For some reason 8.1 Mandrake Linux seems much slower than Windows 2000 with my cable modem. DSL reports test says they conferable speed with Windows2 though.
This is consistant slow with both of my boxes, at the same time. Linux used to be faster, but not with Mandrake. Any way to fix this?
Is there a question there?
And what are you basing this on?
Technically, they should have a very similar speed, although the different IP stacks may need to be configured differently (For example, Max MTU), or they may be impaired by other utilities (Like snort, tcpdump, or ZoneAlarm)...
How about the Swap space, that you preserve during your Mandrake setup ? Can you specify the total memory and your swap space details. Might help to get some point on your slowness problem
As I stated before DSL reports speed test does not really show any difference in speed between Mandrake and Windows. However I went and installed Suse 7.1 and got the same result:
I wait 5 seconds for a web page to load on Linux, but with 2000 it takes around 2 seconds. Every single time! Starting to think its my Netgear NIC cards. Different machines. How can I adjust this? Gong to try R.H. 7.2 next.
A hundred little things can affect this. It may very well be a browser setting. It may be caching differently, it may have a different MTU, you may have your NIC configured differently...
It's hard to troubleshoot with a vague complaint of "Mandrake is slow". 5 seconds for a web page to load? Heck, those of us still sticking with dialup think that's just fine...
By the way, mandrake is based on Redhat, so you might not see much different there...
Its true that I should be happy in comparison with dial-up. Excepting the cost. Using red-hat now, its kind of okay, going to try a few things later.
Just a guess here, but are you sure your /etc/resolv.conf file is properly configured for your DNS servers? Usually, when I see this problem, its because there is a bad nameserver listed there (usually at the top), so all DNS requests first go to this incorrect server before going to the correct one(s).
There can be so many problem effecting this... and none have to do the with OS (Mandrake, Red Hat, W2K, XP.... etc). The issues are in the configuration of specific drivers, configuration files, type of browser, etc..... The operating system kernel should be the least of your worries....
The DNS could have configuration problems... a common problem for web-loading slowness..... reverse lookup, identd, etc.
The web browser might be configured differently (one might use a proxy, one might not).... the web browsers might even be different 
I think all the previous replies were on target... need to provide more information..... complete configuration details if possible.
I think it's a browser problem. If you use Mozilla just problem can occur. X is very slow on linux. Windows has much faster GUI. Then again, that's just one of the posibilities.
Problem solved, it was my Linksys BEFSR41 Router.
The router finally failed completely- to provide internet, (may need flash or something). So I replaced it with a 200 mhz 32 mb PC ( Linux router) which is very fast. Linux Desktop is fast again too!
Although I still can't figure out why Win 2000 did so well with the router going out.
I setup a friend of mine with that same router and it failed last week? how often do they break?
You need a true functional Router w/ a fully develop brain core!!!
Use iptables for Linux 2.4.X.
Those Pizza Hut Box Linksys/etc Routers always time out like cheap electronic gadgets.
Run a local DNS.
####Tell Linux it has Unlimited Memmory#####
sysctl -n memmory.override = 1
#####Tweak Drive for Hi Speed######
/sbin/hdparm -X66 -m16 -c3 -d1 -u1 -k1 /dev/hda
###Test the IDE speed#####
/sbin/hdparm -tT /dev/hda
I have just one simple questio, WHY ARE YOU WHINING ABOUT 3 SECONDS DIFFERENCE ?!?!?! I am stuck on a 2.8KBPS dialup connection , im lucky if a site will load in 1 minute let alone 5 seconds. Be happy that you have DSL at all, I live exactly one mile away from where the firbe optics end. So be happy with 5 seconds.
In Linux Speed Matters.
BSD UNIX processes CGI/PERL Mod HTTP pages 15% faster than Linux.
The ISP will choose the fastest because if you cluster 10 units - theres a 150% difference.
You should always tweak your speed like they do with racing cars.
Good point ASKIA i forgot about that but still 3 seconds isnt much when ihave to wait like 45-60 seconds for a page to load.
The point is that all moderns operating systems are fast enough on the same hardware and it is almost always NOT the OS that causes the bottlenecks, it is normally problems in the network or in the network configuration.
It takes me longer to load Microsoft Word on Windows 98 than to open up a browser and pull up this forum... because of cable modems (sorry our friend on 28.8 dialup!) and the fact that the browser is less bloated software than Microsoft Word. (that is IE and not recent Netscape Mozilla code... that seems really slow!)
When the net is slow I don't blame the fact that the www.unix.com server is running on Slackware Linux and I'm using a browser over the net on a little Windows 98 laptop 
Likewise, when the net is fast, I don't complain that Microsoft Word opens slower than the forums across the net
Glad we got this straight .....
Very valid points, but keep in mind comparing anything to IE is unfair, since it's very tightly integrated with explorer.exe...
I think a lot of systems that people want to "be faster" have simply not been optimized. This is a manual process, but if fairly simple on a Linux system. A great book that touches upon this is "Red Hat Linux Security and Optimization" (ISBN 0-7645-4754-2).
It will walk you through tuning your filesystems, kernel, and network daemons to your needs.
Good Info ASKIA. I have been using Linux and (FBSD recently) for a few years and really believe that there would'nt be much reason to use Unix if it did not offer superior performance. As far as the network conditions- just because I'm at home doesn't mean I want to pay $40.00 per month and tolerate slow internet. Dialup access here (Irvine local loop) is horrible!