(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I tried four different versions: Slacko, Precise, Lucid, and Macpup and had the same problem with all. When browsing, the CPU maxes out, and everything freezes. I tried three different browsers: Firefox, Seamonkey, and Chromium. Same with all.

The system is as follows:
IBM ThinkCentre
P4 2.8
512 mb memory

When things freeze up, HTop is showing 100-170 mb of memory being used. I plan to try the live CD version of Lubuntu to see if I get the same behavior but haven't done so yet.

I will be grateful for any and all suggestions as to a fix. Thanks in advance.

Do the pages in question use scripts or Flash?

One reason I'm asking, is because the latest Flash 11 version seems to be causing my CPU/resource usage to skyrocket, where it didn't seem to do that with previous versions.

However, pages that are heavy on Flash, Javascripts, etc., can still run the risk of running up CPU usage, anyway.

I think that these were the pages open at the last freeze:

pendrivelinux.com/put-lubuntu-on-a-flash-drive-using-windows/

lubuntu.net/

everydaylinuxuser.com/2012/06/puppy-slackos-no-slouch.html

In any event, you can't get away from flash and java, and if you are going to browse, you have to deal with them.

When this happens and the system freezes, is there any quick way to close the offending program or stop the process? I could have killed it in HTop but, of course, it wouldn't respond. Is there a way to limit the browser's cpu usage so that you at least have enough horsepower to close it if it stops responding? I'm relatively new to Linux, but I would have expected more stability, not less.

I think I'll do a memory test to rule that out, if possible.

Try flash 10.3 in Seamonkey on Slacko 5.4. I had site problems with 11.2, & could access those sites with 10.3.
See http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/pe ... 183.18.pet

Flash, certainly. Java... not as much.

My point was, though, that Flash only really tends to be optimized for Windows platforms. Linux and Macs... quite a bit less, at least in my experience. For example, I'm running a semi-recent system (was originally a Vista OEM system, though I'll admit I'm still only running Puppy 4.3.1 on it). Hulu and YouTube work okay on it, but other than that... any Flash drives up the CPU.

I don't think there's an easy way to kill active or stalled processes, without opening a process manager. Since you're running with only 512MB RAM - and more recent Puppy versions tend to use more RAM, in addition to the high amounts the browsers often want to use - you might need to set up a swap file/partition, if you haven't already.

There are scripts and extensions (at least for the Mozilla browsers) that attempt to force all Flash elements to run in 'low quality,' lowering the resources needed to play it. That can only go so far, though. Reportedly, you can also try full-screening a Flash element (like a YouTube video), right-clicking on it, and (in the options) disable the option to use hardware acceleration. That supposedly may help with performance issues.

How do you install the browser? Do you use the built-in browser? Do you install an official pet of browser older versions? Puppy is a "static" install of linux and it does not update its libraries. If you are using newer versions of the browser there could be compatibility problems of the puppy libraries with those asked by newer versions of the browser. I had freezees in the past with new mozilla browsers and I solved by launching them with the libraries which come with them setting the right LD_LIBRARY_PATH.