Making Ubuntu Faster

 Hey,

Since I've moved to Ubuntu 9.10, I never needed that other OS.
The architecture and layout is radically different, but under the hood, it performs.
(I like this system and its fast, but it collects junkfiles too. And that is something that nobody talks about)

I'm gonna show some things that you can do to make it faster and rid it from its junk.

This is my setup,
Atom 330 CPU / 500GB HDD / 2GB RAM / ION GPU

Step 1: The Terminal

 Sounds scary, right?

Well this is your biggest friend.

I'm going to teach you how to manually remove residing updates AKA junk.

Go to APLICATIONS > ACCESSOIRES > TERMINAL

This opens a terminal as pictured

Then type of copy and paste:

sudo apt-get autoclean

press Enter

 The terminal will now ask for your password, type it in and press Enter again. 
(Don't worry if you don't see it, just type and press Enter)

 After a few seconds the terminal will commence cleaning, see my photo for the result.

After a big update this will save you 10 ~ 250 MB of wasted space.

Step 2: Making Autoclean As an App.

 Did you like what you just saw?

Well Ubuntu does allow to create shortcuts and custom commands too, so why don't we create one?

Go to your desktop

RIGHT CLICK on your mouse

This gives you a menu, select

 CREATE LAUNCHER 

Then change

TYPE                  APPLICATION IN TERMINAL
NAME                AUTOCLEAN
COMMAND      sudo apt-get autoclean

(See Screenshot)

Finally click OK to create.

Now you can use autoclean by just double clicking it with your mouse, but you still have to enter your password :)

Step 3: Startup Applications

 Next up is Startup Applications

This can be found under 

SYSTEM > PREFERENCES > STARTUP APPLICATIONS

Be kind and click.

This pops up a new window as seen in my screenshot.

Then we see a list with services, some services are unused by most users.
( Logic being that most people aren't blind, use bluetooth or print that much)

Safe to say, 

let's start with disabling (Uncheck the icons)

Visual Assistance
Print Queue
Remote Desktop

-AND-

Screensaver ( Who uses this anyway ;) , use lock screen for safety)
Bluetooth Manager (That is, if you don't use it :P )
Startup Sound (If you don't like the rolling drums when logging in)

Step 4: Suspend or Hibernate

 The best thing to do if you use a desktop, is to suspend your system.

(This makes my system fully functional in under 2 seconds, however this means that the power must remain or else all of your work will be lost. Not so dandy good on you laptop, and it makes a bad excuse for missing homework)

The second best option is Hibernating.

Hibernating conserves all your open files and data to be stored on the HDD, meaning when it starts it just reads and reloads everything into RAM. ( Safer then suspending but slower too)

(LOGIC behind it all: Linux can be run for years without ever shutting down, hence we fake it by making it believe that our resumed session means that it was still running, so no loading.
Linux doesn't need defragmenting too so that is another thing thats gone, for good. It uses a smarter file system)

Step 5: End Thoughts

Comment away :P

 And for the more information hungry people:

checkout:
www.whylinuxisbetter.net/

And for the fragmenting info:
geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/index.php/2006/08/17/why_doesn_t_linux_need_defragmenting

Comments

[nerd7473]

I shuld really try this to make my system fast on my laptop

[nerd7473]

Ubuntu and Windows dual booted

[Y-Geo]

Hi,
Olivia has moved to "good-wallpapers.com "

[rug]

hey just woundering why do you have the girl from house number 13 as ur background and were can i get it lol ?

[-Syrus-]

Well Actually, Olivia Wilde is just so sexy. So she qualifies. Did you know that she has a perfect face ( Golden Ratio) ? ;) I got it from some weird site, just PM me your E-mail adress & I will mail it to you !

[rug]

[e-mail]

[-Syrus-]

Check yer inbox ;)

[rug]

thanks

[timmyturbine]

the apt-commands are excellent but there is a whole lot more that can be purged ! possibly the best linux computer cleaner, try BleachBit, its awesome, found at http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/

[timweaver17]

 Ctrl - Shift - V works for me to paste into terminal.

[bruc33ef]

Good one. 

For additional cleaning, go to:
System > Administration > Computer Janitor

And for still further cleaning, install the free program, Ubuntu Tweak.  It gets rid of lots of unnecessary junk.

[-Syrus-]

 Actually Computer Janitor is new, but It does a different job. I don't use it and I don't recommend it.

[bruc33ef]

 Why?  Works fine for me.

[-Syrus-]

 Ow and do read the user comments, I'm not making this up : )

[-Syrus-]

Read this page.

SOURCE: beginlinux.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/ubuntu-9-04-cleanup-with-computer-janitor/

Computer Janitor can make false positives about files that aren't needed.
So it deletes files that are essential, making Ubuntu less stable or even unstable.

Some .deb files are rarely needed, but not worthy of deleting !

So read it.  ;)

[critterfluffy]

Your directions say sudo apt-get clean but the screenshot clearly shows: sudo apt-get autoclean.  Which one is the correct command or will they both work?  Thought I would ask this since it might make this not work.

[-Syrus-]

 Damn, caught me :P

I'll change it :)