Fresh install extremely slow

I'm trying to migrate from Mach3 to LinuxCNC.

After I log in though, everything is incredibly slow. The best way I can describe it is I'm getting 1 frame per 5-10 seconds. If I leave the computer for 15 mins or so I can move the mouse fine until I mouse over an icon or click anything, then it's back to the way it was before.

I have tried installing on a partition to my SSD and a clean install on a wiped HDD. The computer is fairly old though, CPU is an Athlon 64. It had been running Windows 7 and Mach3 fine though, albeit Chrome was a little sluggish. I would have expected better performance than this though, is there anything I can check or is it a hardware problem?

New to Linux so please bear with me!

This might potentially be a graphics problem, but before trying to fix that, what are the results of the latency test?

I can't even get to the latency test

I really can't progress any further than logging in, the system is pretty much unusable after that.

Currently, I AM operating on integrated graphics. I'll try to find a graphics card and try again.

Ishtar wrote: Currently, I AM operating on integrated graphics. I'll try to find a graphics card and try again.

I was meaning more to do with graphics drivers.

Which ISO did you load? It might be worth trying an alternative one (and maybe even a generic non-linuxCNC one)

Sure, it's 2.7, downloaded it the day before yesterday.

If I can boot into command line, what can I do to check the graphics drivers?

Try this ISO instead (also 2.7 but a different kernel and Linux distribution)

www.linuxcnc.org/testing-stretch-rtpreempt/

Thanks! That one is working MUCH better, a little jerky but I can live with it as long as it doesn't affect machining. I can get to the latency test now, result is 439010. Seems high?

EDIT. Make that 2223594

Yes, that's way too high to be useful, unfortunately.

I would normally suggest the SMI patch, but as this is an AMD CPU that would not be relevant.

There may be other tricks to improve latency with the preempt-rt kernel.

Or you could try comparing unmodified Stretch and Wheezy liveDVDs to see if the slow graphics problem is with the base Linux distribution or the LinuxCNC realtime architecture.

What exact Athalon 64:

Running will give you the details of the cpu and what Motherboard ? will list the computer info, press enter to scroll down and q to quit

I've being getting some really good results on some old AMD platforms. If you can stretch it try and get an older Radeon graphics card.

CPU is an Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.4GHz, overclocked to 3GHz.

Motherboard has an AGP slot... Recommendations on a card would be good!

Would it make you laugh if I say I remember buying this CPU brand new?

I have no problem going out and trying to find a used PC with better specs if that's what's needed.