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I had Ubuntu 10.10 running on my PC for a long time, and I was quite happy with the desktop performance (i.e. almost no lag while moving windows or shortcuts like alt+tab andctrl+alt+t all was so fast even when there is an installation or file copy/paste.

But now I have installed Ubuntu 14.04, and the new desktop environment is very user-friendly and nice looking, but the speed has gone.

I think after a certain version (11?), when the left sidebar (launcher?) arrived, this lag existed on my computer. So I think I want to reduce visual quality in exchange for speed.

So -how- can I get the simple desktop as in 10.10 back?

Ubuntu 10.10 Desktop

P.S. A few years ago, I tried something with Ubuntu 11. Changing the desktop environment to GNOME I think. But it was causing a lot of problems (like in Compiz), so I would prefer a safe solution, if possible :)

Thanks for any help!

Eric Carvalho
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jeff
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  • You could try xubuntu; or install a few alternative window managers, you can pick these at login so comparing is easy. You could also try `top` & see if there's a CPU hog running, & `free -m` & see if you're low on memory. Odds on there's a few services running that you don't need; `brltty` comes to mind. Look in `/etc/init.d/` - but be careful, this bit doesn't count as a "safe solution"! – Mark Williams Feb 08 '15 at 17:04
  • If you used Gnome back in ubuntu 10.10, you might wanna try Ubuntu mate, mate is a fork of gnome2. – xangua Feb 08 '15 at 17:05
  • Install CompizConfig Settings Manager. Here's [one link](http://askubuntu.com/a/235765/295286), and another [and another](http://askubuntu.com/a/582787/295286) – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Feb 08 '15 at 18:16
  • From the answers to the duplicate question [this answer](http://askubuntu.com/a/108916/3940) gives a link to install **gnome-session-flashback** for a classic desktop. But of course there are many other lightweight desktop environments to choose from. – Takkat Feb 08 '15 at 21:35
  • Ubuntu 10.10? It's been unsupported for almost 3 years (April 2012)... And you missed all the [Ubuntu unity controversy](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ubuntu+unity+controversy)? There are a *lot* of other desktops to try, Mate is a fork of the old Gnome 2, XFCE is similar, see [What kinds of desktop environments and shells are available?](http://askubuntu.com/questions/65083/what-kinds-of-desktop-environments-and-shells-are-available) . It would just be a guess as to which one "feels" faster, try a few. – Xen2050 Feb 09 '15 at 00:51

2 Answers2

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You could try the Lubuntu distribution. It's not as pretty as Ubuntu but light on resources and very responsive.

You can even switch to it without a total system re-installation while retaining the Unity desktop in case you want to go back.

David Foerster
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user35246
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0

I also found that the driver for my Nvidia graphics card was missing, and installing it via sudo apt-get install nvidia-current made it much more faster!

jeff
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