[SOLVED]Desktop Effects Error- Too Slow?

[CheeseQueen452]

"lspci |grep -i vga" says:
ATI Technologies Inc Radeon 9100 IGP

[coffeetime]

lspci -vv

Mine:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 30dd
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
        Latency: 0
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 29
        Region 0: Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
        Region 2: Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        Region 4: I/O ports at 6120
        Expansion ROM at unassigned
        Kernel driver in use: i915
        Kernel modules: i915

[T6]

so, your nvidia video card is made by ati...

ok...

tht video card is quite old, older and slower than mine(a 9200), my video card is struggling to handle the load i'm putting with kde desktop effects

you video card, being a model found in a laptop only can use 32 o 64mbs of ram and for kde and desktop effects this is insufficient

the video driver you have is probably the right one, the only one, this series of video cards, after 8 years of existence is not supported anymore by ati, the manufacturer so don't try to install the ati driver on repos, won't work and probably will leave you with a unusable desktop

in your case the desktop effects sounds like a bad idea, try compiz or just leave them off

please, when asking for help, provide more information than the one you gave us

we want to help but you need to provide more information, next time you can post the model of the mainboard or the model of the desktop/laptop, you can do a small search on the manufacturers website to discover more information

[lsword]

Had the same problem after the last update, Slow, firefox Dolphin crashing.......
This was after several restarts.

So last time I booted into Root and renamed  the .kde4 folder in my user account
 and then reentered user account... now everything seems to be behaving normally.

Larry

[CheeseQueen452]

The driver was already installed by default, if I'm not mistaken. I don't recall installing it myself. If I disable the desktop effects, will compiz take over? If not, how do I implement it?

the video driver you have is probably the right one, the only one, this series of video cards, after 8 years of existence is not supported anymore by ati, the manufacturer so don't try to install the ati driver on repos, won't work and probably will leave you with a unusable desktop

in your case the desktop effects sounds like a bad idea, try compiz or just leave them off

[menotu]

If I disable the desktop effects, will compiz take over? If not, how do I implement it?

You have to enable compiz yourself.  Go to

PCC (Configure Your Computer)  >> Hardware >> Configure 3D desktop effects >
and tick the Compiz Fusion box. Close PCC.

Open Synaptic and install Fusion Icon from Synaptic (type fusion  in the search field) and it will come back with the Fusion Icon app and some other compiz stuff (plugins mainly - install them if you want)

Install the Fusion Icon and when that's done go to your main KMenu and under

More Applications > Configuration > you'll see the Fusion Icon - select it and it will drop an icon in the panel near the clock.(you may also have a screen appear asking if you want accept the change - which you do)

Right click on the icon and make sure Compiz is set as your Window Manager - if you want Emerald themes you can also choose it from r/clicking the Fusion Icon.

Also on the Fusion Icon there should be an option near the top for Compiz Config Settings Manager (ccsm) if you select that (or type ccsm into a Konsole) that will take you to the Compiz settings area where you can add your Windows effects etc etc.

You will need to restart (log out and in) your desktop for the effects to kick in

[CheeseQueen452]

Doesn't that mean I need a 3D-capable video card? Under the advanced tab in the desktop effects settings, there's a choice for "compositing".... either openGL or Xrender. It's currently set to openGL. There's also a couple of options under that. What exactly do they do? Should I set the compositing to Xrender? It appears that the desktop effects usually get suspended when I start Firefox. Perhaps this is a clue to my problem....

If I disable the desktop effects, will compiz take over? If not, how do I implement it?

You have to enable compiz yourself.  Go to

PCC (Configure Your Computer)  >> Hardware >> Configure 3D desktop effects >
and tick the Compiz Fusion box. Close PCC.

Open Synaptic and install Fusion Icon from Synaptic (type fusion  in the search field) and it will come back with the Fusion Icon app and some other compiz stuff (plugins mainly - install them if you want)

Install the Fusion Icon and when that's done go to your main KMenu and under

More Applications > Configuration > you'll see the Fusion Icon - select it and it will drop an icon in the panel near the clock.(you may also have a screen appear asking if you want accept the change - which you do)

Right click on the icon and make sure Compiz is set as your Window Manager - if you want Emerald themes you can also choose it from r/clicking the Fusion Icon.

Also on the Fusion Icon there should be an option near the top for Compiz Config Settings Manager (ccsm) if you select that (or type ccsm into a Konsole) that will take you to the Compiz settings area where you can add your Windows effects etc etc.

You will need to restart (log out and in) your desktop for the effects to kick in

[menotu]

Should I set the compositing to Xrender? It appears that the desktop effects usually get suspended when I start Firefox. Perhaps this is a clue to my problem

I always use OpenGL.

I'm not sure if your graphic card has enough "grunt" to carry out lots of effects. Do you happen to know how much memory the graphic card has?

In the desktop effects area that is used for the KWin effects - take off (untick) as many as you can and add the ones you want to use one at a time and see if you can "build" the effects up that way.

If that doesn't work you can try the Compiz route as mentioned in my earlier post.

If you go the Compiz route, disable the KWin desktop effects as that work will be carried out by Compiz (and Emerald)

Remember - they are 2 separate entities - if you use one you don't need t'other.

And it sometimes needs the desktop to be restarted for all effects to kick in.

[ruel24]

What I have found is that nVidia now throttles their cards to underclock and save the planet through PowerMizer. It's supposed to dynamically ramp the clock up when it's needed. Unfortunately, it doesn't play well with Plasma. You can get into the nVidia control panel and set it to full performance, stopping it from underclocking the card. I had to do this on my system, as well.

[CheeseQueen452]

Well, it appears that this problem was caused by the Yoono Firefox addon. Unfortunately, it's my favorite addon.... Nonetheless, I must do without it for now. I installed Echofon for Twitter, so I'll use that until the Yoono devs fix the issue which I'll surely notify them about.

[CheeseQueen452]

Apparently, I still have this problem though it's not from Firefox or the addons. Yesterday, it occured after turning on the "glide" effect & launching Firefox, & again this morning upon launching synaptic. Perhaps I'm pushing the system too hard? I'm not sure what I can do to improve this, but I'll welcome any suggestions. I should probably do a little "house cleaning", to free some hard drive space, though I can't say it'll help that much if at all. Again, any suggestions are welcome.

[ruel24]

Like I said earlier, I'm assuming you're using nVidia, like a good Linux user would, right? Try opening the nVidia Display Settings at kmenu->more applications->configuration->nvidia display settings. Then highlight the PowerMizer section and see what setting you have. You want to set it to maximum performance. If you don't have it there, chances are that it's getting underclocked by the PowerMizer and it's running too slow for Plasma.

[T6]

"Perhaps I'm pushing the system too hard?"

yes

"I'm not sure what I can do to improve this"

change video card, if it is a laptop, you need a new laptop

"I'm assuming you're using nVidia, like a good Linux user would, right? "

no, it is a ati 9100 igp, read previous posts

[ruel24]

Oops... Missed that one. Yep, seems the graphics processing isn't fast enough for all the OP wants to do.

[CheeseQueen452]

It's not a laptop, I don't even own one I'll change the video card only as a last resort, but I'm also working on another issue that may solve the problem. Stay tuned....

"Perhaps I'm pushing the system too hard?"

yes

"I'm not sure what I can do to improve this"

change video card, if it is a laptop, you need a new laptop

"I'm assuming you're using nVidia, like a good Linux user would, right? "

no, it is a ati 9100 igp, read previous posts