Jaunty & Intel video

[AK Dave]

I'll crosspost this little writeup that I did for ubuntumini.com over the weekend.

There is much gnashing of teeth regarding video in Jaunty, esp with Intel chipsets. There are two common and really do-able fixes out there that some people are doing and in some cases have had some success in improving framerates and video playback. While neither of these have been noted by me to be big issues on the Mini-9, I went ahead and tried the various options to see what works and what doesn't. In the name of science, of course, documenting some numbers along the way. I concluded that the stock Jaunty is the best option for me, but some tweaks are available for slightly improved video performance.

All testing done on a Dell Mini-9 w/ 2gb ram, BIOS A04, all else stock incl wireless.

Option #1: Revert back to the 2.4 intel drivers from Intrepid
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReinhardTartler ... riverTo2.4

Option #2: Roll up to the 2.6.30-rc2 kernel from Karmic and upgrade the associated libs and driver
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1130582

I've done both, and in the end reverted back to stock Jaunty. This is my report:

Rollback to Intrepid's xserver-xorg-intel went smooth and without hassle. Nothing broke. I noted slight decrease in glxgears performance, and some improvement of framerate in Planet Penguin Racer. Hulu and YouTube video performance unchanged, as in these were fine before and they're still fine. Compiz sphere animation was just as jerky as stock Jaunty. No other system functions broken as a result of this.

I backed out of those changes and went with the 2.6.30-rc2 kernel to ride the bleeding edge. Upgrade was smooth and painless. I rebooted, and immediately noted that wireless was gone. The new kernel wanted to use some b43 module, and I couldn't modprobe the wl module back in place so I was unable in the 10 minutes I spent poking at this to fix my wireless. I noted some change to glxgears performance, but substantial improvement was noted in Planet Penguin Racer framerate. I played this game for about 30min because the improved framerate made for a substantially improved game experience. Compiz sphere animation was smoothe. Hulu and YouTube video performance still good, and not noted to be any better than before.

I then backed out of all of the changes, which required me to hook up to wired ethernet as wifi was still not working. I then rechecked all of my numbers in "stock Jaunty", where I noted that my FPS in Planet Penguin Racer had improved overall. So something I did along the way hadn't rolled back to pre-test configuration. Digging a little deeper, I realized that I had failed to roll out of the xorg.conf and mtrr changes applied during the Karmic test (steps 3, 4, 5 of the how-to). My xorg.conf was still modified as per step 3, and lspci is still noting the mtrr changes because instead of writing a fixmtrr.sh script as the current tutorial instructs, I'd edited rc.local as the OLD tutorial instructed.

Some numbers to consider:
Pre-test Jaunty: 200mb idle ram, 420-450 glxgears, 12-16 planet penguin racer
Intrepid video: 220mb idle ram, 400-450 glxgears. 16-20 planet penguin racer
Karmic kernel: 150mb idle ram, 430-480 glxgears, 26-30 planet penguin racer
Post-test Jaunty: 200mb idle ram, 420-450 glxgears, 16-20 planet penguin racer

I did my work last Friday, and I note that over the weekend the how-to for the Karmic -rc2 change has been edited, tweaked, and refined. I have not repeated my experiment using the current instructions. I would encourage anyone interested in this issue to do so. I am very interested in the intel video improvements available in Karmic, but not at the cost of functional, reliable, wireless networking.

My recommendation at this time is:
1. edit xorg.conf as per option-2 step-3
2. modify /proc/mtrr as per option-2 step-3&4
3. consider 2.6.30-rc2 only if you don't need wireless on your Mini-9

Originally posted here:
http://groups.google.com/group/UbuntuMi ... ee9e59b192

[exploder]

AK Dave, thanks for taking the time to look into the Intel situation. I hope Clem notices this post because it could lead to a decent solution for Mint 7. Again thank you very much for the hard work you have done. I appreciate your efforts very much.

exploder

[midas]

