Lucid netbook-launcher unbelievably slow on hardware accelerated desktop

[Cefn]

Binary package hint: netbook-launcher

Pushed in -proposed:

 netbook-launcher (1:2.1.18-0ubuntu2) lucid-proposed; urgency=low
 .
   * debian/patches/01_clutter_vblank.patch: (LP: #574822)
     - use CLUTTER_VBLANK in desktop autostart to workaround slowness
       related to recent clutter on some hardware

debdiff attached.

Test case:
install the package from proposed, ensure you got 1:2.1.18-0ubuntu2 and try to restart your netbook session.
Check the speed of the animations, even with compiz activated.

-------------

I installed a vanilla Lucid Lynx Desktop today from the day one release CD. In order to try the netbook interface as an alternative window manager I first installed just netbook-launcher, and subsequently installed ubuntu-netbook and all its dependencies.

After installing just netbook-launcher, an 'Ubuntu Netbook Edition 2D' profile appeared. Logged out and back in again and I could see the launcher at the same time as ordinary Gnome panels top and bottom. In this configuration netbook-launcher was and remains responsive, but is not properly integrated into the window manager (e.g. you can't click on the Ubuntu icon to launch it, windows are shown in the conventional gnome panels).

After subsequently installing ubuntu-netbook and all its dependencies, an 'Ubuntu Netbook Edition' profile appeared as well (doesn't say 2D). Launching this gives me a full ubuntu-netbook experience with the window-picker applet at the top, but the netbook-launcher is so slow as to be unusable. This is at the same time that the Scale plugin in Compiz runs smoothly and at full speed (e.g. the desktop is running full 3D acceleration perfectly well). Clicking on any category in netbook-launcher takes anything up to 10-20 seconds to slowly animate a refresh, making it unusable as a navigation tool.

I tried purging all netbook packages and reinstalling just ubuntu-netbook, but I seem to be stuck with these two alternatives - just netbook-launcher at full speed as a background in an ordinary gnome session, (Ubuntu Netbook 2D) or full fledged netbook features, (Ubuntu Netbook) with an impossibly slow rendering behaviour from netbook-launcher.

I'd like to build a working netbook edition for my girlfriend and was planning to run Ubuntu Desktop in full, but with Netbook Edition as an alternative login option so she has both options. Is this possible? What's the rendering bug and is there a workaround?

Is it possible that I ended up with some corrupted config from my first attempt (just installing netbook-launcher) which needs to be cleared out.

I submitted this bug from the non-2D Ubuntu Netbook Edition session, so it should report the correct information for the buggy scenario.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: netbook-launcher 1:2.1.17-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-21.32-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-21-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon May 3 23:21:08 2010
DkmsStatus: bcmwl, 5.60.48.36+bdcom, 2.6.32-21-generic, i686: installed
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Inspiron 1525
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=a5d3c680-150c-4973-ba86-1a85a455337b ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: netbook-launcher
dmi.bios.date: 10/16/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A16
dmi.board.name: 0U990C
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA16:bd10/16/2008:svnDellInc.:pnInspiron1525:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0U990C:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Inspiron 1525
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: i686
 kernel: 2.6.32-21-generic

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli (didrocks)]

It seems you are using compiz as the same time as netbook-launcher. This is not supported as there is a lot of slowdown in a lot of config, can you try to switch to metacity "the no effect settings" and logout/login again to say if netbook-launcher is still as slow as it appears?

[Cefn (6-launchpad-net-cefn-com)]

Didier,

I'm fairly comfortable with Linux config, but I wouldn't know what to do based on your description unless it's just System => Preferences => Appearance => Visual Effects => None. I don't know how to acivate Metacity separately and specifically.

Anyhow, isn't this configuration meant to be what the default settings and the separate session are about? I'm pretty sure that's how it was originally when I had speed problems. I only added the effects to prove hardware acceleration was active, but I'll go back and check if there's an issue.

In any case I fear if Compiz and Netbook are incompatible then my GF will bin netbook in favour of full desktop so that may have satisfied my reason for trying it.

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli (didrocks)]

System => Preferences => Appearance => Visual Effects => None is metacity, indeed :)

And sorry, but it's not possible with current way gconf is setup to have a window manager for GNOME and another one for UNE: we have default, but if you change it once (as you probably done), this setting override the default.

I don't see what features of compiz is so important for UNE users, but be warned that it's the same for the futur and GNOME shell which isn't compatible with compiz.

[Cefn (6-launchpad-net-cefn-com)]

The main features I'm using are the Scale feature, especially with window grouping by application (Expose-like behaviour).

I quite like the visual effects but I could do without them from a productivity point of view. Scale I can't do without. It is critical to me managing large numbers of windows simultaneously (typical is 30 or more, 20 firefox + 4 File Manager + IM + IDE + etc. etc.).

