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#1 2010-08-03 12:40:42

gauthma
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Registered: 2010-02-16
Posts: 215
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Lightweight KDE

OK, I realize that the subject phrase might sound like a conundrum to some, but bear with me. I'm a long time user of KDE, both for the desktop and laptop. And I use a lot of software designed for KDE (amarok, KMess, ktorrent, not to mention Kontact and KMail, among others). Now the problem is that, specially on the laptop, KDE4 drags itself. It's a 2.5 years old Sony Vaio, with 2GB of memory (and it's not possible to increase that, because the motherboard does not support it). I've been considering other environments, like enlightenment or lxde, but the thing holding me back is to know whether all the "K-software" I use will run seamlessly. So before actually changing, I thought of asking if anyone has any good tips on how to decrease KDE4's big resource consumption. All ideas are welcomed...

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#2 2010-08-03 12:50:43

mythus
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From: MS Gulf Coast
Registered: 2008-05-15
Posts: 509
Website

Re: Lightweight KDE

Greetings,

For the record, qt/kde software works fine in any wm/de. I am, for example, running nothing but KDE software + firefox in enlightenment 17 just fine. It would also look fine in say pekwm and whatnot.


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#3 2010-08-03 12:51:27

splittercode
Member
From: WI, USA
Registered: 2010-03-16
Posts: 203

Re: Lightweight KDE

Have you replaced KWin with another window manager?  Have you disabled Nepomunk and/or Akonadi?  Those are the most common performance crushers in KDE.  You can easily find a ton of threads about this issue if you search the forums.  Or are you asking if KDE apps will lag in another DE?

Last edited by splittercode (2010-08-03 12:52:15)

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#4 2010-08-03 12:52:07

Skripka
Member
From: 2X1280X1024
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 555

Re: Lightweight KDE

What is dragging?
-Out of RAM?
-HDD i/o is maxing out?
-CPU is pinging 100%

Do you use Nepomuk?  If not turn it off.

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#5 2010-08-03 13:03:08

karoshi
Member
From: Marburg
Registered: 2008-02-26
Posts: 182

Re: Lightweight KDE

well,

- desktop search > disable strigi
- desktop effects > turn animation speed to "instant"
- desktop effects > i'm only using "desktop grid" and "present windows" (don't need fancy animations here)
- run "oxygen-settings", widget style > animations > disable, window decorations > general > disable animations, window decorations > shadows > do not draw shadows

i'm using an AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2500+ (1833MHz) with 2GB RAM and an GeForce 6200, KDE is very fast and useable with this settings.

EDIT: Its not Nepomuk or Akonadi who "crushes performance", it's just strigi, please people: inform yourselves before giving people advises...

EDIT: In "desktop effects" also disable "shadows" and "various animations"

Last edited by karoshi (2010-08-03 13:13:10)


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#6 2010-08-03 16:06:46

Labello
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From: Germany
Registered: 2010-01-21
Posts: 317
Website

Re: Lightweight KDE

sorry guys but all these hints are just plain stupid and senseless.

if someone uses KDE and disables akonadi, nepomuk and strigi there is nearly no point left to actually use KDE since these features are pretty unique to kde.

so either you use kde to get some fancy desktop-indexing and nice PIM-integration and maybe some useful widgets, or you use a cluttered combination of WM + Panel + Software where you get the same functionality without the then useless KDE-stuff in the background :-)


"They say just hold onto your hope but you know if you swallow your pride you will choke"
Alexisonfire - Midnight Regulations

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#7 2010-08-03 16:11:34

Skripka
Member
From: 2X1280X1024
Registered: 2009-02-19
Posts: 555

Re: Lightweight KDE

Labello wrote:

sorry guys but all these hints are just plain stupid and senseless.

if someone uses KDE and disables akonadi, nepomuk and strigi there is nearly no point left to actually use KDE since these features are pretty unique to kde.

Huh?

