You're the tops!

So my computer was running really fuckin' slow for the last couple o' months. Very atypical for Linux. I've been using Fedora for 5 years now, and never had this problem. I would often make fun of family and friends for using slow ass windows, so I was embarrassed when my shit began exhibiting a slowness condition that was worse than anything I experienced in windows.

First I thought the CPU fan was not working 'cause when I hit it with canned air, a bunch of dust came out. Unfortunately, it still ran slow, stopped responding, slow to wake from suspend, hard drive light blinking so fast you'd swear it was on steady, you name it.

Today, while looking for a reason why Fedora 19 would be running slow, I found this guys blog: http://www.happyassassin.net. This guy writes stuff about Linux and tech support issues everyday. An article in his blog introduced me to a Linux command I had not heard of before:

top

This command shows, in real time, running system processes and what resources they are consuming. The blog article was for a process that he had experienced giving people problems. The process he mentioned in his article wasn't giving me problems, however, when I ran [top] I found a process that was hogging more than 5 times the resources that the second highest hog was.

It was Chrome! Firefox is the default browser for Fedora, as well as many other Linux distros, but I don't use it because Chrome takes up less screen real estate and is cleaner looking. Plus I use Google for web stuff, so it's kinda fitting to use a Google browser.

I usually use Chromium on Fedora, but upon installing Fedora 19 I decided I didn't care too much to install mostly FOSS stuff. Now, to be clear, I'm no Linux guru. I'm sure there may have been something I could have reconfigured to make Chrome run better, but Chrome was scoring 2200000 in the VIRT column, and the second highest was only scoring 410000.

Anyway, I removed Chrome, and put Chromium on, and now the highest resources is scoring 350000, and my shit is blazing fast again.

Took a plunge...

I've never installed an alpha or beta package of just about anything, but I took a plunge today to install Fedora 16. I mainly did it for the "Online Accounts" feature for better Google integration with the desktop.

Upon restart, however, both Chromium and Firefox were broken, which really isn't much of a surprise. Happily, the one web browser I never use was instrumental is getting me back on my feet.

Epiphany is the stock web browser for the Gnome desktop. It resembles the look of Firefox, without all the setting "bells and whistles". I prefer the clean and unobtrusive look of Chromium (and/or Chrome). I especially like how removing the window banner brings the tabs right up to the top bar.

Speaking of the top bar, I'm still upset that the top bar does not behave like a task bar. Even though the quick links bar behaves like a taskbar, I have to move the mouse to see open apps. It just seems to me that F15/F16 is better suited for touchscreen laptops and/or tablets, but I think the top bar is my only complaint.

Linux, and specifically the Fedora distribution, is fun when things break or don't work. The fun is looking for solutions, or assisting the programmers to find a solution. The fruits of the fix are quite satisfying as well.

One thing, though: The "Verne" artwork is glorious.