Ubuntu
unity package

alt-tab switcher is extremely slow

Bug #912756 reported by Dean Henrichsmeyer on 2012-01-06

This bug report is a duplicate of: Bug #836023: New Unity Alt-Tab switcher window is slow to appear. Edit Remove

This bug affects 13 people

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	Unity	Confirmed	Undecided	Unassigned
	unity (Ubuntu)	Confirmed	Undecided	Unassigned

Bug Description

The alt-tab switcher is extremely slow. I literally hold the alt key, hit tab, and then wait a few seconds for my key press to be registered by the switcher. It makes it unusable.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: unity 4.24.0-0ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-7.13-generic 3.2.0-rc7
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-7-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 1.90-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,place,grid,mousepoll,gnomecompat,vpswitch,move,regex,resize,session,animation,wall,imgpng,unitymtgrabhandles,snap,workarounds,fade,expo,scale,ezoom,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Fri Jan 6 07:35:34 2012
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: precise
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
fglrx-updates, 8.911, 3.0.0-14-generic, x86_64: installed
fglrx-updates, 8.911, 3.2.0-7-generic, x86_64: installed
GraphicsCard:
ATI Technologies Inc Cedar PRO [Radeon HD 5450] [1002:68f9] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Dell XPS 8300 [1028:010e]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
JockeyStatus:
xorg:fglrx_updates - ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver (post-release updates) (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
xorg:fglrx - ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
MachineType: Dell Inc. XPS 8300
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-7-generic root=UUID=d16fbb2d-b466-4e7e-a654-f170338c213f ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 02/15/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A03
dmi.board.name: 0Y2MRG
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA03:bd02/15/2011:svnDellInc.:pnXPS8300:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0Y2MRG:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: XPS 8300
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.6+bzr20110929-0ubuntu8
version.fglrx-installer: fglrx-installer N/A
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs 20090808ubuntu32
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.29-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.11-0ubuntu4
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.11-0ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.10.4-1ubuntu6
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.6.0-1ubuntu13
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.99~git20110811.g93fc084-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.15.901-1ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20111201+b5534a1-1

Tags:

Revision history for this message

Dean Henrichsmeyer (dean) wrote on 2012-01-06:

BootDmesg.txt Edit (68.7 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
BootLog.gz Edit (594 bytes, application/x-gzip)
CurrentDmesg.txt Edit (15.1 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Dependencies.txt Edit (6.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
DpkgLog.txt Edit (1.3 MiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
GconfCompiz.txt Edit (28.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Lspci.txt Edit (8.7 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Lsusb.txt Edit (788 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcCpuinfo.txt Edit (7.1 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcEnviron.txt Edit (138 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcInterrupts.txt Edit (3.4 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcModules.txt Edit (2.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
UdevDb.txt Edit (130.7 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
UdevLog.txt Edit (255.0 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
UnitySupportTest.txt Edit (605 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
XorgConf.txt Edit (114 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
XorgLog.txt Edit (117.5 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
XorgLogOld.txt Edit (77.4 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Xrandr.txt Edit (7.5 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
dmidecode.txt.txt Edit (13.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
locale.txt Edit (331 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
peripherals.txt Edit (701 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
setxkbmap.txt Edit (233 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
xdpyinfo.txt Edit (21.4 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
xinput.txt Edit (765 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
xkbcomp.txt Edit (54.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")

Rick Spencer (rick-rickspencer3) on 2012-01-12

Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
assignee:	nobody → Canonical Desktop Team (canonical-desktop-team)

Sebastien Bacher (seb128) on 2012-01-12

Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
assignee:	Canonical Desktop Team (canonical-desktop-team) → Canonical Desktop Experience Team (canonical-dx-team)

Revision history for this message

Dean Henrichsmeyer (dean) wrote on 2012-01-12:

To be clear, the switcher comes up quickly, it's the tabbing between applications that takes seconds to register. I'm a little suspect that the behavior is isolated to ATI cards but I'm not certain.

Revision history for this message

Jason Smith (jassmith) wrote on 2012-01-30:

I'll need to find some hardware that can reproduce this issue. Likely this is a texture loading issue. It's possible one of our textures is hitting a very bad path on a driver somewhere.

Revision history for this message

Jason Smith (jassmith) wrote on 2012-01-30:

Just to note, we hit a similar bug on intel not long ago with Alt-Tab. We worked around that, I suspect this will happen with this too.

Revision history for this message

Dean Henrichsmeyer (dean) wrote on 2012-01-30:

FWIW, the xserver-xorg-video-ati driver performs much better than the fglrx driver. It still lags when you successively hit tab to move to the next application but it's much better than the fglrx driver.

Revision history for this message

Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote on 2012-02-08:

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status:	New → Confirmed

Revision history for this message

Omer Akram (om26er) wrote on 2012-03-28:

Thanks for taking time to report and helping to make ubuntu better. Its been a while since bug was reported, there have been alot of changes in Unity over the last couple of months. Can you please try the latest ISO of the Ubuntu 12.04 beta and let us know if the issue have been resolved for you.

Changed in unity:
status:	New → Incomplete
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
assignee:	Canonical Desktop Experience Team (canonical-dx-team) → nobody
status:	Confirmed → Incomplete

Revision history for this message

Dean Henrichsmeyer (dean) wrote on 2012-03-28:

Yes, I can confirm that the alt-tab switcher is still slow on my system with the latest precise updates. It's much faster on my intel based laptop.

It is better than it was, but you still hit tab and wait for it to switch to the next item.

Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status:	Incomplete → Confirmed
Changed in unity:
status:	Incomplete → Confirmed

Revision history for this message

Rasmus (rasmus-up) wrote on 2012-03-28:

I've tried Ubuntu 12.04 Beta1 with a "Radeon HD 3400 Series" card with the radeon driver and the switcher issue seems to be gone.

Revision history for this message

Rasmus (rasmus-up) wrote on 2012-04-27:

#10

I've now upgraded to 12.04 from 11.10 and the switcher is still slow.
As mentioned in my last comment the switcher issue was gone when I tried beta1 (booted from USB).

Revision history for this message

skyjumper (x-skyjumper-launchpad) wrote on 2012-05-07:

#11

This problem affects me too, and makes the alt-tab switcher almost unusable. Sometimes there's over a second of delay.

Using the nvidia binary driver with this chip on a thinkpad:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G84M [Quadro FX 570M] (rev a1)

Revision history for this message

skyjumper (x-skyjumper-launchpad) wrote on 2012-05-15:

#12

FYI this problem has almost completely gone away after upgrading nvidia-current from 295.40-0ubuntu1 to the 295.49-0ubuntu1~precise~xup1 version in the ubuntu-x-swat PPA: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/x-updates

Revision history for this message

Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt) wrote on 2012-05-16:

#13

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 836023, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Feel free to continue to report any other bugs you may find.

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alt-tab switcher is extremely slow

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unity package