to is what we have loaded at system startup. We go to the MENU - PARAMETERS - LAUNCHED APPLICATIONS.
Here you can turn off everything unnecessary, in my case it's almost everything. This way you get rid of unnecessary processes and programs that are loaded when you start Linux. Such optimization of Linux will help you to speed up system boot as well. Done? Go ahead.
2. Shutting down servers
Did you know that many servers can be installed by default in your linux: print server, samba server, apache server, ssh server and so on. It is possible that you do not need them for a hundred years, then all these processes are constantly hanging in memory. You can simply disable them, but most often unnecessary servers are easier to remove. How to find them?
Open Synaptic and search for the word server:
We look, we read what is installed and what we really do not need - we delete it. But you should not delete everything in a row, if you only know what it is and why it is. I have already removed a lot of unnecessary, but most likely there is still a lot of junk. You can also spell the word demon and see what services are installed but we don't need them. Removed? Let's go further...
3. Disable unnecessary services
Previously, in Ubuntu, in a graphical environment, it was possible to disable and enable services, but then the guys from Ubuntu decided that we, the losers, did not need this - they would suddenly disable something important, and then they would say that Ubuntu was buggy!
But maybe they are right, but for us this is not a problem, since Linux is a console, a terminal, and only then a graphical shell. Install the required package:
sudo apt-get install sysv-rc-conf
Open a terminal and use sudo to issue the sysv-rc-conf command:
sudo sysv-rc-conf
Now, using the arrows on the keyboard and wielding the spacebar, turn off everything unnecessary. But be careful, you have entered the heart of Linux and if you disable something important, your system may not boot - And don't say I didn't warn you!
There are a lot of instructions on the network that describe in detail what service is responsible for, and which can be disabled and which not. Seek and find!
How to speed up Ubuntu?
Why Ubuntu? Just for example. Ubuntu uses their proprietary Unity as a working environment. In my experience, the brake is still the same. Therefore, you can speed up Ubuntu simply - install a lighter working environment - XFCE4, E17, LXDE and so on. Or you can just immediately download a version of the same Ubuntu with a light desktop, for example, Lubuntu:
Nice and easy! There will be almost all the same functionality, maybe only less bells and whistles. But do we really need them?
And finally, one more question:
Which Linux to install on an old computer?
Here you should not hope for a light working environment, here you need LIGHT Linux! Light on the inside, not just on the outside- remember this truth. What are the options? , Slackware, Slax and so on. Here you need to try, because you will have to pay something for ease - but how did you want?
Did not find an answer to your question? Use search...
8 comments
8 comments on the article “Linux optimization - everything is simple!”
And I have Windows and does not slow down! Maybe your computer is weak? Still, modern operating systems are developed and tested on modern processors with a margin of RAM.
Lubuntu is really faster. But I ran into some glitches there. All the same, I settled on Ubuntu Gnome + Cairo-Dock
It turns out stable, without glitches. And fast enough. The main thing is not to install 64 bit on an old computer with 2 gigs of memory. 32-bit will work much faster.
I agree, all mini OS sometimes have hidden flaws. But yesterday there was a pleasant exception, I installed Linux on a friend's laptop, Mint didn't go AT ALL, which is strange, but BackBox got up like a native and the speed was SUPER! I want to write a review about it today maybe.
I used Ubuntu at one time, then, with the release of newer versions, my computer simply stopped pulling it. I switched to Debian and am satisfied, the only thing that is bad there is the graphical environment and fonts - they are better in Ubuntu, but this is perhaps only one of their pluses in my opinion. Now version 8 of Debian has been released, there you can install any working environment and almost any software that you are used to.
By the way, the error in the post: not Pappy, but Puppy.
I agree that Debian is lighter, but sometimes you have to sacrifice speed for the sake of convenience. Previously, I also practiced a lot with light distributions, and then I realized: it’s easier to buy a normal powerful computer and rack your brains, since any minimalism brings a bunch of other problems.
Thanks for the mistake, corrected ;)
Well, if I'm an ordinary teapot, what will I rely on when deleting servers?
Dummies should not deal with servers, this is a very complex and responsible business.
"There are a lot of instructions on the net, which describe in detail what service is responsible for, and which one can be turned off and which one can not. Search and you will find!"
Always at a loss from such instructions! You are interesting people!
Why is your article needed on the web? To send those who are looking for information, as they say, to 3 Soviet?
I think - if a person undertook to write instructions, or something like that - write as clear and detailed as possible, or attach a link to third-party resources.
If you now compare the new versions of the Ubuntu desktop distribution with, for example, version 14.04, you should see that Linux distributions have become more “gluttonous”, and the new versions have a problem in the form of Unity that eats RAM like an elephant and if you have less than 2GB of RAM, it won't be sweet. In today's material, we will discuss several ways to better solve the problem that has arisen that would reduce the appetite for using RAM. The first, of course, is the choice of a lightweight distribution (Xubuntu or Lubuntu and others). The second way, in this case we will try to reduce memory consumption without limiting the functionality of the distribution, we chose Ubuntu 16.04 LTS for experiments.
