On Saturday 22 Aug 2015 03:08:41 waben...@gmail.com wrote: > walt <w41...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I'm seeing horrible performance from the xfce window manager (xfwm4) > > on my main, everyday machine, but not on an older backup machine or > > on any of the linux virtual machines I run on virtualbox. > > > > The symptoms: moving a window with the mouse is so slow as to be > > painful, and the CPU usage (on one of four CPUs) jumps to 100% almost > > immediately (xfwm4 is the culprit, see below). > > I'm using XFCE as DE and xfwm4 as WM. Since I bought a new GPU (Radeon > R7 250), I don't use compositing any more because it causes tearing > when I watch videos in fullscreen with 3840x2160. With this GPU I also > had some random freezes when compositing was enabled. > > Beside this, performance is very good, regardless compositing is enabled > or disabled. Scrolling text or moving windows around is a bit faster and > smoother with compositing enabled, especially when other windows are in > the foreground. > > With my old GPU (Radeon HD4550) I always had compositing enabled. > Everything was smoother and I saw absolutely no glitches, but performance > was also good with compositing disabled, just not quite as smooth as with > compositing enabled. > > > If I open an xterm and run (for example) "/usr/bin/marco --replace", > > this sluggish behavior returns to normal immediately. > > > > After wasting hours on google I finally noticed that I had compiled > > x11-wm/xfwm4 with the xcomposite useflag disabled, so I enabled it and > > re-emerged xfwm4. > > > > Now I can get decent performance from xfwm4, but only if first I turn > > on compositing by running xfwm4-tweaks-settings. (No, not by running > > the puny and feeble xfwm4-settings app: I need to invoke a "tweak" > > to make xfce4 an acceptable Desktop Environment on my main desktop > > machine. > > As long as I use XFCE (many years) xfwm4-tweaks-settings is the program > to toggle compositing. It's just a name, what is the problem? :-) > Or do you mean, that you must enable compositing every time you start > XFCE? > > > <official rant mode> > > I remember going through this same frustration with gnome3, which was > > (and is) unusable without installing the gnome-tweak-tool package and > > using it to customize settings that I still don't understand. > > > > (That's why I finally gave up on gnome3, and I may yet give up on > > xfce4 and go back to mate.) > > > > Note that I'm not turning off <official rant mode> yet, but I should > > mention that this machine is ~amd64 with ati-drivers-15.7 and vanilla > > kernel 3.14.51. (Same problem with gentoo-sources-3.18.19, BTW.) > > I'm using stable xf86-video-ati and stable hardened-sources. I never used > ati-drivers because I don't like to have proprietary software on my > gentoo box. For me xf86-video-ati works well and has a sufficient 2D and > 3D performance. > > -- > Regards > wabe
Hmm ... interesting. I have a PC with the Kaveri APU, which also uses the R7
graphics engine, but compositing has no problems for general desktop usage
(with two monitors).
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]
Kaveri [Radeon R7 Graphics] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Kaveri [Radeon R7 Graphics]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 25
Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Memory at f0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=8M]
I/O ports at f000 [size=256]
Memory at feb00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
Expansion ROM at feb40000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [48] Vendor Specific Information: Len=08 <?>
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [58] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [a0] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [100] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001 Rev=1 Len=010
<?>
Capabilities: [270] #19
Capabilities: [2b0] Address Translation Service (ATS)
Capabilities: [2c0] #13
Capabilities: [2d0] #1b
Kernel driver in use: radeon
I don't know if your card is significantly different, but can share settings
if you are interested.
--
Regards,
Mick
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