Subject: FVWM: FVWM 2.4.5 vs FVWM 2.2.4 window movement.

From: Andrew Haninger <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 23:47:08 -0500

Hello. I've had a problem with FVWM 2.4.x for quite a while with regards
to window movement being slow and choppy. I've even asked here about it
before (<http://www.hpc.uh.edu/fvwm/archive/0110/msg00284.html>) and
received some helpful responses, but no real fix. So, I've just lived
with the choppiness for now.

However, one interesting thing I noticed a couple weeks ago when using a
mouse on my laptop (it's smoother than the little
finger-mouse-pad-thing) is that the choppy window movement I noticed on
my [relatively faster] desktop did not exist on my laptop. For your
information, the relevant info is as follows:

Desktop: 
   Hardware:
      Celeron 600 w/320MB RAM
      Radeon VE 32MB DDR @ AGP2x
      Samsung 900IFT set at 1600x1200 at 24bit and 75Hz 

   Software:
      Base:
         Slackware 7.1
      Add-ons:
         XFree 4.2.0
         Linux 2.4.16(with FB options and DRI options)
         FVWM 2.4.5

Laptop:
   Hardware:
      Base:
         Gateway Solo 2500
         Pentium-2 300 w/64MB RAM
         NeoMagic Video set at 1024x768 at 16bit 

   Software:
      Base:
         Slackware 7.0 (XFree 3.3.6)
      Add-ons:
         Linux 2.2.18
         FVWM 2.2.4

What I've found is the important part is the FVWM version on the laptop
(2.2.4) versus the desktop (2.4.5). What I *THINK* happened is that the
window movement code changed from 2.2 to 2.4 (Dominik mentioned
something about the 2.3 code being slow in one of his responses to my
earlier inquiry). I've even compiled 2.2.4 on the desktop and have found
that the 2.2.4 build (with one of the default rc files) was smooth, as
I'd like my 2.4 build to be.

So, my question/problem is that the 2.4 build has choppy window movement
(things that move themselves like xine and xmms and abiword toolbars are
quite speedy as are WM's like BlackBox and WindowMaker), but the 2.2
build does not. However, I like the opaque resizing capabilities of 2.4.
Is there some way that I can rectify this by building 2.4 with special
options, or something? Where in the code would I even look - if I felt
so inclined - for the window movement/resizing code? Is this a
known/acknowledged bug-feature?

And I've tried things like using fewer FVWMPager windows/desktops and
backingstore and saveunder, so that's not the problem.

Thanks!

Andy Haninger
[email-masked]
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---

From: Dominik Vogt <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 07:31:15 +0100

> I'd like my 2.4 build to be.

Unfortunately that's not news to us.  The movement code has
changed a lot and is nigh impossible to compare with the old
code in 2.2.x.  You won't find any small change that causes the
problem for you.  If I could reproduce the problem myself I'd do
what I can to circumvent it, but I don't know what more to say
than what I already have in my previous postings.

> options, or something?

No.  Fvwm has almost no configure time options.

> Where in the code would I even look - if I felt
> so inclined - for the window movement/resizing code?

Well, you'd have to find out where the time between the animation
steps is actually spent.  The last time I debugged a similar
problem I successively commented out parts of the moveLoop()
function in move_resize.c to find out which parts caused the
biggest slow down.

BTW, one effect I sometimes get with Linux is that some process
generates a host of syslog messages and slows down the whole
system.  You should definitely check out the logs.  The effect can
be so subtle that you can hardly notice it usually.  Window
movement however is very sesitive and becomes choppy very fast if
something is slowing down the system.

> Is this a known/acknowledged bug-feature?

You are the only person who has reported this so far.  All other
similar problems could be solved with the hints I gave (or the
reporters never answered if the hints have helped).

> backingstore and saveunder, so that's not the problem.

Bye

Dominik ^_^  ^_^

-- 
Dominik Vogt, email: [email-masked]
LifeBits Aktiengesellschaft, Albrechtstr. 9, D-72072 Tuebingen
fon: ++49 (0) 7071/7965-0, fax: ++49 (0) 7071/7965-20
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