I found Gnome shell to be a bit clumsy but I'm optimistic for the future. It's a nice approach and cold map well to the way I work, but wasn't really stable or well-documented enough to use when I tried it a month or so ago. I'm already using Gnome-do at the heart of my system.

If I drop Compiz is there a way to get Netbook and Gnome Shell to play ball and is there a stable version? Until then, Compiz compositing works, so why reinvent the wheel, especially if that wheel is incompatible with previous wheels?

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli (didrocks)]

Le mardi 04 mai 2010 à 12:44 +0000, Cefn a écrit :
> The main features I'm using are the Scale feature, especially with
> window grouping by application (Expose-like behaviour).
>
> I quite like the visual effects but I could do without them from a
> productivity point of view. Scale I can't do without. It is critical to
> me managing large numbers of windows simultaneously (typical is 30 or
> more, 20 firefox + 4 File Manager + IM + IDE + etc. etc.).
>
> I found Gnome shell to be a bit clumsy but I'm optimistic for the
> future. It's a nice approach and cold map well to the way I work, but
> wasn't really stable or well-documented enough to use when I tried it a
> month or so ago. I'm already using Gnome-do at the heart of my system.
>
> If I drop Compiz is there a way to get Netbook and Gnome Shell to play
> ball and is there a stable version? Until then, Compiz compositing
> works, so why reinvent the wheel, especially if that wheel is
> incompatible with previous wheels?

The issue isn't in gnome-shell nor netbook-launcher TBH, it's more on
clutter side for using glx that isn't compatible (mutter wm is using a
clutter-based glx effect, so it's compatible).
This is more something to deal with upstream. But you got a bug, I'm
just giving you the cause :)

[Ximatz (ximatz)]

Hi, I'm sorry if this is not the right place, but it is the only bug I found which somehow matches my case.
I have just made a clean install of UNE 10.04 on my ESPRIMO Mobile sub-notebook and I get actually the same behavior as Cefn.

After installing everything from scratch, I logged in to my desktop using the Ubuntu Netbook Edition session (without the 2D) and the netbook-launcher is just extreme slow. Compiz wasn't even installed, as it is not default on UNE. For me it is clear, that Compiz has actually nothing to do with this. It may generate problems, but it is not the cause.

I don't know if I understand it well, but what Didier Rocher means, is that clutter (the netbook-launcher GUI) uses by default a glx (an OpenGL Extension to the X Window System) incompatible with the default window manager, in this case Metacity. If that's the case, the problem should be solved by installing Mutter, or more correctly in my case: the installer should have installed Mutter instead of Metacity from the beginning, as it was a clean install.

Using the UNE 2D session gives me the same behavior as Cenf, also. But I think that is a different bug.

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli (didrocks)]

You should open a new bug for that (ubuntu-bug netbook-launcher) so that it grabs card infos and needed stuff.

Just to clarify things, *compiz* isn't compatible, but *metacity/mutter* are. So, you shouldn't have those issues apart from driver which doesn't handle Glx. hence ubuntu-bug is good for filling a new bug on netbook-launcher and get the correct hardware infos.

Thanks a lot!

[Cefn (6-launchpad-net-cefn-com)]

Hi, Didier,

I think the bug may indeed be the same, since after resorting back to Metacity (Visual effects: None) and relogging out and back in, the Ubuntu Netbook Edition session still has a Netbook launcher which is impossible to use because it's so slow, so I don't think it's anything to do with Compiz.

[Leo (leorolla)]

It is already an known fact that Lucid and netbooks are not playing well together.

I have already dumped openoffice in favour of abiwords and gnumerics, firefox in favour of chromium, but still, as soon as I have three to four windows open it becomes *unusable*. And when I open a terminal (even this becomes hard sometimes) and run "top" I see the netbook-launcher crazily taking all the processor.

I will purge compiz, clean .gconf-and-alike folders, reboot, and then run "apport-collect 574822" to attach my card infos etc.

But indeed the problem may be elsewhere, because the standard ubuntu install gave as bad performance.

[Leo (leorolla)]

PS: as it may make some difference, I should say that I have actually installed ubuntu-netbook package on the top of a standard desktop install.

[Leo (leorolla)]

Actually it is now fast like lightening.

Purged every package that contained compiz in its name.

Removed .gnome* and .gconf* from my home dir.

Still metacity was not loaded during login.

Removed every other file/folder from the home dir, and now everything is really fine.