Introduction
If you just installed the system on a computer that has two gigabytes of RAM, after the first start, the system will eat at least 1 GB of memory. It seems not critical, but a lot, if we take at least a smaller distribution kit for comparison and compare memory consumption. And if you start the browser, for example, with 5-6 tabs, then your 2 GB will quickly be used up and you will see the first jambs in performance, other browser freezes, etc.
Consider what we need in functionality and what is not.
- First of all, a list of daemons that are loaded by default. Ubuntu developers tried to do the minimum, but in our situation it is worth paying attention to the fact that, depending on the degree of use of the distribution, a lot of functionality may be completely superfluous, which may eventually be disabled and will not eat up RAM.
- It is also worth paying attention to the applications that you do not use. Various software uses plugins, which are implemented in most cases as downloadable libraries. In this situation, it will not be superfluous to fine-tune and disable the unnecessary. It is worth remembering the graphics subsystem, the components of which not everyone needs, by disabling which you can free up some RAM.
Please note that the author of the material is not responsible for your actions if you disable something important and your system crashes. All manipulations, you perform at your own peril and risk by making this or that decision to disable services and plugins.
Disable unnecessary services / services
Ubuntu 16.04 uses systemd, to see what software is running during boot, we can use the following command:
sudo systemctl list-units --type service
As a result, we will get a list of both running (used) and services that have already been completed. Let's take a closer look at this list and think about what we need and what we can get rid of.
List of systemd services to load
AppArmor is designed to protect the system, but in reality, if we talk about home systems, it will be enough to update applications in a timely manner. If we talk about the risks of infection from the software, then it is minimal, you need to try very hard to get to a malicious page filled with exploits that are created for a specific version of the distribution kit, it is also worth remembering that the AppArmor profile for Firefox is inactive by default. Therefore, if you have a panic attack like a paranoid, you can not turn off this service, but if you think soberly, you can safely turn it off, for which use the following command:
sudo systemctl disable apparmor.service
Apport is a service for sending bug reports to Canonical. Yes, it seems to be a useful tool, but imagine the situation, you have mobile 3G Internet and this error window constantly looms before your eyes, in this situation it makes sense to disable this service, sometimes this window pops up too often when you don’t expect it, I personally disabled immediately after installation, because sometimes it just displays with its appearances when you do not expect it. Whether you turn it off, you have to decide for yourself. To disable, type the command:
sudo systemctl disable apport.service
Avahi is a daemon that is designed to discover services/computers in the .local domain. It seems to be a convenient thing, but in practice, if you have a couple of computers in local network, it makes no sense to keep this daemon active, you can safely turn it off:
sudo systemctl disable avahi-daemon.service
CGManager is designed to manage a cgroup by allowing non-privileged users to access the cgroup and preventing the current cgroup from leaving the parent cgroup and privileged applications. If you think soberly, it can only come in handy when creating nested LXC containers, if you don’t use them and don’t use a sandbox in which all this can be useful for running programs, feel free to turn it off:
sudo systemctl disable cgmanager.service
Colord is used to manage color profiles, allowing you to display identical colors both on the computer screen and on the printer. If you do not need it and do not plan to manage colors, do not have a monochrome printer or do not have any printer at all, disable it without hesitation:
sudo systemctl disable colord.service
ModemManager is an interface that allows you to connect to the Internet using modems, communication channels (2G/3G/4G/CDMA), connection methods (RS232, USB, Bluetooth) and control methods (AT, QCDM, QMI, MBIM). If you have cable Internet and do not plan to use a modem, disable:
sudo systemctl disable ModemManager.service
The Speech Dispatcher is a unified API that is intended to change the order in which the synthesizer is called, as well as to prevent sound overlapping when using several applications and playing sound in them at the same time. If you do not plan to use speech synthesizers, disable:
sudo systemctl disable speech-dispatcher.service
Whoopsie - this service has the same roots as Apport, if you turned it off, you should do the same with Whoopsie. First of all, open the config /etc/default/whoopsie here we need to change the value in the report_crashes parameter, replace true with false, save and then disable the service:
sudo systemctl disable whoopsie.service
Disabling program components and the graphics subsystem
If you disable the graphics subsystem, then your Ubuntu will use 40%. The first thing worth remembering and which can greatly facilitate the work in ubuntu is disabling online search, which for the most part no one needs at all. To disable you can go to "System Settings -> Security and Privacy -> Search" and toggle "Display web search results". Or use the console method and run the following command in the terminal:
Gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Lenses remote-content-search none
It is worth remembering the Compiz composite manager, which has an appetite like an elephant and eats your memory more than all other processes. To temper its appetite, you will need to install CompizConfig Settings Manager (after installation, run):
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager ccsm
A window will appear with a list of plugins. Let's see what and under what conditions can be disabled.
