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bassvandijk Guru
Joined: 13 Sep 2002 Posts: 306 Location: Haps, Netherlands
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 6:42 pm Post subject: X is very unresponsive while emerging. |
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I have compiled my kernel with:
- Preemtible Kernel
- Low latency scheduling
- Control low latency with sysctl
I thought that with these settings I would get a very responsive X.
But when I am emerging something (or doing another CPU intensive task) X just feels very unresponive:
Windows / Menus / Comboboxes that don't draw fast enough, Mouse really jerky, etc...
Usally when I do a lot of X stuff like moving a window or quickly moving my mouse over a menubar, X comes back at full speed...
My question is:
How do I keep X fast enough while emerging something?
(Maybee running emerge with a lower priority?) |
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Lovechild Advocate
Joined: 17 May 2002 Posts: 2858 Location: Århus, Denmark
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 6:51 pm Post subject: |
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I have 2.5.67-mm3 and alias emerge="nice -n 10 emerge"
and X runs fine here during emerging, but sound is a bit strange when streaming, man I wish everyone used QoS. |
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Elm0 Apprentice
Joined: 24 Nov 2002 Posts: 281 Location: UK
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 6:58 pm Post subject: |
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This is absolutely 100% a kernel issue (probably )
I used to use CK sources and experienced the stuttering problems you described. I then moved to WOLK sources and picked the Optimise Scheduler for Desktop setting + preempt + low latency and now X is much more responsive during emerge.
I've heard excellent things from the 2.5 kernel as well, however I would rather not run unstable software, and I had problems getting the IDE-SCSI bridge running last time i tried it. |
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bassvandijk Guru
Joined: 13 Sep 2002 Posts: 306 Location: Haps, Netherlands
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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Gues I'll have to look at another kernel... |
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Malakin Veteran
Joined: 14 Apr 2002 Posts: 1692 Location: Victoria BC Canada
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 8:00 pm Post subject: |
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Is your hard drive dma working?
If you have 256M ram or less more ram will help.
Add this to your /etc/make.conf assuming you have a single cpu system and it will stop make from running in parallel: |
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Disquiet n00b
Joined: 14 Jun 2002 Posts: 48 Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2003 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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I had this problem with the current gentoo-sources (2.4.20-r2
). r1 worked ok, r2 seems to have some problems. So I emerged gaming-sources and everything is nice again. |
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hook Veteran
Joined: 23 Oct 2002 Posts: 1398 Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2003 9:19 am Post subject: |
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my suggestions:
1. drop the precompiled kernels ...build them from source (vanilla works great for me, but flavours may vary)
2. use nice, as lovechild said
p.s. if you don't know nice try "man nice" or just ask ...it's very usefuly _________________ tea+free software+law=hook
(deep inside i'm still a tux's little helper) |
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easykill Apprentice
Joined: 07 Dec 2002 Posts: 230
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2003 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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just for the record 2.4.20-g(aming/entoo) sources, and all the others, are NOT precompiled. They are simply pre-PATCHED with various patches (usually schedulers/hardware things)
You still have to compile them from the source code |
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hook Veteran
Joined: 23 Oct 2002 Posts: 1398 Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
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Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2003 8:11 am Post subject: |
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easykill wrote: | just for the record 2.4.20-g(aming/entoo) sources, and all the others, are NOT precompiled. They are simply pre-PATCHED with various patches (usually schedulers/hardware things)
You still have to compile them from the source code |
my mistake, must have misread it :] _________________ tea+free software+law=hook
(deep inside i'm still a tux's little helper) |
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barlad l33t
Joined: 22 Feb 2003 Posts: 673
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Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2003 8:21 am Post subject: |
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If you have enabled "Control Low latency with sysctl" then note that Low latency is DISABLED by default. You have to enable it by modifying the sysctl config file. (/etc/sysctl.conf)
On a side note, "nice" must be DISABLED on CK kernels, and most likely on all kernels with the CK patches on. (i.e : preemptible, low latency...). "Nice" is counter-productive with those kernels.
see :
http://members.optusnet.com.au/ckolivas/kernel/#faq |
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mmealman Guru
Joined: 02 Nov 2002 Posts: 348 Location: Florida
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Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2003 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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I have this same problem. For awhile I used the Gentoo sources but had some filesystem problems on crashing so I switched to vanilla linux. With the new sources for me my CPU use really shoots through the roof with heavy disk access and my system becomes pretty unresponsive.
