Practical tips to optimize Ubuntu 12.04

Our friend Jako, project blog leader humans, has published an interesting article for users of Unity y Ubuntu 12.04 where it shows us what to do to save a little resources.

Practical tips to optimize Ubuntu 12.04

Author: Jacobo Hidalgo (aka Jako)

Hello friends, the truth is that the new version of Ubuntu it feels lighter than the previous one, but still always lends itself to being optimized to the maximum. I have reviewed the new version from top to bottom and gradually identified the high-consumption bulbs and created a small list of tasks that can be done to optimize it. You must first consider that the less things you have installed the better, so if after seeing this guide you see more things that you can take them off then go ahead, it will be one more step to do it faster.

You should also consider that many times the consumption of the same system is different in the PCs because the hardware is not the same in all cases. Initially with the newly installed system on my PC, using a 32 bits, consumed some 260 MB more or less when starting the session and after a few arrangements I have managed to load with an initial consumption of around 150 MB of RAM.

Here the actions carried out:

Delete unity-music-daemon

This process is triggered by the Music Lens of Unity. When Ubuntu 12.04 I was in beta 2 this process consumed 30 MB that free, but then in the final version of Ubuntu improved a lot and my PC only consumed a few 10 to 12 MB. I could have left it, but I really prefer to search my music from Clementine, the audio player that I have, that is why I decided to remove the Music lens, for that I ran this command:

sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-music

If they want to recover it, they simply install it again with:

sudo apt-get install unity-lens-music

Remove Scope from Online Music stores

Well the lens of Unity for them to work they need a Scope, which are small applications that are what really do the searches. The music lens of Ubuntu uses a scope to also search music from internet music stores with which Ubuntu is integrated, this to us in Cuba we will practically not use it, that's why it is better to go, because I discovered that from time to time this process called unity-scope-musicstores. To remove it use this command:

sudo apt-get autoremove unity-scope-musicstores

Remove the Ubuntu One Sync Daemon

Ubuntu One is the system that uses Ubuntu for your users to store information in the cloud, we all have Free 5GB and it can already be used from connections behind a proxy like us, but if we are not going to use Ubuntu One better we eliminate everything that sounds like this. The process Ubuntu One Sync Daemon is as its name indicates a demon that monitors the state of synchronization between our PC y Ubuntu One, this process is triggered automatically and consumes a few 18 MB of RAM. So bye:

sudo apt-get remove ubuntuone-client

Kill the bluetooth-applet process

One good thing about Ubuntu is the default support for bluetooth And for printing, which causes many devices to work for us just by connecting them, even without having to install a driver for it, if we are not going to use either the bluetooth or the printer for now, the best thing is not to uninstall them, or better we look for the way its associated processes are not running.

bluetooth-applet It must be a process that is running waiting for a bluetooth device to be detected on the PC in order to show the bluetooth indicator on the top panel. One trick to prevent it from running is to rename your executable. The process bluetooth applet runs automatically and consumes about 3MB, yes I know it's nothing, but bye too, so I change the name of its executable:

sudo mv /usr/bin/bluetooth-applet /usr/bin/bluetooth-applet-old

If you want it back, just return the original name by reversing the previous command order.

Kill the indicator-printers-service process

The same as the above, apparently this process is related to printing, it is an indicator on the top panel and it becomes visible when connecting a printer, in order to provide access to its configuration. So that it does not run, we change the name of its executable

sudo mv /usr/lib/indicator-printers/indicator-printers-service /usr/lib/indicator-printers/indicator-printers-service-old

