Tushant M's questions

I searched around as much as I could, but I couldn't seem to find a solution to fix my problem.

Whether I install anything, remove anything, run sudo apt-get update or sudo apt-get upgrade, I still seem to get the following message:

Setting up python3.2 (3.2.3-0ubuntu3.2) ...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.2/py_compile.py", line 187, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
  File "/usr/lib/python3.2/py_compile.py", line 179, in main
    compile(filename, doraise=True)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.2/py_compile.py", line 111, in compile
    with tokenize.open(file) as f:
  File "/usr/lib/python3.2/tokenize.py", line 344, in open
    encoding, lines = detect_encoding(buffer.readline)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.2/tokenize.py", line 332, in detect_encoding
    encoding = find_cookie(second)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.2/tokenize.py", line 304, in find_cookie
    codec = lookup(encoding)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.2/encodings/__init__.py", line 98, in search_function
    level=0)
EOFError: EOF read where not expected
dpkg: error processing python3.2 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Setting up libopenimageio1.0 (1.0.9+git20120918-0irie3~precise1) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libpython3.2:
 libpython3.2 depends on python3.2 (= 3.2.3-0ubuntu3.2); however:
  Package python3.2 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libpython3.2 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Errors were encountered while processing:
 python3.2
 libpython3.2

It's worth mentioning this problem occurred on my desktop right after I was updating and the city's power's just went off. When I booted back on after it returned, the system became immensely slow and updates seemed to show "Partial Upgrade". I canceled it, ran sudo apt-get install -f and all the necessary commands to get it running, but it didn't seem to work after that.

Further notes: Upon trying to install Synaptic, I get this error:

Setting up python3.2 (3.2.3-0ubuntu3.2) ...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.2/py_compile.py", line 187, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
  File "/usr/lib/python3.2/py_compile.py", line 179, in main
    compile(filename, doraise=True)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.2/py_compile.py", line 111, in compile
    with tokenize.open(file) as f:
  File "/usr/lib/python3.2/tokenize.py", line 344, in open
    encoding, lines = detect_encoding(buffer.readline)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.2/tokenize.py", line 332, in detect_encoding
    encoding = find_cookie(second)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.2/tokenize.py", line 304, in find_cookie
    codec = lookup(encoding)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.2/encodings/__init__.py", line 98, in search_function
    level=0)
EOFError: EOF read where not expected
dpkg: error processing python3.2 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libpython3.2:
 libpython3.2 depends on python3.2 (= 3.2.3-0ubuntu3.2); however:
  Package python3.2 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libpython3.2 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                                              No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already
                                            Errors were encountered while processing:
 python3.2
 libpython3.2
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

So, I downloaded the main installer for LibreOffice 3.6 from the official website, because it hasn't yet arrived in PPA. Followed the instructions just as the ReadMe file suggests (navigate to the extracted folder from Terminal, and type "sudo dpkg -i *.deb"), but halfway through the installation, I get this error:

Setting up libreoffice3.6-calc (3.6.0.4-104) ... Processing triggers for menu ... In file "/usr/share/menu/introduceppa", at (or in the definition that ends at) line 4: ?package(introduceppa):needs="X11" section "Applications/File Management" title="Introduce PPA" command="/usr/bin/introduceppa.gambas" icon="/usr/share/pixmaps/introduceppa.png" ^ Expected: "=" Skipping file because of errors...

What does it mean? How do I fix it?

I normally choose Ubuntu over Windows because speed and stability is something that's important to me.

However, recently Ubuntu has been slower than Windows for me. I use two systems -- one netbook (for writing), and one Desktop (for production) -- that I've been using since Karmic Koala, and never formatted ever since; for ever release, I simply upgraded the OS and now I'm on Precise Pangolin. A lot of reviews say that Precise boosts performance of the system, but for me it's gotten slower than ever -- both the interface performance AND The startup.

I also did a bit of cleanup, removing unwanted software and clearing the start-up menu, but that doesn't seem to help at all. On the netbook, I chose Unity2D, but even that has been buggy and slow for me. Along with slowness, I have also been experiencing other problems, though that is probably wise to keep for another question (the problems include repository errors, wacom pressure breakage, etc.)

Any way I could speed the system up without the need to format it?

Desktop: AMD Athlon x2, 3GB RAM DDR2, 9600gt GeForce Netbook: HP Mini, Intel Atom, 1GB RAM.

EDIT:

chu@chu-laptop:~$ top -Sbn1 | head -n20
top - 11:57:06 up 51 min,  1 user,  load average: 3.03, 2.00, 2.71
Tasks: 173 total,   1 running, 172 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
Cpu(s): 44.4%us, 13.5%sy,  5.7%ni, 26.4%id,  9.8%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.2%si,  0.0%st
Mem:    988880k total,   914836k used,    74044k free,    37056k buffers
Swap:  1951860k total,   160424k used,  1791436k free,   340268k cached

  PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND            
   28 root      20   0     0    0    0 S    3  0.0   0:15.08 kswapd0            
20577 chu       20   0  2832 1148  864 R    3  0.1   0:00.06 top                
 4273 chu       20   0  862m 138m  23m S    2 14.3  18:13.77 firefox            
 5903 chu       20   0  214m  26m  11m S    2  2.7   6:41.92 plugin-containe    
20321 chu       20   0  227m  16m  11m S    2  1.7   0:02.53 gnome-terminal    
    1 root      20   0  3644 1280  612 S    0  0.1   6:15.79 init              
    2 root      20   0     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 kthreadd          
    3 root      20   0     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:10.98 ksoftirqd/0        
    6 root      RT   0     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 migration/0        
    8 root      RT   0     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 migration/1        
   10 root      20   0     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:13.35 ksoftirqd/1        
   13 root       0 -20     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 cpuset            
   14 root       0 -20     0    0    0 S    0  0.0   0:00.00 khelper  

chu@chu-laptop:~$ dstat 60 5
You did not select any stats, using -cdngy by default.
----total-cpu-usage---- -dsk/total- -net/total- ---paging-- ---system--
usr sys idl wai hiq siq| read  writ| recv  send|  in   out | int   csw
 47  13  29  10   0   0|1072k  238k|   0     0 |  18k   44k|1175  2299
 16   6  64  14   0   0|1224k   89k| 440B  471B|6622B 2048B| 890  1801
 37  10  50   3   0   0| 199k   65k|  15k 2660B|  10k    0 |1175  2134
 35   9  47   9   0   0|1207k   97k| 592B  302B|  28k   95k|1255  2105
 26  10  14  49   0   0|1985k  645k|1049B  575B|  54k  635k|1295  2133  missed 8
 49  11  36   4   0   0| 367k   37k|  24k 1910B|  58k    0 |1129  1969

I'm a frequent user of the USA Dvorak keyboard layout, but have the default QWERTY keyboard. Stuff works simply by adding the layout in the Keyboard settings in Ubuntu, and worked well in 11.04.

However, upon upgrading to 11.10, while I'm able to use Dvorak in normal session I'm stuck with QWERTY in Lock Screen. My Dvorak layout doesn't exist in lock screens. I even added a custom shortcut to initiate it, but no luck.

Any ideas and workarounds?