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

DevAdv

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by DevAdv »

Any update on this?

Wondering because not only does the menu hang for a sec, I've noticed it hangs my entire system.

For instance, if I'm watching a movie and click menu, my movie and audio hangs until the menu appears.
Redsandro
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by Redsandro »

No (worthy) updates. :(
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cyborg666

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by cyborg666 »

I have the same problem, but alt+tab is also really slow for me.
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by Redsandro »

@cyborg666 yes for me too. :(
However, it's less of a problem because I usually memorize the alt-tab (often switching once or twice) and it works even if the graphics haven't shown up yet.
And some of the developers weren't very friendly on the bugtracker so I didn't dare to 'mention' more than one problem in the same year. 8)

For that reason, I am not sure if it's a lag bug or actually by design (so that the popup doesn't flash for a single alt-tab). Not that I agree with that, but illogical design choices is second nature to any linux project.
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nomko

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by nomko »

I notice that opening the menu goes fast, but when i click on an application it takes ages before application starts up! Most cases i go back to the menu and click the same application launcher again to find out that after a few centuries i have started the application twice or three times!! Why such a lag??
maxadamo

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by maxadamo »

This issue is not related to the hardware.
I have installed Cinnamon on 3 computers and I encounter the problem on all of them.
I have:
- 1 notebook with Nvidia video card and nvidia proprietary driver
- 1 notebook with AMD video card and ATI proprietary driver
- 1 desktop with Intel video card and opensource driver

Just few notes for clarification:
- this problem seems to happen with gnome-shell as well
- I don't use LinuxMint, but Ubuntu and I install Cinnamon from PPA.
- if I open the menu, the second consecutive time it's not slow. But if I do it later is slow again.
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by Redsandro »

Yes, it's the javascript functionality, presorting and caching of images or something.
Apparently, it's difficult to optimize because GNOME doesn't document their code very well concerning Shell (of which Cinnamon is a fork).

They have made some optimizations two months ago but I haven't tested them and I am not sure if they are either supposed to come with a regular update or have been pushed to 13.04.

See https://github.com/linuxmint/Cinnamon/pull/1469 for these updates.
And see https://github.com/linuxmint/Cinnamon/pull/1719 for some sweet 13.04 developments.
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by Redsandro »

Anyone with delay tried Mint 15 yet? Is this fixed?
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by k357k9 »

@Redsandro

I tested the LM15 Cinnamon off the DVD this very morning and the menu responded quickly. On the installed LM14, there was a definite delay -- even on the fastest themes.
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by gibbs1984 »

k357k9 wrote:@Redsandro

I tested the LM15 Cinnamon off the DVD this very morning and the menu responded quickly. On the installed LM14, there was a definite delay -- even on the fastest themes.
Off the LiveCD you're only going to have the default programmes installed which means it should load quicker.

It's certainly faster but it's not perfect yet in my opinion.
Linux Mint 20.3 (Cinnamon) 64bit.
dikdanger

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by dikdanger »

have you checked your video drivers? I noticed all types of issues when i had the software driver eating up all my CPU instead of the hardware based nvidia driver. I'm still a newb, but maybe it will help
zogoibi

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by zogoibi »

I can't agree more with the OP: Cinnamon menu DOES have (or at least DID have, last time I installed it) a big delay. This delay is, for me, unacceptable. So much so, that even though I'd be very willing to replace my KDE desktop with Cinnamon, I won't ever do it until after they've fixed this BUG. As to the people saying they experience no delay, I'm also inclined to believe, along with the OP, that these people, rather than experience no delay, simply have a great tolerance for delays.

I'll keep checking Cinnamon every X months and, the day I see no delay in the menu, I'll opt for Cinnamon as my default desktop of choice. :-)
phill1978

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by phill1978 »

Linux mint 15 64bit / AMD card & The menu felt initially a bit snappier on a fresh install but that could be a placebo of a few 1000th of a millisecond.

26 people who may or may not require a snappy opening menu? noticed little or no lag but a whopping 52 people said it was laggy !

cinnamon's menu is very slow, i mentioned this many times and bug reported but nothing. It has been laggy since day 1.

So bad is the menu that on earlier versions (although i cant try my current version as a mesa update just broke my desktop .. thanks mint team :twisted: ) you could actually press the menu button a few times and it would not know whether to open or close and get stuck and crash.

It is a FACT that the menu has input delay. You can click and it has a visual micro stammer as the fade in and fade out occurs. Its terrible !

I stuck with the awful Mint 15 release through all the bugs and problems and got my desktop amazing ! i really want to keep with cinnamon but the menu and bugs really need sorting rather than fancy animated logins :cry:

what are you guys playing at? you are making mint look better but work worse ?!
Espair

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by Espair »

I also notice a delay when opening the menu and also a delay in selection when hovering over items in menu. Cinnamon is very nice looking, but I've found i've been logging in under MATE for the sole reason there is no delay : (

running on lm 15 x64. There was also a delay in 14.
core 2 duo 1.8GHz (usually overclocked to 2.8)
ATI 4870 1GB video card

So my system is outdated, but its not terrible.
phill1978

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by phill1978 »

Espair wrote:I also notice a delay when opening the menu and also a delay in selection when hovering over items in menu. Cinnamon is very nice looking, but I've found i've been logging in under MATE for the sole reason there is no delay : (

running on lm 15 x64. There was also a delay in 14.
core 2 duo 1.8GHz (usually overclocked to 2.8)
ATI 4870 1GB video card

So my system is outdated, but its not terrible.
Yea, well im running a 6 core 1055T @ 4.0 ghz, 4GB 1600mhz RAM and its still slow !

