kwin_x11 problems

[pikzigmar]

Hello, since I started using Kubuntu I've had constant problems with kwin. More specifically "kwin_x11".

Almost every time I lock/unlock PC I loose most of effects (wobbly windows, transparency, ...). I can do

kwin_x11 --replace &

to reset the effects. This can happen even when I am currently at PC.
Also, it cannot, for the love of flying spaghetti monster, remember the position of windows. I have ultra wide screen and windows were placed where they should be. Lets say window is full screen on right (secondary) monitor, I lock/unlock PC, and now this window is full screen on left (primary) monitor. If window is not full screen it would appear on random position on left (primary) monitor. Maybe if the window is just on right side of main monitor, it is now on left.

This is getting REALLY annoying. PC needs to be locked/unlocked many times a day. As much as KDE looks nice, it works really hard to **** me off (There are login screen freezing issues, mostly solved now - it still works but looks frozen... I have tried different themes for login screen.). I already tried setting different compositor.



So, is it just me or does this happen to everyone?
How can I diagnose and fix such problems?
Could this be a drivers issue? (i have no extra graphics, just the one in CPU)
Are there any replacements for kwin?



Thanks in advance for any help and/or information
Pikzigmar



Some info on my system:
Operating System: Ubuntu 20.04
KDE Plasma Version: 5.18.8
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.68.0
Qt Version: 5.12.8
Kernel Version: 5.13.0-40-generic
OS Type: 64-bit
Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i7-7700 CPU @ 3.60GHz
Memory: 23,4 GiB of RAM
Resolution: 3440x1440 (primary, left), 1920x1200 (secondary, right)
DE: Plasma
WM: KWin
WM Theme: Dracula
Theme: Dracula [Plasma], Breeze [GTK2/3]
Icons: candy-icons [Plasma], candy-icons [GTK2/3]

[claydoh]

Instead of restarting the entire window manager (kwin), try toggling the compositor off/on, or restarting plasma, or rather plasmashell. This should be less "destructive".

To toggle the compositor : alt+shift+f12
To restart Plasmashell: use alt-f2 to open Krunner, and enter plasmashell --replace

I can't say what this happens, you might try different render options for the compositor in System Settings.

[pikzigmar]

claydoh, thank you for your answer

I have tried the compositor on/off shortcut and it seems, that when I loose all effects, compositor gets turned off. One use of shortcut just turns it back on. I will try to look into why is it getting turned off. Is there a command line option to find out if the compositor is turned off and to turn it on? I was thinking about writing a short script that would be run when I unlock PC.

Is there is a dbus-monitor option to monitor compositor status? It would be a perfect workaround.


I have already tried all "Rendering backend" options (xrandr, OpenGL 2.0, OpenGL 3.1). I will try to change "Scale method" options (accurate, smooth, crisp). The default is accurate.