Remove deja-dup-monitor

This is already a pittance, some 500 KB is what you consume. The process let-dup-monitor runs on its own, apparently it is related to the tool to perform automatic saves in Ubuntu call let-dup, but since I don't use let-dup better it goes full of my system:

sudo apt-get remove deja-dup

Remove the Gnome Online Accounts Daemon

Right now I'm not sure if the package gnome-online-accounts It is installed by default in the installation, I just know that I have hardly installed anything and from time to time I ran into this process running without anyone calling it Gnome Online Accounts is a new route that incorporated GNOME 3 to store to cloud services where we have documents, email, etc. It is a magnificent functionality but the vast majority of us do not use it. The process goa-daemon consume some 2.1 MB, however it goes:

sudo apt-get autoremove gnome-online-accounts

Remove One Conf Service

Eliminating it will save us a few 13.2 MB of RAM. This process doesn't run all the time, sometimes it triggers. OneConf is a mechanism to obtain information from your installed software to be used in Ubuntu One, and synchronize these applications between several PCs that you use, that is, it is another great functionality of the Software Center That allows that once you install applications on a PC you can synchronize them with other PCs and install them there, but since I won't need that, it goes away too. We can remove it by uninstalling the package oneconf, But: If you remove the package oneconf you delete the Software Center too, that's why it's better to rename your executable:

sudo mv /usr/share/oneconf/oneconf-service /usr/share/oneconf/oneconf-service-old

Eliminate automatic update check

By default the system automatically checks the software updates that are in the repository, but for that to happen a process called "aptdWhich I have found consuming 35 MB of RAM. Therefore, so that it does not trigger, we can only tell the system not to automatically check for updates, instead we will do it manually whenever we want, for that:

1- Let's go to Update Manager: Shutdown menu »Update software ... They will see the update manager, click Setting… That will open a new window called ** Software sources ** showing tab Updates.

2- There they indicate: Check for updates automatically: Never

3- They close the window and restart the PC.

Replace Software Center with Synaptic

For a new user it is perhaps more intuitive to install programs from the Software Center, but if you've been in Ubuntu, Synaptic is your best option. He Software Center although it improved in this new version it has some hidden secrets and shortcomings.

For example, this to install programs uses in the background to aptd, already mentioned above, it happens that even after installing programs and closing it leaves aptd (30MB) running and some other process that raises, as a certain software-center-update or something like that of which I did not write his name, causing that even after having closed the Software Center were consuming more than 60 MB for pleasure.

Optimal solution, stay only with Synaptic. To remove the Ubuntu Software Center and install Synaptic instead we can do it with this command:

sudo apt-get autoremove software-center && sudo apt-get install synaptic

Note: When uninstalling the Software Center they will also need to use a tool to install them by hand.deb that they have on their PCs, those that we install by double clicking on them, for that must install the program now Gdebi.

sudo apt-get install gdebi

Disable printing service and bluetooth from operating system startup

If you don't have a printer, do not uninstall the drivers or the service as such, simply tell the system not to start the service cups (print service).

I tried doing it with the command " sudo update-rc.d -f cups remove"But restarting the PC would run cups again.

My solution then was to send to kill these services when the system starts up, for this we can do it by editing the file /etc/rc.local and everything we put there before the line "Exit 0", which must be the last, is executed when the system boots, the solution is as follows: Before the exit 0 put these lines:

service cups stop
service bluetooth stop

To edit this file as super-administrator we do it with the following command:

sudo gedit /etc/rc.local

Kill the aptd process

The large aptd runs by itself when it wants, consumes a few 30 MB, apparently it is very useful because they use it so much the Software Center such as Update manager, if you uninstalled the Software Center you can discard this process, once I have eliminated it I tried both the Synaptic such as Update manager and at least in the Synaptic I can install the programs well, while in the Update manager Apparently it works fine, but I don't know if it will update well or not because every time I run it it has indicated that there is nothing new to update, and I believe it. So at your own risk try to eliminate aptd, or don't delete it just in case you need it for something, just rename it just like I did:

sudo mv /usr/sbin/aptd /usr/sbin/aptd-old

Note: In this case I am not sure whether to delete aptd It hurts us the work of installing or updating software, so far everything seems to work, but just in case take it into account if something does not go well.

Other running processes that we can live without:

ModemManager(2.7MB):

sudo mv /usr/sbin/modem-manager /usr/sbin/modem-manager-old

Update Notifier(3MB):

sudo mv /usr/bin/update-notifier /usr/bin/update-notifier-old

Well friends remember that the most important thing in these cases is to use only what we need, sometimes we install programs that we do not know the amount of things they raise behind. Other things that could take away are the video lens, which doesn't consume much, and I love to use it, so anything you miss on your desktop just remove it and your system will be even faster.

