abandoning Dolphin - for something better!

[tomcloyd]

I can't get my work done because Dolphin keeps hogging all available CPU cycles - at apparently random intervals. This brings pretty much everything to a halt.

I've seen this recurrent problem off and on for weeks, and it's survived the upgrade to 12.10, sadly. I cannot find report of anyone else having this problem. I think I posted on it a while back, but cannot now find the post. Can't invest any more time on this (for me) unsolvable problem.

Meanwhile, I've gone on a search for an alternative. I'm delighted to have found an extraordinary one, one which I immediately like better than Dophin, I must say: Krusader. It's very KDE-integrated, highly versatile, fast, beautifully configurable, and much, much more. All in all, an amazing piece of work. This discussion is a nice intro. to Krusader, and worth a quick scan if you're interested in this alternative to Dolphin.

It's in the packages, so it's very easy to install. I like it so much that even if I were given a solution to my Dolphin problem I would not consider going back.

I post there here for comment, and as a message to anyone else in the future who has the same problem, and needs a solution.

[Batty]

I ran top in a console to let me see what was hogging my CPU. This showed Mplayer was hogging my CPU.
I have video previews on in Dolphin. I found changing from Mplayerthumbs to FFMpegThumbs for video previews helped speed up Dolphin for me.
If moving large amounts of files around I suspend file indexing as it tries to update itself whilst moving files around. I let it re-index when I've completed.

[tomcloyd]

Interesting. Didn't know about top. Will investigate, just to see if I can identify the problem, which, however, occurs at unpredictable points in time. I'm probably having a problem rather like the one you found on your system. However, I wouldn't likely know how to fix it. (And...this forum could tell me!)

However, I'm so pleased with Krusader that I'm not interested in Dolphin. I can see how Krusader is to Dolphin like Kubuntu is to Ubuntu, and so Dolphin wins out for the default file manager. That's OK. Just not for me. Already, after only an hour, Krusader feels more MINE than Dolphin ever did.

Thanks for your comment.

[knar]

Dolphin is one of the reasons I use KDE. I think it's the most advanced file manager in linuxland. Different strokes, I guess...
@Batty
good tips.

[tomcloyd]

Don't know if you've tried Krusader or not, and in general I'd advise that if you find your needs to be met with what you're using then just carry on. That's what I do. I have much work to do, and sifting through the software makes little sense unless I have no real alternative. Yesterday, when Dolphin kept unexpectedly and uncontrollably taking over my CPU, I then had no real choice but to seek an alternative. Initially, I wasn't hopeful, and expected to end up with some semi-miserable terminal program (Midnight Commander comes to mind). I was completely wrong. As I have already said, I'm more pleased with Krusader than I ever was with Dolphin - at least so far.

That we each find something that works for us is the objective, I would agree. And it appears that we have. Excellent!

[oshunluvr]

I still miss Xtree Pro!

But Dolphin (currently - knock wood) is working beautifully here.

[tomcloyd]

Batty - just tried top - it's pretty nice. However, I'm not sure it does much that System Monitor doesn't do. What do you think?

[woodsmoke]

tomcloyd

is there any small chance at all that Strigi is somehow interacting with Dolphin? And that the "report" about Dolphin is an aftereffect.

woodsmoke

[SteveRiley]

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing about a potential Strigi issue. In System Settings | Desktop Search, try disabling the Nepomuk File Indexer.

[woodsmoke]

It is GOOD that the old woodsmoker is thinking even a little like SR.. thumping my chest and patting myself on the back a little! lol

just KIDDING!!

woodsmoke

[luckyone]

I use both Dolphin and Krusader. I've not had a slowdown while using Dolphin here. And I use Nepomuk except for the mail indexing. And htop is really nice but I find System Monitor is usually all I need.