Skype is a CPU hog on Fedora 11

[Robert Wuest]

Skype was working fine on Fedora 10, but on 11 it consumes 100% of a CPU 
(running on a Q6600 system).  On Fedora 10, it's CPU usage was in the 
noise.  After a while (a couple of minutes), the lag time increases to 
where it is essentially unusable.  I just did an strace of a call to the 
skype testing service thing and I don't really see anything interesting 
in there.  Anybody have any ideas what could be wrong?  Something wrong 
with my audio maybe?

Robert

[Jerry Feldman]

On 06/29/2009 06:32 PM, Robert Wuest wrote:
>  On 06/27/2009 01:38 PM, Jerry Feldman wrote:
> > On 06/22/2009 06:03 PM, Robert Wuest wrote:
> >   
> >> Skype was working fine on Fedora 10, but on 11 it consumes 100% of a
> >> CPU (running on a Q6600 system).  On Fedora 10, it's CPU usage was in
> >> the noise.  After a while (a couple of minutes), the lag time
> >> increases to where it is essentially unusable.  I just did an strace
> >> of a call to the skype testing service thing and I don't really see
> >> anything interesting in there.  Anybody have any ideas what could be
> >> wrong?  Something wrong with my audio maybe?
> >>
> >> Robert
> >>
> >>      
> > Is there a more recent version of Skype for F11 (x86_64) than this:
> >   skype-2.0.0.72-fc5.i586.rpm
> >
> >
> >    
>
>  That's the latest.  It's old, but it did work like a champ for me on
>  F10 and I'm thinking seriously about reverting back to F10, not just
>  for skype but numerous little gotchas I've run into.  A month into
>  this and I'm still not really solid.   I've got credit on skype that I
>  can't use.
>  
Thanks Robert.

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf(a)blu.org&gt;
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB  CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846

[Robert Wuest]

On 06/27/2009 01:38 PM, Jerry Feldman wrote:
>  On 06/22/2009 06:03 PM, Robert Wuest wrote:
>     
> > Skype was working fine on Fedora 10, but on 11 it consumes 100% of a
> > CPU (running on a Q6600 system).  On Fedora 10, it's CPU usage was in
> > the noise.  After a while (a couple of minutes), the lag time
> > increases to where it is essentially unusable.  I just did an strace
> > of a call to the skype testing service thing and I don't really see
> > anything interesting in there.  Anybody have any ideas what could be
> > wrong?  Something wrong with my audio maybe?
> >
> > Robert
> >
> >      
>  Is there a more recent version of Skype for F11 (x86_64) than this:
>    skype-2.0.0.72-fc5.i586.rpm
>
>
>      
That's the latest.  It's old, but it did work like a champ for me on F10 
and I'm thinking seriously about reverting back to F10, not just for 
skype but numerous little gotchas I've run into.  A month into this and 
I'm still not really solid.   I've got credit on skype that I can't use.

[Jerry Feldman]

On 06/22/2009 06:03 PM, Robert Wuest wrote:
>  Skype was working fine on Fedora 10, but on 11 it consumes 100% of a
>  CPU (running on a Q6600 system).  On Fedora 10, it's CPU usage was in
>  the noise.  After a while (a couple of minutes), the lag time
>  increases to where it is essentially unusable.  I just did an strace
>  of a call to the skype testing service thing and I don't really see
>  anything interesting in there.  Anybody have any ideas what could be
>  wrong?  Something wrong with my audio maybe?
>
>  Robert
>  
Is there a more recent version of Skype for F11 (x86_64) than this:
 skype-2.0.0.72-fc5.i586.rpm


-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf(a)blu.org&gt;
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB  CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846

[Brian Mury]

On Mon, 2009-06-22 at 17:43 -0600, Robert Wuest wrote:
>  I do not see an ALSA 
>  option.  Only the default (no workie), several HDA Intel options (no 
>  workie), HDMI (no workie), and Pulse (works).   
By "ALSA" I meant any of the non-pulse options - it's my understanding
that Skype is using ALSA. I could be wrong.

