OT: GoToMEeting on small Atom processors

Those old 2008-era Atom netbooks are total slugs. I have a similar MSI Wind gathering cobwebs- it's fine for running terminal programs I guess, and okay for field use for astronomy (which I've had little time for lately). There's lots of more capable notebooks for a few hundred bucks these days.

Try killing all the processes you can without crashing it, and you could try overclocking:

Mine has a 2008-era Atom. I like it because it gets over 8h per charge, kinda important on international flights. The computer does SPICE sims surprisingly fast for such a little processor. Also, I don't understand why Skype video works well on it while GoToMeeting without video doesn't.

Plus it was the last machine that could be bought with XP on there.

I tried the "all processes killed" method since that was Citrix support's only suggestion. Didn't fix it.

Overclocking, better not, it could fry the thing. The air coming out of the left side is already hot as it is when I run hefty programs.

Install SpeedFan (it's a free download, open software I think?, trustable) and monitor the temps. If it goes over 80C, you'll know to turn it down.

Your problem makes me wonder if GTM is just horribly optimized for PC platforms, or is expecting some odd combination of acceleration hardware which everything else always has (and either phones have, or the version that runs on phones uses an alternative).

Tim

Unless you got distracted, left it running and ... *PHUT*

It may be. Runs great on PCs and uses less bandwidth than Skype. For example, I only have 1.2M down and 256k up and Skype always stalls when trying to share my screen. Which is why, despite having paid for a whole year, we ditched that service. GoToMeeting does that just fine. Occasionally the webcam pics freeze up but who cares, I know all the guys. The important stuff such as live drawings remains alive.

Most stuff has thermal protection these days.

I once discovered my laptop's heat pipe needed replacement... Unexpected reboots after intensive graphics (3D rendering, full screen video). Installed SpeedFan. The GPU hit 104C at reset!

Tim

Ditto on the Slugs. The newer Atoms have 1.6 to 2.0 Ghz clock speeds, fast busses, dual cores and run DDR3 1333 memory with TDP 6-8W. Plus the graphic cores run at Ghz clock speeds vs Mhz speeds.

Cheers

Ok, but I still don't get it what could possibly be so taxing on a CPU if you switch off any graphics, display a more or less static shared screen (like a schematic when only the cursor moves at times) and handle voice. Especially where Skype works just fine _with_ live camera pics on the very same netbook.

I'm surprised they even kept the Atom name- most anyone who used the old ones with 1G max memory (enforced by Intel, IIRC) and other crippling features was not impressed.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Asking how could it be so slow is like asking how many ways could a circuit be designed wrong. There's no incentive to put effort into making a program run faster if it runs on most machines currently used, so maybe they used Java or Python or something slug-like, so you're getting slug^2. Heck, Matlab is like $20K for a decent subset and it uses Java.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Support just responded that a 2.4GHz processor is required. Pathetic. Well, the programmers of other services are obviously smarter. One has to keep in mind that the world does not just consist of wealthy countries. The guys in Kenya can't just ditch a PC on a whim or buy a $20k math package. We shouldn't have to either because that fosters a throw-away society.

Some day we'll look for a better service but other than this issue GoToMeeting has been fairly reliable, will have to tell our guys not to go for full-year subscription then. I guess it'll have problems with smart phones as well because their processors aren't powerful either.

But then, can the guys in Kenya afford your services either? Moot point. :^)

Tim

Well, my old laptop is a 2.2Ghz pentium. It's 10 years old, so Iwould side with gotomeeting that more modern hardware be used. Video puts a burden on the processor, and this laptop just barely keeps up.

Cheers

It takes a 400MHz Pentium II to decode full resolution MPEG without hardware assist so it seems absurd to require a high-end modern processor to run business graphics and a little voice over an Internet connection. I'm with Joerg on this one.

They can participate without cost. Only the host has to pay. Fact is, without access to online conferencing your potential to earn money as a freelancer is greatly curbed these days. I am on such conferences 3-4 times a week on average.

Especially since the graphics during most sessions are almost static. It is poor performance if a programmer is unable to write the code to recognize this and throttle back. But it's almost symptomatic these days. Many can't even render "Hello World" without Flash, Javascript and whatnot.

Perhaps for mp2, but at least 1GHz for smooth mp4.

I think they use mp4 for graphics and/or video.

Wish i could say so, but it would kill the internet bandwidth.

Nope.

Business graphics/screen shots are pretty damned static.

Huh?

Gotomeeting uses their own codecs, G2M2 G2M3 etc. So perhaps there lies the problem. It's considered a higher end service anyway.

Cheers

A higher end service should not croak when encountering older generation hardware. Just like a Cadillac isn't supposed to stall out when driven on a cobblestone road.