Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

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Does your Cinnamon-menu pop up INSTANTLY, without the slightest lag or delay?

Instantaneous - I have an nVidia graphics card
31
17%
Instantaneous - I have an AMD Radeon graphics card
16
9%
Instantaneous - I have Intel HD Graphics
16
9%
Instantaneous - I have something else
0
No votes
Lags with delay - I have an nVidia graphics card
41
23%
Lags with delay - I have an AMD Radeon graphics card
27
15%
Lags with delay - I have Intel HD Graphics
39
22%
Lags with delay - I have something else
10
6%
 
Total votes: 180

Redsandro
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by Redsandro »

I am talking about a brand new installation with the default theme, and as far as I can see, it does not have any form of dropshadow.
Kikito wrote:I get this problem as well, but notice it happening mostly the first time I open the menu after turning on the computer or when opening the menu after a long time of not using it (2-3 hrs).
That's true, the first time takes longer, but the second time also has a delay.
For me the delay comes back quicker, like in half an hour, or after installing new software, updates, any combination of computer usage brings back the delay.

But whether or not we're talking about the initial long delay or the follow up shorter delays, the thing that surprises me is that there are apparently people who have NO delay. And at the same time, it looks like it is hardware independent. :?: :?: :?:
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Redsandro
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by Redsandro »

Would you all please be so kind and vote on the poll on the first page of this topic, so that we can see if certain hardware is associated with the lag?
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xujiayu
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by xujiayu »

I've installed Cinnamon on a laptop and a PC and yes there's a slight delay. I love everything about Cinnamon but I have to agree with the OP that it's annoying lag. I saw your youtube link and it did lag that much. Since I felt Cinnamon wasn't that mature yet, I installed Linux 13 Mate on my office computers and I'm still on Linux 12 with Gnome for home pc. I think I will still keep Linux 12 for home PC.

I love Linux and hold high regard to Linux Mint and all its predecessors.
Redsandro
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by Redsandro »

I was hoping the poll would show us specific video hardware for people either with or without that delay.
But much to my disappointment, video hardware seems totally irrelevant to this issue.

I guess I'm gonna have to try Gnome-Shell to see if the delay is the same and I need to take this cause higher up the source chain, because this place isn't able to help very much.
Or did anybody else WITH the lag also try Gnome Shell?
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Acanthus

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by Acanthus »

POSSIBLE SOLUTION

I had exactly the same problem on a fresh install (AMD quad core 64-bit, GT240 1GB card, 4 Gb RAM), with the further oddity that the Super key didn't work at all. Wanting a menu more like those to which I had been accustomed (pedantic git, I know), I installed the Simplest Menu applet. Now, both click and Super produce an instantaneous response!

Simplest Menu also obviates any irritations with typing, since it doesn't have the search box (but try the other Menu applets). But there must be a genuine glitch somewhere.

Regards.
Redsandro
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by Redsandro »

Google does not tell me what Simplest Menu is. Could you post a link to the respective project?

Anyway, from what you are saying, it sounds to me like it is not a solution, rather a work-around.
My current work-around is Synapse.
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esteban1uy

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by esteban1uy »

Redsandro wrote:Google does not tell me what Simplest Menu is. Could you post a link to the respective project? (...)
Take a look at this: http://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/applets
davidoide

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by davidoide »

Hi to everyone, little lags here on my asus eeepc 1018p. Actually the delay is worst (up to 3 sec) right after the boot, then it becomes negligible.
It's annoying, i can accept an heavy software to start slowly with my hardware, but not this!
I partially solved by installing other applets menu as someone suggested.
ynnebbenny

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by ynnebbenny »

Yes I am also experiencing the delay too. I have the same version mint cinnamon on two different computers, a laptop and a desktop.
The other problem is the computer hangs after suspending, and hibernating. It require a reboot.
toyonut

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by toyonut »

try install preload:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install preload
I have the lag quite badly on my netbook with intel built in graphics, n570 and 1gb ram. With preload installed and running, I seem to have a much better response. It may just be a placebo, but try it and see if it helps, first couple of opens still seemed slow, but now it seems consistently average as opposed to being really poor.
JyDy

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by JyDy »

I have a similar problem. My laptop is pretty old & low spec (Pentium M 1.7GHz, 2G RAM, Intel 915GM). I've just installed Mint 14.

I have found that the first time I log in cinnamon goes really slowly. Most notably, the main menu is almost unusable regardless of theme.

Strangely, I noticed that if I log out and log in again everything speeds up to normal. I don't understand why this happens, and I don't know if it's just my hardware, but I would be interested if some other users could try this out and report.

PS. The hint from toyonut, above, (i.e. install "preload") doesn't help on the first login, but makes the menu go even better after the second login.
Redsandro
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by Redsandro »

I have here a brand new Core i7 with nVidia 660 GTX graphics. And what do you know?

The initial delay is about 1 second. Follow-up delays are about 100 milliseconds BEFORE the fade even starts. This is on a clean install of Mint 14, no old /home used.
Once you have worked on OS X, you get to learn the real definition of 'instant' and you become very sensitive to laggy behavior and delays. I am thinking the people who claim to have no delay, actually have a 100 - 1000 ms delay without even noticing because they are used to (minimal) lagging which is unfortunately typical for Linux.

But - this is acceptable BECAUSE the menu is capturing text typed after windows is pressed. I am not losing half of my search text on this machine.

