Hello,
I installed the latest set of Nvidia Proprietary Drivers for the my system in hopes of converting it from a file/web server to also an XBMC server. However, after what appears to be a successful install, most (not all) of the fonts get enormous. The fonts for the login page, for any programs after login, are all huge. But the system bar is of normal size. I’ve forced the DPI to 96, which helps after you log in, but all other profiles and outside the login screen the fonts are still large. Something doesn’t seem entirely right.
Here’s what I’m running:
OpenSUSE 11.4 w/ KDE4
Intel i7 2500K
16 GB RAM
Nvidia Gefore 210 card using the HDMI output to a Samsung LCD TV
Nvidia Version 285.05.09
Software RAID HD config
Also, and I’m not sure if it’s related or not, but I get skipping and stuttering in 720p and 1080p video (MKV format)… which I don’t think I should be getting with such a new hardware setup (a Geforce 210 card should run this through HDMI with no problems). The stutter happens in either XBMC or VLC, which don’t seem to indicate or think there are any dropped frames.
I’ve done the easy way install and the hard way. Both produce the same result. I’ve tried to muck around a bit with the xorg.conf file, but again no luck. I’ve got the NO_KMS_IN_INITRD set to Yes and nomodeset in GRUB. I’ve also tried reinstalling the LIBVDPAU1 package as that seems to point to video stutter issues after the nvidia drivers are installed, but again no difference. I’ve also tried running the videos with and without GPU acceleration, and it makes little to no difference other that a change in CPU usage (6% versus 30%).
I’ve also googled around these forums and various other linux video forums, and also no luck. So hence the post. I’m not sure if there’s some additional optimization settings I’m missing out here on, or if this is a greater problem. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Hello,
I installed the latest set of Nvidia Proprietary Drivers for the my system in hopes of converting it from a file/web server to also an XBMC server. However, after what appears to be a successful install, most (not all) of the fonts get enormous. The fonts for the login page, for any programs after login, are all huge. But the system bar is of normal size. I’ve forced the DPI to 96, which helps after you log in, but all other profiles and outside the login screen the fonts are still large. Something doesn’t seem entirely right.
Here’s what I’m running:
OpenSUSE 11.4 w/ KDE4
Intel i7 2500K
16 GB RAM
Nvidia Gefore 210 card using the HDMI output to a Samsung LCD TV
Nvidia Version 285.05.09
Software RAID HD config
Also, and I’m not sure if it’s related or not, but I get skipping and stuttering in 720p and 1080p video (MKV format)… which I don’t think I should be getting with such a new hardware setup (a Geforce 210 card should run this through HDMI with no problems). The stutter happens in either XBMC or VLC, which don’t seem to indicate or think there are any dropped frames.
I’ve done the easy way install and the hard way. Both produce the same result. I’ve tried to muck around a bit with the xorg.conf file, but again no luck. I’ve got the NO_KMS_IN_INITRD set to Yes and nomodeset in GRUB. I’ve also tried reinstalling the LIBVDPAU1 package as that seems to point to video stutter issues after the nvidia drivers are installed, but again no difference. I’ve also tried running the videos with and without GPU acceleration, and it makes little to no difference other that a change in CPU usage (6% versus 30%).
I’ve also googled around these forums and various other linux video forums, and also no luck. So hence the post. I’m not sure if there’s some additional optimization settings I’m missing out here on, or if this is a greater problem. Any feedback would be appreciated.
I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but the nVIDIA 210 video card had to be the worst nVIDIA card I ever tried to use. Now my issues were somewhat different but I had lots of trouble. I tried to install openSUSE 11.3 with it while using a DVI to HDMI cable connected to a LG LCD TV. The installation would get to a certain point and then it would switch to an unsupported resolution andf I was unable to complete it. Finally, I had to connect an old Tube monitor to complete the openSUSE install. Afterwards, switching back to the LG TV, the fonts in the login screen were super tiny and unreadable. I was able to change the system fonts and later switched to the KDE Login and used the QT Config program ( kdesu qtconfig) to fix them. I had lots of strange issues playing movies including pauses and stutters. It did seem to work OK in Windows Vista as I remember, but Later I dumped it for a nVIDIA GT 450 and have had no other issues since. Before wasting a lot of time on the nVIDIA 210 or considering suicide, I suggest you try a different video card. I really like nVIDIA, but the 200 series was not very good in my opinion.
