Why is the dash so unresponsive, and is there a way to fix this? [duplicate]
I just upgraded to 12.04. When I press the super key to open the dash, there's a lag of 1-3 seconds before it displays, with no other programs running. (This is similar, but not identical, to the issue described in Dash application search unresponsive at startup about 11.10.) At login time, this lag is up to 10 seconds, and sometimes the dash doesn't respond at all to the super key.
In contrast, the launcher Kupfer immediately responds to its hotkey, in milliseconds, and responds to my typing an application name also in fractions of a second.
Is there a way to load the dash in memory or a RAM disk of some sort to make it more responsive?
Use Compiz config setting manager and go to:
Ubuntu Unity Plugin -> Experimental -> Dash Blur
Setting it to No blur improved thing massively for me.
The always present problems with Dash performance are ridiculous. If they can't make it snappy, why they use effects at all?!
As for the original question - unfortunatelly you may experience this https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/990002 or a simillar bug.
No bugs but still not snappy?
After using Unity for months in a relatively bug-free environment on a dedicated graphics I can say this:
- Even on best software/hardware configurations Unity will feel slow. Smooth but slow. This is due to long animations, the most important of which can't be tweaked or disabled How to disable all Unity animations?
- The simplest tweaks to improve Dash responsiveness is to disable blur and use Dash at its desktop size i.e. not maximized. Maximized Dash takes twice as long to open even on strong hardware. Disabling online search results may also help.
Similar to iain's answer, you can also use Ubuntu Tweak to modify those settings.
- Open Ubuntu Tweak (which can be launched either from the dash, or in the System Settings)
- Open the tab Tweaks and click Unity
- Set the Blur type to
no blur