I'm sure I'm just missing a kernel compile option or something. |
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qubex Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 06 Mar 2003 Posts: 133 Location: Portland
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Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2003 9:52 pm Post subject: |
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No, I can vouch for the effectiveness of the new scheduler in 2.5.68. It is DEFINITELY 100% effective in battling XFree vs. compilation fatigue. My system can run two compiles, while browsing the web and playing mp3s and experience very little slowdown and almost no stutter. It's really worth checking out, though there are some differences between 2.4 and 2.5 (i.e. ALSA, PCMCIA, etc) that you should watch out for.
If the only problem you are having is stuttering during compile in X, I would tell you with 100% certainty that regardless of your low latency patches in 2.4, the "intellegent" scheduler in 2.5 will help with this issue (and you won't have to "nice" Xfree either..) |
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Bangz Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Posts: 148 Location: Brisbane/Austrralia
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Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2003 11:40 pm Post subject: |
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I get this exact same thing!!!
I was about to start a similar thread.
Im running Gentoo Sources r2 kernel.
Whats up with this? |
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Beekster Apprentice
Joined: 26 Nov 2002 Posts: 268 Location: Sydney
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Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2003 12:05 am Post subject: |
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try enabling both low latency and pre-emptive, but without the control low-lat with sys-cntrl, as this defaults to low-lat being off.
I've had weird issues with using _either_ of pre-empt or low-lat by themselves.
Or don't use either option. |
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crimson Guru
Joined: 27 Apr 2002 Posts: 430 Location: Cedar Rapids, IA
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Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2003 3:40 am Post subject: |
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I had a problem with sys-ctl , and I can't remember the exact error it was causing, but I removed it from my kernel and now it runs just fine. |
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modal Apprentice
Joined: 02 Oct 2002 Posts: 277
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2003 3:59 am Post subject: |
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when I run "sysctl -a" i get this:
Code: | kernel.lowlatency = 0 |
i'm guess that means that lowlatency is disabled. how do I enable it? I looked at my sysctl.conf file, and it only has stuff about ipv4 and ipv6.
do I just add something like:
Code: | kernel.lowlatency = 1 |
to my sysctl.conf file?
---btw, this did work.
Last edited by modal on Thu Apr 24, 2003 5:30 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bangz Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Posts: 148 Location: Brisbane/Austrralia
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2003 4:24 am Post subject: |
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What is sysctl?
When I changed into Gaming Sources, I enabled Low Latency Sheduling but I kept sysctl with no support cos I wasnt sure. |
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frogger n00b
Joined: 05 Dec 2002 Posts: 35
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2003 4:53 am Post subject: sysctl/low latency |
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sysctl can change kernel options during runtime. If you built your kenel with low latency but without low latency sysctl, you don't have to do anything. Low latency will always be enabled by default.
If you built your kernel with low latency AND with low latency sysctl, low latency is disabled by default, and must be explicitely enabled through sysctl, or by adding "kernel.lowlatency = 1" to sysctl.conf. |
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aerogems n00b
Joined: 19 Feb 2003 Posts: 30
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Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2003 10:39 am Post subject: |
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One other possibility, is I had this problem when using the 4xxx drivers from nVidia. I went back to using the 3xxx series, and the problems went away. Only an occational jerk with the mouse, and even that's been improved using the preempt kernel option. |
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rj n00b
Joined: 14 May 2003 Posts: 13
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Posted: Sat May 17, 2003 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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What about nice'ing X to make it run faster.. perhaps " nice -10 startx "
is that a good idea?
I compiled gentoo-sources and used mostly whatever was default - i experience some stuttering of sound and mouse jerkiness when emerging... (or anything intensive) |
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