Overview stuttering with 3K & Intel

[Carlos Pita]

This was first described upstream in https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/2697

I'm reporting it here as requested in https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/gnome-shell-performance-improvements-in-ubuntu-20-04/15972/38?u=memeplex

Please don't be mislead by the enabled-extensions value in the attached log (['<email address hidden>', '<email address hidden>', '<email address hidden>', '<email address hidden>', '<email address hidden>']). This is just a residual value, the only extensions installed in my system are the ones provided by Ubuntu and clipboard-indicator. And desktop-icons is indeed disabled.

Besides I'm perfectly able to reproduce the same problem in a vanilla Gnome installation both in Arch and in Fedora using a wide range of kernels (from 5.4 to 5.8). Despite some variations, performance is consistently poor.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: gnome-shell 3.36.1-5ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-42.46-generic 5.4.44
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-42-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.6
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Thu Aug 6 02:23:54 2020
DisplayManager: gdm3
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-04-24 (103 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200423)
RelatedPackageVersions: mutter-common 3.36.3-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
SourcePackage: gnome-shell
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Please try these. You can stop at any step if the problem goes away...

1. Reboot, make sure you still see stuttering and then run these commands:

   lspci -k > lspcik.txt
   journalctl -b0 > journal.txt

   and attach the resulting text files here.

2. Completely uninstall these extensions:

   <email address hidden>', '<email address hidden>', '<email address hidden>'

   then reboot.

3. Disable 'Ubuntu AppIndicators' in the 'Extensions' app, then log out and in again.

4. Edit /etc/environment and add a new line:

   MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=i965

   then reboot.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Although I would not be surprised if those don't work adequately. For me, only GNOME 3.38 (prerelease) is close to smooth at 4K. Although 3.36 is at least usable with the MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=i965 workaround.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Also remember to update your system because it appears to be out of date...

  sudo apt update
  sudo apt full-upgrade
  Reboot

[Carlos Pita (carlosjosepita)]

> 1. Reboot, make sure you still see stuttering and then run these commands:

Done

> 2. Completely uninstall these extensions:

They weren't installed in fact, just remaining configurations of old installations. I've removed every reference to them from my settings now.

> 3. Disable 'Ubuntu AppIndicators' in the 'Extensions' app, then log out and in again.

Done. No difference.

> 4. Edit /etc/environment and add a new line:

Done. No difference.

[Carlos Pita (carlosjosepita)]

> Also remember to update your system because it appears to be out of date...

Strange cause I manually run the GUI updater on a daily basis. But it's showing no update while I get 7 upgradeable packages from the CLI. Done, just small things, no difference.

[Carlos Pita (carlosjosepita)]

> For me, only GNOME 3.38 (prerelease) is close to smooth at 4K.

Is there a reasonably simple way to test this in Ubuntu? Or maybe I could look for a package in the AUR.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Not yet, but the good news is it's coming soon:

  https://wiki.gnome.org/ThreePointThirtyseven

And should be in Ubuntu 20.10 soon after that.

Also note your log is still mentioning errors from:

  /home<email address hidden>/...

The simplest way to clear local extensions is to remove the whole 'extensions' directory.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Oops. It appears you already have bug 1880586 for this.