Performance

[jocke1s]

Hi,
Why are my windows so slugish to move and resize in gnome?
(compared to xp on the same box, and CDE on an old HPUX machine)
Its not that its super slow and locks up for seconds, its just slightly unresponsive, leave trails sometimes, locks for short amount of time when starting to resize etc etc
I have (in my oppinion) rather modest demands on my desktop environment.
* Good looking font rendering
* Responsive and unobtrusive moving/resizeing of windows
* Quick and responsive starting and closing of programs
I only need a clean fast environemnt. I dont need transperancy or other fancy eye-candy stuff. I do like the functionality I get in gnome though!
So how do I proceed. I guess I could leave out gnome altogether and just use blackbox or something. But that leads to a more "simple" environment which I am not sure I want. And how do I fix nice looking font rendering outside of gnome for example.
I also tried gnome+E16. Things got a little better but I had other problems with locales and window names, menus etc.
Maybe a pure E17 could work? Anyone running it?
I am using nvidia-glx drivers and right now I have the 386 kernel in breeze. But I have the same problem with the 686 kernel btw.
Running an AMD 1.2 GHz + 1Gb ram. Having smooth moving and resizing of windows, shouldnt really be an issue :(
I have read some of the threads here on similar problems but nothing I tried did significantly improve anything.
I did see something about xcompmgr and Xgl. Whats that about?
Gonna keep trying stuff untill breeze is stable and hopefully things will get better. But I am interested in general oppinions concerning how to get smoother more responsive behaviors. KDE? Gnome? E17? ( XP? :) ), any pointers to what future plans there are concerning X for example?
Best regards
JA.

[GeneralZod]

I'd give XFCE and E17 a whirl; broaden your horizons ;)

Here's Jon Smirl on the current state of Linux graphics and some of the plans for the future - hopefully a lot of improvements coming, but it still sounds pretty chaotic!

http://dri.freedesktop.org/~jonsmirl/graphics.html

[MinoltaLuvR]

i had some similiar issues with my rig, i have a 1.2ghz thunderbird (not an AthlonXP model) and 512megs of PC133 ram.
i changed from metacity, to opendox, and it got loads better.
then i tried XFCE4... i'm hooked! i went from using 200megs on the desktop doing nothing down to just under 100megs (something like 96megs) of ram.
i'd say give that a try if you can, you might like it.
i now use XFCE4, and XFE for a filemanager (warning XFE looks a good bit like windows explorer.. which dont bother me too much).

cheers
john.

[poofyhairguy]

Install XFCE and all its tools in synaptic.

Log into it. Then run these commands in the "run" box one at a time:

gnome-panel

gnome-volume-manager

nautilus

And pretend its Gnome. Enjoy.

Be sure to logout and click the "save session" box if you don't want to do it every time.

[jdong]

GNOME should not exhibit the behavior you describe -- period.

What kind of video card? Post your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

[WildTangent]

id guess its a problem with your graphics drivers

-Wild

[Stormy Eyes]

I blame Metacity: it is a horrible window manager and Havoc Pennington should be tarred and feathered for writing it.

[az]

I think the last preview release had some cairo (or GDK) rendering slowness. It was resolved for me a few days later, after a few updates. Are you up-to-date?

[jocke1s]

I don't know if it is the drivers or if it is supposed to be like this in gnome.
Here is my xorg file. I am doing continous updates on breeze.
/JA.


# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following commands:
#
# cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.custom
# sudo sh -c 'md5sum /etc/X11/xorg.conf >/var/lib/xfree86/xorg.conf.md5sum'
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/CID"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
# paths to defoma fonts
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/CID"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "GLcore"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "se"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "NVIDIA Corporation NV31 [GeForce FX 5600XT]"
Driver "nvidia"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Option "RenderAccel" "true"
Option "NvAGP" "1"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "AS4311U"
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "NVIDIA Corporation NV31 [GeForce FX 5600XT]"
Monitor "AS4311U"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x819" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x640" "800x600" "720x400" "640x512" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x819" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x640" "800x600" "720x400" "640x512" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x819" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x640" "800x600" "720x400" "640x512" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x819" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x640" "800x600" "720x400" "640x512" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x819" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x640" "800x600" "720x400" "640x512" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x819" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x640" "800x600" "720x400" "640x512" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
EndSection
Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

[jdong]

You need to take out:



Load "GLcore"
Load "dri"

Option "NvAGP" "1"

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection


That should perk things up a bit.

Note that in some instances RenderAccel still may possibly cause lockups, so remove it if that ever happens (otherwise, leave it in.)


What kind of AGP chipset do you have? (Motherboard chipset). Any particular reason NvAGP was set to 1?

[Perfect Storm]

Isn't it a switch? A binary switch?

[jdong]

No, NvAGP is a tertiary switch (0 1 2). 0 means "use kernel's AGPGART, and if that fails, use NV's AGPGART". 1 reverses the order of the search, and 2 plain disables AGPGART.


