Sluggish connection with Ubuntu (Linux) [SOLVED]

[enginesong]

When editing in "online" mode, TunerStudio seems excessively sluggish in all areas. "Offline" editing works like I would expect, very quickly in all areas. I am running the latest version of TunerStudio (as of 04/08/2009).

The computer is a new Dell Mini 9, Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.6GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K cache), 1GB ram, Ubuntu 8.10.

I am using a usb to serial connector that has worked on every computer I have tried and it does work on this computer, too. It is just slow when working "online". I do not feel this a USB-serial adapter problem.

So far, I have turned down the refresh rate in the Communications tab from 15 frames/sec to 5 frames/sec. That seemed to help a little, but I wouldn't think I would have to do that for this computer. Anti-aliasing is off.

Any ideas?

[LT401Vette]

What does you cpu utilization look like? It should be fine, but I'm trying to narrow the problem down..

[jsmcortina]

TS uses a large amount on the CPU on my Linux machine.

James

[enginesong]

CPU utilization got me thinking. I went home during lunch and checked the visual effects setting (my friend was playing around with my computer the other day and was messing with Compiz). It was set on the max setting which I don't need (and is a pretty big system hog). So I set it back to the minimum setting and retried TunerStudio. It made a big difference. There is still some minor latency compared to a much faster laptop that I sometimes use (with XP and Megatune), but it is way better than it was before. Still using 10 as a frame update rate as I forgot to mess with that.

Right now it is running good enough and I can consider this issue solved, but if you can come up with other ideas to remove the last bit of latency (increase speed a little), let me know. I'll try to remember to post back with CPU utilization pre and post making the change to visual effects.

To change visual effects in Ubuntu, it's System >Preference>Appearance>Visual effects

[LT401Vette]

Interesting.... On linux I have seen the CPU utilization vary quite a lot. Often it is just if you have a video card or drivers that don't support open gl very well. But in other cases the video should be fine, you may be on to something here though.

Bac on Ubuntu 7 you had to disable the top level visual effects to run Java apps as it wouldn't yield access to the Open GL. There may still be some competing going on. I'll have to play with this a bit more.

[enginesong]

The computer I am tuning with is a dual core machine (the Dell Mini 9 I mentioned in my first post), so it has 2 CPU utilization numbers. When running only the system monitor and TunerStudio, one CPU is pegged at 100% and the other moved around between 20-30%. Then the CPU's invert which one is at 100%, but the sum is still ~125% between the two. CPU utilization did not seem to change significantly when turning visual effects on and off.

Is it unreasonable for me to think this computer should be able to handle TunerStudio smoothly?

Let me know if there is anything else you would like me to try.

[LT401Vette]

Is that one on Linux too? That is ridiculous cpu usage for a dual core. There is something no agreeing with TS in the drivers or something.

For reference, My dual core Centrino laptop can't break 20% utilization with all option on and the worst of the dashboards, winXP. Something to note, CPU utilization does double on battery power when the cpu is throttled down.

My main tuning laptop is a 1.6 GHz it uses about 40% utilization, also WinXP.

I have a T40 with a 1.13 GHz on Ubuntu that seems to work a lot harder, I have attributed that to poor video support, but perhaps there is more to it. This one can't even run desktop effects because of the limited video.

Utilization to CPU seems much more consistent on Windows. There seems to be some factor that is sometimes causing high usage on Linux. I would like to figure this out and see if there is something I can do about it or at least offer a solution.

But if you are using that much CPU there is definitely, that is definitely not acceptable.

[LT401Vette]

I'm away from home right now, but I think I know something I should look into... When I first added the tabbed dashboards and tested on Linux it seemed to be using CPU as if it was painting all the dashboards on one of my linux machines. It should only be painting the visible dashoards. So withe a few dashboards it started using heavy CPU. Then this went away, so I let it go.
Now I have been adding dashboards all over the place, if it is doing this again, that would be a hog. I haven't looked at this much lately on Linux. I will when I get back home.

[enginesong]

Is that one on Linux too? That is ridiculous cpu usage for a dual core. There is something no agreeing with TS in the drivers or something.

Sorry to be unclear, I only have TunerStudio installed on 1 computer. It is the Dell Mini 9 mentioned in previous posts. And yes, it is running Linux (Ubuntu 8.10).

I thought that utilization was high, too. Everything runs fine in "offline" mode, but I didn't check what the utilization numbers were.

I might have an hour or so after work today to try stuff. Otherwise, I probably won't be able to check or test anything until Sunday. But either way, I would be happy try anything you think might help.

-Jeff

[sportage4x4]

upgrage to Ubuntu 9.04.

i have only linux machines. all Ubuntu, 8.04 runs java fine, 8.10 lags like crazy (anything java or flash based, not just TS), 9.04 runs flawlessly. FYI, i have/had the restricted nvidia drivers installed. i dont know if the lag problem is there with the open source nv drivers, as they dont support the screen res i run, or the hdmi port.

[enginesong]

Hmmm, not exactly what I wanted hear. But if that's the problem then there isn't much I can expect Phil to fix. I'll talk it over with my favorite Linux guru and may end up upgrading over the weekend.

Phil, if you come up with something else to try let me know.

[enginesong]

I upgraded Ubuntu to 9.04 and TunerStudio runs perfectly when "online". CPU usage is now under 30% between both processors, or under 20% for each.

Thanks for the help!

[LT401Vette]

Thanks for the update, at least that gives some sort of answer

[Peter Florance]

Maybe I should upgrade
My comms are great but my mouse clicks don't always work (TunerStudio or Firefox)

[enginesong]

Ubuntu 9.04 is still pre-release and has a few bugs, although none of them seem to affect the computer as I use it. But you should see a nice bump in boot speed and that's always nice.