Hey,

I just installed RedHat Linux version 8 - I'm not sure of the exact version number.

I had a version of Windows ME on my computer that ran very slow (5-10 seconds average for any kind of response from anything), and I assumed it was becuase the HD was so full - we've had this computer since it was new (400mhz, 32mb Ram if that gives you a clue), so naturally the HD's bound to have been filled with all kinds of spy-ware and the like.

I decided that becuase it was the HD, installing Linux (hence, reformating the HD) should solve this problem. It didn't.

If fact, it's a bit worse. It took about 4 and a half hours to transfer over the 4GB's of data. Now when I use gnome, the problem is about twice as bad. I decided to create and run a test PHP script, so I navigated the 'Start Menu' and opened up gedit with decent response time - fine to live with.

After I saved it, I went back to the 'start menu' and clicked "My Home" - waiting for the screen to come up. After that I could hear my HD clicking away like mad, and it was (no joke, here) about ten minutes before I saw anything come up. For about 3 minutes I just let it sit, and then I (got bored) and decided to move gedit around the screen. Response time was terrible - but it happened before my window came up, which was weird. I figured it must have hung, so I clicked "Mozilla" - big mistake. I've just let the computer sit, now - but this machine is un-usable. Since the computer wasn't fixed over a reformat the problem must be either in the hardware or the Linux configuration.

What kind of test would you guys recommend running to try and fix this? I'll dust it, but that's as far as my knowledge goes. I'm a brand-new Linux user, my only expierce with Linux has been FTP and chmodding files on my remote host (Linux, obviously).

Thanks for your help.

Wait a second, you only have 32 megs of ram?

About - it may be 64, I'm not sure. Is there a way to check in Linux?

Does RedHat have a minimum system requirment?

hmm...oh yeah, I think I read something similar to this.

I'm not sure if I remember this right, correct me if I'm wrong. (i'm fairly new with Linux too)

I think that can be blamed on your RAM. Although Linux can run with the most little of specs, KDE and Gnome take up a fairly huge amount of RAM to load. Even in my Pentium 4 with 128MB RAM, it does drag on a bit. Solution? Get a window manager..

(*The following information above is not the advice of a Linux guru, just a noob who saw this in the net, that's me*)

Wow, okay - thanks for the reply.

I have a lot of memory downstairs, I'll add some more and update you guys.

Thanks.

You can type:

free

in linux to view the ram.

You can also run:

top

and it will tell you what is using what.