Cinnamon 2 Laggy

[bkovacs]

Clem, when are the Cinnamon effects going to be smooth and "quick" as OSX or KDE. Whenever I open a folder or application in Cinnamon, the effect always seems laggy. It doesn't flow as nice as OSX or KDE on Linux. This definately needs to be worked on. I am also using a fairly new Nvidia graphics card.

[passerby]

I am also using a fairly new Nvidia graphics card.

That could be the exact problem. Cinnamon has issues with many Nvidia cards.
It works well with decent Intel HD graphics and AMD cards. On compatible hardware, Cinnamon is much smoother than OSX and KDE, IMO.

[nomko]

Cinnamon has issues with many Nvidia cards.

Based on what? Any links? Info perhaps?

There's not much of an issue between Cinnamon and Nvidia, in 99.9% of all cases it's a matter of installing the correct Nvidia graphic driver...

It works well with decent Intel HD graphics and AMD cards.

I think you don't realise that it's the other way around...

ATI, and later AMD, was never that good supported under Linux. It's since a few years that the support is getting better. Nvidia has always been very well supported out-of-the-box. And Intel.... That's a different story. It's supported, but just basically supported.

On compatible hardware, Cinnamon is much smoother than OSX and KDE

KDE has much more bells and whistles and fancy eye-candy than Cinnamon and just for that KDE consumes more system recourses. Cinnamon is more for the normal, straight forward user who wants a nice desktop but without all the X-mas decoration.

@ bkovacs:
You can install the current Nvidia driver by using the following terminal command:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current nvidia-settings

When the installation is finished, run the following command:

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sudo nvidia-xconfig

Then reboot and when everything goes well, you should notice some improvement!

[passerby]

Based on what? Any links? Info perhaps?

There's not much of an issue between Cinnamon and Nvidia, in 99.9% of all cases it's a matter of installing the correct Nvidia graphic driver...

Based on personal experience with three different nvidia cards, each tested with different proprietary and free drivers alike.
Based on routine complaints about Cinnamon's sluggish performance from people with nvidia cards, here, on the ubuntu forums, askubuntu, and other forums.
Not gonna pollute the thread with links, but for example:
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=115502 (up to date, at the time, proprietary drivers, also claims to have seen the issue on other forums)
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2162446 (nvidia cards all around, worked for one, one needed a hack, the other it still didn't work)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2001465 (not as recent, but same deal; proprietary drivers, attempts many fixes, nothing works)
Yes, some people have good experiences with Cinnamon and nvidia. But proprietary drivers or not, a claim of 99.9% is delusional.

I think you don't realise that it's the other way around...

ATI, and later AMD, was never that good supported under Linux. It's since a few years that the support is getting better. Nvidia has always been very well supported out-of-the-box. And Intel.... That's a different story. It's supported, but just basically supported.

I won't argue the AMD front. I don't own an AMD card and have no immediate plans on buying one. My statement about AMD cards was based purely on a lack of complaints about Cinnamon not working well on them.
Intel, on the other hand, I disagree with. Intel HD graphics have come a long way. To claim they're barely supported, one of us has to be missing something there.
Intel HD graphics are at the point where they can proper 3D games from steam at a good speed. (Source? Go check Phoronix, or even Youtube)
My laptop, with its first-gen i3 and lack of a graphics card, runs Cinnamon surprisingly well.

KDE has much more bells and whistles and fancy eye-candy than Cinnamon and just for that KDE consumes more system recourses. Cinnamon is more for the normal, straight forward user who wants a nice desktop but without all the X-mas decoration.

I never claimed Cinnamon had more bells and whistles. Smoother != fancier.
Unless you're saying that it's smoother because it lacks the bells and whistles, in which case I agree that Cinnamon is a more straight-forward desktop.



Anyway, all of that aside, hopefully it is as simple as bkovacs having overlooked the proprietary driver. I shouldn't have assumed he already had it, since we don't yet know.

[Daniel4lm]

I would not say that Cinnamon doesn't work well on most Nvidia cards. I am always had Nvidia cards and Cinnamon has always worked fast and smooth.

[js3915]

which nvidia drivers are being used? I know on Mint 15 nvidia current was 310... I know it wasnt the latest driver 325 has been out for awhile and there was a release between 325 and 310.

[bkovacs]

Put a Macbook Pro with OSX side by side with a laptop (similar specs) with Mint 15/16 RC and start opening and closing windows and tell me which effects are quicker and smoother. I have and OSX wins hands down. Mint needs to do it better. OSX Mavericks is the standard and Mint Cinnamon needs to strive to be equal or better in responsiveness and smoothness. My rant!.

[nomko]

which nvidia drivers are being used? I know on Mint 15 nvidia current was 310... I know it wasnt the latest driver 325 has been out for awhile and there was a release between 325 and 310.

I awlays install the current drivers with this terminal command:

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sudo apt-get install nvidia-current

This driver works the best for me!

[js3915]

I awlays install the current drivers with this terminal command:

Code: Select all
sudo apt-get install nvidia-current


This driver works the best for me!

I dont know why for me but had issues with the nvidia 310 driver in some programs i used in Mint 15 had better success with the actual current release of nvidia which was 318 then 325 which for some reason i couldnt get with apt-get nvidia-current

[clfarron4]

From what I've been hearing, I would point the finger at getting the right drivers for the card you are using, as it can have a massive difference from one to the other.

About the AMD cards, if you have a 5xxx series or higher, one will have decent performance for Linux (not as good as nVidia). I have reasonable performance out of my AMD Radeon 6480G, but there is still a long way to go before the performance is toe-to-toe with Windows.

[drewdlekins]

Running Cinnamon 2 on an Intel 965M chipset using Xorg open source drivers. Five year old laptop, no lag here. I suspect there are hang-ups with the Nvidia driver and how the DE talks to it. I used to own a Lenovo ThinkPad with Nvidia card, and KDE would run super-smooth, but everything else would be very laggy when running the binary driver (tried Unity, Gnome 3, Cinnamon, etc). This was a year ago though, so I can't compare the Lenovo's hardware using Cinnamon 2 as the DE. I just figured I'd stand up and be counted as having an old-as-dirt Intel graphics card that is running well.