THE kde desktop is slow...

[Duncan]

杜秀涛 posted on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 22:59:57 +0800 as excerpted:

> Hi friends!I am using kde now, I just compiled it. every things seems
> fine, but the speed...
> tow problems:
> 1. I takes long time to load the desktop successfully, from pressing
> enter to I can see the beautiful desktop background-image, almost takes
> 2 minutes;
> 2. it often hangs for ten or 30 seconds to response to an mouse action,
> For example, I want to open the konqueror ,or opera. both of them takes
> long time to start up successfully. when they are "starting", others
> actions will be affected slow down.
> 
> here is some infos about my OS and kde OS:Gentoo -- the os is totally on
> a flash disk with 16G capacity KDE:4.9.2 Graphic:Intel Integrated Mobile
> 945GSE

Hi fellow kde gentooer! =:^)

I haven't updated it in awhile (it's not my primary system), but I run kde 
on my original Acer Aspire One netbook (AOA-150L model, Atom n270, 
upgraded memory maxed out to 1.5 gig, pre-poulsbo Intel graphics tho I 
don't recall what exactly, but I specifically ordered the model with the 
"spinning rust" hard drive, 120 gig, as I was looking for 100 gig plus).

KDE runs fine on that, tho it /has/ been awhile since I updated; I think 
it's still running late 4.6 so it has been over a year.

Rex has the right idea, tho.  Try experimenting with the effects.  I 
don't recall having serious issues on that system here, but some Intel 
graphics hardware is known to have issues with blur, etc.  Apparently the 
drivers claim the hardware handles certain effects, but really emulates 
them in software.  That's good enough for a lot of games, which often 
require a feature but then don't really use it, but it makes the desktop 
SLOOOWWW when effects using those features are active.  Fortunately, 
individual effects can be toggled on or off. =:^)

That option's located on the middle tab of desktop effects, in kde 
settings, workspace appearance and behavior, BTW.

Meanwhile, you don't mention your memory capacity.  If it's a similar 
netbook, many of them shipped with half a gig or so of RAM.  I upgraded 
mine to 1.5 gig (the half-gig soldered on, and a 1 gig stick upgrade, the 
max the bios was said to recognize) really early on, before replacing its 
default Linux with gentoo, so don't really know how kde would work on it 
with the original half-gig, but that /might/ be an issue.  Going into 
swap on those early SSDs was SLOW, as writing to them was slow.  Plus SSDs 
are limited write-cycle, so I bought the netbook with the 120 gig 
conventional hard drive option and the intent to upgrade the RAM, which I 
think I did within days of purchase.

You can also check the konqueror performance option that keeps a copy 
loaded at all times.  On a low-memory system that'll be a tradeoff, 
taking longer to load kde if it loads konqueror with it, but in theory 
it'll start konqueror faster since it's already loaded.  OTOH, if the 
system's really low on memory, it'll swap out that konqueror instance, 
and will thus be loading it back in from SSD anyway.  Between that and 
the fact that it'll be taking memory even when you aren't "running" it, 
if you're swapping anyway, turning that option off even if it means 
longer konqueror load times may help with other apps.

You'd also want to consider the minimize memory usage option.

Both of those options are in konqueror settings, performance.


Meanwhile, since you're on gentoo and can, especially on a small system 
like a netbook, consider USE=-semantic-desktop if at all possible.  It 
make a BIG difference on my main system, even tho it's not as resource 
constrained as the netbook.  That DOES mean you'll need to find 
alternatives for any kdepim apps you run, but it should be faster.  Here, 
it was *MUCH* faster -- I was surprised at HOW much faster!  FWIW, I run 
claws-mail for both mail (replacing kmail) and feeds (replacing akregator) 
now, tho the conversion from kmail was a bit tough.  But it's worth it! 
=:^)

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman

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