GUI windows sometimes unresponsive (Linux)

Software
1

Been having an annoying issue with KiCAD for a while now, pretty sure it was a thing on V6 as well. Basically whenever I do something that causes another window to pop up, it’s a crapshoot as to whether the window will actually respond. It happens in every part of KiCAD, from schematic to PCB. For example, if I click the “add a symbol” button it will pop up, but it looks like it’s not responding to clicks but it is, the window just doesn’t show the change. Eventually after cancelling it and clicking it again 5 or 6 times it’s fine. Actually the main windows are always fine, it’s anything that has a subwindow I suppose you’d call it.

I’ve had some random odd issues with other Qt based UIs that popped up over the last year or 2 but they all updated themselves away. I was hoping KiCAD would just fix itself as well but it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. Any ideas?

Application: KiCad x86_64 on x86_64

Version: 7.0.10, release build

Libraries:
	wxWidgets 3.2.4
	FreeType 2.13.2
	HarfBuzz 8.3.0
	FontConfig 2.15.0
	libcurl/8.5.0 OpenSSL/3.2.0 zlib/1.3 brotli/1.1.0 zstd/1.5.5 libidn2/2.3.4 libpsl/0.21.2 (+libidn2/2.3.4) libssh2/1.11.0 nghttp2/1.58.0

Platform: Manjaro Linux, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK, gnome, wayland

Build Info:
	Date: Dec 30 2023 03:23:58
	wxWidgets: 3.2.4 (wchar_t,wx containers) GTK+ 3.24
	Boost: 1.83.0
	OCC: 7.7.2
	Curl: 8.5.0
	ngspice: 41
	Compiler: GCC 13.2.1 with C++ ABI 1018

Build settings:
	KICAD_USE_EGL=ON
	KICAD_SPICE=ON

Been habing

2

BTW KiCad is not Qt based. It’s wx → GTK based. Otherwise sorry, doesn’t happen to me so no :eye: :deer:

3

Ahh OK, Looks much cleaner than any GTK based UI I recall so I figured it was Qt. Even more reason I don’t understand the issue as I run Gnome.

4

Maybe Wayland is the problem - see Freeze a few seconds when switch between schematic and PCB editor - Software - KiCad.info Forums

5

I added “export vblank_mode=0” as the link suggested to .bashrc and logged out/in. Still the same

6

As a datapoint I’m running Linux Mint 20.3 with the latest proprietary Nvidia drivers, i5-3570, Cinnamon 5.2.7, Kernel 5.4.0-170-generic and I’m not having this issue. If you have a spare hard drive laying around and a spare hour try loading Linux Mint or Ubuntu and KiCAD on that drive. Try to narrow down if its your hardware, Manjaro, etc.

7

I have exactly the same problem, and it makes using this tool quite frustrating. I am also running the under Gnome with wayland.
I made a quick gif showing the problem (as a new registered user I cannot upload files here, sorry) output hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB

Basically, you can see that in the first attempt, clicking “<<<” button to set “Issue date” to today does nothing. But calendar date picker still works. Next I re-open the same window and this time the window will update. I have also tried the vblank_mode=0 but there is no effect on my system either.
My system kernel is 6.7.4-arch1-1 and my system is using AMD Radeon graphics

My KiCad environment details:

Application: KiCad Schematic Editor x86_64 on x86_64

Version: 7.0.10, release build

Libraries:
	wxWidgets 3.2.4
	FreeType 2.13.2
	HarfBuzz 8.3.0
	FontConfig 2.15.0
	libcurl/8.6.0 OpenSSL/3.2.1 zlib/1.3.1 brotli/1.1.0 zstd/1.5.5 libidn2/2.3.7 libpsl/0.21.2 libssh2/1.11.0 nghttp2/1.59.0 nghttp3/1.1.0

Platform: Arch Linux, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK, gnome, wayland

Build Info:
	Date: Dec 30 2023 03:23:58
	wxWidgets: 3.2.4 (wchar_t,wx containers) GTK+ 3.24
	Boost: 1.83.0
	OCC: 7.7.2
	Curl: 8.5.0
	ngspice: 41
	Compiler: GCC 13.2.1 with C++ ABI 1018

Build settings:
	KICAD_USE_EGL=ON
	KICAD_SPICE=ON
8

Yeah, that’s exactly what mine does. I have to repeat everything like loading footprints, etc. multiple times, then it just works.

I also have an AMD GPU in this machine, a 5700xt. Maybe it’s an issue with AMD GPUs or Arch packages. I’m not sure how to figure it out. The git doesn’t seem to accept issues so I don’t know how that’s handled.

9

I had the same problem in kicad 7.10 under linux mint.
I could no longer insert the values in the boxes of the component symbol.
The cursor no longer worked in the text boxes.

10

@Fabio_De_Bernardi did you solve this somehow? Are you on AMD system ? Wayland ?

11

Intel CPU, linux Mint 21.3, normal X server.
I tried 8.0 RC2 kicad and it seems that this problem was solved together with an annoying selection of the component gearbox which at the first attempt jumped to the selection line of the original component.
I had opened a BUG on GitLab but I was told that Linux Mint is not officially supported and there was no possibility of eliminating some minor interface bugs.

Using 7.10 instead to solve the problem I had to close the window and reopen and sometimes even restart kicad.

Some strange problems may also depend on configuration files imported from previous versions.
I have had several problems in the past for this fact.

Try a clean installation.

12

I just noticed something that’s pretty repeatable about this issue…

If I just click on whatever it is that brings up the window in a normal fashion, it’ll likely come up, but unresponsive…

However if I hold the left click down for a second, it’ll come up and respond fine.

No Idea what that alludes to as being the issue but it’s pretty repeatable and at least a half decent workwaround