I simply set Sound In and Sound Out to "Logitech USB Headset
(hw:Headset,0)" - you would pick whatever sound device you wish to use -
and set Ringing to "C-Media CMI8738 (hw:CMI8738,0)" - again, pick
whatever makes sense for you.

Yes, this will cause conflicts if something else is using the sound
device, but it's not a big problem for me. The headset is used only for
skype, and if I am listening to music, then I don't get audio alerts
when someone IMs or calls me.

>  So, this might be interesting: what would happen if I just rpm
> -e'd 
>  everything pulse? 
It will take a whole bunch of dependencies with it. You can try it, but
I don't think you'll be happy. You should be able to leave pulse
installed but not use it, though I've never done it and don't know how
to do it.

[Patrick Mansfield]

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 04:03:00PM -0600, Robert Wuest wrote:
>  Skype was working fine on Fedora 10, but on 11 it consumes 100% of a
> CPU  
>  (running on a Q6600 system).  On Fedora 10, it's CPU usage was in the  
>  noise.  After a while (a couple of minutes), the lag time increases to  
>  where it is essentially unusable.  I just did an strace of a call to the  
>  skype testing service thing and I don't really see anything interesting  
>  in there.  Anybody have any ideas what could be wrong?  Something wrong  
>  with my audio maybe? 
I hit the same thing if I use "pulse" in the device settings. Per some
fedoraforum post, I ran with with "pasuspend skype" and used the hardware
device, that seemed to work OK (I have some mic input issue still ...),
though that isn't real useful if you always want skype running (as an
IM/text client and not just a voice/video chat client).

I also read a skype forum post that says a new linux client is in the
works that is supposed to work (better?) with skype, but I couldn't find
the blog post it referenced (I assume a skype developer's blog).

-- Patrick Mansfield

[Brian Mury]

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 15:03, Robert Wuest<rwuestfc(a)wuest.org> wrote:
>  Skype was working fine on Fedora 10, but on 11 it consumes 100% of a
> CPU 
Is the CPU at 100% all of the time, or only when Skype is in use?
Is Skype configured to use PulseAudio?

If I set Skype to use PulseAudio for the ringing device, it uses 100%
CPU when it plays sounds, and for several seconds afterwards. This
doesn't always happen the first few times it plays sounds, but will
start happening after it has been in use for a while (it doesn't take
long). Setting it to the ALSA device works.

Strangely enough, I had this problem on a previous Fedora version (9?
10? I forget), but it eventually went away - after some software
updates, if I recall correctly, but my memory is pretty hazy on this.
Seems it's back in F11... :-(

BTW, I haven't tried using PulseAudio for the sound in/sound out
devices, so I don't know how that would behave. I have a USB headset
that is used only for Skype.

Brian

[Robert Wuest]

On 06/22/2009 05:25 PM, Brian Mury wrote:
>  On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 15:03, Robert Wuest<rwuestfc(a)wuest.org>
>  wrote:
>     
> > Skype was working fine on Fedora 10, but on 11 it consumes 100% of a CPU
> >      
>
>  Is the CPU at 100% all of the time, or only when Skype is in use?
>  Is Skype configured to use PulseAudio?
>
>  If I set Skype to use PulseAudio for the ringing device, it uses 100%
>  CPU when it plays sounds, and for several seconds afterwards. This
>  doesn't always happen the first few times it plays sounds, but will
>  start happening after it has been in use for a while (it doesn't take
>  long). Setting it to the ALSA device works.
>
>  Strangely enough, I had this problem on a previous Fedora version (9?
>  10? I forget), but it eventually went away - after some software
>  updates, if I recall correctly, but my memory is pretty hazy on this.
>  Seems it's back in F11... :-(
>
>  BTW, I haven't tried using PulseAudio for the sound in/sound out
>  devices, so I don't know how that would behave. I have a USB headset
>  that is used only for Skype.
>
>  Brian
>
>      
I am using pulse. To be honest, audio has become a freakin' mystery to 
me on Linux -  I feel lucky if anything plays at all anymore.
(I've been trying to decipher this in hopes of getting a clue to my 
audio problems : 
http://insanecoding.blogspot.com/2009/06/state-of-sound-in-linux-not-so-s...)

