Ubuntu
unity package

Dash performance issues with 'Active Blur' enabled

Bug #824890 reported by Jono Bacon on 2011-08-11

128

This bug affects 25 people

	Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
Unity	Fix Released	Critical	Jason Smith	Unity 4.10.0
unity (Ubuntu)	Fix Released	Critical	Canonical Desktop Experience Team
Oneiric	Fix Released	Critical	Canonical Desktop Experience Team

Bug Description

With the new Unity with it's nicely blurred dash, using the dash is noticeably slower on my Mobile Intel® GM45 Express Chipset x86/MMX/SSE2 - I can see this in general use and if I move my mouse quickly over the large icons in the Home lens the overlay over each icon drags behind quite a bit.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: unity 4.8.0-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-8.10-generic 3.0.1
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-8-generic i686
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,decor,mousepoll,vpswitch,regex,animation,snap,expo,move,compiztoolbox,place,grid,imgpng,gnomecompat,wall,ezoom,workarounds,staticswitcher,resize,fade,unitymtgrabhandles,scale,session,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Thu Aug 11 16:55:08 2011
DistUpgraded: Log time: 2011-07-13 12:27:27.246539
DistroCodename: oneiric
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus: virtualbox, 4.1.0, 3.0.0-8-generic, i686: installed
GraphicsCard:
Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a42] (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:20e4]
   Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:20e4]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Alpha i386 (20110202)
MachineType: LENOVO 7417CTO
PccardctlIdent:
Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
Socket 0:
   no card
ProcEnviron:
PATH=(custom, no user)
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-8-generic root=UUID=70dfeb40-de6f-4ce0-9058-9ba257c3facd ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-07-13 (29 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 11/26/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 7UET81WW (3.11 )
dmi.board.name: 7417CTO
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr7UET81WW(3.11):bd11/26/2009:svnLENOVO:pn7417CTO:pvrThinkPadT400:rvnLENOVO:rn7417CTO:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 7417CTO
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T400
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.5.0-0ubuntu5
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.26-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.11-0ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.11-0ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+7ubuntu6
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 2:2.15.901-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110411+8378443-1

Tags:

Related branches

lp:~ubuntu-desktop/unity/ubuntu (Merged)

lp:ubuntu/oneiric/unity

Revision history for this message

Jono Bacon (jonobacon) wrote on 2011-08-11:

BootDmesg.txt Edit (83.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
BootLog.gz Edit (181 bytes, application/x-gzip)
CurrentDmesg.txt Edit (8.7 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Dependencies.txt Edit (5.7 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
DpkgLog.txt Edit (749.4 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
GconfCompiz.txt Edit (36.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
GdmLog.txt Edit (23.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
GdmLog1.txt Edit (26.4 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
GdmLog2.txt Edit (25.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
LightdmDisplayLog.txt Edit (991 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
LightdmGreeterLog.txt Edit (7.7 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
LightdmLog.txt Edit (15.5 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Lspci.txt Edit (17.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Lsusb.txt Edit (1.0 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcCpuinfo.txt Edit (1.6 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcInterrupts.txt Edit (1.9 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
ProcModules.txt Edit (3.3 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
UdevDb.txt Edit (155.3 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
UdevLog.txt Edit (343.0 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
UnitySupportTest.txt Edit (619 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
XorgLog.txt Edit (41.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
XorgLogOld.txt Edit (44.8 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
Xrandr.txt Edit (6.6 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
locale.txt Edit (327 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
monitors.xml.txt Edit (874 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
peripherals.txt Edit (639 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
setxkbmap.txt Edit (233 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
xdpyinfo.txt Edit (9.7 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
xinput.txt Edit (1.2 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
xkbcomp.txt Edit (54.1 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")

Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel) on 2011-08-12

Changed in unity (Ubuntu Oneiric):
importance:	Undecided → High
status:	New → Confirmed
importance:	High → Critical
assignee:	nobody → Canonical Desktop Experience Team (canonical-dx-team)
tags:	added: regression-release

Revision history for this message

Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel) wrote on 2011-08-12:

Thanks for your report. Confirmed with latest updates applied with the following graphics card

Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (primary) [8086:2a02]

Changed in unity:
status:	New → Confirmed

Revision history for this message

Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel) wrote on 2011-08-12:

Setting 'Dash Blur' to 'Static Blur' in ccsm / Unity Plugin / Experimental' makes it work a bit faster.

Revision history for this message

Jono Bacon (jonobacon) wrote on 2011-08-12:

I can confirm that using the static blur works far faster and no blur faster too. I assume therefore that this is an issue with the Active Blur code.

Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel) on 2011-08-12

summary:

- Dash much slower on my Intel graphics hardware
+ Dash much slower on my Intel graphics hardware with 'Active Blur'
+ enabled

Revision history for this message

willy (william-lety) wrote on 2011-08-13: Re: Dash much slower on my Intel graphics hardware with 'Active Blur' enabled

Same problem with ATI

Revision history for this message

Michael Flaig (mflaig) wrote on 2011-08-13:

Same issue here with active blur enabled

Nvidia ION2 System.
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT218 [ION] (rev a2)
Driver nvidia-current

Works fluid with static blur, but with active blur enabled I see some bad performance.

i.E. moving windows is laggy. The windows follows the cursor with a high delay.
The new Window Switcher is also very slow and has a noticeable delay - with static blur its better but still not comfortable BTW.

