On Monday 13 October 2008 03:06:53 am Alex wrote: > <2nd attempt at posting this ...> > > Hey, > > I have installed Lyx maybe 3-4 months ago, but I have been really using it > seriously in the past month. I am trying to write my thesis. > The problem is that the program becomes really, really sllooowww after a > while. What I mean is that it gets to the point where, while typing, it > takes 2-3 seconds for *each* character/letter to appear on the screen. I > can type a whole sentence and then wait 2-3 minutes, but the moment I > switch to a different Window, LyX stops recording what I had just typed, so > I have to do it again. As you can imagine, it's hard to be writing a longer > document in this style. > I've seen some earlier emails on this forum with similar problems (e.g. 2 > years ago there was a problem on Macs), but no real fixes. > > A little bit about my setup: I am using Windows XP, and I tried LyX > versions 1.5.6 and 1.6.0 up to RC3 as they came out. Whenever I installed a > new version, things were fine for a few days, but in at most a week I'm > back not able to really use Lyx for writing. I even tried switching to a > new computer, I tried not leaving LyX open for days with the documents I'm > editing, I tried rebooting and reopening my documents, reinstalling LyX - > eventually everything fails, and it stays slow even when I had just opened > the document. > > I can send you the file I'm currently working on, if anyone wants to > reproduce the problem. I was smart enough to split my thesis into chapters > in separate files, so right now I have something like 10 pages of text and > about 10 figures (imported from .eps files). The typing speed was ok at the > beginning but eventually I had to type my stuff in MS Word and then copy > into LyX. Now I'm just trying to edit a few minor details in LyX and it's > being > impossible... I admit, I have had many programs open at the same time (like > MS Office, Matlab, Remote Desktop, Acrobat) when I first noticed the > slowness, but now even after a fresh restart, LyX is too slow for me to > type anything... I noticed that if I start a new LyX document, I can type > again fast for the first few lines of text, but what's the maximum size > document that LyX can handle without getting bogged down? (My file is > currently only about 50 kB, and included images as little as 100 kB when > things got really slow. I eventually have added more figures, a couple of > which are > than 1Mb, but these are kept in separate files after all. Even > documents that come with Lyx, like the User's Guide, are extremely slow to > open and/or edit in all versions of LyX 1.5.6 and above. > > I can live with smaller bugs in LyX, but this one above is currently > preventing me from using all the other capabilities of this program. > > Alex
Hi Alex, Just for fun, and as corrective maintenance, try deleting all unnecessary files from your drive, and then defrag it. Also, check your virtual memory settings and make sure your virtual memory file is contiguous, is big enough, and doesn't shrink and grow all the time. Make sure you have sufficient semiconductor RAM (I have no idea how much you need for Windows, LyX and a few other apps). LyX works fine for you on really tiny files, but when they grow to small files (~50K), performance is abyssmal. Perhaps files work fine as long as they're a single block, but get messed up when they span blocks, because of fragmentation. Also, perhaps you're swapping between semiconductor RAM and virtual memory. That would produce the "one keystroke every 3 seconds" symptom you describe. Check for sufficient semiconductor RAM, and make sure it isn't all being used by some process (you know how Windows just loves to load up all sorts of stuff at startup, especially if the Windows was installed by the guys you bought your computer from). I'm not saying any of my suspicions are right -- I'm just saying these are easy checks to make, and should be made on ANY computer to assure continued efficient running. SteveT Steve Litt Recession Relief Package http://www.recession-relief.US
