Cant put finger on it

Garignol · 2012-08-15 23:07:45

Hello everyone,

Recently installed crunchbang on my netbook, for the majority it seems to be going well.

Just little issues like i cant minimize /maximize/ drag windows, and sometimes my mouse clicks don't register, but keyboard shortcuts do.

Or the task bar and icons are unresponsive. Earlier my cursor was moving but no clicks were registering but i was merrily navigating with ease with keyboard shortcuts.

I've tried two mouse and the issue persists.

If i restart openbox things work well for a few minutes, then back to the above issues.

Appreciate some guidance.

Thanks

sqlpython · 2012-08-16 04:56:48

Not sure if this will solve your problem but....
Sounds like your CPU is overloading may be a compatibility issue or Graphics driver..
Did you install the 32bit or 64bit #! ?

1. Is the CPU an Atom processor..

   cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep size
   cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep name

2. How much Memory? North of 512mb would help..

   free

3. Graphic Card and current Driver installed

    lsmod | grep video

Lastly, run

top

check for Zombie processes

Consider a Bad Burn or Download and before you spend too much time configuring consider a ReInstall..

Garignol · 2012-08-16 23:22:43

Thanks for the reply, info below as requested

vipa@crunchbang:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep size
cache size : 512 KB
clflush size : 64
address sizes : 32 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
cache size : 512 KB
clflush size : 64
address sizes : 32 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
vipa@crunchbang:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep name
model name : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz
model name : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz
vipa@crunchbang:~$ free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 1541912 238060 1303852 0 39984 123632
-/+ buffers/cache: 74444 1467468
Swap: 371704 0 371704
vipa@crunchbang:~$ lsmod | grep video
uvcvideo 45574 0
videodev 25637 1 uvcvideo
v4l1_compat 10250 2 uvcvideo,videodev
i2c_core 12787 6 i915,drm_kms_helper,drm,videodev,i2c_algo_bit,i2c_i801
video 14605 1 i915
output 1204 1 video
thermal_sys 9378 4 acerhdf,video,processor,thermal
usbcore 99321 5 uvcvideo,usbhid,uhci_hcd,ehci_hcd
vipa@crunchbang:~$ top

top - 00:21:31 up 9 min, 2 users, load average: 0.00, 0.02, 0.00
Tasks: 108 total, 2 running, 106 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 4.9%us, 4.7%sy, 0.0%ni, 89.6%id, 0.0%wa, 0.8%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 1541912k total, 238812k used, 1303100k free, 39984k buffers
Swap: 371704k total, 0k used, 371704k free, 124344k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
1981 vipa 20 0 59428 24m 13m R 11 1.6 0:02.19 /usr/bin/termin
1514 root 20 0 25496 9620 4968 S 11 0.6 0:18.28 Xorg
1793 vipa 20 0 47744 2956 2244 S 1 0.2 0:04.79 conky
1764 vipa 20 0 22652 7960 5784 S 1 0.5 0:04.10 parcellite
2006 vipa 20 0 2456 1164 900 R 1 0.1 0:00.09 top
29 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.14 kondemand/1
1697 vipa 20 0 12280 6420 4732 S 0 0.4 0:00.67 openbox
1 root 20 0 2036 708 616 S 0 0.0 0:01.08 init
2 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 kthreadd
3 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/0
4 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/0
5 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/0
6 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/1
7 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/1
8 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/1
9 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.05 events/0
10 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.01 events/1
11 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 cpuset
12 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 khelper
13 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 netns
14 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 async

Garignol · 2012-08-16 23:24:38

I installed 32bit as I recall.

