Kicad 8 slow on Ubuntu

[leoheck]

I am using Kicad 8.0.4 on a fresh Ubuntu 24.04.
Something is happening that it is incredibly slow.
It is kind of useless.

Popup windows take 2 to 5s to launch.

Other normal things like canceling a selection also take time.

Is anyone having the same problem?

Application: KiCad Schematic Editor x86_64 on x86_64

Version: 8.0.4-8.0.4-0~ubuntu24.04.1, release build

Libraries:
	wxWidgets 3.2.4
	FreeType 2.13.2
	HarfBuzz 8.3.0
	FontConfig 2.15.0
	libcurl/8.5.0 OpenSSL/3.0.13 zlib/1.3 brotli/1.1.0 zstd/1.5.5 libidn2/2.3.7 libpsl/0.21.2 (+libidn2/2.3.7) libssh/0.10.6/openssl/zlib nghttp2/1.59.0 librtmp/2.3 OpenLDAP/2.6.7

Platform: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK, X11, ubuntu, wayland
OpenGL: Intel, Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics (TGL GT1), 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 24.0.9-0ubuntu0.1

Build Info:
	Date: Jul 17 2024 01:36:30
	wxWidgets: 3.2.4 (wchar_t,wx containers) GTK+ 3.24
	Boost: 1.83.0
	OCC: 7.6.3
	Curl: 8.5.0
	ngspice: 42
	Compiler: GCC 13.2.0 with C++ ABI 1018

Build settings:

[JamesJ]

It’s not something we’ve heard in general. Do you have a specific project / schematic / board which is causing responsiveness issues, or is it happening all the time?

[leoheck]

@JamesJ

in

It happens all the time. I am just using it right now with new and small projects. But this is not something related to a project. I have used Kicad since v4 tho. The overall performance is getting bad, but it is not usable the way it is.

[JamesJ]

That does sound very system specific, as we haven’t had any other reports about generic performance issues. What kind of config / specs is your system?

[paulvdh]

A recent similar thread (but no solution I can see)

Poor performance in Kubuntu/Debian

Hi. I’ve been running KiCad on Windows for quite a while, but as my work computer requires a Linux distribution, I’ve tested Kubuntu and Debian and performance is really bad in both the schematic and layout editors. It feels like the editor’s refresh rate is way lower than the monitor’s, which is already 60Hz and the more cluttered the layout gets, the more choppy the performance becomes, to the point that for my current design, it is barely usable. I’m currently running: Application: KiCad P…

Just today I inserted some 40 labels with [Ins] and auto increment. In older KiCad versions, inserting those labels was as quick as my keyboard repetition rate. In later KiCad versions labels keep getting added for a second or two after I release the [Ins] key. It is a slight annoyance but if I had to do this more often then I’d probably train my muscle memory to release the [Ins] key quite close to the time that results in approximately the right amount of labels. (I find deleting extra labels much quicker then adding one more after a mistake).

[gus]

Yeah, I couldn’t fix that at all.

[JamesJ]

Could you file gitlab issues for these performance issues please? (Help → Report Bug will take you to the correct place).

[gschelotto]

No slowdown is detected in my laptop.

Application: KiCad PCB Editor x86_64 on x86_64

Version: 8.0.4-8.0.4-0~ubuntu22.04.1, release build

Libraries:
	wxWidgets 3.2.1
	FreeType 2.11.1
	HarfBuzz 2.7.4
	FontConfig 2.13.1
	libcurl/7.81.0 OpenSSL/3.0.2 zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.9 zstd/1.4.8 libidn2/2.3.2 libpsl/0.21.0 (+libidn2/2.3.2) libssh/0.9.6/openssl/zlib nghttp2/1.43.0 librtmp/2.3 OpenLDAP/2.5.18

Platform: Linux Mint 21.3, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK, X11, cinnamon, x11
OpenGL: Intel, Mesa Intel(R) HD Graphics 4400 (HSW GT2), 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 23.2.1-1ubuntu3.1~22.04.2

Build Info:
	Date: Jul 17 2024 01:37:25
	wxWidgets: 3.2.1 (wchar_t,wx containers) GTK+ 3.24
	Boost: 1.74.0
	OCC: 7.6.3
	Curl: 7.81.0
	ngspice: 42
	Compiler: GCC 11.4.0 with C++ ABI 1016

[leoheck]

@gschelotto I saw you are using X11 while my computer is running with Wayland. I have to switch to check if workflow improves a bit. Ah, you are also on Ubuntu 2022.

[JamesJ]

I was going to say we have seen issues with Wayland.

[safecv]

Hi,
When a problem occurs, post a picture from the system monitor.
It is also interesting to know that some anti-virus software slows Kicad down a lot!

[leoheck]

no dude, come on. there is no antivirus software running. specially crowdstrike shit.

[leoheck]

The issue maybe be the Wayland and/or Nvidia. Changing to X11 improved the usability a lot.

[m852]

I had a similar problem after switching to a new release of Ubuntu. I switched to an AMD video card and everything stopped.

[safecv]

Do you have the same problem with fallback graphic?

[Droid32]

I had also problems with KiCad on Ubuntu 22/24 because of Wayland. On X11 everything works as expected.
There is also a ticket (without solution): KiCAD 7 lag/hang when switching between pcbnew and eeschema (#15578) · Issues · KiCad / KiCad Source Code / kicad · GitLab

I built and installed my own “wayland”-version, with much better performance on wayland (Flatpak).

If you want to try it yourself, you first need to download this repo:
git clone https://gitlab.com/kicad/packaging/kicad-flatpak/flathub-mirrors/org.kicad.KiCad.git

Then copy this yml to the repo:
io.github.Schildkroet.KiCadWayland.yml (11.6 KB)

And execute this commands (you need flatpak-builder):

flatpak-builder build-dir --force-clean io.github.Schildkroet.KiCadWayland.yml
flatpak-builder --user --install --force-clean build-dir io.github.Schildkroet.KiCadWayland.yml

It will install a “Kicad-Wayland” on your system. But the footprint inspector doesnt work correctly with this version.

[dsa-t]

@Droid32

But the footprint inspector doesnt work correctly with this version.

What’s wrong with it?

[Droid32]

It only updates, if you resize the window

[dsa-t]

I’ve not heard about such a bug, but is sounds very GPU/driver/library version/distro-specific

[Droid32]

Probably because it is built differently than the official version (for wayland). But maybe it is a problem with my system. I dont know as long as no one else tried it.