Graphics settings in 'driconf'?

[UK_Eliter]

Hello Penguins

I have 'ascended' (in the vocabulary of reddit.com/r/linuxmasterrace) my desktop computer to Linux Mint, and I have a question. While Oolite worked better than I expected - but still worse than on Windows on the same machine - I was wondering whether I should set any settings for Oolite in the 'driconf' program. That program is an open source equivalent to the AMD 'control centre'. So, yes, I am using the open source driver.

(I tried the proprietary driver, via Mint's Driver Manager, and the dock on my desktop became so slow as to be unusable. Also, reverting to the open source drivers hosed my Cinnamon desktop environment. Oh dear. And here's me thinking it is safe to switch to Linux - and thus avoid Windows 10 and my endless problems with Microsoft Office - now that LibreOffice has better Microsoft compatibility.)

My graphics card: HD 5570. Linux Kernel: 3.19.0-25. Mesa 10.1.3. Mint 17.2 x64 Cinnamon.

[Diziet Sma]

I haven't tried driconf.. installing it now to see if it can do anything for my pathetic AMD X2300..
Edit: damn.. having checked it out, I think I have some serious RTFM'ing to do..

Something that may help with Oolite's performance.. Cinnamon is a bit on the heavy side, resource-wise. I also installed the LXDE environment, and I log into an LXDE session instead of Cinnamon, when I want to get the best possible gaming performance. See if that helps any.

[Lone_Wolf]

My graphics card: HD 5570. Linux Kernel: 3.19.0-25. Mesa 10.1.3. Mint 17.2 x64 Cinnamon.

That mesa version was released in may 2014, and latest released mesa version is 10.6.3 .
Is there a newer version available for linux mint cinnamon ?

Also the window manager used by cinnamon uses compositing and this is known to result in slow game performance often.
Most desktop environments allow to disable compositing temporarily, some have a setting that disables compositing for all full-screen applications.

[Diziet Sma]

Most desktop environments allow to disable compositing temporarily, some have a setting that disables compositing for all full-screen applications.

This has been possible with Cinnamon on Mint since 17.1. See this post for details of how to do it.

[UK_Eliter]

Wolf, Diziet

Thanks.

Compositing disabled for full-screen windows: done.
Mesa: I've got the latest stable release. But I'll try using the so-called 'edgers' repository from Intel. I feel it may hose my system. We shall see! (I'll report back.)

Install another DE for use with Oolite: I'd rather not, for this has caused me problems (specifically, with left-over stuff and with 'apt-get autoremove') in the past.

The problems I am having are: screen tearing on jump into witchspace; slight slow feel to the game, even though the FPS is approx. 60.

[UK_Eliter]

OK, on Mesa 10.6.3. Nothing seems broken, but I still have the problem with screen tearing on jumping. Also, Flash videos in Firefox flicker when I move the mouse. Any solution to that? I know that Linux (except Chrome) uses an old version of Flash . . I should say, too, that the tear-on-jump problem is the *only* problem with Oolite, that I've found so far (with no AddOns). (I said before that it seemed a bit unresponsive. But that, I realise, owes to the fact that I am back in a standard Cobie III.)

[Lone_Wolf]

UK_Eliter, AMD radeon or intel graphics (both have an HD5570 type) ?

This snippet from archlinux wiki ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ci ... eo_tearing ) may be helpful :

Video tearing

If you experience video tearing while playing videos or games under Cinnamon, append the following lines to /etc/environment:

CLUTTER_PAINT=disable-clipped-redraws:disable-culling
CLUTTER_VBLANK=True

Once you have done so, restart the Xorg server.

[UK_Eliter]

Lone_Wolf: thanks. The machine in question has an AMD card. I'll try your (the Archwiki's) tip (presuming I keep Linux on that machine, which I am unsure I will; I find that problems with the mouse wheel scroll speed, getting a decent taskbar or dock - at least under Mint Cinnamon - and a few other things incline me towards keeping Windows 8, unlike on my trust laptop on which Mint works well).

[UK_Eliter]

UK_Eliter, AMD radeon or intel graphics (both have an HD5570 type) ?