Revision history for this message

Joaquin (jknvv13) wrote on 2011-08-13:

I have the same issue with blur activated on a nVidia GeForce G210 GPU, with Nouveau (opensource) drivers (I can't install propietary drivers)

Revision history for this message

Joaquin (jknvv13) wrote on 2011-08-13:

In Unity2D it's super fast. It's possible to mix Unity2D and Compiz, to make a better Unity, light for slow computers (it will turn off effects) and faster for new computers (if hardware supports, will turn on effects)
And the Dash has better speed and beauty.

Jono Bacon (jonobacon) on 2011-08-16

summary:

- Dash much slower on my Intel graphics hardware with 'Active Blur'
- enabled
+ Dash performance issues with 'Active Blur' enabled

Revision history for this message

Neil J. Patel (njpatel) wrote on 2011-08-19:

Hi guys, we made some fixes to the active blur in this weeks release which has made performance better on our test systems (mostly Intel i945 netbooks). Please test unity -4.8.2 which it reaches your mirror of choice :)

@joaquin: Unity 2d doesn't do active blur, if it did it would have the same problem :-)

Changed in unity:
assignee:	nobody → Jason Smith (jassmith)
importance:	Undecided → High
milestone:	none → 4.10.0
importance:	High → Critical

Revision history for this message

Paul Sladen (sladen) wrote on 2011-08-19:

#10

njpatel: (waiting for 4.8.2!). Could the blurring algorithm be made scalable, so that it perhaps degrades, but also ensures that it keeps within a particular FPS/CPU bound?

Revision history for this message

Jono Bacon (jonobacon) wrote on 2011-08-22:

#11

I am running 4.8.2-0ubuntu4 and this is a lot better on my Intel card, but it is still a little laggy when hovering the mouse over icons and scrolling. When playing video behind the dash it is very laggy. Scrolling over a video is more laggy too.

Neil J. Patel (njpatel) on 2011-08-25

Changed in unity:
status:	Confirmed → Fix Committed

Revision history for this message

Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote on 2011-08-25:

#12

This bug was fixed in the package unity - 4.10.0-0ubuntu1

---------------
unity (4.10.0-0ubuntu1) oneiric; urgency=low

  * New upstream release:
    - unity task switcher (alt-tab, alt-down) shows empty spaces for iconified
      windows in window detail mode (lp: #828348)
    - compiz crashed with SIGSEGV in
      unity::DeviceLauncherIcon::OnStopDriveReady() (lp: #824093)
    - Dash performance issues with 'Active Blur' enabled (lp: #824890)
    - compiz crashed with SIGABRT in raise() when setting background
      to full color (lp: #829049)
    - Dragging from dash to launcher still doesn't work (lp: #824833)
    - .desktops dragged on to unity launcher will not be added to
       com.canonical.Unity.Launcher favorites unless moved in the launcher
       (lp: #830536)
    - application's menu shown when the cursor is a little left
      to window controls (lp: #820293)
    - Ubuntu Start launcher item should always start the dash with
      the Home screen (lp: #825034)
    - search spinner does not stop hence nothing can be launched with
      the Return key (lp: #824836)
  * debian/control: updated nux requirement
  * debian/rules: updated shlibs
-- Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:40:18 +0200

Changed in unity (Ubuntu Oneiric):
status:	Confirmed → Fix Released

Omer Akram (om26er) on 2011-08-25

Changed in unity:
status:	Fix Committed → Fix Released

Revision history for this message

manny (estelar57) wrote on 2011-09-05:

#13

still experiencing this problem on ATI card:

bug report here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/841527

Revision history for this message

Danillo (danillo) wrote on 2011-10-03:

#14

I'm still experiencing dash performance issues on an Intel GM965 with Unity 4.20.0 using fully updated Oneiric Beta 2. It's still lagging, with jerky animations, and it's nearly impossible to drag and drop (see bug #851172).

Revision history for this message

X (s-u) wrote on 2012-03-30:

#15

dash blur in precise beta 2 is a bit better than oneiric, still not as smooth as I'd like it to be(*cough gnome shell), and "no blur" option is completely unusable compare to oneiric.

Revision history for this message

bwat47 (bwat47) wrote on 2012-07-05:

#16

active blur performance is still pretty poor on my intel ironlake hd card. If I open the dash if I have a video playing everything takes a ride to laggytown.

Revision history for this message

Igor Wojnicki (wojnicki) wrote on 2013-03-11:

#17

Same here, ATI. And it's not better with Raring.

Revision history for this message

Jan Nekvasil (jan-nekvasil) wrote on 2013-03-11:

#18

ATI RV620 [Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series], Raring, radeon driver. Switching off active blur has no effect for me. It seem like it's Dash's fade in/out what takes most of the time. Unfortunately there is no way (yet) to change that in CCSM, it's harcoded. One has to edit the source code and recompile whole compiz. Did anyone tried that already?

Revision history for this message

TomasHnyk (sup) wrote on 2013-05-03:

#19

It feels slow to me but it does not take ages. I opened a new bug with my observations: bug 1176105 .

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Ubuntuunity package

Dash performance issues with 'Active Blur' enabled

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unity package