i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

i3 FAQ - Individual question feedhttps://faq.i3wm.org/questions/Frequently asked questions and answers about the i3 window managerenCopyright i3, 2012Wed, 29 Apr 2015 05:10:40 +0000Making i3-input, dmenu_run, fasterhttps://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/Is there a simple way to make those open faster? Maybe increasing its priority/niceness, or having them always on RAM or some other smart way? I doubt it would waste much resources and would improve my experience, which pretty often involves waiting a couple of seconds after pressing those things. This also disallows me to just press the keys without thinking in order to get some program started or switch to some workspace, because whatever I type before those programs open gets dropped. Thanks!Tue, 21 Apr 2015 17:11:24 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/Comment by i3convert for Is there a simple way to make those open faster? Maybe increasing its priority/niceness, or having them always on RAM or some other smart way? I doubt it would waste much resources and would improve my experience, which pretty often involves waiting a couple of seconds after pressing those things. This also disallows me to just press the keys without thinking in order to get some program started or switch to some workspace, because whatever I type before those programs open gets dropped. Thanks! https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5852#comment-5852I don't know what the reason on your machine might be, but one thing you might want to try is [preloading](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Preload). If you do, let us know how it went.Tue, 21 Apr 2015 17:43:13 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5852#comment-5852Comment by Rojo for Is there a simple way to make those open faster? Maybe increasing its priority/niceness, or having them always on RAM or some other smart way? I doubt it would waste much resources and would improve my experience, which pretty often involves waiting a couple of seconds after pressing those things. This also disallows me to just press the keys without thinking in order to get some program started or switch to some workspace, because whatever I type before those programs open gets dropped. Thanks! https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5854#comment-5854@i3convert Reading up on that, I'll keep you postedTue, 21 Apr 2015 17:48:09 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5854#comment-5854Comment by airblader for Is there a simple way to make those open faster? Maybe increasing its priority/niceness, or having them always on RAM or some other smart way? I doubt it would waste much resources and would improve my experience, which pretty often involves waiting a couple of seconds after pressing those things. This also disallows me to just press the keys without thinking in order to get some program started or switch to some workspace, because whatever I type before those programs open gets dropped. Thanks! https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5851#comment-5851If i3input takes *seconds* to open on your machine, I would say your machine is either thirty years old or there is something wrong with it. dmenu_run (note: *not* dmenu) can be a bit slower, but even there several seconds sounds odd to me. How do other applications perform?Tue, 21 Apr 2015 17:42:42 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5851#comment-5851Comment by airblader for Is there a simple way to make those open faster? Maybe increasing its priority/niceness, or having them always on RAM or some other smart way? I doubt it would waste much resources and would improve my experience, which pretty often involves waiting a couple of seconds after pressing those things. This also disallows me to just press the keys without thinking in order to get some program started or switch to some workspace, because whatever I type before those programs open gets dropped. Thanks! https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5855#comment-5855@Rojo That's really odd. i3input is such a lightweight application that barely does anything. It literally just opens a small window, even without any heavy GUI toolkit, but basic XCB.Tue, 21 Apr 2015 17:50:56 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5855#comment-5855Comment by Rojo for Is there a simple way to make those open faster? Maybe increasing its priority/niceness, or having them always on RAM or some other smart way? I doubt it would waste much resources and would improve my experience, which pretty often involves waiting a couple of seconds after pressing those things. This also disallows me to just press the keys without thinking in order to get some program started or switch to some workspace, because whatever I type before those programs open gets dropped. Thanks! https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5853#comment-5853@airblader It is not such a bad machine but I use it near its RAM limit. Usually i3-input takes a second or two the first time if I hadn't used it in several minutes, but its fast if I run it again just afterwards.Tue, 21 Apr 2015 17:47:39 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5853#comment-5853Comment by airblader for Is there a simple way to make those open faster? Maybe increasing its priority/niceness, or having them always on RAM or some other smart way? I doubt it would waste much resources and would improve my experience, which pretty often involves waiting a couple of seconds after pressing those things. This also disallows me to just press the keys without thinking in order to get some program started or switch to some workspace, because whatever I type before those programs open gets dropped. Thanks! https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5856#comment-5856Also, if RAM is already used up, I don't see the point of preloading even more stuff into the RAM. I think if you hit hardware limits, you should reduce the usage of other things or invest in more hardware. You generally shouldn't have to max out RAM in a machine. Just my 2c, though. Good luck :)Tue, 21 Apr 2015 17:51:51 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5856#comment-5856Comment by Rojo for Is