# Internet browsing slow

## nuke235

Firefox is slow to load when first starting up.  I have my homepage set to google, and when I first start firefox, it takes awhile to load google.  I know it is not the website, cause when this happens, I try loading google on IE on my xp machine, and it will load quicker.

Any settings/tweaks for firefox that might help?Last edited by nuke235 on Mon May 09, 2005 6:43 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## greasy_grasshopper

http://forevergeek.com/open_source/make_firefox_faster.php

----------

## wjholden

You might find this useful: https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=178&application=firefox

----------

## opentaka

I suggent you turn of "pipening" 

go about:config , turn on network.http.pipelining and network.http.proxy.pipelining might help

----------

## nuke235

Still having problems loading the homepage, regardless of what it is set too.

Firefox still seems sluggish connecting to some websites as well, compared to IE.

Anyone other "tweaks"?

----------

## kar1107

Is it spending too much time on 'looking up www.google.com'.

There were quite a few posts of slow dns response (search on 'dns slow').

The fix is to just reverse the entries (assuming there are two) in

/etc/resolv.conf

The dns server may be overloaded (yes surprising why windows doesn't see the delay..may be it already does a selection of dns server based on response).

When you make the secondary dns server primary (by reversing the entries), the lookups are fast.  You can also compare their response using dig @dns_server www.google.com

Other ways include enabling dns caching in firefox..again it doesn't solve the initial delay in the first time a site is visited.

----------

## nuke235

 *kar1107 wrote:*   

> Is it spending too much time on 'looking up www.google.com'.
> 
> There were quite a few posts of slow dns response (search on 'dns slow').
> 
> The fix is to just reverse the entries (assuming there are two) in
> ...

 

Nope, not the DNS servers.  Further, I've installed Opera, and get much better loading. 

There is something about Firefox.  As I've said, I've tried the about:config settings suggested (such as pipelining, etc), and they really haven't helped that much.

Anything else I should try?  Could I have installed Firefox wrong somehow?  Different settings??  This is really annoying, considering how ppl feel firefox is so good, yet for me, it is the craps.

----------

## nuke235

Someone in another forum has suggested the problem may be that I tarred my firefox install, rather than emerging it?  This shouldn't matter, should it?

If so, how do I uninstall my tarred version?  Or can I just emerge over it?

----------

## nuke235

Anyone?

----------

## greasy_grasshopper

I haven't tried this, but emerging over it and delete the tarred binaries and files.

----------

## nuke235

 *greasy_grasshopper wrote:*   

> I haven't tried this, but emerging over it and delete the tarred binaries and files.

 

Yup did that.

I am beginning to think it is not just firefox.  It seems like browsing on my gentoo machine just isn't as snappy all around as on IE in XP.

Sometimes it is ok, even on firefox.  Other times, things seem to hang too much, and I have to hit refresh............same w/ opera or mozilla.

But it is not my internet connection.  Pinging my homepage (google) on my linux and my xp machines, the linux was actually 1 ms faster!!!!!

So I'm not sure.  Wondering if it is a gentoo setting.

In resolv.conf, I use my router as a nameserver, since my ISP won't give the DNS addresses.  I use DHCP with auto DNS select.

----------

## nuke235

UPDATE: Ok, I may owe firefox an apology. In my extreme linux noobiness, I suspect my networking setup may not have been exactly right, although, although, I suspected that may be the case.

Frustrated, I went back to the basics.....................the trusty ole Gentoo Linux Handbook, and redid all my networking stuff.

This is what I learned:

First off, I had not really specificied a gateway in /etc/conf.d/net, and I was using iface_eth0="dhcp".

I changed that in /etc/conf.d/net so that iface_eth0 was set to a static internal IP, 192.168.0.4, and added a default gateway, of course, .0.1.

Then I looked in /etc/hosts. Here I may have had another booboo. I had set localhost 127.0.0.1 to cobalt, my Linux box name.

On thinking about this, would this not confuse linux into thinking it was the only computer on the network, and then realizing it has to go through the router? Could this not have been causing my delays?

So, I set localhost to just 127.0.0.1, and then added in the rest of my machines with their correct static internal IPs (the router is thus configured as well).

Also in /etc/hosts, the following bit was enabled:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> ::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
> 
> fe00::0 ip6-localnet
> ...

 

I have NO IDEA what that was all about. I "#" them all out.

