Internet slow in Linux.

[darkdemyze]

As much as I don't like to admit it, I'm still a linux noob but we all have to start somewhere right?

I use Fedora Core 4 and am quite familiar with the GNOME GUI at this point. I have cable internet connection and I'm using the x86-64 version of Linux. When I'm in Windows, my internet speed is fine, most pages load in under 5 seconds. The problem is, when I use Linux, pages such as AT home page takes up to 20+ seconds to load, no less than 6 - 10 depending on how many images are on the page.

Anyone know why this might be? Driver issue perhaps? Please enlighten me, I'd much appreciate it

 

[OfficeLinebacker]

I have the same problem in Ubuntu.

Part of it is firefox. Funny, it's one of the most bloated pieces of software out there.

Using epiphany helps somewhat, but it still doesnt' compare to Crazy Browser (a tabbed wrapper for IE) on windows.

"you get what you pay for."

 

[Nothinman]

The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is DNS, Linux doesn't do any DNS caching like Windows will so every lookup requires contacting the DNS server.

"you get what you pay for."

Yea, the difference is that you pay for Linux with time instead of money and for what you get I'd say it's a much better deal.

 

[bersl2]

Originally posted by: OfficeLinebacker
I have the same problem in Ubuntu.

Part of it is firefox. Funny, it's one of the most bloated pieces of software out there.

Using epiphany helps somewhat, but it still doesnt' compare to Crazy Browser (a tabbed wrapper for IE) on windows.

"you get what you pay for."

Nice try.

Anyway...

Do you have the Flash plugin installed? Because I know that the AT frontpage is heavy with Flash, and there is no x86-64 version, so you have to get a version of the browser that is compiled for 32-bit use.

That might explain some slowdown, but it could be possible that the browser should crash if this were the case. Just suggesting something to investigate. If it takes a long time for the browser to come to the conclusion that you don't have Flash, the fallback images are slow to load on top of this.

:moon:

 

[hardcandy2]

The slow speed may be related to the fact that IPV6 is slowly being implemented and IPV4 is still used by probably 90% of the webb. When you click on a link, the browser is trying to resolve the name using the IPV6 protocol first, which eventually times out, and then the IPV4 prototocl. For Firefox, type "about:config" in the address bar. This will bring up a long page of configuration options. I cannot remember the exact location, but there is a line that says something like "Use IPV6 true". Click on it and change it to false/disable. Also there is an option to use "turbocharge Off" click on it and change it to "On" . Restart Firefox.
If your distro is a year or two old, you may want to look into changing it's default behavior regarding IPV6 and IPV4, I would check their forums on this issue or places like Justlinux.com , linuxquestions, or linuxforums.org.

 

[OfficeLinebacker]

I've ipv6 disabled and bind9 and squid installed. My page load times should be blazing. Still don't compare with regular old windows.

I know that it's a very idiosyncratic and installation-specific issue. Some people luck out and some get stuck with slow page loads. Just check any Linux forum and see all the "why is firefox so slow?" threads.

pipelining, upping simultaneous requests, reducing the wait time to start displaying stuff to zero, helps, but doesn't get my box up to speed with XP.

 

[unmerited]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Yea, the difference is that you pay for Linux with time instead of money and for what you get I'd say it's a much better deal.

I agree!


unmerited

 

[hardcandy2]

Originally posted by: OfficeLinebacker
I've ipv6 disabled and bind9 and squid installed. My page load times should be blazing. Still don't compare with regular old windows.

I know that it's a very idiosyncratic and installation-specific issue. Some people luck out and some get stuck with slow page loads. Just check any Linux forum and see all the "why is firefox so slow?" threads.

pipelining, upping simultaneous requests, reducing the wait time to start displaying stuff to zero, helps, but doesn't get my box up to speed with XP.

Could it be related to the NIC card and drivers? LAN firewall?
For some reason, I have always been lucky since finding out about the IPV6 tip back when I first ran across slow name resolution in Slackware 10. Before and after, web page loading speed in Slackware, OpenSuse 10, Vector, Ubuntu, Arch, etc has been equal to that of WinXP Pro booting off the same machine or different machines connected to the same gateway. In linux, using Firefox, Opera, Konqueror browsers.

 

[Nothinman]

Just check any Linux forum and see all the "why is firefox so slow?" threads.

It could just be that FF is a huge, slow, bloated POS. Anandtech.com loads in like 3s here in Galeon, maybe .5s slower than IE on my work machine. I'd be more concerned with the fact that if you leave FF open for an extended period of time it'll consume hundreds of megs or even gigs of pixmap memory in the X server.

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Never skimp on the hardware details. Wired, Wireless? Are you connecting to a router then a broadband modem?

