Re: Slow GUI (NVIDIA)(KDE4)

On 05/23/2011 12:07 PM, Jim Beard wrote:
> On 05/23/2011 11:04 AM, Renaud (Ron) Olgiati wrote:
>> Since updating to 2010.2 I have a very slow GUI: moving an icon
>> on the desktop
>> takes about 15 seconds, switching from desktop to an open app
>> using the panel
>> 7 to 10 seconds.
>>
>> Also XFDrake offered me a video card that would work at none of
>> the settings,
>> either with proprietary or OS driver, had to trial and error
>> until I found
>> another card that would (more or less) work.
>>
>> Is that a known problem ?
>
> First, you need to have your system fully updated. This probably
> is not your problem, as 2010.2 is simply an update from 2010.1
> plus a handful of eye-candy files but if you have not updated do
> so. If kernel or proprietary drivers are updated, you will need
> to reboot for dkms to rebuild the drivers.
>
> Second, recent nVidia drivers have had problems, of a variety of
> types. One problem that is perpetually present is that settings
> in existing config and cached files are not removed when you
> change drivers. You need to use rm -rf $HOME/.*uth* $HOME/tmp/*
> /tmp/* /var/tmp/* to clean these out before restarting KDE4.
> Otherwise, XFdrake may have given you the correct drivers but
> they may fail due to left-overs from the earlier drivers.
>
> XFdrake is usually pretty good at setting things up, but it may
> not recognize which card you have. Make sure that is correct, and
> that settings within XFdrake are correct, and use the test option
> to see if a setup selected works. If that works, but the gui does
> not launch after leaving XFdrake try removing the old config and
> tmp files. If still no joy, you may need to experiment to find
> out what will work. This can be a PITA, but is sometimes necessary.
>
> Speed of the GUI is dependent on your system's intrinsic speed
> and the load you have on it. Using 3-D and lots of eye-candy can
> and will slow things down, perhaps dramatically on a slow system.
> What is your system? How much RAM (for eye-candy)? How much video
> RAM? nVidia drivers from the nvidia website or Mandriva's
> packaged proprietary drivers? (Install both and problems are
> virtually guaranteed, as the two put some files in different
> places. Use one or the other.)
>
> Using the Mandriva Linux Control Center, the section for setting
> up your display has instructions for trouble-shooting. Have you
> gone through that exercise?

One point I did not mention (XFdrake should take care of it),
you must have the devel package for your kernel installed for 
dkms to rebuild the drivers, for any module that needs drivers 
compiled.

The devel package will have the exact same name as your kernel, 
except for the devel- added to the name.  Example:

kernel-desktop-2.6.36.2-2mnb-1-1mnb2
kernel-desktop-devel-2.6.36.2-2mnb-1-1mnb2

You may also want to install the "latest" rpm package
for both.  That will keep both updated as needed.
Continuing the example:

kernel-desktop-devel-latest-2.6.36.2-2mnb2
kernel-desktop-latest-2.6.36.2-2mnb2

Use (on the command line) rpm -qa |grep kernel |sort
to see what you have installed.

Cheers!

jim b.

-- 
UNIX is not user unfriendly; it merely
      expects users to be computer-friendly.