ubuntu 12.10 very slow

You have enough speed and power to run Ubuntu. What is the output of:

sudo lshw -C display; lsb_release -a; uname -a

Thanks

Thanks for the assistance

  *-display UNCLAIMED [C^[[C^[[C
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: CN700/P4M800 Pro/P4M800 CE/VN800 Graphics [S3 UniChrome Pro]
       vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 66MHz
       capabilities: pm agp agp-3.0 vga_controller bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=32 mingnt=2
       resources: memory:d8000000-dbffffff memory:dc000000-dcffffff memory:dd000000-dd00ffff
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 12.10
Release: 12.10
Codename: quantal
Linux paula-desktop 3.5.0-17-generic #28-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 9 19:32:08 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

Oh jesus those things are always hell. You will basically need to form an xorg.conf file to make the driver load, right now you are using the vesa/fallback driver rather than the openchrome one which it uses.

Thanks Andrew. I have no idea how to do that (noob). Can you please tell me where I can find instructions or a tutorial?

Yes nobody is born knowing either.

Run:

gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

add the below text:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "Layout0"
    Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Monitor0"
    VendorName "Unknown"
    ModelName "Plug and Play"
    HorizSync 15.0 - 46.0
    VertRefresh 49.0 - 61.0
    Option "DPMS" "off"
    Option "DPI" "96 x 96"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "Device0"
    Driver "openchrome"
    Option "PanelSize" "1024x768"
    Option "sw_cursor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device "Device0"
    Monitor "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth 24
    Option "TwinView" "0"
    Option "metamodes" "1024x768_60 +0+0"
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth 24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Save the new file, close gedit then reboot to test

Thanks, I know exactly what to do now

Did the file work ok?

Thanks again for the help so far. It now only displays 800 x 600.
My monitor is 1680 x 1050

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.