V18 PC & Mac - 13% CPU Idle and Slow typing issue - cause found

[ExtremeXS]

[Edit: Still an open issue on V18.0.1 on Mac, but PC V18.0.1 appears resolved]

I am aware this has been mentioned in other contexts for Beta 4, but this is causing two issues on my system, and has taken quite a while to link the two together.


Firstly V18 (and V17 though not confirmed solution is the same) on the PC would suddenly use 13% idle cpu for no apparent reason, and quite randomly.  Sometimes on every start, other times after a little use.

Secondly V18 on the mac (and earlier versions) typing could get very very slow to the point where the editor struggle to keep up with even nominal typing speeds.

As previously reported and causes found and discussed the issue is having Appearance->General->Horizontal scroll bar: ON


As soon as I turn this OFF, cpu idle and typing speeds resume normal function.

As a side note to the possible issue I noticed the on the PC with the option still turned ON, the the document I have in view is NOT wide enough to have characters off screen, the the bar auto hides and CPU idle remains at 0%.  If the document exceeds the screen the bar auto appears and whenever that buffer is on screen the CPU idle hits 13%.  Toggle to a buffer that does not exceed the screen and the CPU idle drops instantly.

My best guess here is that what ever code scans the buffer to determine if the width is sufficient to warrant display of the horizontal bar is running rather more frequently than required and pulling some cpu power.

Cheers,
Mark

[Phil Barila]

Have you tested with 18.0.1?  I think the SlickTeam believes they've resolved this one in 18.0.1.

[ExtremeXS]

Missed that completly haha, snuck out whilst I wasn't looking for updates.
Will update and recheck, thanks.

So PC build appears to be working so far in 18.0.1, will test the Mac later.

[ExtremeXS]

BUT Still broken on V18.0.1 on Mac.

[Dennis]

Are the symptoms all still the same on your Mac with 18.0.1 ?
Do you have the horizontal scroll bar turned off ?
Are you using symbol coloring ?
Are you using a fixed font or a proportional font when you see this?
What kind of Mac are you using?  Retina display?  Mac mini?
Are you working from the console of the Mac, or using remote display?

Font drawing on the mac is slow, so you can't expect the same performance you get with the PC version, but you should not be seeing the redrawing issues that were present in 18.0.0 any more.

[ExtremeXS]

Hi Dennis,

Yes issue on mac is the same on V18.0.1, typing is ok with horizontal bars turned off, and much slower when turned back on.  (I need to reconfirm if when the bars auto hide typing is still slow or back to normal).

And when I say slow, the mac visually cannot keep up with key presses when in slow mode, even at moderate typing speeds.

Bar is turned off again - to be able to use properly (issue returns when turned back on).

Symbol colouring is off.

Font - will double check, but I am 99% sure it's fixed font (menlo).

Mac Book Pro - Mid 2010 (no retina) running Lion (v10.7.5)

No terminal windows open, no overlapping windows, no remote displays etc.

Single zoomed window view in editor.

Cheers,
Mark

[Liberty]

Font drawing on the mac is slow, so you can't expect the same performance you get with the PC version, but you should not be seeing the redrawing issues that were present in 18.0.0 any more.

What kind of excuse is that? How can font drawing on the Mac be slow when Safari can smoothly scroll through web pages with thousands lines of formatted text or Xcode can scroll smoothly through text files of the same size? You mean that Qt implements fonts on the Mac in an inefficient way. Why are you fighting the system and are not using TextKit to properly implement your views? Since Mountain Lion costs only $20, and Mavericks will likely be in the same ballpark, you could drop support for earlier versions, and go Mavericks only.

[rajkej]

Are the symptoms all still the same on your Mac with 18.0.1 ?
Do you have the horizontal scroll bar turned off ?
Are you using symbol coloring ?
Are you using a fixed font or a proportional font when you see this?
What kind of Mac are you using?  Retina display?  Mac mini?
Are you working from the console of the Mac, or using remote display?

I've had the same issue since at least version 17. I can't turn on horizontal scroll bar or I can't use the editor. Makes it tough to use vs to edit wide files. Turning off the horizontal scroll bar makes the editor usable.

I am using symbol coloring, all-symbols light background. My normal font is fixed Courier 12. I'm using an iMac 27" mid 2010 with OS X 10.8.5 local display.