I hope I have been of great help to you. Greetings to all.


79 comments, leave yours

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

*

*

  1. Responsible for the data: Miguel Ángel Gatón
  2. Purpose of the data: Control SPAM, comment management.
  3. Legitimation: Your consent
  4. Communication of the data: The data will not be communicated to third parties except by legal obligation.
  5. Data storage: Database hosted by Occentus Networks (EU)
  6. Rights: At any time you can limit, recover and delete your information.

  1.   Courage said

    I know a better way, uninstalling it and installing Linux

    XD

    1.    Juan Carlos said

      Hahahaaajaja ... worse than a bad bug .... hahahaaaa

    2.    Ernest said

      Bffffff ...

    3.    SymphonyOfNight said

      Well, look, the truth is that it doesn't work perfectly, but I who left Ubuntu a long time ago and I have traveled through many Linux distributions ... I tried this version again and the truth is that everything is very good, from drivers to window graphics, that my a my ATI is something that resists it, the fact is that Unity has improved a lot, now with keyboard shortcuts I find it ideal for my work.

    4.    Gabriel Andrade (@zurdo_utm) said

      and for those extremes better not turn on the computer and voila! 0mb of ram consumed XD

    5.    Victor said

      What ignorance. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution.

  2.   leonardo said

    Betrayal lol XD

  3.   Wolf said

    Having so many things enabled by default is the price to pay for using a user frendly distribution ready to go out of the box. For those who do not want or do not have time to invest in configurations, it is a good option.

  4.   Jordi Fdez said

    New GNU / Linux group on Facebook!
    Join the penguin community now!
    http://www.facebook.com/groups/105353059578260/

  5.   Keopety said

    I'm with Courage, hahahahaha, if you uninstall everything goes better, hahaha

  6.   KZKG ^ Gaara said

    rm -rf /? ... hehehe ...

    1.    Hache said

      Haha! +1

  7.   faustod said

    Interesting…

    But for me I have a slow, slow machine ...

    Thanks.
    faustod

    1.    Hache said

      Well then Ubuntu doesn't have the right desktop for you. I would advise you to try other environments.

  8.   FrederickLinux said

    Well, in itself Ubuntu is a very good distro and 12.04 improves things a lot, for those who have a low-resource team better use Xubuntu or Lubuntu that consume fewer resources, but try arch or an argo etc of light distros, Ubuntu in itself it is very good of me I do not take away many things before I add kde, and other applications

    1.    rodochopper said

      if you put kde why not install kubuntu ????

  9.   vicky said

    I put it into practice thank you very much, it seems to me that I am going to install xfce as well. Is there a ppa with the new version of xfce?

    1.    elav <° Linux said

      Unfortunately the available PPA only contains the packages related to the version 4.10pre2.

  10.   Mauritius said

    I did something similar to this every time I installed Ubuntu. But it didn't occur to me to change the name of the executables (great solution) but I would go and remove everything, loading the system most of the time. In the end, for the same reason, I realized that Ubuntu was not for me.

  11.   Alf said

    Mauritius, I can tell you that something similar happened to me, when I learned to make minimal installations it was the remedy.

    For example on my desktop pc (minimal installations):
    Debian works faster than ubuntu

    Debian is not installed on my laptop, I need to be able to install arch to be able to compare.

    Good information to lighten the system a bit,

    Courage, don't you dare to use Ubuntu as your main system? 😛

    regards

    1.    Courage said

      Before Ubuntu I prefer to use Windows

      1.    xabier said

        you have no shame?

        1.    karcelona said

          It seems not ... I would give it to me.

      2.    carlosmurcialinares said

        Courage, remember "ignorance is a choice, not an obligation." You choose the windows option, well, nobody forces you not to.

      3.    Alberto Cortes said

        Well… .windows for laziness mentally it is excellent, it brings everything almost ready and many games… practically you don't have to think, excellent to atrophy the brain !!