Lastly, in /etc/resolv.conf, for some reason, I kept getting DNS nameserver values added in. The best I can tell, resolv.conf was picking them up from old DNS server values settings in the router than I do not use. Anyways, I removed them as well. They are valid DNS servers, just they are not cogeco dns servers.

Anyways, so far, this seems to have helped. All three browsers seem much snappier.....................so far...........................

What I would like to know, is, if some of my original settings were wrong, and would have been causing the problem, and why. Just so I have a better understanding.

----------

## wjholden

 *nuke235 wrote:*   

> I have NO IDEA what that was all about. I "#" them all out.

 That's for IPv6 users.  Chances are you're not using IPv6  :Smile:   Good job man!

----------

## nuke235

 *destuxor wrote:*   

>  *nuke235 wrote:*   I have NO IDEA what that was all about. I "#" them all out. That's for IPv6 users.  Chances are you're not using IPv6   Good job man!

 

So, would/could that have been causing my problem?  Someone had suggested IPv6 might be the problem, however, they it is apparently disabled by default in gentoo?

Could my conf.d/net file have been part of the problem?

----------

## wjholden

 *nuke235 wrote:*   

> I changed that in /etc/conf.d/net so that iface_eth0 was set to a static internal IP, 192.168.0.4, and added a default gateway, of course, .0.1.

 I think this was your problem, although it leaves me stunned that your network ever ran.  Completely disabling IPv6 will not affect IPv4 performance whatsoever.

----------

## nuke235

 *destuxor wrote:*   

>  *nuke235 wrote:*   I changed that in /etc/conf.d/net so that iface_eth0 was set to a static internal IP, 192.168.0.4, and added a default gateway, of course, .0.1. I think this was your problem, although it leaves me stunned that your network ever ran.  Completely disabling IPv6 will not affect IPv4 performance whatsoever.

 

Well, I had iface set to dhcp, so my computer was getting its setting from my router, I just am wondering whether it was doing it efficiently.

Although, my browsers on my Linux computer are still slow compared to IE on XP.  Sometimes they work ok, other times it is down right painful.  And I know it is not my ISP.

----------

## wjholden

This is strange...I've literally never heard of someone who got slower network transfer rates in Linux than Windows.  I'd keep looking through the config files and maybe your routers' configuration to see if anything at all is inconsistent.  However, it may be the fault of your hardware...what is it btw?  Not much RAM will slow down Opera no matter what...

----------

## nuke235

 *destuxor wrote:*   

> This is strange...I've literally never heard of someone who got slower network transfer rates in Linux than Windows.  I'd keep looking through the config files and maybe your routers' configuration to see if anything at all is inconsistent.  However, it may be the fault of your hardware...what is it btw?  Not much RAM will slow down Opera no matter what...

 

I don't think it is the hardware:

xp2400, 512 mb ddr266, r9500pro..................

My config files are pretty simple:

/etc/host:

127.0.0.1 localhost

192.168.0.2 tantalum.homenetwork tantalum #xp

192.168.0.3 diamond.homenetwork diamond #xp

192.168.0.4 cobalt.homenetwork cobalt #linux machine

/etc/resolv.conf

nameserver 192.168.0.1

nameserver cobi1.cogeco.on.ca --- I don't really know what this does, actually.

/etc/conf.d/net

iface_eth0="192.168.0.4 broadcast 192.168.0.255 netmask 255.255.255.0"

gateway="eth0/192.168.0.1"

I also use samba, and my smb.conf file is pretty simple, with just one folder share (ie/share).

My router is an "always" on connection, so there is no login required to the cogeco cable network.  DHCP enabled, as is obtain IP and DNS automatically.

I have my iptable setup in my router to auto assign static internal IP's to the computers, as listed in /etc/hosts (so I know what they are, otherwise they get random numbers).

I have no domain setup, and my workgroup is the default WORKGROUP.

----------

## nuke235

EDIT:  changed title, since my problem is not just with Firefox.  Perhaps others will share their net config files.

----------

## wjholden

Uhh I was about to say something about your hosts but upon further reading in the Handbook I was wrong.  It looks like you've followed the handbook flawlessly so I have no idea what's going on.

----------

## kar1107

Assuming you have a local LAN, in your previous config you had asked your box to obtain the ip address from your router (dsl/cable modem box). By changing to static IP, you have forced not to use dhcp -- this may work at times but really the router is free to allocate that address (192.168.0.4) to someone else. If you use static IP, its your responsibility to tell the dns servers.