Thank You,
Hmmm… I’m not overly surprised that the 210 might be the bottom of the rung. I initially bought it as this was to be a stand-alone server system, and a graphics card didn’t need to be that powerful. But now that I’m trying to use it asa media PC as well… I could go with something still on the low-end (I won’t be gaming with it here), like a Passive Geforce 520 (NCIX.com - Buy XFX GeForce GT 520 810MHZ 1GB 1.0GHZ DDR3 Low Profile PCI-E DVI HDMI VGA Video Card - XFX - GT520MZNF2 - in Canada). Thoughts? Is the 520 going to be another 210?
That aside… I would expect the CPU to handle the HD video playback if the GPU acceleration is disabled, better than the 210 graphics card. Especially since the 2500K is a pretty kick-ass leading CPU. But the fact I get the stuttering in either case, doesn’t make me think that changing the GPU will change this. But I guess there’s really only one way to find out for sure.
In the mean time. I’ll try to deal with the fonts as well. Thanks for your input!
Hmmm… I’m not overly surprised that the 210 might be the bottom of the rung. I initially bought it as this was to be a stand-alone server system, and a graphics card didn’t need to be that powerful. But now that I’m trying to use it asa media PC as well… I could go with something still on the low-end (I won’t be gaming with it here), like a Passive Geforce 520 (NCIX.com - Buy XFX GeForce GT 520 810MHZ 1GB 1.0GHZ DDR3 Low Profile PCI-E DVI HDMI VGA Video Card - XFX - GT520MZNF2 - in Canada). Thoughts? Is the 520 going to be another 210?
That aside… I would expect the CPU to handle the HD video playback if the GPU acceleration is disabled, better than the 210 graphics card. Especially since the 2500K is a pretty kick-ass leading CPU. But the fact I get the stuttering in either case, doesn’t make me think that changing the GPU will change this. But I guess there’s really only one way to find out for sure.
In the mean time. I’ll try to deal with the fonts as well. Thanks for your input!
So the nVIDIA 520 is kind of new and so I don’t know much about it. However, I would surely think it would be much better than a 210 and in fact, I would stay away from the 200 series. You can find reviews for the card and they seem OK for a low end video card. On my HTPC I ended up going with a evga gtx 460 which did cost about $160 US as I recall. I see that the video card link you posted on the 520 shows the card to not use a fan as to be silent. Just make sure you have good ventilation through the PC case. I had a nVIDIA 8500 with the same type of cooling and the card failed on me. I have not had many video card failures and so I did wonder if the passive cooling was a good thing or not. My home built HTPC now has several fans, all running at low speed if I can control the speed and I do not notice any fan noise while playing a movie. If all is off except the computer, I can tell that it is running. Now after all of that and without having tried the 520, I think the 520 would be a better choice. I would consider going with a standard model that uses a fan however.
Thank You,
I just loaded up the XBMC Live from USB image and played a couple vids (running ubuntu)… the stuttering problem seems to be a lot better handled! For starters, XBMC will output at 60 Hz to the TV, versus 50 to 53 Hz under Suse. I’m more and more convinced that I have a video config issue in Suse. But agree that the crappy 210 card is not helping.
The troubleshooting continues…
I just loaded up the XBMC Live from USB image and played a couple vids (running ubuntu)… the stuttering problem seems to be a lot better handled! For starters, XBMC will output at 60 Hz to the TV, versus 50 to 53 Hz under Suse. I’m more and more convinced that I have a video config issue in Suse. But agree that the crappy 210 card is not helping.
The troubleshooting continues…
I totally agree that there is no harm done by continuing to test. I would even ask if you have considered upping your kernel version as well?
Thank You,
I haven’t thought about updating the kernel. I’m still running 2.6.37.6, which is the latest version the update server will issue. I’ll look into forcing it to a new kernel and seeing if that makes any difference. Thanks for the suggestion!
I haven’t thought about updating the kernel. I’m still running 2.6.37.6, which is the latest version the update server will issue. I’ll look into forcing it to a new kernel and seeing if that makes any difference. Thanks for the suggestion!
The following scripts can be used to upgrade your kernel to any version you would like to use:
SGTB - SuSE Git Kernel Tarball Creator - Version 1.51 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums
S.A.K.C. - SUSE Automated Kernel Compiler - Version 2.50 - Blogs - openSUSE Forums
Thank You,