KDE Plasma 5.13 Should Be Starting Up Even Faster

[PackRat]

IMHO they should port things from QML to C++ as much as possible.

Qml engine can already do that?

[Guest]

Rexerex - that's a fault of the code responsible for executing scripting languages then. It should do JIT compilation to machine code, so that execution speed is fast (as a plus, it can compile for your CPU and use all native instructions available on your CPU, thus optimizing to run well on your computer). Many languages do that nowadays (Java for example, especially on Android).

[markg85]

Because of speed. It's a disease of our time that we have faster computers, but systems are not, because programs are slower due to slower scripting languages.

You are very wrong there.

I am very much in favor of using C++, but bluntly stating that they should port it all to C++ because it is faster is just very wrong.
The GUI should be in QML. That is a big win in terms of development speed and user interaction is just as fine as you would have it with C++.

However, you can go too far. If you develop everything in QML (i'm not claiming they do) then you get into the performance areas of Qt's javascript parser. Even that works, but that could be faster.

Also, have you actually looked at the code that makes up Plasma? The vast majority of it all is C++.

[Michael]

Michael
Why are my comments in this thread unapproved? I didn't write anything insulting!

Itt's just vBulletin auto-spam stuff acting up as usual... They should appear in a minute, now that I know to check the queue.

[Apopas]

I usually just read and I don't comment, but I need to say this. KDE plasma is awesome and it's getting better and better!!!!!

Being a long time MATE user (and xfce at lower end machines) I felt the need to find something new to use. So, here's a little story:

I tried Ubuntu 17.10 with Gnome and I hated it. I forced myself to use it and I understood that Gnome is in terrible state these days. Extensions like dash-to-panel and dash-to-dock cause huge memory leaks (the bug reports that I read suggest that it has something to do with window previews) and gnome shell reaches 500 MB of RAM and 10% CPU consumption after 2-3 hours of usage which makes it mandatory to run alt+F2 and hit r in order to restart the shell every now and then. Most other extensions are buggy (even the ubuntu-dock and ubuntu-appindicator) and cause high cpu usage (even clipboard indicator....). So, my conclusion is if you want to run Gnome then do it with 0 extensions!! Of course the workflow this way is terrible in my opinion and I won't even try Gnome again until gnome 4.

So, I thought to give KDE another try after hearing so many good words (last version I tried was plasma 5.9). I did a Kubuntu 18.04 daily installation (with proposed repo enabled because the standard repos are currently in bad shape). I am super impressed!!! Never have been happier with a linux desktop since I first discovered xfce in 2013!! Available features are just incredible! Performance is good and stable! I will certainly try Solus 4 KDE when it's released and probably switch to it, but one thing's for sure. I am a dedicated KDE user from now on!

A small story from me too.
During the last two years I use Fedora with Gnome shell in my laptop and sofa pc. Especially for the sofa PC is wonderful because of its large buttons and icons which are a pleasure to be used from distance.
My laptop has a recent i3 with good graphics and Gnome shell runs nice and it's rock solid. It uses almost 1GB RAM after boot but RAM is plenty in this machine so this is not a problem. I have not notice any memory leak or high CPU usage while I use 6-7 extensions. In general for the usage I do (surfing, reading, writing,coding) Gnome shell runs like a dream.
A few days ago I got an old thinkpad X61 because I wanted a 4:3 screen. It has an old 2Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM and obviously an old graphics card which can play maximum 720p video in youtube.
I knew that Gnome Shell would be a bit heavy for this machine and indeed that was the case. It feels very sluggish. I was planning to run XFCE or Openbox via Gentoo or Arch, so while I was waiting for the SSD I had ordered, I was playing with different distributions via usb live just for curiosity. One morning I stamped upon a forum where a guy was saying that Plasma 5, while much newer, doesn't use more resources than Plasma 4. Long story sort, I decided to give it a try so I downloaded KDE neon and burned it to my usb flash.
After the first boot I was speechless! Just 400 mb of RAM??? And not only this, but the animations run so smoothly that you get the impression that you have an i5 or something! WOW! Seriously, in matters of desktop performance, KDE runs circles around Gnome shell!
The only problem I had was that system settings crashes all the time but I have not done the installation yet (I just run it via usb live) so I hope that after the updates it will be ok. We'll see.
First thing I did in this live usb trial, was to get rid of the ugly and completely useless top bars. It was a bit tricky to find it but now it's ok. I don't even like minimize/maximize/close buttons. Besides the fact that they are useless, I am a keyboard guy and the default obsolence of them was one of the best movements of Gnome shell imo. A thing I love about Gnome, is that it has the topbars there for a purpose, not just to move and close the windows.
Anyway, what I really miss is the "one button to rule them all" concept of Gnome shell. In Gnome shell you hit the meta button and instantly you are before your applications plus your running windows plus your workspaces/virtual desktops. It's SOOOO convenient. In KDE I have to use three different key combinations (Back in Plasma 4 days, where KDE was very unstable for me, there was an activity for netbooks that resembled Gnome shell a bit. Unfortunately this has been removed). Also, it was very tricky to unbind the meta key from the menu but after a bit of Googling I found it.
Anyway, KDE Plasma gives fresh air to my old laptop and for that it earned my respect plus I don't need to use a performance oriented distro to run it well. I have not yet decided what distribution to install but I think it will be KDE neon or Chakra.

[Apopas]

I usually just read and I don't comment, but I need to say this. KDE plasma is awesome and it's getting better and better!!!!!

