Screen flicker and tearing

[gm10]

How would 18.3 (xenial) go with that, using a cosmic repo to get Ubuntu kernels?

He was on bionic. But kernels are self-contained, you can use them with any release, theoretically (any incompatibilities would from stem from the kernel, not the packaging).

I would however suggest to also upgrade the linux-firmware package to cosmic in addition to the kernel because while not technically a dependency of the kernel package, the kernel expects certain files to be there that older Mint/Ubuntu releases lack. Don't blame me if this latter step blows up in your face though, this can lead to compatibility issues, so either know how to downgrade a package or have another way to roll back your system ready (e.g. Timeshift).

[catweazel]

How would 18.3 (xenial) go with that, using a cosmic repo to get Ubuntu kernels?

He was on bionic. But kernels are self-contained, you can use them with any release, theoretically (any incompatibilities would from stem from the kernel, not the packaging).

I would however suggest to also upgrade the linux-firmware package to cosmic in addition to the kernel because while not technically a dependency of the kernel package, the kernel expects certain files to be there that older Mint/Ubuntu releases lack. Don't blame me if this latter step blows up in your face though, this can lead to compatibility issues, so either know how to downgrade a package or have another way to roll back your system ready (e.g. Timeshift).

I gave it a shot but undid it because I ended up with 1500+ packages to update

I guess a manual download wouldn't hurt.

Thanks, and cheers.

[gm10]

I gave it a shot but undid it because I ended up with 1500+ packages to update

I guess a manual download wouldn't hurt.

Did you forget to run the following part of my suggestion?

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printf "Package: *\nPin: release a=cosmic\nPin-Priority: 400" | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/cosmic.pref
apt update
apt install linux-image-generic/cosmic

This both pins the repository to a lower priority so you should not be offered any updates automatically, and then manually updates only the kernel to the cosmic version. At face value this should work on Mint 18, too.

[catweazel]

I gave it a shot but undid it because I ended up with 1500+ packages to update

I guess a manual download wouldn't hurt.

Did you forget to run the following part of my suggestion?

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sudo printf "Package: *\nPin: release a=cosmic\nPin-Priority: 400" > /etc/apt/preferences.d/cosmic.pref
apt update
apt install linux-image-generic/cosmic

This both pins the repository to a lower priority so you should not be offered any updates automatically, and then manually updates only the kernel to the cosmic version. At face value this should work on Mint 18, too.

No, I didn't forget. I had to manually create the files as sudo printf gave permissions errors, then apt update gave appstreamcli GLib errors, then I got the 1500 packages to update.

Never mind. I don't wish to waste your time. It was more of a learning exercise for me.

Cheers.

[gm10]

No, I didn't forget. I had to manually create the files as sudo printf gave permissions errors, then apt update gave appstreamcli GLib errors, then I got the 1500 packages to update.

Never mind. I don't wish to waste your time. It was more of a learning exercise for me.

The sudo printf was obviously a brainfart of mine, can't believe I didn't see that before in particular after he had issues with it (had the heavy blinders on apparently), should have been the usual:

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printf "Package: *\nPin: release a=cosmic\nPin-Priority: 400" | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/cosmic.pref

The appstream issue is a known bug in appstream (the cosmic version of appstream has that fixed, you could install that - I have - but at this rate we'd end up turning your xenial into cosmic ) but does not affect apt operation itself, so the pinning should have worked. I'll check in a VM one of these days (just to satisfy my own curiosity).

[catweazel]

but at this rate we'd end up turning your xenial into cosmic

lol - that's what I was afraid of

[gm10]

but at this rate we'd end up turning your xenial into cosmic

lol - that's what I was afraid of

That appstream thing is a good example to see how much support Ubuntu is actually providing though. They didn't patch the bionic version, either, only cosmic.

By the way, since the appstream issue was triggered by a package in Universe I believe, which you don't need for the kernel, anyway, you probably won't run into it if you just add that part of the repo (as I should have suggested from the start, but you know how lazy copy & pastes go):

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printf 'deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ cosmic main\n' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cosmic.list

[catweazel]

but at this rate we'd end up turning your xenial into cosmic

lol - that's what I was afraid of

That appstream thing is a good example to see how much support Ubuntu is actually providing though. They didn't patch the bionic version, either, only cosmic.

By the way, since the appstream issue was triggered by a package in Universe I believe, which you don't need for the kernel, anyway, you probably won't run into it if you just add that part of the repo (as I should have suggested from the start, but you know how lazy copy & pastes go):

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printf 'deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ cosmic main\n' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cosmic.list

Ok, that got me to where I could select the 4.18 kernel without being pestered about 1500 updates. Unfortunately 4.18 won't install because of a couple of dependencies, which I'm not going to try and fix. Thanks for the leg up

[gm10]

Ok, that got me to where I could select the 4.18 kernel without being pestered about 1500 updates. Unfortunately 4.18 won't install because of a couple of dependencies, which I'm not going to try and fix. Thanks for the leg up

Really? The only dependency is linux-base and that version number looked xenial-compatible to me:

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$ apt depends linux-image-4.18.0-7-generic 
linux-image-4.18.0-7-generic
  Depends: kmod
  Depends: linux-base (>= 4.5ubuntu1~16.04.1)
  Depends: linux-modules-4.18.0-7-generic

But yeah, nvm, that kernel will probably make its way to your repos after Ubuntu 18.10 release, anyway.