Anyway I think you should see the DNS issues. /etc/resolv.conf is overwritten whenever new info is obtained through dhcp. The ISP sends a pair of dns servers to your cable modem. This pair is sent to your linux box where it gets stored in /etc/resolv.conf

Typically the contents will be

nameserver x.y.z.u

nameserver a.b.c.d

Just two IP address. There should not be any names -- because the file exists to do name to address translation. So the name servers should be mentioned only using IP addresses.

Do get dig and try to see the query times to your dns server. Load a webage with  direct IP address. I think when you run dhcp, your router is not sending back the right dns information -- but again this doesn't explain the proper behavior of windows.

Anycase I think your /etc/resolv.conf contents is pretty odd.

----------

## nuke235

NO, I have told my router to assign internal static IPs based on my machines MAC addresses.  Since the MAC addresses don't change, tantalum, diamond, and cobalt always get the same 192.168.0.x address, internally.

I have set that up in /etc/hosts (see above), although, to be honest, I don't quite understand the code, such as:

192.168.0.4 tantalum.homenetwork tantalum...................is .homenetwork just telling Linux that I have a LAN?  Cause homenetwork is not a domain, or workgroup, or anything.  

So, unless I have a problem with my understanding, /etc/hosts is just doing the same thing my router is doing.  I tried doing away with /etc/hosts...........but that caused samba issues.

As to /etc/resolv.conf, I agree, it is funny.  But cogeco WILL NOT give me the DNS numbers for their DNS servers, so I am forced to set obtain DNS automatically in my router..............I do that in network setup in XP as well.  If you need to set "obtain DNS automatically" in Linux as well, I don't know how.

And, like I said, I have NO idea what nameserver cobi1.cogeco.on.ca is doing.................I also don't understand why I need

nameserver 192.168.0.1 in /etc/resolv.conf either, since in /etc/conf.d/net, I specify my default gateway.

Also, I used to just set iface_eth0="dhcp", but that really didn't help either, and then, my linux machine was assigned any 192.168.0.x number the router felt like, and since my xp machines were assigned static internal IP's, I changed iface_eth0 to a fixed IP.

Just to be clear, I do not have a static ISP provided IP address.............I just simply use my router to assign internal, or LAN, IP addresses to my machines.

EDIT:  I should also add, the performance isn't always poor.............sometimes it is good............not at the same level as IE in XP, but not bad.  Other times..............it is like being on dialup, or pages simply won't load altogether...........and in those occasions, it is NOT the ISP or the website or anything, because XP will do them (ie, I switch over to xp and try the same website).

----------

## nuke235

EDIT:

In my resolv.conf file, the line nameserver cobi1.on.cogeco.ca that I listed earlier is wrong:

It is actually:

search cobi1.on.cogeco.ca

Anyone know what "search" is doing in resolv.conf?

----------

## think4urs11

if you do a nslookup mybox, it actually does an nslookup cobi1.on.cogeco.ca too. Means the term behind search is added to the given hostname.

Useful if you have a bunch of domains with machines you connect to and are a lazy typer.

HTH

T.

----------

## nuke235

 *Think4UrS11 wrote:*   

> if you do a nslookup mybox, it actually does an nslookup cobi1.on.cogeco.ca too. Means the term behind search is added to the given hostname.
> 
> Useful if you have a bunch of domains with machines you connect to and are a lazy typer.
> 
> HTH
> ...

 

So basically, since I don't have a domain, and only three machines, I really don't need that line, then?

Can someone post there etc/hosts file to give me an idea what it should look like?

----------

## wjholden

This is what I have in mine, although in the handbook it says this type of configuration is only meant for lonely boxes, and I'm on a large network: 

```
# /etc/hosts:  This file describes a number of hostname-to-address

#              mappings for the TCP/IP subsystem.  It is mostly

#              used at boot time, when no name servers are running.

#              On small systems, this file can be used instead of a

#              "named" name server.  Just add the names, addresses

#              and any aliases to this file...

# $Header: /home/cvsroot/gentoo-src/rc-scripts/etc/hosts,v 1.8 2003/08/04 20:12:25 azarah Exp $

#

127.0.0.1       gentoobox.rh.ncsu.edu gentoobox localhost

```

----------