Yeah, perhaps the most simple solution would be (both for ATI- and Intelcards) re-issue the linux legacy-drivers in such way they can work with the new Xorg-package. In that case Ubuntu could simply backport the legacy-drivers to Jaunty. The restricted-driver tool would simply install the right driver for your system. Little hope all this really would happen...perhaps ATI is really acting already (is always faster in releasing drivers for linux). I guess we have to keep our fingers crossed for Mint 7

[AK Dave]

My Jaunty install is upgraded to the 2.6.28.12 kernel from -proposed and I note substantial graphics improvement on par with the 2.6.30-rc2 kernel. At this point I strongly recommend anyone with Jaunty and graphics woes to consider enabling -proposed to test this kernel. Worst case: you reboot to an older kernel instead. Linux is great like that.

[exploder]

I tried the updates in the proposed repo, there was some improvement but Hulu videos in full screen were still a little choppy. I tried the 2.6.30-rc2 with the drivers from the ppa repo and everything worked perfect but I loose the usplash! I spent a few hours trying different things to solve the problem. If I could get the usplash working with the RC kernel life would be good!

[kaixi]

I tried the updates in the proposed repo, there was some improvement but Hulu videos in full screen were still a little choppy. I tried the 2.6.30-rc2 with the drivers from the ppa repo and everything worked perfect but I loose the usplash! I spent a few hours trying different things to solve the problem. If I could get the usplash working with the RC kernel life would be good!

So, are you going to incorporate the fixes in jaunty-proposed to Mint 7 final, or are going to leave the problem as it is?

[exploder]

So, are you going to incorporate the fixes in jaunty-proposed to Mint 7 final, or are going to leave the problem as it is?

I doubt that Clem will put in anything from proposed but it is still an option for us to install ourselves.

[AK Dave]

Its still in -proposed for Jaunty because there is still testing being done. Maybe the code isn't 100% stable. Probably leave it out of Gloria-main until it rolls into Jaunty-main, and then bump it up from a '5' to a '3' or a '2' in MintUpdate as a tested or recommended upgrade.

As for 2.6.30-rc2 and usplash, well, I think thats because 2.6.30 does usplash totally different. I believe its not even usplash at all with that kernel, due to the way that they're doing kernel-based mode setting.

The open source video drivers are improving a lot. I'm really encouraged. I know there is a lot of pressure to release Gloria, but maybe it should be held at RC1 for a while and see what happens with Jaunty-proposed.

[exploder]

As for 2.6.30-rc2 and usplash, well, I think thats because 2.6.30 does usplash totally different. I believe its not even usplash at all with that kernel, due to the way that they're doing kernel-based mode setting.

I believe you are right. I think the newer kernel is geared towards Plymouth. I tested possible fixes in the proposed repo with a small improvement. Currently it's best to wait for things to reach the main repo. On my Intel system all multimedia will work, Hulu in full screen is the problem. I have not tried any games on the Intel system but I imagine the frame rates to be low.

Different Intel cards seem to be effected differently. Some are reporting that downgrading the driver to the Intrepid version resolved their problems. On my system the Intrepid driver made no noticeable difference. I spent 4 or 5 hours trying to come up with a solution. The proposed driver showed some improvement. The combination of the 2.6.30-rc kernel and the driver from the ppa repo resolved the problem completely. The side effect of the fix is no usplash. I do not recommend using an rc kernel as a permanent solution. A custom kernel might be a solid answer when 2.6.30 goes final. I am keeping my eye on the "How To" section on the Ubuntu forum because many are searching for a solid fix for this issue.

Currently, the best information to be found is here.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1130582

[kaixi]

I believe you are right. I think the newer kernel is geared towards Plymouth. I tested possible fixes in the proposed repo with a small improvement. Currently it's best to wait for things to reach the main repo. On my Intel system all multimedia will work, Hulu in full screen is the problem. I have not tried any games on the Intel system but I imagine the frame rates to be low.

I have an Intel i965 card and I've tried SuperTuxKart, Wesnoth, and ExtremeTuxRacer with the proposed drivers. Intrepid's perfomance was already quite poor and now it's even slightly worse, but at least Compiz is running well and the system is fairly smooth.

