Linux Screen refresh rate issue on Linux Mint LMDE
#1
My new laptop came in the other day (Dell XPS 14z) and I got it up and running with Linux Mint LMDE (the debian based one). I installed XBMC Eden from the Software Center and it launches off fine. However, as soon as it get to the UI, the screen starts flickering like crazy. I am still able to navigate the menus. Seems like a screen refresh rate issue the application to me. Where should I begin to ts this issue? Thanks for any input.

-hogfan
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#2
(2012-04-30, 00:10)hogfan Wrote: My new laptop came in the other day (Dell XPS 14z) and I got it up and running with Linux Mint LMDE (the debian based one). I installed XBMC Eden from the Software Center and it launches off fine. However, as soon as it get to the UI, the screen starts flickering like crazy. I am still able to navigate the menus. Seems like a screen refresh rate issue the application to me. Where should I begin to ts this issue? Thanks for any input.

-hogfan

Post your /etc/X11/xorg.conf if you have one, if not you may have to create one with the refresh rates.

I think you will find that LMDE UP4 has Eden rc2, you can remove it and compile from git to get the final release or wait until UP5 or 6. Clem didn't give an
indication of when the new updates will be available.
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#3
Yeah, it looks like I don't have an xorg.conf file in location. I am used to running XBMC on a minimal Ubuntu install. I followed the WIKI guide for compiling on Debian/Ubuntu, but am stuck at the part where I need to add apt sources to install all of the xbmc build dependencies. The documentation links to the XBMC thread with the PPAs, and this is way outdated. Just clicking on the one for daily builds (unstable) PPA shows the last build was 79 weeks ago. If I remember right, they moved away from the PPAs, so what source do I need to add to my apt sources file to get the build dependencies installed? I would prefer to go with nightlies. Thanks in advance for any direction on this.

-hogfan
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#4
(2012-05-03, 07:47)hogfan Wrote: Yeah, it looks like I don't have an xorg.conf file in location. I am used to running XBMC on a minimal Ubuntu install. I followed the WIKI guide for compiling on Debian/Ubuntu, but am stuck at the part where I need to add apt sources to install all of the xbmc build dependencies. The documentation links to the XBMC thread with the PPAs, and this is way outdated. Just clicking on the one for daily builds (unstable) PPA shows the last build was 79 weeks ago. If I remember right, they moved away from the PPAs, so what source do I need to add to my apt sources file to get the build dependencies installed? I would prefer to go with nightlies. Thanks in advance for any direction on this.

-hogfan

Did you install the NVidia drivers? If yes run nvidia-xconfig to get your xorg.conf and use nvidia-settings to tune / setup external monitor / TV
I'm running XBMC AE http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=128298 on LMDE 201204 and mate, got rid of cinnamon as you can't use separate xscreens due to 'mutter' ie HDMI to monitor and TV. I had Lubuntu 12.04 but have gone back to LMDE.

You don't need to add a ppa, use instructions from readme.ubuntu and readme.linux to compile. It will complain about missing -ltiff, add 'libtiff5-dev.

Not sure if you need all of them but it works.Install all 3 parts
Code:
For Ubuntu (all versions >= 7.04):

sudo apt-get install git-core make g++ gcc gawk pmount libtool nasm yasm automake cmake gperf zip unzip bison libsdl-dev libsdl-image1.2-dev libsdl-gfx1.2-dev libsdl-mixer1.2-dev libfribidi-dev liblzo2-dev libfreetype6-dev libsqlite3-dev libogg-dev libasound2-dev python-sqlite libglew-dev libcurl3 libcurl4-gnutls-dev libxrandr-dev libxrender-dev libmad0-dev libogg-dev libvorbisenc2 libsmbclient-dev libmysqlclient-dev libpcre3-dev libdbus-1-dev libhal-dev libhal-storage-dev libjasper-dev libfontconfig-dev libbz2-dev libboost-dev libenca-dev libxt-dev libxmu-dev libpng-dev libjpeg-dev libpulse-dev mesa-utils libcdio-dev libsamplerate-dev libmpeg3-dev libflac-dev libiso9660-dev libass-dev libssl-dev fp-compiler gdc libmpeg2-4-dev libmicrohttpd-dev libmodplug-dev libssh-dev gettext cvs python-dev libyajl-dev libboost-thread-dev libplist-dev libusb-dev libudev-dev

and
Code:
For >= 10.10:
sudo apt-get install autopoint libltdl-dev

finally
Code:
sudo apt-get install libtiff5-dev
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#5
Ok, thanks for that info. I was able to get it compiled and installed........however, I still get the screen flicker. As I said xorg.conf does not exist on my system, but I am also not dealing with and nVidia chipset here. Intel HD Graphics 3000 is the video chip on my Dell XPS 14Z. I'm not worried about VDPAU because this thing has 6 GB RAM & an i5 processor. Also, I am using the Cinnamon desktop. What is the specific "mutter" issue you were referring to? I plan to stick with Cinnamon as my desktop environment. XBMC will only be used 2 ways on this machine. Connected to external display only via HDMI when out of town, or simply XBMC on the laptop screen only while traveling. Thanks for the help and any additional info you can provide.

-hogfan
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#6
(2012-05-03, 19:28)hogfan Wrote: Ok, thanks for that info. I was able to get it compiled and installed........however, I still get the screen flicker. As I said xorg.conf does not exist on my system, but I am also not dealing with and nVidia chipset here. Intel HD Graphics 3000 is the video chip on my Dell XPS 14Z. I'm not worried about VDPAU because this thing has 6 GB RAM & an i5 processor. Also, I am using the Cinnamon desktop. What is the specific "mutter" issue you were referring to? I plan to stick with Cinnamon as my desktop environment. XBMC will only be used 2 ways on this machine. Connected to external display only via HDMI when out of town, or simply XBMC on the laptop screen only while traveling. Thanks for the help and any additional info you can provide.