I honestly don't even understand the point of those indexing engines.  I've never used them, and all they do is cause my HDD to sweat and choke up disk i/o requests.  Although I do know where I put things and don't need an indexer to tell me.

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#8 2010-08-03 16:20:06

Labello
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From: Germany
Registered: 2010-01-21
Posts: 317
Website

Re: Lightweight KDE

yeah.

i never said that file indexing is for everyone. it might be cool for large and messy collections of still properly tagged image, movie and music collections. but for someone who is eager to keep his stuff organized it is somehow senseless. that's right.

but nepomuk, akonadi and strigi are things that make kde stand out. most of the other stuff is available in [put favourite DE here] too. and this is my point. someone with low system specs should not use kde if he does not desperately need kde-only features like the aformentioned xD if it is just for the eye-candy you have got to live with sluggish performance :-)


"They say just hold onto your hope but you know if you swallow your pride you will choke"
Alexisonfire - Midnight Regulations

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#9 2010-08-03 16:26:56

splittercode
Member
From: WI, USA
Registered: 2010-03-16
Posts: 203

Re: Lightweight KDE

Labello wrote:

sorry guys but all these hints are just plain stupid and senseless.

Uncalled for.

The OP asked for tips on getting a lightweight KDE and we told him how to do it.  There aren't really any other ways to do it other than removing those things.  So essentially you're adding nothing to this thread, and insulting the OP as well as all of us who posted suggestions.   A lot of KDE users have those services disabled at the moment because they feel they aren't well-enough integrated to be worth the performance hit.

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#10 2010-08-03 16:35:37

Vamp898
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From: 東京
Registered: 2009-01-03
Posts: 891
Website

Re: Lightweight KDE

Only use KDE if you have a reason for

As i mentioned 1000 times ago my EeePC (650 MHz :: 512mb RAM) runs KDE 4.4.5 perfectly (with a usage ~90-120mb memory)

It works fast even with Desktop Effects enabled

I just installed kdebase in case that i dont need every KDE application

I run akonadi becease why not. It doesnt need that much CPU/Memory that a user would ever notice it. Even the Nokia N900 can run KDE with akonadi

so why do you want a lightweight Desktop? Do you have less than 650 MHz // 512 MB Memory or do you just want to do it for the principle?

Or does KDE run slow for you in (for 90%) case of wrong configurations.

So KDE doesn´t need much ressources, people just dont know anything about the Memory management of Linux and so think that KDE needs much...

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#11 2010-08-03 16:38:49

dyscoria
Member
Registered: 2008-01-10
Posts: 1,007

Re: Lightweight KDE

Labello wrote:

sorry guys but all these hints are just plain stupid and senseless.

if someone uses KDE and disables akonadi, nepomuk and strigi there is nearly no point left to actually use KDE since these features are pretty unique to kde.

so either you use kde to get some fancy desktop-indexing and nice PIM-integration and maybe some useful widgets, or you use a cluttered combination of WM + Panel + Software where you get the same functionality without the then useless KDE-stuff in the background :-)

There's plenty of point in using KDE without those features. I do. I find that KDE is just great to use smile


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#12 2010-08-03 16:44:34

Vamp898
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From: 東京
Registered: 2009-01-03
Posts: 891
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Re: Lightweight KDE

I use all the features of KDE^^ i use Akonadi, i use Nepomuk (why not?!?), i dont use Strigi (does anyone here uses Strigi), i use the Plasmoids and for sure most of the KDE Apps

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#13 2010-08-03 17:21:37

binskipy2u
Banned
Registered: 2009-09-14
Posts: 212

Re: Lightweight KDE

i like kde just because of the way it looks... i dont use any effects, no strigi, no akondi, no indexing.. I installed kde-base and like 3 meta packages.. and use firefox,thunderbird,pidgin, and some various other kde apps..and w/6gigs ram, and no swap, it FLYS.. when I first learned ARch i installed all of kde.. thne after a while I realized what I used and didnt use.. i like kde it seems more "sophisticated" in looks,feel and comfortableness... again my .02.. does it matter what people use, or how they configure, misconfigure, tweak or slim down what they use.. isnt linux all about choices.. even ones others DONT agree with?