Typically with 2.6 kernels, the kernel AGPGART is fantastic and almost always better performing than Nvidia's AGPGART. There's typically few reasons (except for maybe messed up chipsets) that one'd prefer NvAGP over AGPGART.

[Perfect Storm]

Ah, thanks. Gonna try it out.

[bob_c_b]

You need to take out:


Load "GLcore"
Load "dri"
Option "NvAGP" "1"
Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

That should perk things up a bit.
Note that in some instances RenderAccel still may possibly cause lockups, so remove it if that ever happens (otherwise, leave it in.)
What kind of AGP chipset do you have? (Motherboard chipset). Any particular reason NvAGP was set to 1?

I've got the same Section "DRI" Mode 0666 stuff at the end of my Xorg.conf. I have zero problems but should I delete that junk and what are the consequences of such deletion?

[jdong]

If you use a non-DRI card (such as Nvidia), no consequences are involved in removing it. With it present, flakier NVidia driver releases sometimes failed to GLX properly. (yes, that's a verb, too)

[bob_c_b]

If you use a non-DRI card (such as Nvidia), no consequences are involved in removing it. With it present, flakier NVidia driver releases sometimes failed to GLX properly. (yes, that's a verb, too)

Cool, have to # that out later, thanks for the info.

[Lucifelus]

Hi, Mi nickname is Paco i,m from Mexico:KS and i been using linux for a lithe bit of time, specially the Ubuntu Breezy (gnome 2. 12) ;) distribution but i been noticed that my performance sometimes is questioble performance, specialy with the animations of minimizing and things like that, i consulted the GULTEC ( Group of Linux Users in the TECnologico) :razz: that is somekind of open source reunion that we have here in my College, i been updated my linux distro very usually, and i am running my laptop with both OS, linux and windows, my distribution is hard drive=60gb, ram = 512 mb , P4 ht 3.0 ghz:rolleyes: and ati radeon 9600 video card with 64 mb video ram , is quite a litle piece of love specially for the price, the brand is AVERATEC, my partions are 35 gb windows(ubuntu acces partition), SWAP 1gb, home 11 gb, / = 9 gb i want to know if i have to delete the DRI thing or what i hope you can help me, i like the performance and with the better performance the best:D


# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following commands:
#
# cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.custom
# sudo sh -c 'md5sum /etc/X11/xorg.conf >/var/lib/xfree86/xorg.conf.md5sum'
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/CID"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
# paths to defoma fonts
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/CID"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "GLcore"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon Mobility 9600/9700 M10/M11 (RV350 NP)"
Driver "ati"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
Modeline "1280x800@60" 83.91 1280 1312 1624 1656 800 816 824 841
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon Mobility 9600/9700 M10/M11 (RV350 NP)"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

[jdong]

There's the fglrx drivers (special 3D drivers for ATI).. I'm not an ATI guy :-/

[mstlyevil]

There's the fglrx drivers (special 3D drivers for ATI).. I'm not an ATI guy :-/

The fglrx drivers are a joke. That is why I dumped my Radeon 9600 and bought a nvidia 6600gt. Nvidia and Ubuntu rock.

[jdong]

/me notes that we haven't heard from the OP for a while... Is your problem closer to solved?

[HungSquirrel]

I had this problem right after the Breezy preview came out. An upgrade a few days later solved the problem for me.

[poofyhairguy]

The fglrx drivers are a joke. That is why I dumped my Radeon 9600 and bought a nvidia 6600gt. Nvidia and Ubuntu rock.


agreed. I did the exact same thing.

[Lucifelus]

ok, did i mention that i have a laptop, so is a lot harder to dump a video card, so i can't dumped what other smart options i have if i want to keep my ati 9600 radeon card, please help me, i am just anewbien in this new linux world :???: but don t worry don t problems with linux at all or the performance but i want to make my laptop fasterrrrrrrrr alo faster

[Lucifelus]

agreed. I did the exact same thing.
did you actually have a desktop? right so is a lot of times easier find stuff for a desktop but is alot harder for a laptop thank you any way for your so smart idea:p

[poofyhairguy]

did you actually have a desktop? right so is a lot of times easier find stuff for a desktop but is alot harder for a laptop thank you any way for your so smart idea:p


That is true. For laptops with ATI cards I would recommend using the OSS driver unless you like games. Its 2D performance is better.

[vayu]

No, NvAGP is a tertiary switch (0 1 2). 0 means "use kernel's AGPGART, and if that fails, use NV's AGPGART". 1 reverses the order of the search, and 2 plain disables AGPGART.


Typically with 2.6 kernels, the kernel AGPGART is fantastic and almost always better performing than Nvidia's AGPGART. There's typically few reasons (except for maybe messed up chipsets) that one'd prefer NvAGP over AGPGART.


So what's the default if it's not specified? Should I include NvAGP 0? (with nvidia card and driver)

[jdong]

Leave it out unless you're experiencing hangs or stuff like that. NVIDIA will pick the best for you.