Luke,I recently installed ubantu in my powerbook 12" 867mhz/640ram and I noticed the same slight issue. If your issue is extreme, it may be ram related -- but you could try this:
Play with themes... Gnome has some nice, very simple themes that are not so rich or demanding on video. I noticed that changing the themes (default mostly, but also some downloaded) had a slight effect on screen refresh rates for me - enough that I was happy in any event.
If that doesn't help you, try another desktop env (GUI). Both Gnome and KDE, which are standard on most Linux distributions are heavily developed -- and as a result there is considerable bloat. IceWM, Fluxbox, Afterstep (google these) and a few others are said to be lighter and speeder GUIs, but don't expect all the bells and whistles you find in Gnome, or Aqua. I'm sure someone else here can also suggest something that is perfect for the unit specified.
Hope this helps, -cap.s. Help can also be found at: http://ubuntuforums.org/ for any ubuntu specific issues.
Luke Miller wrote:
Hi, I just installed debian (alright ... ubuntu) on my flatmate's 2001 iBook (128 mb memory). He says it runs slower than Mac OS 10.1 (which he was running). Does anyone have any tips for quick speed increases? I'd like to keep running gnome if that's possible. I think the ibook runs an ATI graphics card, could this be part of the problem? Any general tips would also be welcomed, Luke