-hogfan

Looks like it's the i7 model that has the nvidia discrete graphics.
Gnome3 bug with separate x screens https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=648156
I have an nvidia card connected to my monitor and TV and can have different resolutions on each ie 1080p on monitor and 720p or 1080p on my TV.
With gnome3 both screens use the same resolution and span across both TV and monitor. I believe that's how it works.

Have a look at this thread regarding Sandy Bridge graphics and xbmc http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=114368
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#7
Thanks. Well, I read through that thread and I've even more confused. My Acer Revo Netop is an iON system that is connected directly to my tv which does 1920x1080. When I installed the nVidia driver on it, I simply let the nVidia installer generate my Xorg.conf. So I guess where my problem is now is with this laptop. I still don't understand why I have the screen flicker issue directly on the laptop screen. I tried using the Xorg.conf in the posted link, but all that did was prevent Cinnamon from loading (I had the laptop connected to an external display that supports 1920x1080 via hdmi when I did this). I logged into MATE desktop and removed the Xorg.conf and now Cinnamon is working fine again. Xorg.conf if I understand it correctly is configured for a specific display. This is bad for me as I want to use XBMC on the laptop itself (which has a display resolution of 1366x768), but also sometimes want to connect it to a TV via HDMI out. However, it will never be connected to the same TV. So is there a way to acheive this? This appears to be much more difficult with a portable machine. Thanks for any insight.

-hogfan
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#8
(2012-05-04, 18:15)hogfan Wrote: Thanks. Well, I read through that thread and I've even more confused. My Acer Revo Netop is an iON system that is connected directly to my tv which does 1920x1080. When I installed the nVidia driver on it, I simply let the nVidia installer generate my Xorg.conf. So I guess where my problem is now is with this laptop. I still don't understand why I have the screen flicker issue directly on the laptop screen. I tried using the Xorg.conf in the posted link, but all that did was prevent Cinnamon from loading (I had the laptop connected to an external display that supports 1920x1080 via hdmi when I did this). I logged into MATE desktop and removed the Xorg.conf and now Cinnamon is working fine again. Xorg.conf if I understand it correctly is configured for a specific display. This is bad for me as I want to use XBMC on the laptop itself (which has a display resolution of 1366x768), but also sometimes want to connect it to a TV via HDMI out. However, it will never be connected to the same TV. So is there a way to acheive this? This appears to be much more difficult with a portable machine. Thanks for any insight.

-hogfan

Hope you don't mind the delay in posts, I'm down in New Zealand
Can you point me to the specs of your laptop or post the model number. I need the Vertical & Horizontal refresh rates.
Example of mine - don't use. I'll try and create one for you

Code:
Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "ASUS"
    ModelName      "Ancor Communications Inc ASUS ML238"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 85.0
    VertRefresh     55.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "YAMAHA"
    ModelName      "YMH RX-V671"
    HorizSync       15.0 - 91.0
    VertRefresh     23.0 - 121.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 460"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 460"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-0: 1920x1080_60 +0+0; DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Device1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-1: 1920x1080_60i +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection
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#9
Have you tried the instructions here? The script is for Ubuntu rather than Mint, but it shouldn't be difficult to modify.
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#10
@boosted

Here are the specs for the laptop. It is a Dell XPS 14Z. It is the model with the i5 processor which has on-board Intel HD 3000 Grapics (sandy bridge) rather than an additional nvidia chip.

Specs are:

XPS 14z
2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-2450M processor (2.50 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.10 GHz)
Intel® HD Graphics 3000
6GB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz
8X Slot Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
Intel© Centrino© Advanced-N 6230 & Bluetooth 3.0
8-Cell (58 WHr) Battery
Waves Maxx Audio 3
Additional Software
500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
14.0" HD (720p) Truelife WLED Display with 1.3MP HD Webcam (max resolution is 1366x728)

Also, no problem on the delay of posts. I am still ironing out some other small issues in my Mint installation. I just wanted to get XBMC going properly before my vacation. Thanks for the help with this.

@Plaguester

I looked at the guide that you mentioned, but it appears to be specific to nvidia cards, and on the laptop I am working with the Intel HD 3000 (sandy bridge) chipset.

Thanks.

-hogfan
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#11
Well, it looks like the issue is specifically related to that cinnamon issue you posted about. However, I did also re-install and reconfigure xorg-core. Tested it out in MATE and all looks good. Hope it doesn't take to long for that bug to get resolved. Once it's fixed, I'll never log into MATE. I understand that Cinnamon is new and still be developed, but I like it a lot. MATE is nice but not enough eye-candy for me Smile Thanks for the help. Looks like xorg.conf is not necessary with Intel Onboard graphics.

-hogfan
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#12
(2012-05-06, 15:17)hogfan Wrote: Well, it looks like the issue is specifically related to that cinnamon issue you posted about. However, I did also re-install and reconfigure xorg-core. Tested it out in MATE and all looks good. Hope it doesn't take to long for that bug to get resolved. Once it's fixed, I'll never log into MATE. I understand that Cinnamon is new and still be developed, but I like it a lot. MATE is nice but not enough eye-candy for me Smile Thanks for the help. Looks like xorg.conf is not necessary with Intel Onboard graphics.

-hogfan

Glad you found a solution. I just got back home today and was about to have a look at an xorg.conf for you.
If you like the old gnome you will like mate. It's improved a lot. I like the speed of mate on my system (i7 2600K, 8GB ram and SSD)

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