Samsung SSD 750 EVO v 850 EVO / Ubuntu

[Adrian Caspersz]

Yes, we don't know the OPs hardware spec (not given). With more than a couple gig, I'd be looking for issues elsewhere. Ever seen X run without acceleration?

Hard drives are fast enough. SSD was never a prerequisite for Linux.

Maybe required for the bloat in Windows 10!

[T i m]

I think that might I have here with a Panasonic CF-29 Toughbook. ;-(

It's running the XP it was 'Designed for' reasonably well and W7 similarly well (on a mobile CPU running at 1.6Ghz with a max of 1.5Gb of RAM that is) but I can't seem to get any distro (I've tried so far) to even boot (from a LiveDVD)?

I watched a Youtube vid where someone had 'Elementry' Linux running but I notice that is only available in 64 bit now.

I could try Puppy but I was hoping for a 'real' Linux just in case there was a generic OBD utility I could use it for (I have Forscan, VAG-Com and Op-Com on Windows).

Or just use Linux as a fast(er?) booting browser solution?

I could also treat it to an SSD (along with the new battery and car PSU / charger) but I think that may be a step too far.

You would think that if these Toughbooks would be more Linux compatible, or Linux more Toughbook compatible, considering they were designed to be 'tools'?

Cheers, T i m

[GB]

I have no idea whether that's at all helpful?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Linux mint 17 or 18 MATE would be a good place to start

Since around 14, they always seem to boot the live DVD at least.

And MATE is very XP-like.

This is interesting.

Now I have never heard of elementary OS linux, but the good new seems to be that at least Ubuntu and children will install and work. I'd definitely try a live MINT 17 or 18 DVD to see how it performs.

The only real issues I have noticed with machines of that age is choppy FLASH videos.

Sometimes there is a better set of video drivers that help, but the real answer is to install better video cards.

[pamela]

Does this tie in with the EVO 840 being unhappy if it was unTRIMed?

I was told about this in another group and that the EVO 850 is okay in this respect.

[David]

Just pondering on SSDs and Swap.

If you have a system with just an SSD then what do you use as swap?

Assuming that you don't (as in most laptops and older desktops) have the space for masses of memory?

Cheers

Dave R

[The Natural Philosopher]

I use the SSD but with 8GB or RAM it takes a page that never moves and that's it! I've got just 1.78MB in the swap partition.

You can run without swap at all if that is what you want.

Use the SSD. MUCH faster.

SSDS do wear out, but so does spinning rust.

My solution is that only programs and configs live on my desktop SSD - all the data is on a spinning rust server. Except a windows virtual machine. But that's data too is on the server.

That gives me a fast desktop, and reliable backed up data.

[T i m]

Thanks for that, I had found it previously but they seem to be wrong in than most distros *today* (rather than 2014) don't seem to even boot to the desktop (unusual on most PC's I've tried, especially in Compatibility mode), let alone get embroiled with the WiFi or touchscreen (that I think is broken in any case).

So either this Toughbook is faulty in some way that Linux doesn't like but Windows seems ok with) or it really just isn't Linux compatible enough with any recent distro (and I'm not sure there would be much point in installing something that is already obsolete, especially if it doesn't actually bring anything useful to the party).

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

With that thought in mind and a copy of Mint 18 MATE 32 bit in front of me I gave it another go and to my surprise, it did boot and run. I then installed it over a copy of Ubuntu that I put on there a while back (and wouldn't then run for some reason) and it booted ok. It also reminded me of one of the issues I found when trying Linux on here last time (as was mentioned in the link BM provided and that was that the touchpad needs attention. ATM it takes a frustrating ¬18 swipes to go from top to bottom of the screen. ;-(

This is where the fun (not) generally starts for me, trying to get the stuff that doesn't work automagically, working without breaking everything else.

So I'm running Mint on said Toughbook now and other than applying all the updates and installing Pan, I've done nothing else as yet (video, WiFi, hotkeys etc all working OOTB).

Pan seems pretty sluggish but Linux feels reasonable in general (FF launches in about 8 seconds).

Cheers, T i m

[The Natural Philosopher]

Read that link I posted. It says how to get the touchpad/screen working etc etc.

That's disk delay. SSD should help that.

Almost tempted me to buy a toughpad. Looks a machine not to throw away.

I thought it would be 64 bit tho. THat really helps graphics speeds.

[T i m]

I did and I'm afraid it doesn't seem to mention how to fix the touchpad (very slow) speed outside opening the touchpad control panel setting that I don't have?

Whilst I'm sure it could, I feel this is more than just a speed issue as

*everything* re Pan is *very* slow but not so with anything else (like FF or OO Writer etc). I double clicked on the Pan icon I'd put on the desktop and 1) there was no launch notification and 2) because of that over the next 2 minutes several instances of Pan opened up, and finally your post.

I was given this (ToughBOOK?) after helping a mate upgrade it to a CF-31. ;-)

I'm sure the latter machines are 64 bit.

I thought it would be idea as a workstop manual / car diagnostic tool as it's reasonably rugged / water-resistant and adequate for the little time I might be using it.

I've just applied the restart-fix (from your link) and I'll test it now (I have to power off when trying to restart).

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

And it seems to have fixed that. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Quert Black]

That's not right. None of my hard drives have died and plenty of them are quite a bit older than that.

But I do that so rarely that I couldn?t care less about that.

I hardly ever use that either.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

Agreed. I guess his day to day use is opening one word processor and using it for hours.

[David Paste]

Hello,

Thanks for your reply, this is what is reported:

Intel T2080 @ 1.73 GHz x 2 Intel 945GM x86/MMX/SSE2

32 bit OS 2 GB RAM

I also have the option to use a different laptop:

Intel Celeron C900 @ 2.20 GHz Integrated Intel Mobile 4 Series Express Chipset Family

32 bit OS, x64 based processor 3 GB RAM

Thanks!

[Adrian Caspersz]

Open a terminal window and type this command. It will run a graphics spinning gears demo in another window.

glxgears -info

In the terminal window (scroll up, it's the first output) you should see values for GL_RENDERER, GL_VERSION and GL_VENDOR.

Should be similar to

GL_RENDER = Mesa DRI GL_VERSION = 1.4 mesa GL_VENDOR = tungsten graphics,

If it's I suspect 'Software Rasterizer" for GL_RENDER, not good. I don't know from (googling) if a Mesa driver was fixed for that old chipset.

In that case ditch Ubuntu, and go for Xubuntu instead.

Or use that.

[John Rumm]

Any SSD will tend to make a system feel far more responsive IME. There are performance differences between them, but they are not as great as the jump you get from HDD to SSD.

I have used lots of Hyper X Savage drives - been very impressed with the performance, and had not had a single failure yet (out of 30 odd drives).

[John Rumm]

Yup same here... In fact I find the improvement in responsiveness and application start times is more impressive than the reduced boot time.

[John Rumm]

Sometimes its like fixing a congestion point on a road - that traffic jam just moves to the next slowest junction. Old machines may be disk limited, but you may find the CPU is not far behind - so you clear the first problem, and then find that its still slow but now for a different reason (i.e. not have the CPU grunt).

[Bod]

Indeed. Now that SSD prices have become more affordable, installing an SSD for your system drive is probably the most cost effective method of speeding up any computer.