v21.1: Alt-Tab slow to start at 200%

[endlisnis]

Ever since I upgraded from Mint v21.0 to v21.1, I noticed a delay when pressing alt-tab.

I know there is an intentional (configurable) delay before the app list shows up, but even when I set that to "0", I still get the same behaviour.

Here is my behaviour: After pressing Alt+Tab, it can take about half a second before the list of apps shows up. Oddly, this delay only happens after a new window (of any application) is opened or closed. It's as if it has the list of windows cached or something. If I press Alt+Tab again (without opening or closing a window), then the app list pops up with no obvious delay.

I've tried all the settings in "System Settings" / "Alt-Tab"; including every single "Alt-Tab switcher style". They all suffer the exact same delay.

I have my "monitor scale" set to "200%" and I have two 4k screens.

If I remove one screen, then I still see a similar problem.

If I just have a single 1080p screen with no scaling, then the delay is mostly gone.

https://termbin.com/rfwq

[endlisnis]

If anything, this seems to be getting worse over time.
Sometimes, it now takes 3 or 4 seconds for the Alt+Tab window to show up.

I also noticed that the Ctrl+Alt+Down option has an equal delay before it starts showing all the windows.

[mikeflan]

Switching between desktops slowed down a little for me, but a computer restart and applying all the updates I had been putting off for a month fixed the problem. Is your swap file 2.0 GB and essentially all of it is being used? After fixing my problem is am at 340M / 2.0 G.

[endlisnis]

I have all updates applied. I've rebooted several times with no change.

I have 17GB of swap space, and I'm currently using 2.7GB.

I have 16GB of RAM, and I'm only using 10GB right now.

It seems independent of the amount of CPU usage, or memory usage.

I'm tempted to try a reinstall, except the normal live USB images don't work on my system which makes it tricky to install (I have an nVidia video card, and I have my internal Intel video chipset disabled -- because it was causing trouble).

[motoryzen]

endlisnis...have you tried just setting the scaling back to default/stock/100% ..just to see if there is a performance difference? I'm not saying stick with that if your monitor's are of a size that is ..in your opinion big enough to warrant such a much different zoom/visual scaling level.

Just to rule it out.

[endlisnis]

endlisnis...have you tried just setting the scaling back to default/stock/100% ..just to see if there is a performance difference? I'm not saying stick with that if your monitor's are of a size that is ..in your opinion big enough to warrant such a much different zoom/visual scaling level.

Just to rule it out.

Hrrm... I had not tried that out, thanks for the suggestion. That has a very big impact on this bug. When I set it back to 100%, there is almost no delay.

Unfortunately, I use that scaling factor because (without it) many of my applications are challenging to use (the fonts and controls are SO SMALL that they are hard to see).

[motoryzen]

Unfortunately, I use that scaling factor because (without it) many of my applications are challenging to use (the fonts and controls are SO SMALL that they are hard to see).

I can definitely empathize with that. When I went from my acer 144hz 1440p 27 inch monitor to my now 32" UHD 144hz Viewsonic. I had to figure something out fast for Openshot

Then I stumbled on to it... I forgot the site off memory but using the following text file turned to bashscript and made executable.... problem solved

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
# Batch file to call OpenShot

# Enable High DPI Scaling
export QT_ENABLE_HIGHDPI_SCALING=1
# Set the Scale Factor
export QT_SCALE_FACTOR=1.33

# Launch OpenShot in the environment
/usr/bin/openshot-qt

Beyond openshot, sorry I haven't any ideas yet without knowing what software you referred to.

[endlisnis]

Beyond openshot, sorry I haven't any ideas yet without knowing what software you referred to.

Well, the first one I run into is Cinnamon's own system tray. The system icons icons are so small that I can barely see them.

[motoryzen]

Well, the first one I run into is Cinnamon's own system tray. The system icons icons are so small that I can barely see them.

Ok. Well unless you easily have more than 22 panel items imo ).... you can always increase the size of the panel to around 48 ( I think 47 makes is noticeably differently sized than 48)

** ( and ymmv given your monitor's screen size versus resolution ..remember. I'm on a 32 inch 3840x2160p screen with 100% User interface scaling aka stock in the Display settings application and 1.0 Text scaling factor in the Fonts Selection settings application, but have Segoe UI regular 14 as my Desktop font type and size ..IF..that matters ) ***

[endlisnis]

you can always increase the size of the panel to around 48

Yes, I've been able to resize the panel itself, but not the icons in the system tray. Like the one that shows the audio volume, or the network stat, or that updates are waiting. Those are still tiny.