slow kde on 2.6.2 :(

nazul · Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2004 2:33 pm Post subject: slow kde on 2.6.2 :(

I just started a new gentoo system from scratch using 2.6.2 last night. Everything was going fine up until I emerged KDE (v3.1). Now it takes me 20 seconds to launch konqueror on my system, which previously was instant! Mozilla even longer. I'm using an nvidia nforce2 mb with geforce 4 graphics card but after finally getting the 5.3x driver finally installed and configured correctly in X86Config realised that wasn't the problem.

Also windowmaker seems to take ages to run mozilla, although it runs konqueror instantly.

Anyway anyone got any ideas what this might be? Maybe I compiled it all with too harsher cflags or with bad use flags I dunno.. heres the flags I used below

sindre · Guru Joined: 01 Nov 2002 Posts: 315 Location: Norway

Propably you either messed up your /etc/hosts file, or hdparm hasn't done its job/kernel-ide is misconfigured.

As for your cflags... -mfpmath=sse sucks, and -mcpu screws up things even if -march is there. I won't comment on the rest of your flags except sometimes less is more.

Kitohe · n00b Joined: 20 Jan 2004 Posts: 43 Location: New Jersey

I just installed a fresh system yesterday (KDE 3.2) and was having many of the same problems where apps were taking crazy long to load and gtkrellm was not reporting HD or CPU activity after I would click on an icon. My problems were actually solved with a re-boot. I still don't think I should have had to do that, but maybe some config files just need to be reloaded or something.

nazul · Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2004 3:59 pm Post subject:

hdparm says dma is on for hda - my hard drive. And prints out the following test results

sindre · Guru Joined: 01 Nov 2002 Posts: 315 Location: Norway

saleck · n00b Joined: 16 Feb 2003 Posts: 34

I am fighting similar problem. With 2.6.1-rc1 everything is ok but with 2.6.2 KDE is terribly slow. But there is more ...
I have now configured the 2.6.2 kernel from scratch (not loaded previous config) and suddenly kde runs ok. But my ATI Radeon 7500 has suddenly OpenGL turned off. I have not found the difference between the two kernel config files yet.;( Perhaps I could publish them somewhere ...

Angrybob · Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Posts: 575

Berkz · Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2004 11:12 pm Post subject:

I also noticed 2.6.2. being slow ... I didn't think about it and returned to 2.6.1

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jschellhaass · Guru Joined: 20 Jan 2004 Posts: 341

Is this related to artsd using 90%+ of the cpu resources? What does top show?

Jeff

Twix · Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:21 am Post subject:

Yes artsd uses much cpu cycles (93% here). I entered the KDE Sound configuration control module and set ALSA instead of AUTODETECT. As soon as I clicked "Apply", things were back smooth.

I didn't restart KDE since then so maybe the problem isn't fixed at all...

sigh

nazul · Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:39 am Post subject:

I'll look into artsd.. when I try to run the arts control panel everything seems to mega slow so it seems to be on the right lines...

nazul · Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:53 am Post subject:

I dont have an artsd option in control center

. However when I change the tab to no sound it makes so difference so I don't think thats it.
To elaborate on the problem when I try to launch any gui app it takes it about 20 seconds to load, even if its just Konsole! If I can't solve this problem by tommorrow I'm just gonna recompile everything with a new set of cflags

ZennouRyuu · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2004 3:17 am Post subject:

Ummmm I dont know if this will help but I decided to post it anyway......... I noticed that when using the KasBar as my taskbar my KDE performance dropped significantly and only got worse over time (Almost like a memory leak but top didnt seem to think so) the only thing I noticed was that when a new task is opened, and thus added to the KasBar as an icon my CPU usage would spike to about 95% for the process that was the kpanel (which included the KasBar) also when I tried to hide or unhide the KasBar a similar CPU spike was noticed. I simply disabled KasBar in favor of a standard taskbar and my KDE perfomance jumped exponentially.

I hope this helps you, the is nothing more frustrating than waiting 20 seconds for Konqueror

--ZennouRyuu
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Angry Geek · Apprentice Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 162 Location: .uk

I've noticed with Gnome 2.4.2 and Kernel 2.6.2 that the whole desktop just feels less responsive thatn what It does with 2.6.1. So I don't think it is just KDE.
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rafailow · n00b Joined: 16 Sep 2003 Posts: 24

of course, i've got the same problem but i don't know why, firefox, mozilla, thunderbird take a while to start... about 10-15 sec. and now on my fluxbox, it takes about 5-6 sec to lauch, before the problem 0.5sec

.

Eamon Nerbonne · n00b Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 45

I think people are discussing several different problems here.
The application startup time being like 15-20 seconds is related to some glibc issue (for some reason it likes to resolve the name of the local machine...).

So make sure that your /etc/hosts contains a line:

127.0.0.1 localhost scent

where "scent" should be whatever your hostname is (in /etc/hostname). Furthermore, glibc must then actually _use_ the hosts file to resolve the name (which is the default) but to be sure... check your /etc/nsswitch.conf, it needs to have a line

hosts: files dns

OK that should fix your slow application startup.

The second problem with arts consuming 100% CPU... well I'm not positive, but this may have to do with the backend arts uses.
Did you compile your 2.6.X kernel with alsa? Setting arts to use alsa might just be simplest. (if you need a custom sound card device then alsa doesn't use "/dev/dsp3" but "hw:3,0" or such a format). Otherwise one of threaded-OSS or normal OSS causes the problem, try them both and set it to the one that doesn't :-)

.

Paulten · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 11:45 am Post subject:

2.6.2 superfast here.

I agree with Eamon Nerbonne. However
I have experienced the same problem. Still haven't figured out why.
When using test-11 I remember I couldn't play a mp3 without sound skipping, and startup felt slower too.

I use 2.6.2 on both my computers, both with con kolivas patches which in 2.4 gave me a very nice responsive desktop.

If anyone with a "slow" kernel config would like to diff against me, here is my config.
http://paul.tenfjord.net/.config

This is for my dell inspiron 8200 laptop.
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ebrostig · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 1:57 pm Post subject:

If you have a problem with artsd taking all your CPU and as a result KDE is slow, do the folloiwng:

1. Start Kcontrol and select Sound System under Sound & Multimedia

2. Click on the hardware tab

3. If the Audio Device is "Autodetect', select 'Advanced Linux Sound Architecture' .

Save and log-out/log-in again and you'll see that the CPU usage has dropped down to normal again.

Erik
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matkare · n00b Joined: 03 Mar 2004 Posts: 69

@Eamon Nerbonne

thx, for your input I'am running a 2.6.4-rc1 and after making your suggested changes my kde3.2 performance changed remarkably. :!:

WSU · n00b Joined: 28 Apr 2003 Posts: 18

I'm not seeing ALSA as an option. Just Threaded OSS, No Audio, and OSS.

2.6.3-gentoo-r1
KDE: 3.2.0

Sound card is nForce 2 chipset. Using drivers compiled in kernel.

matkare · n00b Joined: 03 Mar 2004 Posts: 69

@WSU: What USE-Flags did you use to compile KDE. I'am not sure but I think you have to compile KDE with alsa in order to have this option.