MATE + compiz - high cpu usage

[dezo]

Hello,
I'm running LMDE update pack 4 with MATE desktop. I'd like to use compiz as well (which works fine over MATE), but there's a strange high CPU usage:

I can see that both cores are running at ~50% (and I can hear the laptop fans), but I don't see any process using this much CPU!
What does it mean and can I somehow fix this?

Thanks!

[zerozero]

yeahh it's a shame but mate+compiz atm are still not playing together very well, specially that issue you are reporting; anyway the fix is easy killall -9 marco after compiz starts and miracles happen

[llmb0611]

thanks zerozero, that does fix the 100% cpu usage. can you please explain what does ''killall -9 marco'' do?

[äxl]

can you please explain what does ''killall -9 marco'' do?

Marco is a fork of Metacity. Metacity is like Compiz a Window Manager. Two WMs don't play together (well?).

A more complete command:
killall -9 marco; compiz --replace & disown

Or the other way around:
killall -9 compiz; marco --replace & disown

I like that page to make forks/renaming clear:
http://wiki.mate-desktop.org/migrating

[dezo]

Thanks for anwer zerozero, this works nice even if it's not ideal.
However, one more question: I thought that compiz was only a window manager and so it still needed a window decorator (displaying window header with close button & stuff) running (metacity). This is not true?

[mbalazs81]

Thanks for anwer zerozero, this works nice even if it's not ideal.
However, one more question: I thought that compiz was only a window manager and so it still needed a window decorator (displaying window header with close button & stuff) running (metacity). This is not true?

Yes, the decorator is Emerald.

[madwoollything]

I too have noticed this and don't want to use MATE until this is sorted.

Is there likely to be an update to LMDE in the near future fixing this problem or will it take some time?

[madwoollything]

can you please explain what does ''killall -9 marco'' do?

Marco is a fork of Metacity. Metacity is like Compiz a Window Manager. Two WMs don't play together (well?).

A more complete command:
killall -9 marco; compiz --replace & disown

Or the other way around:
killall -9 compiz; marco --replace & disown

I like that page to make forks/renaming clear:
http://wiki.mate-desktop.org/migrating

Is there a simple way of automating this at startup? I've been playing around with some scripts but have had no success so far.

[äxl]

You should be able to change it with:

Code: Select all

mateconf-editor

Go to /desktop/mate/session/required_components/windowmanager
And replace marco with compiz

[dezo]

I've renamed /usr/bin/marco to marco.1 so mate cannot run it and added compiz to Startup applications. Which is not a nice solution but it works

Which package does mateconf-editor come from? I don't have this tool in my binaries.

[madwoollything]

I've renamed /usr/bin/marco to marco.1 so mate cannot run it and added compiz to Startup applications. Which is not a nice solution but it works

Which package does mateconf-editor come from? I don't have this tool in my binaries.

Thanks .... I now have one happy daughter who loves the compiz effects.

I think the package you want is mate-conf-editor but mateconf-editor is the command used to launch the gui.

[dezo]

Yes, that's the right package, thanks.
But the method suggested by äxl doesn't work, the session is started without any window manager running.

[madwoollything]

Yes, that's the right package, thanks.
But the method suggested by äxl doesn't work, the session is started without any window manager running.

Thanks ... I had failed to get compiz working until you suggested renaming marco to marco.1
I've noticed that the login screen dialogue doesn't look so good but the trade off is worth it! What does marco actually do?

[äxl]

But the method suggested by äxl doesn't work, the session is started without any window manager running.

Sorry. You could try to add the following command as a Startup Application

Code: Select all

sh -c "killall -9 marco; compiz --replace"

[dezo]

No problem. I think it's better not to start marco at all because after killing something seems to keep restarting it.

[äxl]

No problem. I think it's better not to start marco at all because after killing something seems to keep restarting it.

Yeah, read something about it in MATE forums. You're solution is quite ugly. But if it works good for you!
Maybe you could report it: viewforum.php?f=206

[Fornhamfred]

Had the same problem. Followed the suggestion to change the settings in mate-conf-editor. This has reduced the cpu usage down to average 25% when running Firefox and Rythmbox, however this is still higher than on Gnome 2 or 3. Also I am unable to change to change the Windows settings. The error is "Cannot start the preferences application for your window manager. Window manager "compiz" has not registered a configuration tool."

[bdantas]

LMDE UP4 with MATE here
sh -c "killall -9 marco; compiz --replace" in Startup Applications got my cpu usage down, but 2 of 4 threads still at 40-50% (even though no marco processes were running! bizarre)
Then I replaced marco with compiz in mate-conf-editor and cpu usage went down to 0-2%. Beautiful Thanks for the tip, axl.

[llmb0611]

what worked for me...

create a new file wherever you wan't. i created it in home folder, named it killall.sh inside this file write this

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#!/bin/bash
sleep 30
killall -9 marco

i had to use sleep because it waits for compiz to start and then kilall works...
then in startup applications first add new startup entry to start compiz. name-compiz command- compiz and then add name- killall command- path to the killall.sh script. you have to allow the script to execute...you can do that with writing this in terminal

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chmod +x killall.sh

and try restart, it should work...

[Bill_MI]

Hey guys, Thanks for this thread. LMDE-UP4-RC Mate running fairly well with Compiz after arriving at bdantas' last setup. Didn't have to sleep anything. It starts up in EXPO zoomed out mode (no biggy).

This is nouveau driver on a 4 year old nVidia card that seems well supported around distros. I'd like to hear anyone's experience with nVidia drivers. It's jerkier than I expected but CPU seems fine (now).

I think I'm getting the window decorations from Cinnamon? Are most of you running Emerald? What source?

TIA

PS: I found a strange relationship with CPU usage and the theme setup in marco before it switches when I was starting compiz by CLI. Maybe I fooled myself.