SliTaz Forum

Tim

Member

Registered: 2016-02-13

Posts: 11

Using the correct (!) Xorg graphics driver slows down PCMANFM file manager

Hi all,

I'm facing a pretty weird performance problem with my Thinkpad T42p notebook.

I run the most recent "Slitaz 5.0 rc4 Rolling".

According to lspci the graphics adapter is

1002:4e54  01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV350/M10 GL [Mobility FireGL T2] (rev 80)

So, here's the story.

1. when running Slitaz (no matter from Live-CD or HD-install) just out of the box with no additional packages installed, the performance of PCManFM is smooth. Xorg does not use the ati module respectively the radeon module and tells me so in /var/log/xorg.log.0

2. After installing the suitable Xorg driver module package "xorg-xf86-video-ati" the xorg.log.0 looks completely different, showing no more errors, all acceleration and stuff are enabled and everything looks fine at first sight.

However, when I start to browse my file system in PCManFM it takes a second or so to open a folder. Same goes for dual-panel view. Switching between the left and right panel takes ca. 1 sec.

Removing the driver package results in improved PCManFM performance. So, it is reproducible.

I have no clue where to start searching for a possible reason.

I've tested various parameters with the respective "radeon" kernel module and also with the options of the Xorg driver itself, but did not succeed in bringing the performance to the expected level.

Any ideas anyone? I'd greatly appreciate it :-)

Tim

az_ua

Moderator

Registered: 2014-05-02

Posts: 284

Re: Using the correct (!) Xorg graphics driver slows down PCMANFM file manager

Try new ati driver, requires HD-install and reboot after installation:

http://people.slitaz.org/~az_ua/m/x/xorg-xf86-video-ati-7.5.0.tazpkg

http://people.slitaz.org/~az_ua/m/x/libdrm-2.4.59.tazpkg

http://people.slitaz.org/~az_ua/m/x/libdrm-radeon-2.4.59.tazpkg

Tim

Member

Registered: 2016-02-13

Posts: 11

Re: Using the correct (!) Xorg graphics driver slows down PCMANFM file manager

Hello az_ua,

thanks for your quick feedback.

I did as you suggested and installed the 3 packages without errors, but the problem stayed the same. PCManFM has still poor response times.

As the rest of the system seems to work as expected, I wonder if it might be something that lies within the PCManFM code...

Do you think it makes sense to contact the PCManFM authors?

Or is there a newer version of PCManFM somewhere in the Slitaz universe?

(Remark: just now I tried to compile the latest PCManFM version from source on my Slitaz system, but I failed to resolve all the dependencies, some packages do not exist at all in the rolling repos..)