Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

thisismynewhandle · 2010-04-26 04:18:47

Hello everyone,

I've been trying to move to a mostly CLI environment (no X).

I've in my /boot/grub/menu.lst I've changed my framebuffer from the default to a large resolution. When I do this and reboot, the framebuffer works, but the terminal seems to act slower when performing various functions.

For example, when I search within a manpage, instead of instantly jumping to the results it found, it will slowly scroll down the page. The same thing happens when I press spacebar in the less command. Another example is when I run tcpdump and output results to the screen, they output much slower than normal. It's almost painfully slow compared to the quickness I'm used to.

I've checked and this slowness does not occur when I do not set the framebuffer (just using the grub default). I've tried various supported resolutions, but I still experience the same slowness.

I'm aware this is kind of a weird/vague issue, but has anyone else experienced or solved this before?

Thanks!

Last edited by thisismynewhandle (2010-04-30 02:44:14)

sand_man · 2010-04-26 06:48:42

Same here. I just assumed it was just the nature of the framebuffer. But then again, if mplayer can play movies in the fb then I suppose you should be able to scroll text at a decent speed
Maybe someone else knows about this more than I.

skanky · 2010-04-26 08:27:58

It's not an uncommon problem, apparently.
Try the fix posted here: http://gddd.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/ad/

karol · 2010-04-26 23:26:33

> I've in my /boot/grub/menu.lst I've changed my framebuffer from the default to a large resolution.
How did you do it - KMS? Do vga options work w/ KMS?

thisismynewhandle · 2010-04-27 01:41:13

Thank you for the respones

skanky wrote:

It's not an uncommon problem, apparently.
Try the fix posted here: http://gddd.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/ad/

Tried this. It seemed to imrpove scrolling speed a little bit, but it might just be in my head

karol wrote:

> I've in my /boot/grub/menu.lst I've changed my framebuffer from the default to a large resolution.
How did you do it - KMS? Do vga options work w/ KMS?

I changed the framebuffer by appending "vga=0x37B" (or any other resolution) to the kernel line of my grub menu.list. I've never messed with kernel mode, but if I get the chance I'll do some research tonight and see what I find.

schen · 2010-04-27 01:51:27

If you have kernel 2.6.33, KMS is enabled by default. What drivers are you using? Do NOT append any framebuffer lines, as they conflict with KMS and slow your system down.

thisismynewhandle · 2010-04-27 02:38:03

I didn't realize that KMS was enabled by default now.

I have an NVIDIA GeForce9800 GT... just got the drivers from Pacman.

I tried adding MODULES="intel_agp drm i915" to /etc/mkinitcpio.conf and ran "mkinitcpio -p kernel26" then added "i915.modeset=1" to the kernel line in my /boot/grub/menu.lst file. Restarted, but didn't see any results.

My understanding is that if KMS is turned on and supported, the terminal resolution should configured by default. Is this correct? Up until now I've had a small resolution with an incorrect aspect ratio.

Thanks.

karol · 2010-04-27 02:46:16

> My understanding is that if KMS is turned on and supported, the terminal resolution should configured by default.
You should get a native resolution or sth thereabout. I'm not sure that all cards / drivers support KMS, but it shouldn't be an issue with the one you have (because it's a relatively new one).

The slowness you encountered may be related to font scaling, although it's a really wild guess.
I think that bitmapped fonts may be "faster" but many users don't like how they look.

thisismynewhandle · 2010-04-27 03:56:09

I get the feeling that kernel mode isn't on or my hardware doesn't support it. If it is, I can expect a native resolution. Native would be 1920x1080, but I'm getting 800x600 right now. Not even close.

Is there some way besides resolution to check if kernel mode is enabled on a live system?

karol · 2010-04-27 11:32:52

Did you try different drivers like nouveau?
http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/KernelModeSetting

SanskritFritz · 2010-04-27 11:37:47

I have the same problem and it drives me crazy. If there was a solution, I would be very happy to hear that.

nsa.wijayanto · 2010-04-27 11:54:07

@thisismynewhandle: you should use nouveau, not i915 (it's for intel integrated graphic chip). With nouveau, you should have native console/Xorg resolution using KMS, Please read this wiki entry to properly use and activate it http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Nouveau#KMS

Beware that when you intend to use Xorg, there is no support for 3D yet. For more info check this page http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/

Wintervenom · 2010-04-27 17:16:06

An interesting side note: you will not be able to change to ywrap mode in the VESA framebuffer if you are using 64-bit Arch and you have an AMD processor.

Last edited by Wintervenom (2010-04-27 17:16:20)

karol · 2010-04-27 17:51:06

On my other box I have an old nvidia GirlFriend (or is it GeForce?) FX 5500 that needs the old nvidia-173xx drivers. It is possible to install both those drivers (while removing libgl) and nouveau, but you get big fonts that way. If I remove the nvidia drivers (and reinstall libgl), the nouveau ones seem to take over and I get small fonts w/o changing a single line in my configuration files. It seem to just work.

schen · 2010-04-28 00:56:19

Nouveau seems to support KMS, however the official drivers don't seem to.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Nouveau

thisismynewhandle · 2010-04-29 03:12:32

As soon as I installed the Nouveau drivers, the framebuffer went to the native 1920x1080 resolution.

Thank you all for the help!

SanskritFritz · 2010-04-30 12:06:10

thisismynewhandle wrote:

As soon as I installed the Nouveau drivers, the framebuffer went to the native 1920x1080 resolution.
Thank you all for the help!

Also the speed is ok?

osirisgothra · 2014-06-05 19:29:47

try: sudo modprobe fb_vesa, suprisingly it wasnt loaded for me somehow and right afterwards my scrolling was like 2-3 times faster. Also, try using SMALLER fonts.. sounds wrong, but hear me out: When in a GUI, smaller means more to draw. When in text console, smaller FONT means that more data can fit on a line (and in the screen but that doesnt matter if the screen is full), therefore, less scrolling has to be done, and each line is smaller in height. stuff like fbterm is nice but you have to have permissions to use the /dev/fb0 so if you dont your out of luck. Also, you might even have to have permissions to use setfont, make sure you set your default font directory because it isnt set most of the time, and make sure you copy your favorite to a file named "default.psf[.tgz]" in that same folder, then you only need to type setfont alone to get the font to your favorite. (you can set that command in a stanza if you have upstart)

jasonwryan · 2014-06-05 22:10:01

Please don't necrobump: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … Bumping.27

Closing

Arch Linux

#1 2010-04-26 04:18:47

Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#2 2010-04-26 06:48:42

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#3 2010-04-26 08:27:58

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#4 2010-04-26 23:26:33

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#5 2010-04-27 01:41:13

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#6 2010-04-27 01:51:27

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#7 2010-04-27 02:38:03

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#8 2010-04-27 02:46:16

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#9 2010-04-27 03:56:09

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#10 2010-04-27 11:32:52

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#11 2010-04-27 11:37:47

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#12 2010-04-27 11:54:07

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#13 2010-04-27 17:16:06

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#14 2010-04-27 17:51:06

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#15 2010-04-28 00:56:19

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#16 2010-04-29 03:12:32

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#17 2010-04-30 12:06:10

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#18 2014-06-05 19:29:47

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

#19 2014-06-05 22:10:01

Re: Slow terminal performance [SOLVED]

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