Thanks

TitanMech · 2012-08-16 23:42:23

I had a netbook with the same atom chip in but never experienced these issues, by any chance do you have compositing turned on?

posting the output of

 inxi

would give some hardware information as a basis for more research,

Garignol · 2012-08-16 23:47:40

As requested:

vipa@crunchbang:~$ inxi
CPU[-Single core Intel Atom N270 (-HT-) clocked at 800.000 Mhz-] Kernel[-2.6.32-5-686 i686-] Up[-34 min-] Mem[-76.0/1505.8MB-] HDD[-8.1GB(37.5% used)-] Procs[-111-] Client[-Shell-] inxi[-1.4.21-]

Garignol · 2012-08-16 23:49:28

unsure of compositing sorry

TitanMech · 2012-08-17 00:05:52

My mistake, i meant type in:

 inxi -F

Compositing should be in the menu under 'system'

Garignol · 2012-08-17 00:09:52

Not a problem!

CPU: Single core Intel Atom N270 (-HT-) cache 512 KB
Clock Speeds: (1) 800.00 MHz (2) 800.00 MHz
CPU Flags fpu vme de tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx
fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est tm2
ssse3 xtpr pdcm movbe lahf_lm

Under compositing there are just options to enable - assume currently disabled.

TitanMech · 2012-08-17 00:19:46

Yeah compositing is disabled if in the menu it gives the option to enable it.

By any chance do you know the model of netbook?
Does it have some fancy hybrid graphics chip?

pidsley · 2012-08-17 00:20:34

What is this (from your "top" listing)

29 root      20   0     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.14 kondemand/1

There are a bunch of other "k-something" processes in the listing. Did you install something that pulled in a bunch of KDE dependencies?

(edit) never mind. I found this:

kondemand is a kernel thread that belongs to the ondemand governor of cpufreq subsystem, which changes the p-states of the system, based on the utilization statistics. Thus it’s something that helps in power management.

I just get worried when I see anything that starts with "k" hmm

Last edited by pidsley (2012-08-17 00:25:03)

Garignol · 2012-08-17 00:26:15

The only things installed (above the standard preloaded stuff) was Google Chrome and Libre office.

However, when the OS first loaded there were a few options to install items, the only one I recall is java.

The model is Acer Aspire One ZG5

Garignol · 2012-08-17 00:30:05

I must add when this netbook was bought new, it came with an OS which was like a childs toy, it was preloaded with software and it purely basic functions, i think it was Linpus Lite, unsure though.

I've pretty much resigned to the fact this netbook isn't going to be at all useful =[ .. I do hate seeing technology go to waste.

Last edited by Garignol (2012-08-17 00:32:26)

pidsley · 2012-08-17 00:39:20

The Acer Aspire One ZG5 laptop computer was designed to provide the user with the minimum operating system components necessary to browse the web and use social networking websites and word processing while traveling. This laptop was designed to run using a specialized low-memory and low-processor consumption version of Linux called "Linpus." Linpus is suitable for this machine, as the laptop has only 512 megabytes of memory space and an 8 gigabyte solid-state internal storage drive.

But yours seems to have 1.5G of memory in it, according to top and inxi. It may just be the graphics that make it seem like it can't handle anything else. You could try a different window manager (one like fluxbox or jwm that has "outline drag" where the window just turns into a wire frame when you move it), or a tiling window manager like dwm or spectrwm (where windows don't move). I bet you could make it work...

TitanMech · 2012-08-17 00:44:09

Just a thought, does the machine get quite hot even when idle?

On the wiki (although the page is considered outdated now) - it mentions problems with fans in these netbooks, heres the link:
http://crunchbanglinux.org/wiki/howto/a … an_control

Garignol · 2012-08-17 00:48:32

Not hot at all! I bet its not had ten hours continuous use since it was bought about 4 years ago - don't quote me on the date!

I'm just researching how to install these other window managers pidsley suggested

pidsley · 2012-08-17 00:51:45

We have the ultimate window manager thread: http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … n-30-days/

Fluxbox and JWM would be easy, so would spectrwm (a tiling window manager). You'd have to build sithwm. I might start with JWM if you want a stacking window manager; the review even tells you how to turn on outline window move: http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/post/196652/#p196652

I found this while searching for information on your machine. Acer Aspire One has its own forum: http://www.laptop-forums.com/acer-aspire-one-f126.html You might get some tips there.