        1.    Ox said

          I do not agree with you, if a lawyer, architect, doctor, engineer or other professional uses Windows because he does not have time to waste like we do on the Internet, is he mentally lazy? Do you think it would be good for them to lose valuable hours searching because the Wi-Fi, graphics and others do not work?

          Hands down the worst Linux fanboys users.

          1.    crt said

            Obviously that a doctor is pending is his patients, and he will not have enough time to inquire about OS because it is not his field, or his hobby, it is assumed that opinions are based on those who do have preferences, experiences and make the Informatca touches a way of life or a hobby in each case, there are people who are not even interested in how an OS works, you just want it to work for what they need, therefore it cannot be generalized, I am a Linux user and I do not walk saying that win is worse or better, everyone works with what works for them, of course, if you are interested in learning computer science, because with Linux you have many possibilities, because you can see how it works and configure it as you want, which is not the case of win , but it does not mean that win is bad, but that you cannot see how it works or configure so many things, in addition to adding the cost of a license, you do not have so much freedom, that if Linux has it, they have obvious differences, since If it costs $ 0, you have a functional operating system and you can also modify it, it is a good option for many people

        2.    DanielC said

          Man so as not to think I think you exaggerate.

          Because on the other hand, in linux we have everything at hand in the repositories, without having to search here and there in software download pages (for example, on the one hand eclipse and on the other java; on the one hand a P2P and for another a firewall-antivirus…), and we can practically click anywhere without fear of screwing up the system with a bug or virus; In the case of customization, in KDE they even have everything linked to kde-look to install wallpapers, icons, windows, etc.), while in windows you must grab programs here and there to be able to modify the visual aspect ……. Are you getting used to being mentally lazy, a windows user or a linux user?

          Little less arrogance.

          1.    william_oops said

            Hehe ... it's very true, I had more work when I was a MS Windows user than now.
            If you use an out of the box distro, everything goes smoothly and within the reach of a click, a beauty that badly accustoms and hurts.
            … But ultimately an OS is only an intermediary between the user and what he wants to do with a PC, things like Arch only make sense for a certain sector.

        3.    Mart said

          windows atrophy the brain and the computer, with viruses, trajanos, etc etc ...
          if only for that it is worth installing a linux distro, greetings

  12.   Gabriel said

    Well, I was just going to say that it is more practical to uninstall ubuntu and put debian.

  13.   pavloco said

    Well, there are these Ubuntu Minimal installations. Which basically consists of installing an image with what is necessary to boot and then you are configuring it. I've never tried it but I'll leave it to you in case you're interested.

    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD

    1.    Courage said

      Hahaha Uncle Mark trembles before the KISS

      1.    johnfgs said

        So many distros that jumped on the Slackware wagon with the idea of ​​KISS that nowadays it is not applicable, at the time Slack was KISS since in effect simpler components meant less troublesome installation and simpler maintenance (fewer variables that could fuck a system). Today most of the most popular distros have enough developers to afford complex systems that are easy to install and manage.
        I'm surprised by so many "deliberately difficult" distro that it cites the KISS (originally to simplify the user's life) as an excuse to have more complicated solutions and that having a working system take days instead of hours or minutes.

  14.   solidus_00 said

    I will try them to see how, thanks for taking the time to make the post ^^

  15.   yathedigo said

    Certainly, I do not know what computers you have. What I do know is that the consumption of ram memory is a constant obsession throughout many threads ... The truth is that all these comforts are not negligible and make the system more affordable and They facilitate many tasks .., Why give up on them? Most current equipment starts with 4/8 Gigs of Ram, and processors of hundreds of cores…. enough to move these systems.
    I have the doubt, what would they do with a last generation phone like Xperia or Galaxy with the amount of extras they bring, Oh and you can also phone ...
    They look like Ferrari mechanics, trying to adjust to the maximum and take a few tenths of time ...
    Enjoy the trip, and think that many of us started with 64 K of memory and having an AT of 4.2 Mghz was a wonder ... (not to mention the Hercules CGA resolution screens) ...
    by the way courage Do you write from the Windos?
    Greetings and don't bother me

  16.   Alf said

    yathedigo, your assessment is correct, the systems come with functions that make things easier, in this forum we have already talked about that, unfortunately I do not remember the title and for that reason I cannot quote it, do you want it to work well? to consume ramm.

