Re: OS advice

[Tim Cross]

Ypo <ypuntot@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi
>
> Orgmode is sometimes desperately slow on my PC: 
>
> Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2100 CPU @ 3.10GHz, 3100 Mhz
>
> (RAM)    4,00 GB
>
> I am running Windows 10, everything I use works OK, but Orgmode. 
>
> Do you think that if I install a Linux OS, Orgmode would run fast? Any OS 
> suggestion?
>

Sadly, the answer is likely "that depends". There are just too many
unknown variables to provide a definitive answer. However, what I can
tell you is

- I have frequently taken hardware which users have found old and slow
  when running Windows and given it a new life running Linux. Linux can
  certainly perform better with less resources given some caveats. 

- Unlike Windows, Linux comes with a wide variety of destkop
  environments and window managers. Some are resource hungry and others
  are extremely light-weight. Selecting the right window manager will be
  crucial. For older and slower machines with only a small amount of
  memory, I would consider window managers like XFCE or maybe MATE. 

- From the specs you provide, my guess is that memory is your main
  bottle neck. This would further suggest that if you were to switch to
  Linux, avoid memory hungry desktop environments like Gnome or
  KDE. AGain, XFCE is small and fast and very reliable. It lacks the
  visual candy of other environments, but given your specs, something
  needs to be given up and visual candy seems a good starting
  point. However, this change will likely require some adjustment on
  your part. While there is little you cannot do on a Linux system, the
  level of integration and automation 'out of the box' is likely to be
  less. You will certainly be able to create an environment which is
  just as efficient and convenient as Windows, but it will likely take
  additional effort and willingness to adapt on your part. 

- Emacs and org mode can also be memory hungry. It is possible (likely
  in fact) that you could get much better performance, even under
  windows, by modifying how you use org mode. Things I would recommend
  include

    - Keep your org files as small as possible. Use multiple files
      rather than one big file.
    - Don't load any Emacs packages you don't actually use. Don't
      load/install any org packages you don't actually use/need.


A common error I see people make now that we have convenient emacs/elisp
packages is to install lots of packages. When I've been helping people
with Emacs performance, the first thing we do is go through all the
things they have installed/configured. Frequently, there are lots of
things installed which they never use.

What I sometimes recommend is that they comment out as much of their
Emacs and org configuration as possible and then use the system for a
few days. During this time, only enable something once you find you need
it. It is often surprising to them how much stuff they had configured or
installed which they really never used. The other benefit is that
smaller and simpler setups are less likely to have undesired side
effects or interactions with other packages, leading to fewer problems
and increased stability.

At the end of the day, a system with only 4Gb of memory is on the tight
side for a modern setup. I would argue the minimum size these days is
more like 8Gb and a 'good' setup is at least 12Gb. I personally have a
minimum of 16Gb and prefer 32Gb, but I also use a lot of VMs and other
container techniques to manage multiple stable and unrelated development
environments. On the other hand, my wife and children use small systems
running Linux XFCE with only 4Gb and find them quite adequate for what
they do (mainly email, surfing the web, basic office documents with
libre office etc). These systems are things like asus notebooks, small
form factor, slower CPU and 4Gb memory. They find them quite adequate
and appreciate the small form factor, but they also don't spend 8 hours
a day on them!