"Sometimes you comfort the afflicted, other times you AFFLICT the COMFORTABLE"

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#14 2010-08-07 23:30:42

gauthma
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Registered: 2010-02-16
Posts: 215
Website

Re: Lightweight KDE

Thanks for all the feedback. To answer to some of the questions, my main problem is when "playing" with the GUI. For instance, when maximizing a window, for instance from Konqueror, the application will block for a short (but quite noticeable) time lapse, before actually maximizing. Or when clicking KTorrent's tray icon, the same time lapse happens. Granted this can be ameliorated by turning off desktop effects, but even so it still happens more often than I think it should---which was what led me to start this thread in the first place. I already had strigi turned off, because that did cause major hard disk hog.

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#15 2010-08-08 19:38:05

bnolsen
Member
Registered: 2008-12-10
Posts: 64

Re: Lightweight KDE

Thanks for all the suggestions.
I typically run windowmaker for my development environment and xfce for my laptops.
I built a machine to use as an appliance (audio recording, audio transcoding, mastering, uploading) and xfce has fallen down for that use.  KDE seems to make the appliance stuff work.

I just really hate the whole desktop environment *crap* that was foisted on me when I started kde at first.  Computers are tools that allow me access to information.   The DE becomes a problem when it gets in the way of that goal.

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#16 2010-08-09 01:05:56

nXqd
Member
Registered: 2010-07-01
Posts: 173
Website

Re: Lightweight KDE

KDE-minimal I think and I think you should try WM titling smile


When you live for a strong purpose, then hard work isn't an option. It's a necessity. - Steve Pavlina
dotFiles

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#17 2010-08-09 06:39:53

Vamp898
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From: 東京
Registered: 2009-01-03
Posts: 891
Website

Re: Lightweight KDE

KWin 4.5 supports Tiling (real tiling)

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#18 2010-08-09 12:38:28

Kosmonavt
Member
Registered: 2010-02-15
Posts: 100

Re: Lightweight KDE

After a minimal install (not kde-minimal, it's ugly), just kdebase, plasma-workspace and some others, I had a nice and memory-saving KDE. Basically you can replace KWin with Openbox (especially in case of maximizing problem), but even with the first I've got only 100 MB RAM with app data on fresh Arch system.

And some question to community: why akonadi/nepomuk/strigi are sometimes useful at all? I'm really curious about it, cause I can't figure out any appliance of indexing or searching inside files.

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#19 2010-08-09 14:24:49

murugan
Member
Registered: 2010-08-02
Posts: 27

Re: Lightweight KDE

@gauthma: when maximizing a window, for instance from Konqueror, the application will block for a short (but quite noticeable) time lapse, before actually maximizing.

I also experienced the same problem. I installed kde complete. KDE is quite different from other DE and it is trying to be trend setter. I heard about kernel26-ck optimized for desktop. I installed kernel26-ck and it did the trick. Now my desktop is quick. Same kde without any modification in settings, same hardware... but now it is flying smile.  kernel26-ck is available in AUR.

I have enabled almost all the kwin effects. I have started loving kde. It is really fast.

Last edited by murugan (2010-08-09 14:29:22)

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#20 2010-08-09 17:00:24

flamelab
Member
From: Athens, Hellas (Greece)
Registered: 2007-12-26
Posts: 2,160

Re: Lightweight KDE

murugan wrote:

@gauthma: when maximizing a window, for instance from Konqueror, the application will block for a short (but quite noticeable) time lapse, before actually maximizing.

I also experienced the same problem. I installed kde complete. KDE is quite different from other DE and it is trying to be trend setter. I heard about kernel26-ck optimized for desktop. I installed kernel26-ck and it did the trick. Now my desktop is quick. Same kde without any modification in settings, same hardware... but now it is flying smile.  kernel26-ck is available in AUR.

