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Since I've updated to Ubuntu 19, I have been experiencing some slowness when I do things like:

  • use Fn keys to control hardware settings (display brightness, sound volume etc).
  • switch input language (via the keyboard shortcut).

It takes several seconds for these actions to complete. This used to be instant on older Ubuntu versions.

In particular, I've noticed that when switching languages, if I keep the shortcut keys pressed for a few seconds so that the available languages are displayed in a popup, the popup takes a few seconds to hide AFTER I released the keys - and the time it takes to do that seems to be the delay I see when I quickly press the keys, in which case the languages popup does not even display (but its delay seem to be still occurring).

Could this be some setting I have accidentally changed or that, by default, makes things slower (thinking of things like the "Slow keys" feature, which is definitely NOT enabled)?

Renato
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1 Answers1

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For anyone else having similar issues with Ubuntu 19: I installed a different desktop environment (DE, to replace Ubuntu 19's default, which is Gnome3), called Plasma KDE (it's like Linux Mint, which I already liked anyway), and that fixed all the problems I was having.

Now, all my keys controlling hardware (brightness, volume etc) respond as fast as they used to with Ubuntu 16... I can also switch languages instantly, and windows/desktop-swap animations run smoothly, without stuttering.

Notice that Ubuntu 19 is not a LTS release, so this is not a criticism of Ubuntu 19 or its default DE... but as I had a lot of issues with it, I thought that posting this answer would be useful to others who don't mind using a different DE.

It's very easy to install another DE on Ubuntu... I followed the guide on linuxconfig.org to do it, in case anyone else is interested.

Renato
  • 101