[SOLVED] amarok gets "lags" when I use other programs

Gabriel_Blake · Guru Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 362

That's my problem. When i use emerge, or another cpu consuming operation, amarok starts to lag (stops playing and starts again every few seconds). I guess that because there's not enough cpu/memory left for amarok when emerge is running. Is there any way to ser amarok to "real time priority" ??

Mantaar · Apprentice Joined: 17 May 2007 Posts: 219

Gabriel_Blake · Guru Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 362

I'm not using the demon you've mentioned. I'm not even using KDE

I'm on fluxbox. The output plugin for amarok is alsa (installed as kernel module).

Hmmm... now I've realized that the bigger the compiled package, the bigger the lag :/

Mantaar · Apprentice Joined: 17 May 2007 Posts: 219

If you don't insist on using amarok, try mpd and gmpc. They follow a client/server model: your music keeps on playing even when you restart X (and even when you restart your computer) and you can control that thing from console via mpc.

If you want to continue using amarok you may try to increase your alsa buffer size. Consult alsa docs or somebody else on how to do that, I have no idea, I just know I did something like that once. Long. Ago.
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Error compiling committee.c: too many arguments to function.

wyvern5 · Apprentice Joined: 11 Nov 2006 Posts: 161

Also, set your HZ in the kernel to be 1000 instead of the default 100. 1000 is better for desktops. How fast is your CPU?

bunder · Bodhisattva Joined: 10 Apr 2004 Posts: 5947

Gabriel_Blake · Guru Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 362

I've rebuild the kernel with 1000Hz (My procesor is Croe 2 Duo 4300). But it didn't help

I'll give mpd and gmpc a try as you said Mantaar.

KRF · Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 9:30 am Post subject:

Give PORTAGE_NICENESS a try. Also check this: http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=136576
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Gentoo Linux, running kde-3.5
CPU: i686 Intel P4 2.80GHz | RAM: 2048MB DDR
Profile: gentoo-sources-2.6.23*, gcc-4.1*, portage-2.1.3* (2007.0)

Please add [SOLVED] to your message title if your problem is solved.

wyvern5 · Apprentice Joined: 11 Nov 2006 Posts: 161

Your CPU is plenty fast enough to have completely smooth audio playback. What is your motherboard?

Gabriel_Blake · Guru Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 362

Gigabyte 965P-S3. Guess it's not a hardware problem. I think I'll just find a different mp3 player. Amarok takes too long to start and I prefer to hae something "lightweight"

Can't emerge mpd but thats in a different thread.

wyvern5 · Apprentice Joined: 11 Nov 2006 Posts: 161

I presume you're using the xine output plugin?

Gabriel_Blake · Guru Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 362

argent2 · n00b Joined: 24 Sep 2007 Posts: 1

@Gabriel

I've had a similar problem with audio, and although I don't have a solution, I may be able to make a suggestion. Are you using the ext3 filesystem and are the pauses every 5 seconds or so?

eean · Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:53 pm Post subject:

Try the newest kernel or the -ck kernel.

Now if your system is actually running out of memory and working out of swap, there is probably nothing that can be done for it, your system is going to pretty much grind to a halt when that happens. You can set portage to use only -j1 instead of -j3 or something (its in your /etc/make.conf), having multiple compiles running uses *a lot* of memory.

However with the powerful computers we have these days theres no reason for skip when your CPU is just busy. Older kernels (before the most recent) had a scheduler designed with servers in mind which sometimes caused sound skips. The new scheduler should help somewhat.
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Amarok - Rediscover your Music

wyvern5 · Apprentice Joined: 11 Nov 2006 Posts: 161

Try compiling xine-lib with mad support.

Gabriel_Blake · Guru Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 362

Compiling xine-lib with mad support didn't give much. I have 2x512MB of RAM in dual chanel, and 5GB of swap so I don't think there's a problem with memory. i'll look for a different player.

