Re: [gentoo-user] Anyone using xfce4 with compositing turned off?

[<wabenbau@gmail.com>]

Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Saturday 22 Aug 2015 03:08:41 wabenbau@gmail.com wrote:
> > walt <w41ter@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.

Hi Mick,

it seems that there are some differences (see below) but I'm interested 
in your settings anyway. Maybe they help me to make compositing usable
on my system, but actually I don't have much hope that this will be
the case.

Without composite, my system is rock stable and video playback is smooth.
First I missed the fancy window/menu shadows and the semi-transparency 
when moving/resizing windows, but now I'm also happy without these eye 
candies. The only thing that I'm still missing is the smooth scrolling
of window content. This is indeed a bit better with compositing enabled.

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Cape Verde PRO [Radeon HD 7750 / R7 250E] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: PC Partner Limited / Sapphire Technology Cape Verde PRO [Radeon HD 7750 / R7 250E]
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 29
	Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Memory at fdf80000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
	I/O ports at ae00 [size=256]
	[virtual] Expansion ROM at fdf00000 [disabled] [size=128K]
	Capabilities: [48] Vendor Specific Information: Len=08 <?>
	Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
	Capabilities: [58] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [a0] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
	Capabilities: [100] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001 Rev=1 Len=010 <?>
	Capabilities: [150] Advanced Error Reporting
	Capabilities: [200] #15
	Capabilities: [270] #19
	Kernel driver in use: radeon


--
Regards
wabe