Will more RAM help with slow browsing?

[session]

Dell Dimension 2400. Intel Celeron 2.2 GHz, 256mb RAM and 40gb hard drive

Almost identical to our family box, except it's a Pentium 2.2, with RAM upgraded to 1.5G.
You can probably get another 128 or 256MB stick (it's probably DDR / PC2700 / 333MHz) for next to nothing.

Well, there's a full-fledged Pentium vs a Celeron...
There's the weakish integrated graphics chip...

So I second Flash, it could be lack of RAM.
Your goal is to be frugal, so before you buy anything, try:

* Wary 5.5
* Opera Browser
* older flash10 (use GetFlash)
* latest flash (on my modest kit, latest flash does hw acceleration way better)

[Rahl333]

Perfect! Thanks! I'm excited to see what I can do.

[bigpup]

BUT when I try and surf the net it loads extremely slowly. Youtube vids are super slow. Google searches are a little better but anything more than that runs very slow. My computer froze a few times and I had to reboot.

Yes, I agree, more ram will help. However it is not the only thing.
The graphics driver you are using has a big effect. It could cause these problems.
Using a graphics driver that is specifically made for your graphics hardware will always give the best performance. I have seen issues like you describe cured by changing to a specific hardware driver from using the generic Vesa driver.

Youtube vids

The quality setting for the video can overpower older graphics hardware.
Dialing back this setting can greatly improve viewing speed. Most internet videos have a quality setting that can be adjusted.

[Dewbie]

I'm currently running Puppy Linux 4.1.2 (frugal) on a P2 / 350.
It's from late 2008 (kernel 2.6.25.16).

Java 6, update 26 has been added.
As shown, it's a massive resource hog.
But my dial-up software (and some websites) require it.

[Q5sys]

instead of running pfix=ram (it makes things lot faster but will use most of your RAM choose the other pfix=noload or noram whatever its called today. it will lock the CD in drive but offer more usable space. If you are using fugal install with swap try the noram setting to free most RAM at a slight drop in program load speed.
If you have no HD and a dvd burner use DVD media for multisession boots.

Also check if a upgraded X windows driver exists for your mobo that could be the real source of the shudder.

If he's running off a CD... isnt he going to notice more of a speed issue when trying to use his system than his limited RAM?
CD's are extremely slow to operate from.

[ally]

just a quick note, I suggested the pfix=ram on boot to resolve access to his hdd

I think he was booting from cd and it was picking up the savefile from hdd

[rjbrewer]

just a quick note, I suggested the pfix=ram on boot to resolve access to his hdd

I think he was booting from cd and it was picking up the savefile from hdd

Best to ask questions about equipment and type of install
before making recommendations.

Swap "file" and swap "partition" are two different things.

[ally]

must be lost in translation somewhere.....................

[Dewbie]

rjbrewer wrote:

Swap "file" and swap "partition" are two different things.

BarryK addresses swap "file" over here.
Note: Read closely his last post in the comments section.

[Rahl333]

So I booted from the cd and entered 'puppy pfix=ram'

Then I was reinstalling by following this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NutFVK-zYGo
I set up a new partition table in gparted, and I created a swap. I clicked apply and eventually got this error message: "an error occurred while applying the operations", then the swap changes to "unknown".

Does anyone know what went wrong?

[rjbrewer]

So I booted from the cd and entered 'puppy pfix=ram'

Then I was reinstalling by following this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NutFVK-zYGo
I set up a new partition table in gparted, and I created a swap. I clicked apply and eventually got this error message: "an error occurred while applying the operations", then the swap changes to "unknown".

Does anyone know what went wrong?

Did you get the system installed?
What partition number and what size?
A full or frugal install?

Size and partition number of attempted swap partition?

[Rahl333]

Did you get the system installed?
What partition number and what size?
A full or frugal install?

Size and partition number of attempted swap partition?

No I did not get it installed. I'm running it from the live disc.
36.75gb is new partition #1 ext2
511mb for new partition #2 linux-swap

its all from /dev/sda.

I don't really know what i'm doing I hope this is what you were asking for.

[Rahl333]

Create primary partition #2 (linux-swap, 511.00 MiB) on /dev/sda 00:00:01 (ERROR)

mkswap:: /lib/libblkid.so.1: version BLKKID_2.21' not found (required by mkswap)

[rjbrewer]

Here is simpler instructions for a full install:
Skip down to part 2 after booting the cd.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=29653

The instructions are a bit old; partitions are now sda, not
hda; and grub needs to be run from the menu after the
install.

Been playing around with an old pc that has poor onboard
graphic card.
Increasing ram over 256mb or adding a swap partition
did nothing to improve youtube video quality.
A slightly better agp video card helped a little.
The old "Dimensions" didn't even have an agp slot.
You would probably have to find a "pci" card video upgrade. May not be cheap.

[Sky Aisling]

Rahl333
Welcome.

Here is how you do a Puppy pfix=ram (just in case you missed it).

When the Puppy logo shows on the screen, quickly hit the F2 key.
This will take you to a red and black screen that gives you many options on how to run Puppy.
Follow the instructions.
Puppy pfix=ram