- "Commands", if you do not set any commands for key combinations, you can safely turn it off; it is not used in Unity and will not cause any side effects if disabled.
- Enhanced Zoom Desktop is like a Magnifier. If you do not need such software, disable it.
- Desktop Wall is the well-known Compiz cube in 2D. If you don't plan to use the cube, disable it.
- Viewport Switcher - this plugin is designed to switch desktops. It also creates loads and if you do not need it, turn it off.
- In the "Effects" group, you can disable the plug-in: Animations and "Windows Fade/Disappear". In this section, I completely turned everything off and work without animations and without unnecessary beauties, since this is not necessary.
- Session Management - designed to save / restore the position and size of windows in the session in the intervals between user entry / exit). If you don't need it, turn it off like I did.
- When disabling unnecessary junk plugins, it is best to go to the “All” tab and it is unnecessary to disable it only by scrolling up or down where everything will be at hand.
Disable Compiz plugins via ccsm
Let's take the Network Manager application as an example. The list of plug-ins of this application contains ofono, if you do not use mobile connections, do not use modems and you only have cable Internet, you can safely turn it off if you do not plan to use modems. To disable, in the terminal, run the command sudo gedit /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf in the Plugin line, delete ,ofono and save the changes.
Let's take a closer look at the Network Manager plugins
When starting the ubuntu desktop, many plugins are launched that the user does not even know about or does not know what they are for, how could he find out about them if they are not displayed anywhere in the graphical interface. Yes, some of them are needed, but not all of them, and below we will discuss those that can be got rid of.
To disable it, you need to do the following, go to the /etc/xdg/autostart directory:
Cd /etc/xdg/autostart sudo sed --in-place "s/NoDisplay=true/NoDisplay=false/g" onboard-autostart.desktop
in the example above, I disabled the on-screen keyboard, but you can adjust it as you need by adding the plugin you need at the end. If you want to enable it again, run a command like:
sudo sed --in-place "s/NoDisplay=false/NoDisplay=true/g" onboard-autostart.desktop
Let's see what can be disabled:
- If you do not use GPG, then you can disable gnome-keyring-gpg, all the same, system utilities will access the keyring directly.
- Indicator-bluetooth, if you do not use and do not plan to use Bluetooth, turn it off.
- Indicator-messages is designed to display incoming messages in email clients, if you do not use email clients, you can disable it, if you use it, do not disable it accordingly.
- Indicator-printers - displays connected printers, if you don't have a printer, disable it.
- Onboard-autostart - designed to launch the on-screen keyboard, if you don't use it, disable it, I disabled it without hesitation, since I don't use it and don't plan to.
- Orca-autostart is a screen magnifier, the same garbage as the keyboard, if you have good eyesight, turn it off.
- Print-applet - a plugin that displays print jobs, as I wrote above for indicator-printers, if there is no printer, disable it.
- Telepathy-indicator - a plugin that displays notifications from this client, if you do not use it, disable it.
- Update-notifier - plugin for update notifications. If you are not too lazy to start the update process yourself, you can disable it.
- Zeitgeist-datahub - a plug-in that has the role of a collector that launches various information collectors using Zeitgeist technology. This technology logs the active user in order to restore the history of events. Yes, it is worth recalling that this technology is very well connected with Unity, in order to disable it, you will have to perform additional manipulations.
First of all, you need to close write access to the database file for the zeitgeist-daemon process, open the terminal CTRL+ALT+T and run the following command:
Chmod -rw ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite
Let's check that this process cannot write there:
Zeitgeist-daemon --replace
If you did everything correctly, after executing the command above, it should swear that there is no access to the database file, after which you can disable the plugin.
Using zRam to increase memory
By using zRam, we can sacrifice a bit of performance to increase the amount of memory. The way zRam works is to create a compressed block device in your memory and then place the swap on it. As a result, due to compression, we get twice the memory savings.
To activate zRam, you need to install the following package:
sudo apt-get install zram-config
reboot after. After that, to check, look at the list of your swap partitions:
sudo swapon -s
If everything went well, you will have a swap on /dev/zram0. By default, one is created for each processor.
Conclusion
Above, we reviewed the material on how you can reduce the consumption of RAM without affecting anything important and without compromising the functionality of the system. Yes, everyone must decide for himself what he needs, what he uses and what not, and disable plugins and unnecessary services based on his situation.
In addition to a few more tips, if you want to have an easy-to-use system, install other lighter desktop environments without using Unity, the number of available environments is enough to choose from, I hope you think about it and choose the one that is more optimal and easy for you.
If you have two gigabytes of RAM, instead of load applications, for example, taking the LibreOffice Writer office suite, you can replace it with the lighter AbiWord, instead of the default system browser Firefox, choose a lighter one, such as Midori.
This is perhaps the end of the material, I hope everyone will find something useful for themselves. If you have any questions, ask in the comments.
Loading...