Being a long time MATE user (and xfce at lower end machines) I felt the need to find something new to use. So, here's a little story:

I tried Ubuntu 17.10 with Gnome and I hated it. I forced myself to use it and I understood that Gnome is in terrible state these days. Extensions like dash-to-panel and dash-to-dock cause huge memory leaks (the bug reports that I read suggest that it has something to do with window previews) and gnome shell reaches 500 MB of RAM and 10% CPU consumption after 2-3 hours of usage which makes it mandatory to run alt+F2 and hit r in order to restart the shell every now and then. Most other extensions are buggy (even the ubuntu-dock and ubuntu-appindicator) and cause high cpu usage (even clipboard indicator....). So, my conclusion is if you want to run Gnome then do it with 0 extensions!! Of course the workflow this way is terrible in my opinion and I won't even try Gnome again until gnome 4.

So, I thought to give KDE another try after hearing so many good words (last version I tried was plasma 5.9). I did a Kubuntu 18.04 daily installation (with proposed repo enabled because the standard repos are currently in bad shape). I am super impressed!!! Never have been happier with a linux desktop since I first discovered xfce in 2013!! Available features are just incredible! Performance is good and stable! I will certainly try Solus 4 KDE when it's released and probably switch to it, but one thing's for sure. I am a dedicated KDE user from now on!

A small story from me too.
During the last two years I use Fedora with Gnome shell in my laptop and sofa pc. Especially for the sofa PC is wonderful because of its large buttons and icons which are a pleasure to be used from distance.
My laptop has a recent i3 with good graphics and Gnome shell runs nice and it's rock solid. It uses almost 1GB RAM after boot but RAM is plenty in this machine so this is not a problem. I have not notice any memory leak or high CPU usage while I use 6-7 extensions. In general for the usage I do (surfing, reading, writing,coding) Gnome shell runs like a dream.
A few days ago I got an old thinkpad X61 because I wanted a 4:3 screen. It has an old 2Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM and obviously an old graphics card which can play maximum 720p video in youtube.
I knew that Gnome Shell would be a bit heavy for this machine and indeed that was the case. It feels very sluggish. I was planning to run XFCE or Openbox via Gentoo or Arch, so while I was waiting for the SSD I had ordered, I was playing with different distributions via usb live just for curiosity. One morning I stamped upon a forum where a guy was saying that Plasma 5, while much newer, doesn't use more resources than Plasma 4. Long story sort, I decided to give it a try so I downloaded KDE neon and burned it to my usb flash.
After the first boot I was speechless! Just 400 mb of RAM? And not only this, but the animations run so smoothly that you get the impression that you have an i5 or something! WOW! Seriously, in matters of desktop performance, KDE runs circles around Gnome shell!
The only problem I had was that system settings crashes all the time but I have not done the installation yet (I just run it via usb live) so I hope that after the updates it will be ok. We'll see.
First thing I did in this live usb trial, was to get rid of the ugly and completely useless top bars. It was a bit tricky to find it but now it's ok. I don't even like minimize, maximize, close buttons. Besides the fact that they are useless, I am a keyboard guy and the default obsolence of them was one of the best movements of Gnome shell imo. That's a thing I love about Gnome. The topbars are there for a purpose, not just to move the windows.
Anyway, what I really miss is the "one button to rule them all" concept of Gnome shell. In Gnome shell you hit the meta button and instantly you are before your applications plus your running windows plus your workspaces-virtual desktops. It's SOOOO convenient. In KDE I have to use three different key combinations (Back in Plasma 4 days, where KDE was very unstable for me, there was an activity for netbooks that resembled Gnome shell a bit. Unfortunately this has been removed). Also, it was very tricky to unbind the meta key from the menu but after a bit of Googling I found it.
Anyway, KDE Plasma gives fresh air to my old laptop and for that it earned my respect plus I don't need to use a performance oriented distro to run it well. I have not yet decided what distribution to install but I think it will be KDE neon or Chakra.

[shmerl]

Well, full second is nothing when my plasma 5.12.0 still starts up for more than a minute and a half... It's like a very not subtle hint - get an SSD now!

I tried the Wayalnd session, and Wine in Wayland (through XWayland) improved quite a bit, but lack of proper libinput configuration (no xinput) is a big let down, so for now I switched back to X. Developers are planning to address this.

[boxie]

Well, full second is nothing when my plasma 5.12.0 still starts up more than for a minute and a half... It's like a very not subtle hint - get an SSD now!

I tried the Wayalnd session, and Wine in Wayland (through XWayland) improved quite a bit, but lack of proper libinput configuration (no xinput) is a big let down, so for now I switched back to X. Developers are planning to address this.

With the renewed focus of plasma on wayland, I am hoping all the little "quality of life" issues are resolved. I have encountered a few (that had already been reported and triaged) that have already been fixed in the last 2 point releases (go team kde).

Here's to our wayland future!

also, SSD's make our life nicer

[samdraz]

wont be using wayland session, till xwayland hooks are decoupled or removed, abilitly running the session without it

[Remor]

I would be using plasma wayland right now, but its an annoying experience when you want to play some game and it lock the cursor so you have to keep esc 3 secs to unlock it, and then on another menu of the game you need the cursor on the original state and etc.

Do you still see that issue in Plasma 5.12? That still happens on games when using SDL's wayland backend, but things seem to be working fine for me when playing games under XWayland.