[arch-general] Something wrong with firefox/thunderbird driving X cpu usage -> 100%

[David C. Rankin]

On 08/10/2012 08:35 AM, Genes MailLists wrote:
> On 08/10/2012 12:41 AM, gt wrote:
>
>>
>> Why don't you guys try something like claws or sylpheed, if you are
>> having problem with thunderbird. I have used claws a couple of times
>> and I can say that it consumes minimal resources (for a graphical
>> client).
>>
>
>    Unless lots has changed recently, Claws is not really a great replacement
> for TB. In large part due to lack of html compose support (e.g. font control
> and tables can be pretty darn important for some). Evolution might be, tho it
> used to crash a lot - perhaps it has improved recently and is worth trying again.
>
>    I use a local imap server for local storage - even on my laptop - so I can
> change email clients with zero dependence on any clients local storage quirks.
>
>   I am running TB 17 - one thing worth checking is to ensure GLODA is turned
> off (edit->prefs->advanced->general). This has caused terrible cpu and io
> activity for me in the past.
>
>   On my laptop, while roaming, if i lose connections - then sometimes TB
> re-checks and indexes things - which causes CPU spikes for a bit - but they go
> away.
>
>   gene
>

   That is the sad point of all of this. Since 1.X tbird has done one thing 
and done one thing well - provided an excellent graphical mail client, with 
very capable and flexible filtering, and been able to handle large mbox files 
without issue. It is hard to find a good comparable replacement. All of which 
makes the recent developments in tbird very troubling.

   Opera works, I've used it for years, but it has a very non-intuitive 
folder/filter setup. (I'm old-school, I want a browser to browse and a mail 
client to do mail, and I don't want either to do the others job - except for 
the mailer to display html e-mail when some unwitting soul send it to me) 
That's because many times I'm composing a message while making reference to a 
web page. I know you can pop most compose windows out into separate windows, 
but I just prefer a separate browser and mail client.

   I used sylpheed-claws (5 years ago or so) and didn't have any big 
complaints, I just found tbird (at the time) the better of the two packages. I 
do prefer a gui client. I use pine/alpine, but I've always found it easier to 
cut/paste between gui clients.

   We will just have to wait and see if mozilla can get the "massive memory 
usage" bugs fixed. There isn't any technical reason why they can't as long as 
they focus on performance issues rather then version competition and arguments 
like hiding the version number in the 'about' dialog. (yes, that is actually 
what mozilla planned to do...)


-- 
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.