    But there is something yathedigo, the systems allow you to make these types of configurations, I do them for pleasure, for the simple fact of knowing how to do it, my team has a lot of ramm, so mine is pure pleasure.

    There are, because if there are people with limited teams, who need to make those kinds of adjustments, aren't there many limited teams? with one that there is enough, you already need these adjusters.

    Anyway, for color tastes 😛

    regards

    1.    Ocean said

      I would add, do not leave daemons running without giving them usefulness and that may have vulnerabilities or bugs. If we don't use them then OUT

  17.   auroszx said

    Very good, although it seems to me that they lacked how to eliminate unnecessary drivers to reduce consumption a bit ...

  18.   izre_ur said

    How can I disable all the ads in gif and flash in FireFOX12?

    (I have another problem, my pc with just Ubuntu 12LTS makes a lot of noise, I hardly see a youtube video)

  19.   Alberto said

    I liked the list, but I would also like to know how I can do myself to identify which processes consume me and how much they consume me and then the name to eliminate them, does anyone know?

    1.    KZKG ^ Gaara said

      Hello and welcome 😀
      Precisely, you can do it through the terminal / console: https://blog.desdelinux.net/con-el-terminal-mostrar-los-10-procesos-que-mas-memoria-consumen/

      But also if you want to do it through a graphical application (and not through commands), you can use the System Monitor that Ubuntu brings, there you will see the processes ... similar to the Windows Task Manager, but with more options 😀

    2.    Jacobo hidalgo said

      Thanks for posting it here, it's a pleasure.

      @Alberto: From the Ubuntu System Monitor you can see all the running processes, including those that run with root permission, to show them all once you open the System Monitor go to the tab called Processes, then in its menu select the option View–> All processes. So you will see even the root processes. In many cases, hovering the mouse over the process shows you the address of its executable in a popup.
      Greetings.

  20.   Moralek said

    This Blog is great thanks for the advice they helped me a lot by lightening the system

    1.    elav <° Linux said

      Thank you for the comment. We are glad that our blog has served you .. ^^

    2.    KZKG ^ Gaara said

      A pleasure 😀
      Thank you very much for stopping by and commenting 🙂

      Greetings and ... WELCOME 🙂

  21.   anon2 said

    Very good it served me a lot.
    thank you!
    : )

  22.   Lex.RC1 said

    I'm going to apply several of these to see what happens to this Ubuntu 😀

    And Online Accounts, (which is not a cloud) is installed if you install the Shell, it is used to integrate mail calendar contacts from an online account on the desktop.

  23.   GermanTrevi said

    Very good data, beyond what is applied as a solution for each case.

  24.   Erick said

    Thank you, it helped me a lot and it "feels" like leaving so much weight. . .

  25.   werkenmapu said

    Well, after reading the post I'm not really sure what I should do. I have a Pentium IV computer with 1GB where Ubuntu 12.04 is installed. To try to optimize I started by deactivating bluetooth like this http://www.develop-site.com/es/content/bluetooth-applet but I see that Indicator Applet also uses a lot of memory resources and I have doubts whether to disable it. What do you suggest?

    1.    elav <° Linux said

      If you do not use bluetooth, it is best to deactivate it. When I don't want something to start at the beginning, I install a package called rcconf and as root, I disable the daemons or processes that do not interest me.

      1.    werekenmapu said

        hi i am going to test the rcconf package and disabling the processes. See what happens

  26.   pedro said

    Many times the real problem is in the consumption of the browser and the mail client.
    It would be worth clarifying which browsers and email clients are lighter.
    In particular, Firefox and Thunderbird consume more than 40 Mb each.

    1.    werkenmapu said

      It is true, Firefox and Thunderbird consume about 40MG added to what SKYPE and PIDGIN consume in my case is to be closing applications to open others. I decided to share the resources with old computers on the network and so I am getting by with old orcendores .;)

  27.   ferchmetal said

    Jummm ... the truth is, I am staying with Lubuntu, it is 10 and very fast and everything works perfectly! And by the way, I don't know why I don't get my lubuntu icon but the one for ubuntu and others if they get the one for xubuntu, lubuntu and kubuntu?

