Ubuntu: problems, fixes and speed up guide

Problems and fixes for both 7.04 and 7.10

Intel 915 GM widescreen not having the right resolution:
in 7.04, go to system, administration, package manager, search 915, install the other xorg driver.
in 7.10, mine didn't work that way. So I had to install 915 resolution.


nm-applet asking for keyring password:

Be sure to make your password longer than 6 letters. This is crucial, otherwise, you won't be able to login ever again. I learned it the hard way.

install libpam_keyring in 7.04 or pam_keyring in 7.10.


sudo gedit /etc/pam.d/gdm
add these two lines
auth optional pam_keyring.so try_first_pass
session optional pam_keyring.so
save.


If your mplayer doesn't stretch to full screen properly:

echo "zoom=1" >> ~/.mplayer/config

Mplayer : could not open Directshow codec drvc.so
Run this : sudo apt-get install libstdc++5


If you go to system-preference-font and change font rending to the one with smoothing, it'll look so much better in case you don't know already.

Tuning:
I picked these two.

Turn of services:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=89491

Broadband and swappiness tweaks:
http://tvease.net/wiki/index.php?title=Tweak_ubuntu_for_speed
(This site is unavailable now, this is what I used. Go to the cached file and read what's going on.

sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf

vm.swappiness=0

sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf

net.core.rmem_default = 524288
net.core.rmem_max = 524288
net.core.wmem_default = 524288
net.core.wmem_max = 524288
net.ipv4.tcp_wmem = 4096 87380 524288
net.ipv4.tcp_rmem = 4096 87380 524288
net.ipv4.tcp_mem = 524288 524288 524288
net.ipv4.tcp_rfc1337 = 1
net.ipv4.ip_no_pmtu_disc = 0
net.ipv4.tcp_sack = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_fack = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_window_scaling = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_timestamps = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_ecn = 0
net.ipv4.route.flush = 1

sudo sysctl -p

And here's how you install gcc without using network
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-7527.html

In System->Preferences->Sessions, turn off useless sessions like bluetooth manager for me.

Remove extra virtual terminals:

cd /etc/event.d
sudo mv tty3 tty3.bak
sudo mv tty4 tty4.bak

up to tty6



These are what I usually do, the commands are pretty straightforward:
$ sudo apt-get remove gnome-games
$ sudo apt-get remove evolution
$ sudo apt-get remove ekiga
$ sudo apt-get remove sound-juicer serpentine totem totem-gstreamer totem-mozilla rhythmbox
$ sudo apt-get remove gucharmap bug-buddy tomboy

This is Chinese input, you don't normally need it.
$ sudo apt-get remove scim-modules-table scim-tables-additional
$ sudo apt-get install scim-pinyin im-switch
$ im-switch -z en_US -s scim

Firefox changes:
about:config
network.dns.disableIPv6 true
network.http.pipelining true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests 8
network.http.proxy.pipelining true

put the following at the end of your .gtkrc-2.0 file

gtk-menu-popup-delay = 0

Great guides here and here.