[exploder]

I now have Hulu videos working in full screen! I followed the instructions for the "safe" method of fixing the problem. I think the script was not running the first time I tried this and the instructions have been updated. A couple of quick commands got the script working this time. I also am using hardware acceleration for Flash as described in the bug report for the problem. Now I am totally happy with Mint 7 on my main machine!

I recommend trying the "safe" method outlined here, just take your time and carefully follow the instructions.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1130582

I can not remember the command to get the exact specs of my onboard Intel graphics but would be glad to post the specs to help others if someone will refresh my memory on the command used. My graphics performance is roughly the same as in Mint 6 now.

[exploder]

Here are the details of the hardware and how I got things working.

Intel Corporation 82G33/G31 Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:29c2] (rev 10), is what I have been working with. I followed the "Safe" method from the work around in the Ubuntu forum.The fix worked perfectly! I also am using hardware acceleration for Flash, this works fine with this particular on board graphics.

$ sudo mkdir /etc/adobe
$ echo "OverrideGPUValidation=true" >~/mms.cfg
$ sudo mv ~/mms.cfg /etc/adobe/

The above fix will get youtube working in full screen with the above mentioned integrated graphics. The "Safe" method found here fixed Hulu video in full screen.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1130582

There is one screen saver that has a glitch where the preview displays outside the test box. I saw where someone else reported this on the forum and I have seen the bug using ATI graphics as well. This appears to be a gnome or Ubuntu related bug. All other screen savers work as they should.

Hopefully this solution will work for anyone with the same hardware.

[kaixi]

[Katzedecimal]

Add me to the list of peeps who seem to have had success with the Ubuntu solution referenced by exploder I've *just* rebooted after applying the fix, so time will tell and I'll touch base back if I have any issues. However, my Compiz effects are running much more smoothly and the sluggishness I was experiencing seems to be improved.

[deadguy]

I recommend trying the "safe" method outlined here, just take your time and carefully follow the instructions.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1130582

I took your advice exploder.
it worked like a charm on my laptop w/ intel graphics.

thanks

[exploder]

Anytime! I am just glad to see people getting around the Intel issue so that they can enjoy the new release.

[deadguy]

Anytime! I am just glad to see people getting around the Intel issue so that they can enjoy the new release.

well, Mint 7 is awesome!!!

I love it.

Cheers,

Deadguy

[fabio]

Again on intel graphics problems.
After installation of Gloria:
- I could not play videos with any video player, nor could set moving patterns while playing audio (players would stop almost immediately, and if started from the terminal they would show errors);
- window displacement and display of animations in browsers were quite jerky;
- flash videos (eg YouTube) were very jerky at full screen, and
- I had flicker in proximity of sharp black/white borders in windows.
After reading a number of posts on Mint and Ubuntu Forums, I finally decided to revert to the older Intel 2.4 Driver (as in Intrepid), by following the procedure at:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReinhardTartler ... riverTo2.4

It worked well, and solved all the issues with exception of the full screen reproduction of Flash videos, that remained as jerky as before; for the time being I will live with it (Flash in a window is OK).

Cheers

Fabio

[exploder]

The solution for the Intel issue was completely different in the Mint 7 KDE CE internal development release. I have
Intel Corporation 82G33/G31 Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:29c2] (rev 10) on my main system. The safe method would not work with the Kubuntu base because the script was causing problems. With the script running log off would result in a black screen and a manual reboot was necessary. The optimal fix minus the script did the trick. I do not need the restricted modules on my system so the 2.6.30 kernel was an option for me. The new kernel is working with usplash now, previously the newer kernel would not work with usplash.

Hopefully this post will help others ith similar hardware that run the KDE CE.

[fabio]

For the sake of completeness: after reverting to Jaunty's Intel driver, Gloria (with Intel 865G) has further substantially improved by selecting "normal" visual effects (Menu > Control Center > Appearence > Visual Effects > Normal).
Cheers

Fabio