[Leo (leorolla)]

Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
DkmsStatus: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Beta i386 (20100318)
MachineType: Acer Aspire one
Package: netbook-launcher 1:2.1.18-0ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=UUID=e55a33ba-0d22-48c4-b346-4b12ddb672bd ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Tags: lucid ubuntu-une lucid ubuntu-une
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout dip fax floppy fuse lpadmin plugdev sambashare tape video
dmi.bios.date: 02/20/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Acer
dmi.bios.version: V1.05
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: Aspire one
dmi.board.vendor: Acer
dmi.board.version: V1.05
dmi.chassis.type: 1
dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
dmi.chassis.version: V1.05
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAcer:bvrV1.05:bd02/20/2009:svnAcer:pnAspireone:pvrV1.05:rvnAcer:rnAspireone:rvrV1.05:cvnAcer:ct1:cvrV1.05:
dmi.product.name: Aspire one
dmi.product.version: V1.05
dmi.sys.vendor: Acer
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: i686
 kernel: 2.6.32-22-generic

[Leo (leorolla)]

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[Leo (leorolla)]

> Just to clarify things, *compiz* isn't compatible, but *metacity/mutter* are. So, you shouldn't have those issues apart from driver which doesn't handle Glx. hence ubuntu-bug is good for filling a new bug on netbook-launcher and get the correct hardware infos.

Then netbook-launcher package should either conflict with compiz package or at the time of a login it should be sorted out which window manager to load.

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli (didrocks)]

No, it can't conflict as you can have both UNE and GNOME session and maybe you want to use compiz on this session.

[Leo (leorolla)]

If both UNE and GNOME use the same configuration files and this causes UNE not to malfunction, they either they should look for the configuration files in different places, or they are conflicting.

To say the that user can have both in the current state is to leave it to the poor newbie the task of figuring out that having both will cause problems. In most cases the newbie will not sort that out and perhaps will think it's better to go back to Karmic, Jaunty, or Windows.

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli (didrocks)]

@Leo: I don't think the newbie will change the default. When you don't change the default nothing happen. Gconf simply doesn't allow such tweaking. Or you will have to configure twice your wallpapers, your fspot, your email config and such…

[Leo (leorolla)]

The newbie can enable visual effects, it's really really easy.

There is no need to duplicate all the configurations: only favorite links,
window manager, a theme with closing windows on the right, whatever-else
gets ackward when shared...

[Leo (leorolla)]

I even have the impression that a new account enables Compiz by defauld when it first logs in with Gnome.

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli (didrocks)]

Right, but gconf doesn't allow this kind of duplication of user config: it's everything or nothing.

Considering the default, yes for compiz being the desktop default, but it doesn't change the user choice, which means that metacity will still be the default on UNE unless you change it and compiz on GNOME (it's only when you change it that the behavior is different).

This is really hardware related: for instance, I get no issue on my computer with netbook-launcher + compiz there.
Can you try to change /etc/xdg/xdg-une/autostart/netbook-launcher.desktop to set the Exec line to:
Exec=sh -c 'CLUTTER_VBLANK=none netbook-launcher'

and tell me if it's better, even with compiz?

[Ximatz (ximatz)]

Well, I gave it a try, and guess what: it solves my problem.
The netbook-launcher works now as expected. I also installed compiz and enabled it. The application has no problem with it.
I can now use the UNE session (no 2D) with compiz effects enabled.

I still haven't open a new bug related to this, as I wanted to wait a little to see if this wasn't really my problem. Should I now?
Sorry, but I'm kind of a newbie, who by the way doesn't even think about on switching to Windows, even by this kind of problems ;-)

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli (didrocks)]

Nice! No please, don't open a new bug, I'll close this one on an SRU so. Should be available in an update when people will confirm it's working from -proposed

[Leo (leorolla)]

Could you post here when it goes to -proposed? Thanks.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Accepted netbook-launcher into lucid-proposed, the package will build now and be available in a few hours. Please test and give feedback here. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Thank you in advance!

[Leo (leorolla)]

I tested for a few minutes and it is really fine.

By the way:
- UNE2D seems to be an ackward frankenstein between GNOME and UNE. I have the UNE spanning the desktop, but with the GNOME panels both on the top and on the bottom of the screen. Is it intended to be so?
- I only have the nice effect of the icons going up and down as I browse the menus with the UNE2D, not with the UNE. Is it possible to enable it?

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli (didrocks)]

@Leo: UNE2D (netbook-launcher-efl) is a totally different codebase using efl library and not clutter. So, different effects and different layout. You can open a whishlist bug against it and same for effects your think which can be good for netbook-launcher to get. If you want to work on that, you are of course welcome :)

UNE in maverick will be made from unity, not netbook-launcher, but if some volonteers want to maintain it, this will be fine.

[Leo (leorolla)]

I have been using the netbook with the -proposed solution and have found no problems yet.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package netbook-launcher - 1:2.1.18-0ubuntu2

---------------
netbook-launcher (1:2.1.18-0ubuntu2) lucid-proposed; urgency=low

  * debian/patches/01_clutter_vblank.patch: (LP: #574822)
    - use CLUTTER_VBLANK in desktop autostart to workaround slowness
      related to recent clutter on some hardware
 -- Didier Roche <email address hidden> Tue, 18 May 2010 14:20:47 +0200

[Didier Roche-Tolomelli (didrocks)]

netbook-launcher is no more part of maverick, the SRU to lucid is already there.