This snippet from archlinux wiki ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ci ... eo_tearing ) may be helpful :

Video tearing

If you experience video tearing while playing videos or games under Cinnamon, append the following lines to /etc/environment:

CLUTTER_PAINT=disable-clipped-redraws:disable-culling
CLUTTER_VBLANK=True

Once you have done so, restart the Xorg server.

I am afraid that didn't help (unless rebooting doesn't restart the Xorg server).

The most relevant bits of the log:

Code: Select all

12:00:44.970 [rendering.opengl.version]: OpenGL renderer version: 3.0.0 ("3.0 Mesa 10.6.3"). Vendor: "X.Org". Renderer: "Gallium 0.4 on AMD REDWOOD".
12:00:44.971 [rendering.opengl.extensions]: OpenGL extensions (208):
GL_ARB_draw_instanced, GL_ARB_occlusion_query, GL_ARB_texture_storage, GL_ARB_sync, GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3, GL_EXT_texture_env_add, GL_ARB_buffer_storage, GL_ARB_texture_multisample, GL_ARB_explicit_uniform_location, GL_KHR_context_flush_control, GL_NV_texture_env_combine4, GL_ARB_point_parameters, GL_ARB_vertex_array_object, GL_ARB_blend_func_extended, GL_ARB_seamless_cubemap_per_texture, GL_EXT_provoking_vertex, GL_ARB_compressed_texture_pixel_storage, GL_EXT_blend_equation_separate, GL_ARB_texture_stencil8, GL_EXT_texture_snorm, GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two, GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat, GL_ARB_debug_output, GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays, GL_ARB_timer_query, GL_ARB_clip_control, GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp, GL_ARB_vertex_program, GL_EXT_abgr, GL_ARB_draw_buffers_blend, GL_ATI_texture_float, GL_ARB_shadow, GL_EXT_texture_cube_map, GL_NV_light_max_exponent, GL_NV_primitive_restart, GL_EXT_framebuffer_object, GL_EXT_texture_sRGB, GL_MESA_pack_invert, GL_ARB_conservative_depth, GL_ARB_get_program_binary, GL_ARB_multitexture, GL_AMD_seamless_cubemap_per_texture, GL_SUN_multi_draw_arrays, GL_AMD_pinned_memory, GL_EXT_texture_compression_rgtc, GL_ARB_shader_objects, GL_ARB_pixel_buffer_object, GL_EXT_blend_func_separate, GL_EXT_bgra, GL_ARB_draw_buffers, GL_APPLE_packed_pixels, GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar, GL_NV_texgen_reflection, GL_ARB_fragment_shader, GL_EXT_texture_swizzle, GL_EXT_fog_coord, GL_EXT_vertex_array_bgra, GL_EXT_framebuffer_blit, GL_ARB_texture_compression_rgtc, GL_EXT_transform_feedback, GL_OES_read_format, GL_ARB_sample_shading, GL_ARB_seamless_cube_map, GL_ARB_shading_language_420pack, GL_EXT_texture_shared_exponent, GL_ATI_blend_equation_separate, GL_AMD_shader_stencil_export, GL_EXT_polygon_offset, GL_INGR_blend_func_separate, GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array, GL_KHR_debug, GL_AMD_shader_trinary_minmax, GL_APPLE_vertex_array_object, GL_ARB_vertex_type_2_10_10_10_rev, GL_EXT_separate_specular_color, GL_NV_vdpau_interop, GL_ARB_shading_language_100, GL_EXT_vertex_array, GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample_blit_scaled, GL_ARB_texture_float, GL_EXT_rescale_normal, GL_ARB_texture_swizzle, GL_EXT_packed_depth_stencil, GL_ARB_half_float_pixel, GL_EXT_draw_instanced, GL_AMD_draw_buffers_blend, GL_ARB_occlusion_query2, GL_ARB_texture_rgb10_a2ui, GL_SGIS_texture_lod, GL_ARB_derivative_control, GL_ARB_framebuffer_object, GL_AMD_conservative_depth, GL_NV_conditional_render, GL_ARB_texture_rg, GL_EXT_stencil_two_side, GL_ARB_color_buffer_float, GL_EXT_blend_color