there a simple way to make those open faster? Maybe increasing its priority/niceness, or having them always on RAM or some other smart way? I doubt it would waste much resources and would improve my experience, which pretty often involves waiting a couple of seconds after pressing those things. This also disallows me to just press the keys without thinking in order to get some program started or switch to some workspace, because whatever I type before those programs open gets dropped. Thanks! https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5857#comment-5857@airblader then perhaps preloading plus some way of telling the kernel "don't you dare move this small thing to swap". I plan on a new machine but it's not always so easy :). I'd get more RAM without changing the machine if it wasn't more than twice as expensive as the newer RAM. Thanks for the 2c!Tue, 21 Apr 2015 17:59:45 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5857#comment-5857Comment by Rojo for Is there a simple way to make those open faster? Maybe increasing its priority/niceness, or having them always on RAM or some other smart way? I doubt it would waste much resources and would improve my experience, which pretty often involves waiting a couple of seconds after pressing those things. This also disallows me to just press the keys without thinking in order to get some program started or switch to some workspace, because whatever I type before those programs open gets dropped. Thanks! https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5858#comment-5858"...this and all the libraries it might use"Tue, 21 Apr 2015 18:00:47 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5858#comment-5858Answer by hes for Is there a simple way to make those open faster? Maybe increasing its priority/niceness, or having them always on RAM or some other smart way? I doubt it would waste much resources and would improve my experience, which pretty often involves waiting a couple of seconds after pressing those things. This also disallows me to just press the keys without thinking in order to get some program started or switch to some workspace, because whatever I type before those programs open gets dropped. Thanks! https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?answer=5911#post-id-5911j4-dmenu-desktop is specifically intended to be a faster replacement for i3-dmenu-desktop: https://github.com/enkore/j4-dmenu-desktop They say over 25 times faster. . . I have no idea, but it may be worth trying.Tue, 28 Apr 2015 00:18:37 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?answer=5911#post-id-5911Comment by i3convert for j4-dmenu-desktop is specifically intended to be a faster replacement for i3-dmenu-desktop: <a href="https://github.com/enkore/j4-dmenu-desktop">https://github.com/enkore/j4-dmenu-de...</a> They say over 25 times faster. . . I have no idea, but it may be worth trying. https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5912#comment-5912Note that i3-dmenu-desktop serves a different purpose than dmenu_run. dmenu_run lists all available commands. i3-dmenu-desktop lists programs that are specified as menu entries by having a *.desktop file somewhere.Wed, 29 Apr 2015 05:10:40 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5912#comment-5912Answer by teto for Is there a simple way to make those open faster? Maybe increasing its priority/niceness, or having them always on RAM or some other smart way? I doubt it would waste much resources and would improve my experience, which pretty often involves waiting a couple of seconds after pressing those things. This also disallows me to just press the keys without thinking in order to get some program started or switch to some workspace, because whatever I type before those programs open gets dropped. Thanks! https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?answer=5899#post-id-5899Or you could put dmenu in a scratchpad and display it when needed.Sun, 26 Apr 2015 16:00:05 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?answer=5899#post-id-5899Comment by Airblader for Or you could put dmenu in a scratchpad and display it when needed. https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5900#comment-5900dmenu isn't a managed window, so you can't put it into the scratchpad.Sun, 26 Apr 2015 16:26:42 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5900#comment-5900Answer by Michael for Is there a simple way to make those open faster? Maybe increasing its priority/niceness, or having them always on RAM or some other smart way? I doubt it would waste much resources and would improve my experience, which pretty often involves waiting a couple of seconds after pressing those things. This also disallows me to just press the keys without thinking in order to get some program started or switch to some workspace, because whatever I type before those programs open gets dropped. Thanks! https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?answer=5859#post-id-5859You can use http://doc.coker.com.au/projects/memlockd/ to keep binaries in RAM. As others have pointed out in the comments to your question, `i3-input` is already as lightweight as it gets. `dmenu_run` however traverses your `$PATH`, so it is bound by how fast your filesystem is. Using an SSD will help for `dmenu_run`.Tue, 21 Apr 2015 19:46:20 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?answer=5859#post-id-5859Comment by Adaephon for You can use <a href="http://doc.coker.com.au/projects/memlockd/">http://doc.coker.com.au/projects/meml...</a> to keep binaries in RAM. As others have pointed out in the comments to your question, <code>i3-input</code> is already as lightweight as it gets. <code>dmenu_run</code> however traverses your <code>$PATH</code>, so it is bound by how fast your filesystem is. Using an SSD will help for <code>dmenu_run</code>. https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5861#comment-5861`dmenu_run` (or rather `dmenu_path`) usually caches the found binaries in a file (usually `~/.cache/dmenu_run` or `~/.dmenu_cache`) and only traverses `PATH` if any of the directories have been updated since when the cache file was created. Tue, 21 Apr 2015 21:00:21 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/5850/making-i3-input-dmenu_run-faster/?comment=5861#comment-5861