hi,
this isn't so much a question of how to make navigatrix work as it is how do i make my computer work.
i recently got my hands on my girlfriends old dell inspiron 6400 (1.6 ghz 1gb ram) with a bad hard drive and figured it would make a good boat computer, put in a new 120gb ssd, and installed ubuntu, and then later found navigatrix and installed that alongside ubuntu. ( navigatrix seems great so far by the way)
on both operating systems, on most sessions, the cpu usage will jump to 100% for 10 seconds or so when i try to do anything, like type some words or hit the back button on a browser. (i actually just had to restart the computer while typing this because it got really bad) after that it drops back down to 6% or so then does what i ask it quickly. it seems like the cpu spikes don't have much to do with the task i ask of it, for example in might spike while typing, but then i can start opencpn without a problem.
1 out of 4 or so times that i start the computer it runs flawlessly. it boots and starts programs very fast with no cpu spikes. i've installed a cpu temp monitor and the performance doesn't seem to relate to the temperature which hovers around 40 degrees celcius.
what should i be looking at to fix this? thanks -elias

btw, i just noticed this, but this session is working very well, and the cpu usage is hovering around 30%

Open a terminal <ctrl><alt><t> and see what is popping up with

thanks for the reply and the help.

So I ran that command and have been keeping an eye on the readout while using the computer. It's been a little difficult as the computer has been running better since i asked the forum about it (something like bringing your car to the mechanic and it running perfectly for them) so, i think you fixed it

anyway, what i've been finding is that when it does lags, the overall cpu usage is really low, like 5% according to the readout in terminal. at the same time, the resources monitor read 100% cpu usage.

the program i'm using at the time is always the biggest cpu user. (like 8% or so. I'm guessing i have 200% possible because of the dual core processor? i've seen single programs take up as much as 150% cpu - which didn't cause any lags at all.)

also, is the readout in the terminal window any different from the readout on task manager?

thanks again for the help - elias

It should be the same. I think the Task Manager is just a graphical front end for the same machinery. I'm not positive, but it frequently happens that a terminal application will get a GUI to make it more visually appealing and/or easier to use.