From Ark Linux Wiki

Internet Networking

On Windows, people desiring maximum broadband and LAN speed have been using tools like those at http://www.speedguide.net for a long time. These tools optimize the Windows networking parameters, very simple and rigid numbers, which need to be matched with the networking hardware between the machine and the rest of the world.

Linux is better than that. It does not have rigid numbers; it has a sophisticated autoadaptation algorithm. But it still can benefit from some help, when it is known that a particular machine will be connected with a good broadband connection. Just get to superuser, edit the file

 /etc/sysctl.conf

and insert the following lines at the end:

 # Tweaks for faster broadband...
 net.core.rmem_default = 524288
 net.core.rmem_max = 524288
 net.core.wmem_default = 524288
 net.core.wmem_max = 524288
 net.ipv4.tcp_wmem = 4096 87380 2072576
 net.ipv4.tcp_rmem = 4096 87380 2072576
 net.ipv4.tcp_mem = 524288 524288 524288
 net.ipv4.tcp_rfc1337 = 1

Most of these statements (anything related to "mem") increase buffer sizes, effectively reducing the amount of memory available for anything else. If your machine is low on memory, you may actually get a negative performance hit. tcp_rfc1337 enables a recent extension to the TCP/IP protocol that is not widely implemented on non-Linux systems. If you run into problems connecting to a non-Linux machine after enabling it, try turning it off again (and please let us know -- if we find rfc1337 support to not break things, it will be on by default in a future version).

Then, if you would like to use these changes without rebooting, run this command:

 /sbin/sysctl -p

If you're on a Gigabit Ethernet (and actually using a Gigabit switch - this won't help with a gigabit network card connected to a 100 or 10 MBit/s switch), another thing to try is increasing the size of the interface queue by running

 ifconfig eth0 txqueuelen 1000

MySQL is Not Necessary (2006.1 and earlier only)

Ark 2006.1 comes with mysql installed and running (to be used by Amarok; other than that it isn't needed, and Amarok can use SQLite). Removing it will free up resources. From superuser:

 rpm -e mysql

In Ark 2007.1 and newer, mysql is no longer installed by default and Amarok uses SQLite unless told not to, so this is obsolete.

A Desktop Available For Older Computers

Ark Linux ships with KDE as its default desktop environment. But there is one in the software repositories for older computers. It is called Fluxbox. You can switch to it, and you can switch back just as easily. Also, installing is does not uninstall KDE; in fact, KDE remains there in case you ever want (or need) to use it again. Fluxbox is just there to speed things up on your older computer; you can still run all of your KDE programs from within Fluxbox.

To install Fluxbox, go to Kmenu -> System -> Kynaptic, click Edit -> Find, and search for it. Or, from a command line, type:

 apt-get update && apt-get install fluxbox

Next, if you haven't enabled the default arklinux account (necessary to login manually) and you need to access it, go to Mission Control -> Users & Passwords -> User Accounts, double click the arklinux account, and set a password. Setting a password will automatically enable the arklinux account. Next, to disable autologin so you can choose between KDE and Fluxbox before logging in, go back to your Mission Control window that we opened earlier, and choose Login Manager. On the Convenience tab, you can disable autologin if you want to. Now click Kmenu -> Log Out -> End Current Session. Click Menu -> Session Type -> Fluxbox, type your password, and login. You will be logged in to Fluxbox from now on; if you would like to switch back to KDE, log back out, click Menu -> Session Type -> KDE.

Please Note, most Ark Linux users use KDE as their default desktop; therefore, finding help with Fluxbox will be difficult on the Ark Linux Forums or Live Support Channel. If you need help using Fluxbox, please go to their web site at http://fluxbox.org/.