lxde on RPI 256Kb - Unusable

General Discussion
1

Hi,

I have installed DietPi on my old RPI 1B 256Kb, then installed LXDE. As soon as I launch Firefox, everything dies. HTOP seems to show that firefox uses between 40 and 80% cpu but the CPU panel is stuck at 100% and certainly the PI is almost frozen. A mouse click could take 5 to 10 seconds to register. Memory is also OK according to HTOP, something like 180Mo out of 230.
I do recall an early version of Raspbian working decently a few years ago, I believe that was also firefox but I could be mistaken. It feels to me like something is amiss, like a race condition or loop waiting for resources.
Has anybody got suggestions?
Tx

2

Hi,

Try checking the GPU memory split is 64MB. DietPi does this during installation automatically, if needed:
dietpi-config > display options > GPU/MEM split

If problems persist and at least 64MB GPU, let me know and i’ll try to replicate/investigate here.

3

Thanks for your prompt answer. Yes it is at 64Mb currently.
I see something strange when running top. User is around 10-30%, sys 15-20%, but WA is 75 to 80, it looks it is waiting on some IO.
Mem reports 30Mb available out of 184. Very little swap used , 20 out of 815

I have tried both with a WIFI key and an ethernet connection.

I have just tried a simple WGET on a big file and it does download pretty fast, around 60Mb/s which is close to ,y broadband limit, so it is not a bad network connection.

4

Looks like swap is occurring, due to low memory, causing high IO load on SD card. Even on a class 10, this will be noticeable.

I do recall an early version of Raspbian working decently a few years ago, I believe that was also firefox but I could be mistaken.

It could be a simple case of Firefox is alot more “bulkier”, and, more of a memory hog than it used to be.

5

What could I try to be able to browse? Is there a lighter browser ppl use on RPI 256K RAM?

6

Try Midori, claims to be lightweight:
http://midori-browser.org/download/debian/

7

thanks for your help

8

Thought I would let you know for reference. I now run 16Mb for the GPU with midori and the results are adequate, it is useable. Firefox is way to fat.

9

Excellent, great to hear :smiley: