Still 100% CPU when using Kontact - nearly SOLVED!

Sat Sep 28 11:30:10 UTC 2013

go to
http://www.remastersys.com/
unfortunately and very sadly apparently it is becoming "abandonware" but 
as of 12.10 at least it works. Not without flaws but way better than 
nothing, so to speak.

For those who do not know: remastersys creates an installable copy of 
your installed and updated system, so long as you keep it below 4 Gb in 
size. I remove old kernels and keep games such as Xonotic off my system 
and have an updated "mr sinclair distro" available on a USB flash. Takes 
about 20 minutes to install if I do some major mistake such as upgrade 
to 13.04 or KDE 4.11.1

On 28/09/2013 09:51, Errol Sapir wrote:
> HI Sinclair
> I've used remastersys before in an earlier Kubuntu (11.04 I think). I
> now cannot install it. It is not "available" by trying apt-get install
> or via the Muon package manager. HUh? What is going on?
> Errol
>
> On 27/09/13 17:50, O. Sinclair wrote:
>> Dear Bas,
>>
>> good to see you never seem to give up. When the going gets tough, the
>> tough gets going, no?
>>
>> As for me I have to say that I can not work with 13.04 and KDE 4.11.1
>> due to two different reasons:
>> 1. 13.04 has a kernel bug related to us poor guys who bought computers
>> with dual GPU, in my case AMD/Intel. The AMD drivers do not work since
>> 11.04 and the kernel in 13.04 can not switch off the AMD card = battery
>> eaten alive and CPU going mad
>> 2. KDE 4.11.1 does strange things to the akonadi/nepomuk chain. Again. I
>> could not search for anything in desktop, in KDEPIM search was really
>> strange. If you go to kdeforums you will find a thread on this (started
>> by me) that points to a bug/recession in nepomuk 4.11.1
>>
>> I am back at Kubuntu 12.10 and KDE 4.10.5 myself. Bas - do install
>> Remastersys, the best thing invented since linux itself. You can make a
>> clean copy of your installation and revert to it in about 20 minutes.
>>
>> Ole, ha det gott du då, från en svensk
>>
>> Kind regards
>> Sinclair
>>
>> On 27/09/2013 15:40, Bas G. Roufs - English wrote:
>>> Dear Sinclair, Ole-Erik and Everybody,
>>>
>>> about one week ago, I opened in the Kubuntu users forum the thread
>>> 'Still 100% CPU when using Kontact' - with respect to persistant,
>>> complicate problems I have been experiencing in Kontact within Kubuntu
>>> 13.04 & KDE 4.10.5 as well as within several previous versions of both
>>> Kubuntu and KDE. About one week ago, you, Sinclair, came up with the
>>> suggestion that has solved more than 90% of my Kontact problems. In this
>>> message, I summarise the progress I am observing now with respect to
>>> Kontact.
>>>
>>> Let's start with a short summary. Thanks to a very useful suggestion
>>> from Sinclair, I can smoothly multitask, while Kontact is working in the
>>> background. Also other recent improvements in Kubuntu and KDE have
>>> contributed to Kontact becoming much more useful and practical now. This
>>> is a really major progress I have been hoping for ever since 2010.
>>> Gradually, KDE 4.x along with Kontact is reaching a mature state.
>>>
>>> In the subject line of this message, I write 'nearly SOLVED!', because
>>> two important points of attention still remain:
>>>
>>>   * the necessisity to rename the /kde/share/apps/nepomuk folder and to
>>>     create a new one after reboot;
>>>   * difficulties to select an address via the KDE-Google agent.
>>>
>>> My findings might be useful for several other users of Kontact and KDE
>>> in Kubuntu and other KDE based distros. That's why, I CC this message to
>>> the list 'KDE-PIM Users'.
>>>
>>> Now, I work out this summary. Let's start with the useful suggestion
>>> from Sinclair I have received at the 21st of September:
>>>
>>>  > When I get stuck in "nepomuk virtuoso ate my CPU" I "normally" (it
>>> has
>>>
>>>  > not happened that often lately) rename the .kde/share/apps/nepomuk
>>>
>>>  > folder and reboot. Then it WILL go mad for a while recreating the
>>>
>>>  > database but will then normalise CPU usage
>>>
>>> On Saturday evening 21 September, I have followed up this advise from
>>> about 20h. Central Europeanl Time onwards. After renaming the folder
>>> mentioned by you, Sinclair, I rebooted the system, after which I gave it
>>> the chance until about 8.30 in the next morning to uninterruptedly
>>> recreate the database. In the mean time, I did nothing else at the
>>> laptop except monitoring from time to time the 'System Load Viewer' for
>>> CPU, RAM and SWAP usage. I also changed something in the energy
>>> management settings, with a view to preventing the system from falling
>>> asleep.
>>>
>>> Everything happened more or less along the lines of the prediction cited
>>> above. Until midnight, I observed CPU usage values that were
>>> persistently calibrating between 60 and 100% - however, already at 8.30h
>>> in the next morning, the CPU usage had dropped to normal values -
>>> between 0 and 30 %.
>>>
>>> In the past few days, it has become clear that Kontact has become really
>>> much more practical and useful now. I can let the system persistently
>>> file index, while I am multitasking. Only 5 minutes after starting up
>>> Kontact in the first working session of a day, I need to let the system
>>> in peace with a view to giving it the chance to build up an updated
>>> e-mail and RSS database. But for the rest of the day, I can keep writing
>>> e-mails and carrying out other tasks, while Kontact is updating it's
>>> databases in the background. The CPU usage in general calibrates between
>>> 0 and 30%. At some moments it still does peak to 100%, but only for a
>>> short moment. After such a peak, the CPU immediately falls back to 0%.
>>> As a matter of result, I can simply do 'everything' now while Kontact is
>>> working in the background. Delicious!
>>>
>>> A few months ago, I have limited the number of e-mails in the IMAP
>>> folder to 1000 in the hope to be able to better handle Kontact. It
>>> helped a little bit, but not at all enough. Moreover, 1000 e-mails is
>>> nothing at present. That's why, I have decided to day to set back the
>>> settings from 1000 to 'unlimited'. That's why, Kontact is recreating the
>>> e-mail database right now, while I am writing this e-mail from within
>>> Kontact and listening to an online radio station. Before 21 September,
>>> such a multitasking working session would have been simply impossible.
>>> Moreover: even writing an e-mail while Kontact was (re)creating the
>>> databases, would have been simply impossible - that's why, I often
>>> needed to use the online e-mail editor of GMAIL instead of Kontact.
>>>
>>> But now, while Kontact is recreating the database, the CPU usage is
>>> constantly switching between 2 values only: 0% and 100% . The
>>> combination of the recreated database and the recent technical
>>> improvements in KDE seem to end up in a great result: I can still
>>> multitask, while the data base recreating process is working in the
>>> background. I am really very happy with this development. Thanks to all
>>> those who have contruted to this progress!
>>>
>>> In my opinion, Kontact along with the rest of KDE 4.X is reaching a
>>> mature state now. However, two major points of attention still remain in
>>> my opinion.
>>>
>>> One of them has to do with the necessity to rename and recreate a
>>> nepomuk database even after a fresh install of Kubuntu. Only after doing
>>> so, the recent technical improvements aimed at letting Kontact work in
>>> the background, become effective.
>>>
>>> The second point of attention has to do with the still persistent
>>> difficulties to access the google address book via the 'akonadi
>>> googlecontacts resource'. I still do not always manage to do so -
>>> because of which I still often need to use a 'workaround': copy-paste
>>> the addresses from the Gmail online editor.
>>>
>>> Finally, I dedicate a few words to your latest question, Ole-Erik:
>>>
>>>  > This downloaded line from 23.5.2013 came up searching "Kubuntu"
>>> history with
>>>
>>>  > Muon:
>>>
>>>  >
>>>
>>>  > kubuntu-default-settings (13.04ubuntu12, 13.04ubuntu13) Oppgradert på
>>> 10.49
>>>
>>>  >
>>>
>>>  > Does it say anyting?
>>>
>>> Norvegian is close enough to my mother tongue Dutch to more or less
>>> understand the implication of the info above. At your computer, there is
>>> a Kubuntu 13.04 configuration: a configuration whose 'default settings'
>>> have been updated at the 25th of May 2013.
>>>
>>> OK, this is enough for now :-). Have a good weekend!
>>>
>>> Respectfully yours,
>>>
>>> Bas G. Roufs.
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Bas G. Roufs MA
>>>
>>> Utrecht, NL, E. BasRoufs at gmail.com, M. +31 6 446 835 10.
>>>
>>
>>
>
>