[principalmoo]

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to give a little update:

I tried different compton configurations and nothing worked. Before going back to Windows 10, a friend recommended that I give Fedora a try because of the frequent updates (especially with kernels). I did and everything seems to be working well with the Cinnamon DE. After installing a lot of updates, I noticed that Fedora is automatically running kernel 4.18.7. I have not done anything to address the screen tearing; it just seems to work with Fedora.

Thank you to everyone that gave feedback and suggestions in this post. I really learned a lot here.

[gm10]

I tried different compton configurations and nothing worked. Before going back to Windows 10, a friend recommended that I give Fedora a try because of the frequent updates (especially with kernels). I did and everything seems to be working well with the Cinnamon DE. After installing a lot of updates, I noticed that Fedora is automatically running kernel 4.18.7. I have not done anything to address the screen tearing; it just seems to work with Fedora.

Interesting, The only difference that I can think of is that Fedora 28 continues to default to GDM as their display manager, don't they? Mint uses LightDM. The rest, I imagine, would have to be the same, unless they found some hidden Cinnamon settings to tweak. Did you install the Cinnamon spin directly? Fedora's default desktop is running on Wayland so that would certainly help with the tearing, too, but Cinnamon can't use that.

Note that Fedora 29 is coming out end of next month so don't get too comfortable, you'll probably want to upgrade to that version right away.

[principalmoo]

I tried different compton configurations and nothing worked. Before going back to Windows 10, a friend recommended that I give Fedora a try because of the frequent updates (especially with kernels). I did and everything seems to be working well with the Cinnamon DE. After installing a lot of updates, I noticed that Fedora is automatically running kernel 4.18.7. I have not done anything to address the screen tearing; it just seems to work with Fedora.

Interesting, The only difference that I can think of is that Fedora 28 continues to default to GDM as their display manager, don't they? Mint uses LightDM. The rest, I imagine, would have to be the same, unless they found some hidden Cinnamon settings to tweak. Did you install the Cinnamon spin directly? Fedora's default desktop is running on Wayland so that would certainly help with the tearing, too, but Cinnamon can't use that.

Note that Fedora 29 is coming out end of next month so don't get too comfortable, you'll probably want to upgrade to that version right away.

Hi gm10,

I did not install the Cinnamon spin directly: I started with Gnome and then discovered that I could easily try other DEs. I was experiencing the tearing with Gnome, so I decided to try Cinnamon as sort of a last chance effort. The tearing stopped. I may try KDE as well.

Thanks again for all your help!

[catweazel]

Don't do that. Since we have official Ubuntu 4.18 kernels there's no good reason to use mainline kernels instead.

We do? Where? How?

I have Mint 19 Xfce and there's only 4.15 kernels listed.

[gm10]

Don't do that. Since we have official Ubuntu 4.18 kernels there's no good reason to use mainline kernels instead.

We do? Where? How?

I have Mint 19 Xfce and there's only 4.15 kernels listed.

In the cosmic repositories, as you once knew:

Ok, that got me to where I could select the 4.18 kernel

Eventually also in bionic-updates for the 18.04.2 point release. The -edge HWE preview is also already in bionic-proposed but it's an older version so I do not recommend that.

[catweazel]

Don't do that. Since we have official Ubuntu 4.18 kernels there's no good reason to use mainline kernels instead.

We do? Where? How?

I have Mint 19 Xfce and there's only 4.15 kernels listed.

In the cosmic repositories, as you once knew:

Ok, that got me to where I could select the 4.18 kernel

Eventually also in bionic-updates for the 18.04.2 point release. The -edge HWE preview is also already in bionic-proposed but it's an older version so I do not recommend that.

Yes, but like I said, it won't install due to dependency issues, and I wouldn't expect the OP to know how to get 4.18 either.

Anyway, cheers.

[gm10]

Yes, but like I said, it won't install due to dependency issues, and I wouldn't expect the OP to know how to get 4.18 either.

It didn't install on your system, but we never cared to figure out why. It installs perfectly fine on "default" LM18 and LM19 systems.

But does it still matter, anyway? This thread is over a month old and OP said he switched to Fedora. I'm happy to discuss installation of 4.18 but at this point we should probably do it in a new thread.

[Faust]

I've never experienced " tearing " on any hardware / OS combination but it always makes me curious ....

Is that pronounced as in tear from the eyes , or as in tear a piece of paper ?

[gm10]

I've never experienced " tearing " on any hardware / OS combination but it always makes me curious ....

Is that pronounced as in tear from the eyes , or as in tear a piece of paper ?

Pronounced as and in reference to the second as far as the issue troubling the OP goes. I'm sure there are screensavers that can make your screen cry though.