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I really need some help with my new laptop.

I bought a DELL XPS 13 developer edition with Ubuntu 16.04 preinstalled a couple of days ago. The only things that I have done so far (which I believe could be important) is to configure the super key to work by removing "dell-super-key" and I have installed the following software: Matlab R2017a, Sublime 3, terminator, screen, cutecom, Skype. I have also set up a build environment for embedded programming.

The problem is the following: If I open e.g. Chromium and write something in the google search field all is good. The same is true for Matlab. I can type as fast as I want on the keyboard and instantly the letters appear on the screen. The computer is also super fast when it comes to standard Ubuntu things, like changing workspace or opening applications.

However, if I open Sublime, Terminator, LibreOffice Writer or gedit and do the same the computer responds super slow. If I type fast on the keyboard it takes up to 10 seconds until the letters appear on the screen. It is not a small performance issue but completely unusable. If I hold down a key for a couple of seconds nothing is displayed on the screen for a long time, the application almost crashes (gets grayed out), then it comes back and the letters appear.

I really hope someone is able to help me find the issue.

Best regards.

Carl
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  • If you still have a Guest account on the system, does Gedit have the same problem when logged in as Guest? Is the gedit window transparent? – heynnema Aug 14 '17 at 18:58
  • @heynnema Yes I have a guest account. I logged in and tested Gedit and sublime there. And they work perfectly! The issue is gone! What does this mean, what have I done wrong to my standard user account, and do you know how to fix it? Regarding your second point, I don't really understand what you mean but no, there is nothing transparent about the Gedit editor. – Carl Aug 14 '17 at 19:15
  • Open the Language Support panel of System Settings and note the keyboard input setting whilst in the Guest account. Then log into your normal account and check the same setting. Have you modified any of the .bash* or .profile in your account? Also, what Startup Applications do you have set? – heynnema Aug 14 '17 at 19:26
  • I have IBus keyboard input method for both accounts. Yes there were some small changes in the .bash and .profile files. I had added reverse search for bash git promt. In the .profile some PATH was updated. However I removed everything that I added but the issue remains for the standard account. The only Startup Application I have is SSH Key Agent – Carl Aug 14 '17 at 20:25
  • Something has changed in your account, and the .bash* and .profile are the most common problem areas. Do you have any extra "indicator" applications... like "weather"/Dropbox/etc installed. I've seen fools with 10-15 extra icons in their top panel! Disable everything, log out, log in, and recheck. – heynnema Aug 14 '17 at 20:29
  • hm no I don't have a single indicator app installed. I deleted the .bashrc and .profile files, still no improvement. Any other ideas? :) – Carl Aug 14 '17 at 20:57
  • I wish you hadn't deleted those files. Now we're going to have to replace them from somewhere. Did you log out and back in again after deleting them, and retry gedit? If that didn't fix it, delete .xinputrc, log out/in and retry gedit. – heynnema Aug 15 '17 at 00:11
  • @heynnema Sorry I should have been more clear, I copied the content of the files into a backup doc, then deleted them, then log out/in, retried Gedit. Now I also did the same for .xinputrc, however the issue is still there so I restored the files again. Thanks for taking your time! – Carl Aug 15 '17 at 05:23
  • Well, here's the way that I'd approach it. Start renaming folders in your home directory (with the exception of Documents/Pictures/Videos/etc) to something like mv .config .config.HOLD (Do .config and .local first). Log out/in/retest. Once gedit starts working properly, then you know you've found a folder that contains whatever is causing the problem. If renaming folders doesn't find it, then start in with the . files, same procedure. Later we rename them all back. Report back. – heynnema Aug 15 '17 at 13:28
  • It works! So nice to have my computer back. I renamed all files and folders in my home directory but without improvements. However, a friend helped me localize the problem to the assistance software "Orca" that for some reason was running in the background. So I removed it and now all is good again. Thank you very much for your help in finding the problem. Best Regards, Carl – Carl Aug 16 '17 at 09:07
  • Glad you got it running properly! – heynnema Aug 16 '17 at 13:26

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The problem was the assistance software "Orca" that for some reason was running in the background. When Orca was removed all is good again.

Carl
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