Open up your command line. (You might have to be a super user to run the following commands) Run 'traceroute yahoo.com'. You should see where the hops fail. For some reason on my 'traceroute yahoo.com', I could only ping through the first two hops...

But anywho, try to ping all your gateways (the router, perhaps the modem, if it was a 192.168.x.x style address on the traceroute then its a gateway) by typing 'ping -c3 192.168.x.x'. See if it fails here. Then try to ping yahoo or google. Try to determine where the slowdown is.

 

[darkdemyze]

Originally posted by: OfficeLinebacker

Part of it is firefox. Funny, it's one of the most bloated pieces of software out there.

I use Firefox in windows too. Sorry for the argument, felt like stating that as I'm not discounting this idea.

Originally posted by: bersl2
Anyway...

Do you have the Flash plugin installed?

No.

Originally posted by: hardcandy2
The slow speed may be related to the fact that IPV6 is slowly being implemented and IPV4 is still used by probably 90% of the webb. When you click on a link, the browser is trying to resolve the name using the IPV6 protocol first, which eventually times out, and then the IPV4 prototocl. For Firefox, type "about:config" in the address bar. This will bring up a long page of configuration options. I cannot remember the exact location, but there is a line that says something like "Use IPV6 true". Click on it and change it to false/disable. Also there is an option to use "turbocharge Off" click on it and change it to "On" . Restart Firefox.
If your distro is a year or two old, you may want to look into changing it's default behavior regarding IPV6 and IPV4, I would check their forums on this issue or places like Justlinux.com , linuxquestions, or linuxforums.org.

Done, thanks.

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Just check any Linux forum and see all the "why is firefox so slow?" threads.

It could just be that FF is a huge, slow, bloated POS. Anandtech.com loads in like 3s here in Galeon, maybe .5s slower than IE on my work machine. I'd be more concerned with the fact that if you leave FF open for an extended period of time it'll consume hundreds of megs or even gigs of pixmap memory in the X server.

Thanks, I'll look into that as well.

Originally posted by: SleepWalkerX
Never skimp on the hardware details. Wired, Wireless? Are you connecting to a router then a broadband modem?

Open up your command line. (You might have to be a super user to run the following commands) Run 'traceroute yahoo.com'. You should see where the hops fail. For some reason on my 'traceroute yahoo.com', I could only ping through the first two hops...

But anywho, try to ping all your gateways (the router, perhaps the modem, if it was a 192.168.x.x style address on the traceroute then its a gateway) by typing 'ping -c3 192.168.x.x'. See if it fails here. Then try to ping yahoo or google. Try to determine where the slowdown is.

I use a Dell wireless "router" which is actually just a hub ( multiport repeater ). I have yet been able to figure out why they call it a router..nothing like the Cisco routers I've configured :roll:
At any rate, I shall try this as well.


Thanks again to all those who contributed. I'll be looking more into this on the other Linux forums mentioned :thumbsup:

 

[OfficeLinebacker]

Originally posted by: hardcandy2

Originally posted by: OfficeLinebacker
I've ipv6 disabled and bind9 and squid installed. My page load times should be blazing. Still don't compare with regular old windows.

I know that it's a very idiosyncratic and installation-specific issue. Some people luck out and some get stuck with slow page loads. Just check any Linux forum and see all the "why is firefox so slow?" threads.

pipelining, upping simultaneous requests, reducing the wait time to start displaying stuff to zero, helps, but doesn't get my box up to speed with XP.

Could it be related to the NIC card and drivers? LAN firewall?
For some reason, I have always been lucky since finding out about the IPV6 tip back when I first ran across slow name resolution in Slackware 10. Before and after, web page loading speed in Slackware, OpenSuse 10, Vector, Ubuntu, Arch, etc has been equal to that of WinXP Pro booting off the same machine or different machines connected to the same gateway. In linux, using Firefox, Opera, Konqueror browsers.

It's not the firewall, both my XP and Linux boxen connect through the same one.

I think you may have hit upon something with the NIC drivers, as that's one thing into which I have not looked. How would I investigate that?

Also, wouldn't it have to be pretty bad for the NIC, rated at 100Mb/s, to be the bottleneck for a cable internet connection rated at 4Mb/s?

It would have to be working at below 4% of capacity! That's pretty bad!

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Another thing to try, the fasterfox extension for firefox. Also try Opera, if Opera is still slow then its definantly a network issue.

 

[Seeruk]

Have you reduced the the maxhttp pipelines in FF too?

I always go through the song and dance after a Linux install of killing IPV6 stuff. It is the perfect example of Linux geekery implementing features that unless you are running through a high end corporater router.... IPV6 cripples you more than benefits you.

