Re: [libreoffice-users] LibreOffice pause during startup

Hi :)
It is the files on the drive (or rather, partition) that get fragmented.  Not the partition itself. 
 

Ntfs tries to cramp all the files onto the beginning of the drive.  When you add things to a file 
then it can no longer fill the space comfortably so a chunk of the file needs to be written further 
along.  Once you have added things to quite a few files there is a bit of a mess which Ntfs then 
has trouble in tracking and the read/write head bounces backwards and frowards all around the 
partition collect all the parts of the file.  

Ext2, 3 and 4 all leave comfortable gaps after the ends of files and if the file still wont fit 
into the extra space that has been reserved for it then it just tries to write the entire file 
elsewhere or maybe (rarely) shift a few other files around to make space.  Files do occasionally 
get fragmented but not quite as often and usually only when some fool has nearly filled their 
hard-drive.  

Then i get a bit lost because although Ext2, 3 and 4 carefully avoid fragmentation they use the 
"inode" system for keeping track so that even if files do get fragmented the OS doesn't suffer.  So 
why bother to avoid fragmentation?  What is inode?  

The clincher is that most Windows defraggers (or at least the official MS ones) can't defrag system 
files (or at least not well and not easily), critically the "virtual memory" (which gets called 
"swap" in Gnu&Linux).  

Since virtual memory was so crucial to a system one might have expected it to be set to avoid 
letting it fragment ever.  On Windows systems it's reasonably easy but very fiddly to set virtual 
memory to a fixed amount and that significantly stops any further slow-down.  You still get some 
due to the registry kludge and other mis-management of key resources but the major difference seems 
to happen when you defrag and fix the virtual memory.  

On Gnu&Linux systems the Swap is often given it's own 'drive' (really a partition on a drive) so 
that it doesn't have a chance of getting fragmented, ever.  Again this can be done in Windows but 
it's never the default.  Also Swap/Virtual-memory in Gnu&Linux can be set to be a file instead of a 
partition and that might be easier for people who only need a swap in the unlikely event they 
hibernate.  Again it's weird that Gnu&Linux takes an extra unneeded precaution against something it 
'shouldn't' ever suffer from but the one platform that does suffer from it doesn't do anything to 
protect against it.  

It's just one example that makes me wonder if Windows is deliberately set-up in order to force 
users to buy new hardware and a whole new system every couple of years.  

Regards from
Tom :)  


--- On Sat, 21/7/12, Don C. Myers <donmyers@myersfarm.com> wrote:

From: Don C. Myers <donmyers@myersfarm.com>
Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] LibreOffice pause during startup
To: users@global.libreoffice.org
Date: Saturday, 21 July, 2012, 23:13

I've been running Ubuntu for three years. I'm quite proficient at using it. I've done a lot of 
reading about Linux and Ubuntu on line. I've read that you don't need to defrag the hard drive 
since Linux does not fragment a hard drive. Also that Linux doesn't use a registry, therefore it 
doesn't get corrupted like a registry in Windows does. That is why Linux doesn't slow down with 
time since nothing gets corrupted. But I'm not enough of a Linux expert to explain further details. 
Hopefully someone else can.

On 07/21/2012 06:05 PM, Anthony Easthope wrote:
>    If there is no registry or temporary paging system within the OS then
>    how does that work? It is a curiosity within itself
> :D
> On Sat, 21 Jul 2012, at 05:57 PM, Don C. Myers wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I run Ubuntu. As I understand it, Linux (including Ubuntu) doesn't use a
> > registry, therefore you don't need to have a registry cleaner.
> >
> > Don
> >
> >
> > On 07/21/2012 05:50 PM, Anthony Easthope wrote:
> > > Infact your workaround could work in theory, the problem is finding a
> > > ccleaner equivalent for debian
> > >
> > > On Sat, 21 Jul 2012, at 11:48 PM, Anthony Easthope wrote:
> > > > Anne that work around works on windows but as the gentlemen said he was
> > > > using debian squeze which is a variation of linux. I am curious as to
> > > > why it is hanging to - by rights it should not be.
> > > >
> > > > On Fri, 20 Jul 2012, at 09:15 PM, anne-ology wrote:
> > > > >           If you're referring to it getting hung-up, then this has happened
> > > > >           to
> > > > > me a few times -
> > > > >               my solution is to shut it down -> clear out the caches
> > > > >               [CCleaner
> > > > > is good] -> re-start the computer;
> > > > >                   when it re-starts, OO/LO works great again.
> > > > >
> > > > >           One of the problems with OO/LO is its immense size; if there were
> > > > > some way to reduce its size then this might not occur, but then it might
> > > > > not be as good a program as it is  ;-)
> > > > >
> > > > >           Mine is not caused by 'calling home or anywhere' since my machine
> > > > > only allows 'cookies', etc. which I accept and only at the time I accept
> > > > > them; in fact, each time I've tested my machine, it's invisible to these
> > > > > robotic eyes  :-)
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 1:44 AM, Robert Mesibov
> > > > > <mesibov@southcom.com.au>wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > I'm running LibreOffice 3.4.6 OOO340m1 (Build:602) on Debian Squeeze.
> > > > > > The progress bar on the splash screen stops part-way during startup for
> > > > > > about 10 seconds. During this time LO sends a request of some sort over the
> > > > > > network connection (lights flash on router) every 2 seconds, 5 times in
> > > > > > all. LO then completes startup.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > This happens
> > > > > > - with the splash screen turned off in /etc/libreoffice/sofficerc (the
> > > > > > pause and network requesting still happen)
> > > > > > - when launching LO by itself, or when opening a Writer or other LO
> > > > > > document through a file manager
> > > > > > - with Java RE option on or off
> > > > > >
> > > > > > With an LO document already open, there is no pause when opening a second
> > > > > > LO document. The pause only occurs during startup.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > How to stop LO from sending requests over the network on startup, so that
> > > > > > it opens without the 10-second pause?
> > > > > -- For unsubscribe instructions e-mail to: users+help@global.libreoffice.org
> > > > > Problems?
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> > > > > deleted
> > > > --         antisocky@myopera.com
> > > >
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