I had a real hard time getting the microphone input to work.  So I have 
the input set to pulse and the output set to HDA Intel.  That is the 
only thing I could ever get to work at all.  I tried every combination, 
calling that skype testing service thing each time to see if it was 
working.  A _lot_ of time doing trial and error.  I do not see an ALSA 
option.  Only the default (no workie), several HDA Intel options (no 
workie), HDMI (no workie), and Pulse (works).  I think I even installed 
the static version of skype to get it work, then the regular version has 
worked since.  This is a real mess.

So, this might be interesting: what would happen if I just rpm -e'd 
everything pulse?   Can I just remove pulse completely and expect 
anything to work?  All I really care about working would be three 
things: mplayer (for mp3s and oggs and an occasional mpg/avi), flash 
(for hulu.com) and skype.  If everything else was broken, it might be a 
long time before I even noticed.

[Robert Wuest]

On 06/22/2009 04:42 PM, stan wrote:
>  On Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:03:00 -0600
>  Robert Wuest<rwuestfc(a)wuest.org>  wrote:
>
>     
> > Skype was working fine on Fedora 10, but on 11 it consumes 100% of a
> > CPU (running on a Q6600 system).  On Fedora 10, it's CPU usage was in
> > the noise.  After a while (a couple of minutes), the lag time
> > increases to where it is essentially unusable.  I just did an strace
> > of a call to the skype testing service thing and I don't really see
> > anything interesting in there.  Anybody have any ideas what could be
> > wrong?  Something wrong with my audio maybe?
> >
> > Robert
> >
> >      
>  I don't know about skype, but the flash on some sites is so demanding
>  (ill-formed?) that it can use all the resources in the machine unless it
>  is curtailed.  Is it possible you have your browser on one of those
>  sites, and it only appears to be skype?  One that went hog wild for me
>  was yahoo finance.  I ended up using noscript and turning it off. End
>  of problem.
>
>      
I have that problem with flash, too (in F9, F10 and F11), but this is 
definitely skype.

[Fernando Cassia]

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 7:42 PM, stan<gryt2(a)q.com> wrote:
>  On Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:03:00 -0600
>  Robert Wuest <rwuestfc(a)wuest.org&gt; wrote:
>
> > Skype was working fine on Fedora 10, but on 11 it consumes 100% of a
> > CPU (running on a Q6600 system).  On Fedora 10, it's CPU usage was in
> > the noise.  After a while (a couple of minutes), the lag time
> > increases to where it is essentially unusable.  I just did an strace
> > of a call to the skype testing service thing and I don't really see
> > anything interesting in there.  Anybody have any ideas what could be
> > wrong?  Something wrong with my audio maybe?
> >
> > Robert
> >
>  I don't know about skype, but the flash on some sites is so demanding
>  (ill-formed?) that it can use all the resources in the machine unless it
>  is curtailed.  Is it possible you have your browser on one of those
>  sites, and it only appears to be skype?  One that went hog wild for me
>  was yahoo finance.  I ended up using noscript and turning it off. End
>  of problem. 
Noscript is too drastic. It prevents ANY Javascript from executing,
not just embedded Flash.
Today Javascript is needed for all the AJAX - DHTML goodies.

You can block Flash applets, and actually launch them "on demand" (by
clicking) with Flashblocker

http://flashblock.mozdev.org/

FC

[stan]

On Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:03:00 -0600
Robert Wuest <rwuestfc(a)wuest.org&gt; wrote:

>  Skype was working fine on Fedora 10, but on 11 it consumes 100% of a
>  CPU (running on a Q6600 system).  On Fedora 10, it's CPU usage was in
>  the noise.  After a while (a couple of minutes), the lag time
>  increases to where it is essentially unusable.  I just did an strace
>  of a call to the skype testing service thing and I don't really see
>  anything interesting in there.  Anybody have any ideas what could be
>  wrong?  Something wrong with my audio maybe?
>  
>  Robert
>   
I don't know about skype, but the flash on some sites is so demanding
(ill-formed?) that it can use all the resources in the machine unless it
is curtailed.  Is it possible you have your browser on one of those
sites, and it only appears to be skype?  One that went hog wild for me
was yahoo finance.  I ended up using noscript and turning it off. End
of problem.