, GL_EXT_texture_rectangle, GL_NV_packed_depth_stencil, GL_ARB_vertex_array_bgra, GL_NV_texture_rectangle, GL_ARB_base_instance, GL_EXT_texture_integer, GL_EXT_texture_array, GL_ARB_shading_language_packing, GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow, GL_ARB_map_buffer_range, GL_ARB_copy_buffer, GL_ARB_fragment_program, GL_EXT_texture, GL_NV_depth_clamp, GL_EXT_draw_buffers2, GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias, GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic, GL_ARB_pipeline_statistics_query, GL_ARB_transform_feedback2, GL_EXT_secondary_color, GL_ARB_ES3_compatibility, GL_ARB_transform_feedback3, GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample, GL_ARB_window_pos, GL_EXT_texture_env_combine, GL_IBM_rasterpos_clip, GL_ARB_texture_compression_bptc, GL_ARB_vertex_shader, GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap, GL_ATI_texture_mirror_once, GL_ARB_explicit_attrib_location, GL_EXT_packed_float, GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp, GL_ARB_internalformat_query, GL_NV_blend_square, GL_EXT_texture3D, GL_ARB_ES2_compatibility, GL_ARB_texture_query_lod, GL_ARB_invalidate_subdata, GL_EXT_texture_mirror_clamp, GL_EXT_texture_sRGB_decode, GL_ARB_texture_compression, GL_ARB_texture_env_add, GL_ARB_provoking_vertex, GL_ARB_texture_rectangle, GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp, GL_MESA_texture_signed_rgba, GL_ARB_draw_elements_base_vertex, GL_ARB_fragment_coord_conventions, GL_ARB_shader_stencil_export, GL_ARB_separate_shader_objects, GL_ARB_texture_cube_map, GL_IBM_multimode_draw_arrays, GL_ARB_vertex_attrib_binding, GL_ARB_clear_buffer_object, GL_EXT_framebuffer_sRGB, GL_ARB_vertex_type_10f_11f_11f_rev, GL_EXT_texture_compression_latc, GL_ARB_robustness, GL_ARB_point_sprite, GL_ARB_texture_gather, GL_SGIS_texture_border_clamp, GL_ARB_depth_texture, GL_EXT_texture_object, GL_ARB_instanced_arrays, GL_NV_fog_distance, GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_ATI_draw_buffers, GL_ARB_multi_bind, GL_OES_EGL_image, GL_ARB_framebuffer_sRGB, GL_EXT_shader_integer_mix, GL_EXT_blend_subtract, GL_EXT_packed_pixels, GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat, GL_ARB_texture_mirror_clamp_to_edge, GL_ARB_texture_cube_map_array, GL_EXT_draw_range_elements, GL_ARB_sampler_objects, GL_ARB_half_float_vertex, GL_ARB_depth_clamp, GL_ARB_texture_storage_multisample, GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_ARB_texture_query_levels, GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object, GL_ARB_texture_barrier, GL_EXT_pixel_buffer_object, GL_ARB_transform_feedback_instanced, GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3, GL_EXT_polygon_offset_clamp, GL_ARB_texture_env_combine, GL_ATI_texture_compression_3dc, GL_ARB_shader_bit_encoding, GL_ARB_shader_texture_lod, GL_EXT_timer_query, GL_EXT_gpu_program_parameters, GL_ARB_program_interface_query, GL_ARB_uniform_buffer_object, GL_ARB_multisample, GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3, GL_ARB_stencil_texturing, GL_EXT_shadow_funcs, GL_ARB_depth_buffer_float, GL_ARB_map_buffer_alignment, GL_EXT_copy_texture, GL_EXT_stencil_wrap, GL_EXT_point_parameters, GL_ATI_separate_stencil, GL_EXT_subtexture, GL_NV_texture_barrier, GL_MESA_window_pos
12:00:44.976 [rendering.opengl.shader.support]: Shaders are supported.
12:00:45.005 [dataCache.rebuild.explicitFlush]: Cache explicitly flushed with shift key. Rebuilding from scratch.