[orca-list] Misteries of low performance of Orca and distros

[Luciano de Souza <luchyanus gmail com>]

Hi listers,
I am using Orca 3.2.0 and Ubuntu 10.10, but I really need to upgrade it.
However, I am facing severe issues about performance. I have a Entel I5 
processor with 4 gigabytes of RAM. It's not a bad machine, but, under 
Linux environment, the performance has never been good.
Under Ubuntu 10.10 and orca 3.2.0, the performance is acceptable, but 
when Windows is run in the same machine, the difference is immeasurably 
big. Windows is much faster.
The problem seems to be more severe in my attempts to upgrade. let me 
show you my failed instalations:
1. Sonar (ubuntu 12.04) - After the instalation, the performance is very 
bad compared to Windows and the current distro (ubuntu 10.10). I don't 
know if I would be pacient with so weak performance, but the true reason 
I uninstalled it is that there is a problem with portuguese translation 
package.
2. Vinux (Ubuntu 12.04) - For three times, I tried to install it. 
Firstly, the installer failed with an unknow error 5. Secondly, it was 
reported that the media was probably corrupted. Thirdly, error 5 was 
shown again. I used  three different medias, so it's not easy to suppose 
media corruption. The DVD unit seems to be working appropriately becose 
I can run and install Ubuntu 10.10 without problems. But the important 
for the purpose of this message is that I could not install Vinux, but 
the installer works efficiently in terms of performance.
3. Ubuntu 13.04 - The slowness was so critical during the instalation 
that Orca answered after 10 or 15 seconds after a command. I don't refer 
to the natural time consumption for the DVD scanning. No, it seems to be 
related to the RAM. I can't understand what is wrong.
Is ubuntu a very slow system? No. I can't listen to people complaining 
about this.
Is my computer broken? No. Windows is running with a very, very good 
performance.
Could I have a hot processor? It's always a possibility, but when I 
place the hand on the refrigeration output, I can feel the wind. I can 
additionally regard that hardware problems certainly would affect also 
Windows and, as I have mentioned, windows is running so faster.
The fact is that orca, under Sonar (ubuntu 12.04), did not answer 
timely. And ubuntu 13.04, during the instalation, the issue was 
meaningly worst.
I do really want to use newer versions of Orca. From Saturday to Sunday, 
I tried to install Vinux and Ubuntu 13.04 for six five times and six 
reinstalations of Ubuntu 10.10 was needed, totalizing 11 instalations. 
Yes, I am really dedicated to complete the task.
However, a mistery keeps unknown: why can I get good performances if my 
machine is able to deal with it?
If the reason keeps unknow, the solution is to try something different. 
I can try to install Vinux, since the problem was not related to 
performance up to now.
I can insist with Ubuntu 13.04, expecting that after instalation its 
behavior will be much faster.
But I can also try to use another distro, perhaps, a non Debian distro. 
So I ask:
1. Do you have any idea what I can do to discover what badly affect the 
performance of my machine when I use Ubuntu?
2. Which distros I can install without any help of a sighted people?
I sent this message to the orca list becose my purpose is find any 
alternative that allows orca to work efficiently. Therefore, it's not aa 
specific doubt about one distro. Actually, it's important for me to 
choose a distro accessible during the instalation and with newer and 
faster orca versions.
Regards,
Luciano