I have enabled almost all the kwin effects. I have started loving kde. It is really fast.

You can also try building Qt (from ABS) with the raster engine as default, that will make your desktop more responsive.

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#21 2010-08-10 06:41:48

murugan
Member
Registered: 2010-08-02
Posts: 27

Re: Lightweight KDE

flamelab wrote:
murugan wrote:

@gauthma: when maximizing a window, for instance from Konqueror, the application will block for a short (but quite noticeable) time lapse, before actually maximizing.

I also experienced the same problem. I installed kde complete. KDE is quite different from other DE and it is trying to be trend setter. I heard about kernel26-ck optimized for desktop. I installed kernel26-ck and it did the trick. Now my desktop is quick. Same kde without any modification in settings, same hardware... but now it is flying smile.  kernel26-ck is available in AUR.

I have enabled almost all the kwin effects. I have started loving kde. It is really fast.

You can also try building Qt (from ABS) with the raster engine as default, that will make your desktop more responsive.

Yes.
Making raster engine as default now I can see even better display. Instead of compiling the QT with raster as default. I used the script to switch back and forth to raster and native. I found that script from the following thread
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=96415

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#22 2010-08-27 01:41:18

bnolsen
Member
Registered: 2008-12-10
Posts: 64

Re: Lightweight KDE

Unfortunately time to start up kde is about 10x longer than time time start xfce.  I really don't have any of that patience.  I'm still having problems with the capture mode not being saved.  KDE's mixer puts the capture toggle on the main mixer panel (instead of in a tab like xfce's mixer).  Unfortunately the appliance bit is epic fail for now...off to ubuntu perhaps (ugh)

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#23 2010-08-27 03:42:30

TomB17
Member
Registered: 2009-09-02
Posts: 102

Re: Lightweight KDE

dyscoria wrote:

There's plenty of point in using KDE without those features. I do. I find that KDE is just great to use smile

Agreed.  I wish I could get off KDE but it's good enough with those features turned off and I like the feel of it.  By the way, my system is pretty well powered.

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#24 2010-09-16 09:53:42

myrlin
Member
Registered: 2010-06-11
Posts: 297

Re: Lightweight KDE

I have exactly the same "issues" with KDE4.

Elvaka has done a great job in resurrecting KDEMod3 (and fixing many of the dependency problems). You can find details at https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=97612

I have it running on my EeePC 901. It is terrific! It provides all the great look and feel of KDE without the bloat

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#25 2010-10-11 08:42:02

Zom
Member
From: Sweden
Registered: 2007-10-27
Posts: 430

Re: Lightweight KDE

Kosmonavt wrote:

And some question to community: why akonadi/nepomuk/strigi are sometimes useful at all? I'm really curious about it, cause I can't figure out any appliance of indexing or searching inside files.

Was a while ago, but I might as well answer this.

The idea behind akonadi, AFAIK, is to keep a central database with all your contacts, mail etc., so you could theoretically keep track of a large amount of people and correspondence. The aim is to make it easier to access mail and contacts regardless of environment.

Official site

Nepomuk is a service to provide additional information for files. You could, for example, tag your work with your company name, the month, some keywords what it contains, your name, your favorite ice-cream, whatever. This, coupled with strigi, enables you to search for any of those keywords to bring up the file in question. Strigi also works on regular files (IIRC), but would only then show the filename.

The idea is to make it easier to organize files. Instead of having a folder tree that's huge, you could simply keep all files in "work" and still be able to find it easily.

It takes a bit of work to tag all your current files, should you choose to, but it might be worth it. Personally, I don't use it, but I see why someone might.

Now, if you want a lightweight KDE and you don't need any of these features, you should probably disable them. If you don't use the PIM suite, then you don't have any use for akonadi. If you don't tag your files and don't need an indexer, you probably should disable nepomuk alltogether. (Even if you do use an indexer, there probably are better alternatives than strigi).

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