Thanks for trying to help me. I appreciate that

martin.k · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 12:53 pm Post subject:

I think you should try adding PORTAGE_NICENESS option to your /etc/make.conf - as mentioned before. Give it some positive value e.g. PORTAGE_NICENESS="10" - it will slow down a little compilation times on your machine, but it may help with the sound skipping.

And if it's no good for you I think you should try some newer linux kernel sources (2.6.23 or so) with newest CFS scheduler patch from Ingo Molnar http://people.redhat.com/mingo/cfs-scheduler/. I does fine job and it's getting better with every release.

And if you don't mind using some 2.6.22 kernel you should give a try -ck patch from Con Kolivas - http://members.optusnet.com.au/ckolivas/kernel/ or some *-sources which include it.
For a long time Con's patchset was the no.1. on the desktop interactivity (e.g.music) playground. But -ck is no more, alas.
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linux-2.6.17 +ck +R4 +lockless +genetic-as +... więcej nie pamiętam

LRU #299256

Grayman · Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 11:46 am Post subject:

Hi

just wondering if you have dma turned on - your box is waaaay more powerful than mine (I have a 2.6 P4 with 768 megs ram) and I can run amarok very comfortably.

hdparm /devhda (where dev/hda is your hard drive - yup I have an ata drive here too... sob )

you would need to be root to run hdparm (and obviously to have it installed)

Grayman

toralf · Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:27 am Post subject:

iom · Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:21 pm Post subject:

i believe this is not a cpu-related problem but rather heavy disk usage. if you watch carefully, the problem you described should occur exactly when a package is being extracted to /var/tmp/portage/.... Try emerging firefox for instance and watch carefully when amarok stops performing well.

how to solve this i don't really know. maybe you don't have proper support in kernel for your hard disk controller. maybe hdparm could help.

Gabriel_Blake · Guru Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 362

I've recently realized that the lag is in the entire fluxbox.... Firefox is lagging too. Even the mouse cursor has lags.

I think this topic should be in a different part of the forum.

Grayman · Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:04 pm Post subject:

Hello

did you check that dma is functional on your drive ? a jerky mouse when the system is under load sounds like a dma-dysfunctional system to me.

Grayman

Archimedesmp · Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:18 pm Post subject:

Hi, if you post this somewhere else please post a link here as some kind of follow up

I had no lag with Amarok with Kernel 2.6.20-forgot-rc and now I'm using 2.6.23-rc8-mm2 and believe me: Playing drums with that lag while portage compiles something is no fun at all

But I believe it is something with the kernel config as I didn't have any problems with my old kernel.

Oh, yeah, as this might be of interest (esp. if the kernel config is not optimal): I run an Asus A8Jp Notebook with C2D T7200@2x 2Ghz (4Mb) on an ICH7 Chipset and 1Gb of RAM... Disk is some SATA; hdparm -tT gives me 30 to 40 MB/sec, sometime only 20 (right after 40...)

I changed my config and don't have any problems recently, but I didn't listen much music while working.
The major thing I altered was disabling the "Preemt the Big Kernel Lock" because a friend told me that was only needed on old machines (well, I don't know if he is right with that, I'm just trying) and changed from "Preemptible Kernel (Low-Latency Desktop)" to "Voluntary Kernel Preemption (Desktop)" because I didn't want the kernel to preempt all the time (maybe this does the trick) - though I used both setting (PREEMPT and Low Latency) with the non-laggy 2.6.20 *confused*...
Neither compiling nor untaring current eclipse (138Mb) caused any lag with this config:

Gabriel_Blake · Guru Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 362

Well... I have a SATA II disk. Ive made read checks with hdparm ant the results were:

Cached disk reads 2357 MB/sec
Buffered disk reads 3.78 MB/sec

So is that good or bad ??

PS I thought dma is only an issue with ata disks.

toralf · Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:10 pm Post subject:

Try compiling xine-lib with mad support, if not already done.