If you create a new user, does it occur there? Does the Dolphin slowdown also start with KDE 4.6.2+?

Yes to both questions
But it's not only related to the KDE version, as it also occurs with OpenSUSE 11.4 which is based on KDE 4.6.0 + some backported fixes I guess ; and it doesn't occur under Kubuntu + KDE 4.6.5...

bcooksley wrote:If you create a new user, does it occur there? Does the Dolphin slowdown also start with KDE 4.6.2+?

I tried with a fresh new user account earlier in this thread, and it made no difference. I want to emphasize that the application itself (Dolphin, VLC, et al) is not slow: The launch has a slight delay, but it's most evident with VLC.

If I boot from an openSUSE 11.4 KDE live CD and then install VLC, there is no launch delay at all.

In other words, prior to 4.6.2, the very moment I clicked on the VLC icon, the program's interface was ready for me to use. When I open a new video file, it starts playing immediately.

With 4.6.2+, when I click on the VLC icon, I have to wait a few seconds before I can start using it. When I open a new video file, I have to wait a few seconds before it starts playing. When you add this up, it gets annoying.

To illustrate this, imagine having to wait even just 2 seconds for the Kickoff menu to appear when you click on its icon. The first time, you can shrug it off. But after using your computer for a while, it will become hard to cope with.

Looks like there has been no activity on the VLC thread: http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php ... 4&p=296263

mahen wrote:BTW, regarding the launch delay (about 1 or 2 second here), I encountered it under OpenSUSE 11.4 & Arch *with proprietary nvidia drivers and not the OSS ones* ; the issue didn't occur under PCLinuxOS 2011.06 and Kubuntu 11.04.

mahen! I can't believe I didn't try earlier, but you're right! On openSUSE 11.4 with the nouveau (OSS) driver, VLC appears instantly and plays new videos instantly! I decided to just give it a try, so I did. Thank you for your feedback and info, mahen!

I uninstalled the nvidia driver and rebooted without the nomodeset option, and it automatically uses the OSS nouveau driver. Now the VLC launch delays are completely gone!

Here's where I get confused: If this is not a problem with nouveau, why does it still give me a problem on the OSS intel video driver? Even though this seems "solved", I still want to revert back to the proprietary nvidia drivers, since I get better Flash performance, as well as for gaming.

I should also add, even with proprietary nvidia drivers, this doesn't happen back on 4.6.0. Confusing.

flan_suse : glad I could help ! There is a showstopper for me, though : I cannot get vsync to work with the nouveau driver... Can you ?

This problem is likely multifaceted, as it seems that some form of KDE and driver/X combinations is responsible for triggering this. Have you tried asking the VLC developers?

I started one for both the screensaver inhibition and launch delay issues ; but if someone had the time to start a separate thread it would be nice ! (http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=92198)