The computer:
Dell Latitude E6500 laptop with 240 GB SSD and 4 GB RAM. This computer has been running Win 10 reliably and trouble-free for several years with the exception of adequate drivers for the Intel chipsets, NLA.
The install:
Ubuntu Desktop 24.04 LTS Noble, Gnome Shell 46, downloaded directly from the Ubuntu website. This was a completely standard install, using all the default settings. (I didn’t verify the d/l, FWIW)
The problems:
From the first bootup there were several significant problems.
Incredibly slow boot up time, 3 – 4 minutes from post to login.
No Activities button. No activities overview. Super key just opens windows.
Typing commands in overview doesn’t work. Misses the first character, and disappears before I can even react to it.
The only icons on the left are Firefox, Files, App Center, and Help. Thunderbird, Libre, and a couple more additional apps were present when Ubuntu was running from memory during install.
The App Center flashes a blank screen for a couple of seconds and then closes out when clicked. No further action.
What I have tried:
After some searches I found fixes for a couple of these problems:
Fix for #1. Added “tsc=unstable” to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=“” entry:
Fix for #5. Disabled Open GL in the App Center Setup.
Searches have turned up some suggested fixes for the other problems, but the posts were all several years old, pertaining to much older versions, and were impossible to follow and/or did not work.
This seems like a lot of problems for a what appears to be simple install like this. I can’t imagine that any of these problems have not occurred before, and they may well have already been documented, but I have not been able to find them.
Obviously, I’m not Linux literate, but I should be able to blunder around enough to find log outputs or whatever might be needed to help diagnose these problems.
Dell Latitude E6500 seems to have been released in 2008/2009.
Probably unsuitable for Ubuntu 24.04 and it may be worthwhile to try a lighter flavour within the Ubuntu family.
Have a look at Lubuntu 24.04 and explore a “Try Lubuntu” live session.
THAT is most likely your major problem with regards to the bugs.
Slowness probably has much more to do with the amount of RAM. That’s fine to run the system, but if you want to run Firefox with a bunch of tabs including some webapps along with, well, almost anything else, you’re going to be pretty darn constrained. I think Lubuntu is a brilliant suggestion here and I’m not even saying that because I’m a contributor to it. It’s because it’s meant for situations exactly like yours.
I downloaded a fresh copy of desktop 24.04, and this time I verified the download. It failed to install, with a looong list of errors. Looks like I’m going to have to give up on ubuntu on this one.
I know that the computer is obsolete. I just hate to scrap an otherwise 100% functional machine tho.
I’m going to try a few other distros. If that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll try lubuntu.
I can’t agree with this more! I mean, it’s just more or less repeating what I said before.
To be frank, I’m not sure what the requirements are for the actual installation (Lubuntu uses a different installer) but it could very well be the problem. Try Lubuntu!
I was hesitant to consider what was described as a “light” distro. After reading a bit more about it, Lubuntu sounds like it is worth a try. Downloading it now.
I’ve already spent money upgrading the hard disk to an SSD. I’ll wait and see if lubuntu or some other distro appears stable and trouble free enough before I spend any money on a memory upgrade.
Just another vote that the RAM upgrade will make a tremendous difference. 4GB is nothing in 2025 standards. Even if you get the desktop running, 4GB is barely enough to run a browser these days. So you’ll likely find it will be swapping a lot, as it runs out of RAM, slowing the system down further.
The Lubuntu install just completed. Seems that the install is a bit crude, but it was still smooth, quick. and painless. No load to memory first for a trial, it just went straight to install.
Funny that the install barfed on the wireless install, but I installed it manually without a hitch.
Time from post to login less than 30 seconds.
This desktop might take a bit of getting used to, but I can live with it.
I now believe it’s worth it to invest in the RAM upgrade.