  28.   Me said

    Excellent Post. I removed Unity and well, his obsession with RAM improved the temperature of my laptop. Thank you!

    1.    KZKG ^ Gaara said

      Thanks to you for commenting 🙂

  29.   untitled text said

    Hello, Thank you very much for the post. Very interesting.
    I find the latest ubuntu updates annoying, Gnome3 is very slow on standard computers. It doesn't do anyone any good to run such slow systems with constant problems.
    Well, thanks again for the post.

    Slds!

  30.   werkenmapu said

    Hello, what features does your computer have?

    1.    untitled text said

      It is a
      Hp G42-362la Notebook
      Core I3
      hdd 320gb
      Ram 2gb

      I installed Ubuntu 12.04 and the truth is that it is not only lengo but it throws errors and crashes constantly.

      Slds

      1.    moshspirit said

        Install xfce or lxde

        1.    untitled text said

          I installed the Linux Mint Mate which continues the Gnome2 project. Fortunately.

  31.   bouset said

    Very good guide to have if it works better that way I keep missing Gnome 2 🙁 iva everything perfect in Ubuntu 10.04 and since 12.04 came out I've been jumping from distro to distro having which one I like xD I already tried several including arch but I did not allocate in any hahaha But if so, the ubuntu already works for me, because I don't know or distro try hahahaha

    1.    DanielC said

      Why don't you use Gnome's Classic mode? you install the desktop and when you start the session you choose Gnome, Gnome Classic or Gnome Classic without effects (if you don't want to use compiz or something similar).
      And here is a list of notifiers that you can add to the classic panel:
      http://askubuntu.com/questions/30334/what-application-indicators-are-available

      I was like this for a few months until I made the decision to switch to the Gnome Shell and now that the Gnome Remix of 12.10 is out I really liked how it was optimized.

      1.    untitled text said

        Although one I used the classic gnome "facade", the system itself is running on is Gnome3. I am particularly now testing the Matte version of Mint that comes with the gnome2 desktop. I think it was a setback for free software to abandon the project and focus on resource-intensive systems requiring advanced video cards.

        Regards!

      2.    bouset said

        Hi, if I tried, but aunk it "looks like" gnome 2, I don't like it, I use AWN as a launcher and I have it down and I'm used to having it there and not being able to remove the panel below in classic gnome I despair, but right now I'm with gnome-shell and the truth goes bn

        1.    DanielC said

          Of course it can be removed, you can, if you want, even remove both and leave only one dock.

          Obviously, you must first install it and configure it to start at startup, because if you delete the bars you will have to manually shut down the machine and enter the shell to install and configure docky, awn or the program of your choice.

  32.   Antonio said

    Hello colleagues,

    I just installed ubuntu 12.04. Previously in Ubuntu 10.04 it used a lot of remember session option. That is, when I restart Ubuntu, I returned to the applications and windows that I had open in the last session.

    In Ubuntu 12.04 I can't find this option enabled. They know everything can be?

    Thank you
    Antonio

  33.   antonio said

    I am new to linux, these four letters to thank you for the excellent guide you have created

  34.   antonio said

    I would appreciate if you could explain to me where I have to write the commands like sudo god deamon eccetera

    1.    KZKG ^ Gaara said

      In a terminal or console. You press [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [T] and one should open for you.

  35.   maxtor3029 said

    How thick. !!!

  36.   nelson said

    Thank you very much dear very good your post I congratulate you

  37.   Paul said

    Everything looks good until the colors of let's use linux have 😀

  38.   Freddy figueroa said

    Jhehehe Good post ...

    1.    elav said

      I met a Freddy Figueroa, Cuban of course .. Is it you? 😀

  39.   Pere said

    Hello, I am newbie to Linux. Updating the Ubuntu 12 version (previous management psswd)

    _ my mouse has been blocked

    - the system asks me for the password "default" key deposit of which I have no idea

    beg help, thanks

    Pere

  40.   jovi said

    Thank you very much you helped me too much… ..success