Last edited by pidsley (2012-08-17 00:56:40)

Garignol · 2012-08-17 01:25:03

Pidsley, working awsome using JWM, i'm just researching how to make it a bit more... aesthetically pleasing!

Thanks very much for your time.

pidsley · 2012-08-17 01:46:49

You are very welcome. Default JWM is a bit ugly. There are some JWM config threads here on the #! forum, with some nice themes (just search for "jwm" in the box at the top right). If you like the screenshots at the end of 2ManyDogs' review, those use bigbenaugusts' theme (there's a link at the end of the review).

The nice thing about JWM is that all of the configuration is done in just one file.

If you can't make JWM pretty enough, you could try fluxbox, but it uses a bit more resources so might not work as well.

Last edited by pidsley (2012-08-17 01:47:29)

arclance · 2012-08-17 02:03:50

If you try Fluxbox you can change the window moving behavior from the right click menu.

Configuration -> Opaque Window Moving

That will update the config file as well so the setting is persistent.

Garignol · 2012-08-17 02:15:45

Fluxbox is a lot more user friendly for the less experienced linux user I must admit, but jwm does work better for me.

I want to use this theme (as an example) http://antix.freeforums.org/jwm-theme-f … t3336.html

I've downloaded and extracted the file and im trying to run it via terminal, I keep getting a return of:

Bash: [..file location]..: permission denied.

Any tips please?

pidsley · 2012-08-17 02:18:47

You don't "run" a jwm theme. You just replace a part of your ~/.jwmrc file with the file you extracted.

So you edit your .jwmrc file (make a backup first!):

geany ~/.jwmrc

and delete (or comment out) all the "styles" in it, and then load the file "antix-EveningGlow" you extracted, and paste it into the .jwmrc file. Save the file and run

jwm -p

to see if there are errors in the file, and then reload jwm.

The other file that gets extracted out of the archive you downloaded (the .jpg file) is the background (wallpaper) in the example.

Does this make sense? Fluxbox may seem more user-friendly if you know it better smile

Last edited by pidsley (2012-08-17 02:26:35)

sqlpython · 2012-08-18 04:28:26

^ JWM can be made quite nice aesthetically speaking, Puppy linux did use it.
What I am wondering is why with the good resources @Garignol has available why the fuss with that notebook.
..Must be the CPU can't digest the instructions of the Higher Graphics calls..?
What do you think @pidsley ?

sqlpython · 2012-08-18 04:36:38

Here is a review on the Atom N270 running Linux on the 1.6ghz version good performance.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=a … 2012&num=1

Perhaps @Garignol's 800mhz chip falls just short of running OpenBox or Xfce.

machinebacon · 2012-08-18 07:40:37

800 Mhz should be enough. Even XFCE4 should work with this.
Would be interesting to see if it is any better in LXDE (which also uses Openbox as window manager but comes without compton and its own panel).

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#1 2012-08-15 23:07:45

Cant put finger on it

#2 2012-08-16 04:56:48

Re: Cant put finger on it

#3 2012-08-16 23:22:43

Re: Cant put finger on it

#4 2012-08-16 23:24:38

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#5 2012-08-16 23:42:23

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#6 2012-08-16 23:47:40

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#7 2012-08-16 23:49:28

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#8 2012-08-17 00:05:52

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#9 2012-08-17 00:09:52

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#10 2012-08-17 00:19:46

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#11 2012-08-17 00:20:34

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#12 2012-08-17 00:26:15

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#13 2012-08-17 00:30:05

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#14 2012-08-17 00:39:20

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#15 2012-08-17 00:44:09

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#16 2012-08-17 00:48:32

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#17 2012-08-17 00:51:45

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#18 2012-08-17 01:25:03

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#19 2012-08-17 01:46:49

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#20 2012-08-17 02:03:50

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#22 2012-08-17 02:18:47

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#23 2012-08-18 04:28:26

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#24 2012-08-18 04:36:38

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#25 2012-08-18 07:40:37

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