 

[hans007]

i've not noticed linux being particularly slow... firefox on linux doesnt seem any slower than konqueror.

it does seem... just slightly slower than firefox on my xp box, but my xp box is a dual core 2.8 p4 with a gig of ram, and the linux box has half a gig and is a celeron 2.66 so i suppose that might contribute.

 

[darkdemyze]

Well..

Originally posted by: hardcandy2
The slow speed may be related to the fact that IPV6 is slowly being implemented and IPV4 is still used by probably 90% of the webb. When you click on a link, the browser is trying to resolve the name using the IPV6 protocol first, which eventually times out, and then the IPV4 prototocl. For Firefox, type "about:config" in the address bar. This will bring up a long page of configuration options. I cannot remember the exact location, but there is a line that says something like "Use IPV6 true". Click on it and change it to false/disable. Also there is an option to use "turbocharge Off" click on it and change it to "On" . Restart Firefox.
If your distro is a year or two old, you may want to look into changing it's default behavior regarding IPV6 and IPV4, I would check their forums on this issue or places like Justlinux.com , linuxquestions, or linuxforums.org.

..helped immensely. Still not quite as fast as Windows, as I'm still working on it, plus I don't have Macromedia plug-ins on Linux so that helps keep the overall page load times down as well. So for me, I don't think it's entirely a network problem.

 

[Cerb]

I doubt it will be as fast as in Windows in FC4 (you do pay for the goodies, lots of compatible packages ready to go, etc.). With a leaner distro, like ZenWalk, it should be much faster than in Windows. I'm not sure about the latest Debians (I haven't used X in one recently ).

 

[Nothinman]

I always go through the song and dance after a Linux install of killing IPV6 stuff. It is the perfect example of Linux geekery implementing features that unless you are running through a high end corporater router.... IPV6 cripples you more than benefits you.

I've never noticed the IPv6 stuff slowing my systems down, most programs are smart enough to only attempt IPv6 if explicitly told to do so.

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

I always go through the song and dance after a Linux install of killing IPV6 stuff. It is the perfect example of Linux geekery implementing features that unless you are running through a high end corporater router.... IPV6 cripples you more than benefits you.

I've never noticed the IPv6 stuff slowing my systems down, most programs are smart enough to only attempt IPv6 if explicitly told to do so.

I've only seen it in SUSE 10, but...well, check #8:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=87798&highlight=ipv6

 

[Nothinman]

I've only seen it in SUSE 10, but...well, check #8:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=87798&highlight=ipv6

That's what I would have thought.

 

[Seeruk]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I've never noticed the IPv6 stuff slowing my systems down, most programs are smart enough to only attempt IPv6 if explicitly told to do so.

File Firefox in the dumb-as-a-dog category then

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: Seeruk

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I've never noticed the IPv6 stuff slowing my systems down, most programs are smart enough to only attempt IPv6 if explicitly told to do so.

File Firefox in the dumb-as-a-dog category then

Pretty much. Thing is that a lot firefox developers do a lot of work polishing it for a Windows environment and it seems like the Linux stuff isn't so hot compared to other things.

It doesn't bother me a whole lot though. On Linux we have a selection of very good browsers to choose from. In Windows your selection is much more limited. (it's basicly either Firefox or Opera) I use Epiphany due to it's tighter integration into my desktop. It doesn't have as many extensions, but I only use a browser for browsing so it doesn't bother me much.

Although for some reason people have had many problems like this with Fedora Core 4. There is something funny that they did. Personally I don't experiance any lack of performance with any browser using Debian.

 

[Bluestealth]

Originally posted by: drag
I use Epiphany due to it's tighter integration into my desktop.

Ewwww.... desktop integration is nice, but for access a medium that is inherently insecure I like the sandboxing approach

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: Bluestealth

Originally posted by: drag
I use Epiphany due to it's tighter integration into my desktop.

Ewwww.... desktop integration is nice, but for access a medium that is inherently insecure I like the sandboxing approach

It's not like Windows were IE is built up of dll files that are the core of all applications and it has hooks into all sorts of crazy system stuff.

The integration is at a very high level dealing with theme-ing, widgets, key bindings and such. Your basic look'n'feel sort of stuff. It still uses the same gecko rendering stuff that firefox uses.

The only browser that I know that operates in a sandbox anyways is Vmware's 'Browser Appliance' which is firefox (latest 1.0.x and 1.5.x versions at the time it was built) that runs in a stripped down Ubuntu system in a vmware player environment.

I know that Microsoft claims to have 'sandboxed' Internet Explorer 7 beta versions in a sort of odd psuedo-MAC environment, but I am pretty sure that it doesn't compare to a VM environment or Novell's Apparmor or even a correctly built chroot environment. (of which only the chroot and VM would be considured 'sandboxes' in the proper sense)