New to Ubuntu, need help.

Okay I've installed Ubuntu recently and I need some help on a few things:

1. Performance is very very sluggish, I don't know if there's some settings I have to tweak or what but everything is pretty sluggish and underwhelming when it shouldn't be. The G73 should be fine running this but performance is subpar. Even just using Firefox/Gimp is sluggish, maybe Ubuntu isn't utilizing the hardware right? I don't know, any suggestions?

2. The keyboard light thing is pretty iffy, I mean it works, sort of. The slider is too much, it has like 10 points but the G73 only needs 3 to toggle it so it's a little annoying ( http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/710/screenshot1uuf.png). Also no matter what I do, Ubuntu always resets the light to full brightness on restart. Any ideas on how to fix that?

3. How the hell do I change my user name and computer name? I got nothin' out of google, everything I tried in the terminal just failed.

That's all I can think of for right now, I haven't changed anything in Ubuntu except the bar thing and the wallpaper, oh and I enabled Trim because for some reason it doesn't do it on it's own. I appreciate the help, thanks.

 

What version of Ubuntu? I'd go with at least 10.10 or maybe 11.04 to get all the latest goodies like updated video drivers and such. Install the fglrx proprietary driver (System -> administration -> Additional drivers for best GPU performance. Change your machine name by editing /etc/hostname and rebooting. You can change your username by editing the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow files, but that's a little dangerous. Before doing that create another account with admin privileges (admin -> users and groups) so you can rescue your account if things go wrong. OR create a new account and copy all your stuff into the new /home/newuser directory (newuser being your newuser name)

 

Just go to Users and Groups to change your username. Did you upgraded from 10.10 or is it a fresh install of 11.04 ?

 

For brightness:

System>Preferences>Power Management

Adjust battery and ac brightness that way if youre running gnome.

 

You can replace the keyboard backlight scripts with versions that don't use notifyosd. See: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lin...451594-asus-rog-g73-ubuntu-2.html#post6221030

In terms of sluggish performance, do you mean slow graphics performance using desktop effects? Have you installed the fglrx drivers from the Hardware Drivers utility?

 

Yeah I have the graphics drivers installed. It's just sluggish in it just feels pretty slow and rough, kind of like having Vista on really old hardware. Everything just feels sluggish. Even using something like firefox which is silky smooth in Windows, kind of chugs along in Ubuntu.

 

Try installing the compizconfig-settings-manager package and as a normal user run ccsm

Scroll to the Effects section and click on Blur Windows. Uncheck Alpha Blur.

If that does nothing try disabling desktop effects altogether.

 

You're always better off running Linux on Intel integrated graphics than high end dedicated graphics. You might be better off trying Fedora 15, or another RedHat derived distro.

 

Oh dear. Sounds kinda like you've been Unity'd.

You might want to give a more traditional distro a try.

 

Try kubuntu

 

It's easy enough to switch from Unity to Gnome 2.32. System Settings -> Login Screen -> Ubuntu Class on the dropdown. There's no need to change distros if you don't like Unity.

Switching desktops won't solve driver support issues. Upgrading the kernel might help, though.

 

That will work fine until the next release or so. IIRC, classic GNOME is considered "deprecated" and is going away in subsequent releases.

 

Nothing to worry about for now. Gnome 2.32 is still a three clicks away with Ubuntu 11.04, despite the Unity hype. Actually, Unity might eventually be a very nice touchscreen desktop. Gnome 3.0? Ummmm......I think Gnome 3.0 is the reason why Ubuntu went with Unity.

 

Linux Mint still rock Gnome, as does Fedora.
Kbuntu uses uses Ubuntu, but ditches Unity with KDE.

Unity even took a giant turd on my hardware.

 

Fair enough. 11.04 isn't an LTS release though, so personally I'd be a little nervous depending on GNOME 2.x on 11.04 in the long term... but I guess I'm a little more conservative for this sort of thing.

As a slight off-topic, I gotta say: I'm sorta puzzled at why there's been this push for touch on the desktop. For screens that you can't hold in one hand, I think that touch is a fundamentally bad interface; in order to use touch controls on a desktop you have to extend your arm out in a way that (if done regularly) is fairly fatiguing. Of course since most desktop apps require typing, you'll wind up moving your hand from the keyboard up to the screen and back again. Do this over and over again, and suddenly touch seems like more of a gimmick than a good control interface...

 

Gnome 2.32 is still supported at the moment. I also don't see the point in only sticking with LTS releases, unless you are running a large enterprise. For the individual user, it makes sense to try individual releases. Ubuntu is so easy to update, or reinstall, that it isn't difficult to keep up to date with the 6-month release cycle.

The iPad has popularized touchscreens, hence the spread of touchscreen netbooks and all-in-one desktops. No, Windows 7 doesn't seem very appropriate for a touchscreen interface and it looks like Windows 8 has a terrible interface. In the end, we'll just have to wait and see if this trend dies a natural death, of if Apple starts putting touchscreens on the MacBook Air and iMac.

 

True, it is easy to keep up to date within a release cycle. I wouldn't recommend trying a dist-upgrade though, particularly if you're not an experienced user.

No, I mean that the entire concept of touch as an input method on a desktop is flawed. Not the software... the physical aspects are the problem.

I hope it does die a natural death. Hell, I hope it dies a premature, unnatural one.

 

That is because *it is*. Ubuntu 11.10 will have Gnome 3. Gnome 2 is a ten year old desktop, it's time to change things.