Parallella Speed Up Ubuntu

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Revision as of 12:51, 22 May 2014 by Shodruky (talk | contribs) (Force screen resolution to 1280x720 and enable devtmpfs)
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This is a how to guide to speed up the official Ubuntu for Parallella, this is only for ubuntu-lxde-14.03.06-p16g1.img. Do not apply these tips to another version.

Demo Video

By applying these tips, you will get,

  • Better desktop performance
  • Boot up stability
  • Sound output from HDMI
  • USB devices (e.g. webcam, USB stick)

Apply all the tips at once.

Fix the permission of .gconf

sudo chown -R linaro:linaro ~/.gconf

ALSA configuration

nano ~/.asoundrc

(copy, paste and save)

pcm.!default {
  type rate
  slave {
    pcm "hw:0"
    rate 48000
  }
  converter "samplerate"
}

Disable PCManFM Desktop mode

rm -f ~/.config/lxsession/LXDE/autostart

sudo nano /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart

Delete the line "@pcmanfm --desktop --profile LXDE".

Append this line to the bottom of the file.

@feh --bg-fill /usr/share/lxde/wallpapers/parallella.png

Select from Menu -> Preferences -> Desktop Session Settings, uncheck "GNOME Settings Daemon", [OK]

Speed up Firefox

Launch Firefox, Type "about:config" in the URL bar, Type "browser.cache.disk.enable" in the "Search:" bar, Change the value true->false by double-clicking.

Type "mousewheel.acceleration.start" in the "Search:" bar, Double click, set [2].

Speed up SSH login

Disable sshd hostname look-up.

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Append this line to the bottom of the file.

UseDNS no

Disable Screensaver

Menu->Preferences->Screensaver->Display Modes->Mode: Disable Screen Saver

Make Leafpad the default editor

Right-click a text file on PCManFM, select Properties->General->Open with: Select Leafpad

Install fake-hwclock

sudo apt-get install fake-hwclock

Clear persistent-net.rules

sudo rm /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

Force screen resolution to 1280x720 and enable devtmpfs

sudo mknod -m 660 /dev/mmcblk0 b 179 0

sudo mknod -m 660 /dev/mmcblk0p1 b 179 1

sudo mknod -m 660 /dev/mmcblk0p2 b 179 2

sudo apt-get install device-tree-compiler

sudo mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt

cd /mnt

sudo cp devicetree.dtb devicetree.dtb.bak

sudo dtc -I dtb -O dts -o devicetree.dts devicetree.dtb

sudo nano devicetree.dts

(Search(Ctrl-W) and Edit the "bootargs" line then save)

bootargs = "root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rw rootfstype=ext4 rootwait devtmpfs.mount=1 video=HDMI-A-1:1280x720";
sudo dtc -I dts devicetree.dts -O dtb -o devicetree.dtb

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

(copy & paste and save)

Section "Device"
  Identifier "Card0"
  Driver "modesetting"
  Option "ShadowFB" "True"
  Option "SWCursor" "True"
  Option "HWCursor" "False"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
  Identifier "Screen0"
  Device "Card0"
  SubSection "Display"
#---- Uncomment your preferred mode ----
    #Modes "1920x1200"
    #Modes "1920x1080"
    Modes "1280x720"
    #Modes "640x480"
  EndSubSection
EndSection

The preferred resolution is 1280x720, however you can set another resolution.

To check the available resolutions, type this command.

cat /sys/class/drm/card0-HDMI-A-1/modes

Or, type this command on a terminal on the native X Window.

xrandr -q

I strongly recommend 1280x720, not 1920x1080, because too high resolution makes everything slow.

Note: The resolution settings of the xorg.conf (Modes "1280x720") must match with the bootargs settings (video=HDMI-A-1:1280x720).

Reboot

sync

sudo reboot

Do not touch the mouse till the Parallella logo appears.