[ltp] general performance question on R51

[Takis Diakoumis]

Hi

i have a thinkpad r51 (1.6Ghz, 512MB RAM) running debian etch with
custom kernel 2.6.11.

i have installed and configured everything nicely (including the ir -
which i don't use but is pretty cool to have).

anyway, i've noticed what i would consider strange behaviour - though
i've never owned a laptop before so i'm not sure.

i notice very brief system hangs every now and then - usually when
accessing a large directory through something like nautilus, or starting
an application or even compiling some small code snippet. the hang is
usually not for longer than about a second or two. the mouse if in
motion will skip across the screen, gkrellm which i have running will
freeze, if i'm playing some music with xmms or similar it will pause
briefly then continue as if a cd is skipping or something. i understand
that single drive reads across partitions can be pretty intesive though
i did not expect this sort of performance.

(i have switched gkrellm thinking it was its constant updating was the
problem - but no change)

its pretty annoying to be listening to some music or something while
browsing the web and then skip skip skip..... hang hang hang.... (i'm
being a little dramatic - but you get the picture).

basically, is this normal or have i screwed something up!!??

it happens when the system is on ac power and battery.
i do have the latest ibm-acpi installed and it seems to be working fine.
i don't really know where to look.

any suggestions would be appreciated.
thanks.

Takis