HOWEVER, I've tried this on 5 computers, and only the very newest and ridiculously powerful computer manages to do this in an acceptable way, which is unacceptable!

I have been too busy to try out GNOME Shell and see if the problem comes from upstream, but I still plan to.
esteban1uy wrote:
Redsandro wrote:Google does not tell me what Simplest Menu is. Could you post a link to the respective project? (...)
Take a look at this: http://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/applets
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Although I applaude people who use direct links all over the internet. :)
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Sounds like a dumbed-down version of the normal menu. Unacceptable solution. We already got dumb launchers like Kupfer, Gnome-DO, Synapse. We need the normal menu to be fixed because this laggy menu is just silly.
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gibbs1984
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by gibbs1984 »

I have this problem also but then again I had this in Linux Mint 13 MATE with the menu at times so I'm kind of used to it. I don't use the menu that often so it's not that much of a problem for me but a fix would be good.
Linux Mint 20.3 (Cinnamon) 64bit.
esteban1uy

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by esteban1uy »

JyDy wrote:I have a similar problem. My laptop is pretty old & low spec (Pentium M 1.7GHz, 2G RAM, Intel 915GM). I've just installed Mint 14.

I have found that the first time I log in cinnamon goes really slowly. Most notably, the main menu is almost unusable regardless of theme.

Strangely, I noticed that if I log out and log in again everything speeds up to normal. I don't understand why this happens, and I don't know if it's just my hardware, but I would be interested if some other users could try this out and report.

PS. The hint from toyonut, above, (i.e. install "preload") doesn't help on the first login, but makes the menu go even better after the second login.
The problem you're experiencing has to do with your graphic card drivers.
Please do this litte experiment:

- Reboot your laptop and then log as usual. You'll find it's very slow. Then open a terminal and execute this command:

Code: Select all

inxi -G | grep Renderer
- Take note of the result of the command.
- Log out, log in, and repeat the command.

What you'll see is that the first time (when the laptop is unbearable slow) the renderer is llvmpipe, and the second time is Intel.

The good news: this will be fixed really soon in an update for MDM.
The bad news: there are certain parts of Cinnamon running in distributions based in Ubuntu 12.10 (and also Gnome-shell and Unity DEs) that will remain slow because a change in Mesa drivers. The exact reason is the addition of emulated vertex shaders for old GPUs. Previously, when Cinnamon (or any software based in Clutter/Cogl) found no support for vertex shaders, it automatically disabled certain effects (like the dimming scroller in the menu). Now they cannot be disabled because there's no way for Clutter to detect that emulation, it simply "believes" they are natively supported, but that "emulation" is painfully slow (it's done at CPU level, not the GPU).
joequant

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by joequant »

Hi all,

There may be several issues here, but I found one major problem in the javascript code for menu. The problem is that the way that cinnamon adds items to the menu is inefficient and is O(N**2) the number of applications, so that when you have a machine with a huge number of applications, the cinnamon javascript code is spending a lot of effort trying to check for duplicates.

I've coded up a fix which I will upload to github sometime this weekend. There still is a lag, but it's nowhere near as bad as before the fix.
davidoide

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by davidoide »

joequant wrote:Hi all,

There may be several issues here, but I found one major problem in the javascript code for menu. The problem is that the way that cinnamon adds items to the menu is inefficient and is O(N**2) the number of applications, so that when you have a machine with a huge number of applications, the cinnamon javascript code is spending a lot of effort trying to check for duplicates.

I've coded up a fix which I will upload to github sometime this weekend. There still is a lag, but it's nowhere near as bad as before the fix.
Thank you! I'll give a feedback as soon as I'll try the fix
davidoide

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by davidoide »

I have replaced the code from your github fix, but I actually experience the same lags...up to 3 secs the first time and then 0.5-1 sec each time I open the menu (the default one with all the applications). Thank you anyway but it didn't work for me
Redsandro
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by Redsandro »

Would you explain how/where to implement these changes or provide a link that's to the point?
I found some articles (about Shell) but they are so wordy it's annoying.

I am actually a (server side) javascript developer but I didn't really pay attention to how Cinnamon works.
When I have the time I'd like to hunt for some more redundancy.
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davidoide

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by davidoide »

Redsandro wrote:Would you explain how/where to implement these changes or provide a link that's to the point?
I found some articles (about Shell) but they are so wordy it's annoying.

I am actually a (server side) javascript developer but I didn't really pay attention to how Cinnamon works.
When I have the time I'd like to hunt for some more redundancy.
You can find it here:
http://github.com/linuxmint/Cinnamon/pull/1448/files
You have to replace the following file:
files/usr/share/cinnamon/applets/menu@cinnamon.org/applet.js

Thanks to joequant
esteban1uy

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by esteban1uy »

davidoide wrote:I have replaced the code from your github fix, but I actually experience the same lags...up to 3 secs the first time and then 0.5-1 sec each time I open the menu (the default one with all the applications). Thank you anyway but it didn't work for me
I think you're probably affected by the "emulated shaders" problem introduced by the new Mesa.
Please, open a terminal and execute the following command:

Code: Select all

sudo gedit /etc/environment
At the end of that file add this line:

Code: Select all

COGL_DEBUG=disable-glsl
Save, log off and log in. Any changes in Cinnamon menu?
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