I get the feeling that the mint team are very focused on a vision of how mint will look and feel over the next 5 years and are rolling forward making very nice adaptations and changes but when it comes to dealing with bugs or even testing the software there is a lot of silence and tumbleweeds
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by InkKnife »

I have always found the Cinnamon Menu to have a significant delay opening. Granted I am running a very old system, a P4ht@3.06/2GB ram, Intel 915g graphics, but every other element of Cinnamon is instant, the whole UI is very snappy...except for the menu.
I have been using Cinnamon since 1.3 and the delay has been in every version for me with all themes. All along I just reckoned it was my old hardware and just accepted this behavior because the Cinnamon as a whole is so nice.
I would love to find a way to speed things up if it's possible. Then Cinnamon would be damned near perfect.
i7 3770, 12GB of ram, 256GB SSD, 64GB SSD, 750GB HDD, 1TB HDD, Cinnamon.
Redsandro
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by Redsandro »

Oh this is so pissing me off.

Check out my specs:
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz × 8
Memory: 16GB DDR3
Storage /: 256GB SSD @ 500MB/second

This delay is unacceptable. How come the upstream* devs don't understand this?
I have long since replaced the unacceptable menu with [url=http://synapse.zeitgeist-project.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page]Synapse[/url]. Now all I need is [url=http://askubuntu.com/questions/138657/is-there-a-shell-independent-hud-like-menu-search-tool-for-gnome]HUD-support[/url] and it will be obsoleting the menu anyway.

But I have the same problem with the application switcher ([Alt] +
) which is also unacceptable. I have to do a lot of window switching lately for my job. This should be instant. Especially on this highest-grade computer. Does no one upstream have any idea about what is truly important in UX and desktop experience? Even the Windows 8 menu, which is an order of magnitude fancier, is instant. Are there any Synapse-like alternatives for application switching?

I've got 12 GB sitting empty most of the time. I can preload and see the entire Avatar movie instantly, but not the menu. Apparently, it's impossible to preload an application menu and application switchers within the current GNOME Shell codebase.

The crappy macBooks from my colleagues are snappier. They laugh at this powerful hardware literally lagging basic stuff. While they laugh, I cry, on the inside.

-edit-

For people who don't experience this, I have on average 12 (windowed) applications open and about 3200 packages installed:

Code: Select all

$ dpkg -l |grep ^ii | wc -l
3283
*) Mint devs said the problems are introduced upstream (GNOME) and are near impossible to fix due to lack of documentation. Which is scary. Because Shell (and it's fork Cinnamon) is the only thing close to keeping up with Windows and OSX IMO.
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ChrisOfBristol

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by ChrisOfBristol »

This is definitely a problem for me. I have switched back and forth between Cinnamon and Mate, because I keep hoping a new version of Cinnamon will sort it and then it doesn't and I sooner or later go back to Mate.

I have brought a friend's old computer back to life by replacing XP with Mint, and another friend is showing interest after a demo, but I am afraid it will have to be Mate as I won't damage Linux's reputation in front of a newcomer by installing an operating system where you have to wait for a disk access before you can see the menu.

I am finding it difficult to believe that so many changes have been made to Cinnamon without fixing this absolutely fundamental problem. Whoever needs to be persuaded and however difficult it is to change it has to be a very high priority. Remember Unity?

Yes 1781
(I started a topic on the same problem, but now phill1978 has told me about this one I will abandon it. This post is similar to my last one on that topic)
Last edited by ChrisOfBristol on Sat Aug 24, 2013 11:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
phill1978

Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by phill1978 »

I think the bigger issue is a wider one. Mint team can create / package some things like driver manager, Mint update etc.. but in reality Mint is very much like Ubuntu in its inception that is to say they (without sounding rude) other peoples great work and bring it all together in a cohesive manner, which is a great thing but also a bad thing.

its great because a dev just develops but a Distro team will take those ideas and make them work together. Its bad because cinnamon isn't just for Mint, its another area where its a technology taken from somewhere else and integrated into a product.

Its much like building a custom car, you place an engine in from one company, then the seats from another, the tyres from another company etc.. until you have the build. If it doesn't work you think you have to ask the kit car builder and not the people who made the individual parts to fix the issues.

Mint team are like car enthusiasts who have practically NO say over how the engine works or how good the door handles are.

Cinnamon team are like the sponsored race team that hold a company name but you cant contact them as they are just a load of closed off engineers who only listen to other engineers (Segfault take a step forward)

So the end user has no power because he is getting a kit car and not a product and has to hope that one day there will be some sort of joining of ideas and feedback. This usually only happens when money is involved.

the menu will get fixed, probably soon and not for the reasons that its slow in Linux mint, they don't care but for the reasons that the new code platform it goes on is new and cutting edge.. because they are engineers.

Its the exact reason Mint team people hardly ever frequent these forums... they cant actually do anything about it
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Re: Cinnamon and the slow menu from the stoneage

Post by Redsandro »

Cinnamon 2.0 came out last week. :D
Has anyone been adventurous enough to try it out yet?

I am wondering if someone over at Gnome (Upstream) or Cinnamon (Mint team) has fixed these usability issues yet.

Because so far, Cinnamon and Shell have been beautiful in visuals but clumsy in code.

An application menu or launcher that is not instant is unacceptable as long as half my computer memory is unused (which is always).

Still using Synapse.

I think alternatives Kupfer and Gnome-do are dead. Not that I use them, but why are projects that are good for your blood pressure so unpopular?
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