tearing when moving windows with nouveau driver

English Hardware
1

**hello guys , I’m a new member here :slight_smile:
love opensuse it’s really great and solid distro , everything is fine with opensuse . I solve many problems by search in the forum Except for this problem i did not find any solution

my problem with nouveau driver , I notice there is tearing when moving windows , flash + watch HD movies is ok , i tried befor unchecked vsync in kwin effects , the problem still there . also i tried befora install nvidia driver from nvidia website , this solve the tearing but the effects is really slow ( minimize effects + fade effects )

so now is there any solution to solve tearing with nouveau ?**

http://i.imagebanana.com/img/4hpbj3bf/snapshot1.png

KDE Desktop

linux-tmxg:/home/raedov # lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev b4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev a4)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Q65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF108 [GeForce GT 440] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GF108 High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)



linux-tmxg:/home/raedov # glxinfo | grep -i rendering
direct rendering: Yes



linux-tmxg:/home/raedov # lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF108 [GeForce GT 440] (rev a1)

**sorry for my English language , i hope you guys understand me
with my pleasure **

2

As a speculative suggestion, with no specific knowledge on my part, you could try reading the man page for suggestions … ie


man nouveau

which for example suggests the driver option:


       Option "GLXVBlank" "boolean"
              Synchronize GLX clients to VBlank. Useful where tearing is a problem, harmful if the GPU isn't fast enough to keep up with the monitor refresh rate. Default: off.

I assume that would go in the appropriate /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ file … possibly 50-device.conf, where I speculate (note ‘speculate’) that if you are using the nouveau driver, the file would look something like:


Section "Device"
  Identifier "Default Device"

  Driver "nouveau"

  Option "GLXVBlank" "ON"

EndSection

Then reboot and test. Note the above is just speculation. I’m guessing it should be “ON” (upper case). I note the default is “OFF” from the man page.

I’m also very surprised to read you believe the nvidia driver is slower than the nouveau driver. Usually it is the other way around.

One needs to use root permissions to edit the 50-device.conf, and I am assuming a level of GNU/Linux knowledge here and my apologies if I guessed too little knowledge, or if my post inappropriate as your knowledge is far beyond my suggestion. It can be difficult at times to put the help at the right technical level.

3

Thank you oldcpu

Yes i know nvidia driver better than nouvea , of course , but i mean these effects ( minimize effects + fade effects ) with the nvidia driver is slow even i changeDesktop Efeects - Animations Speed to fast , these effects not run smoothly like i tried before with nouveau or intel 2000 HD Except that the Nvidia driver is good Especially when i use Blender

this file “/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/” is empty !

the default file “/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-device.conf” is :

# Having multiple "Device" sections is known to be problematic. Make
# sure you don't have in use another one laying around e.g. in another
# xorg.conf.d file or even a generic xorg.conf file. More details can
# be found in https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=32430.
#
#Section "Device"
#  Identifier "Default Device"
#
#  #Driver "radeon"
#
#  ## Required magic for radeon/radeonhd drivers; output name
#  ## (here: "DVI-0") can be figured out via 'xrandr -q'
#  #Option "monitor-DVI-0" "Default Monitor"
#
#EndSection

** do you mean edit this file to looks like**

# Having multiple "Device" sections is known to be problematic. Make
# sure you don't have in use another one laying around e.g. in another
# xorg.conf.d file or even a generic xorg.conf file. More details can
# be found in https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=32430.
#
#Section "Device"
   Identifier "Default Device"
   Driver "nouveau"

  Option "GLXVBlank" "ON"

#  #Driver "radeon"
#
#  ## Required magic for radeon/radeonhd drivers; output name
#  ## (here: "DVI-0") can be figured out via 'xrandr -q'
#  #Option "monitor-DVI-0" "Default Monitor"
#
#EndSection

is that right ? thankx again

4

I don’t understand what you meant there. Did I provide bad guidance ? /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ is supposed to be a directory. In the old days there use to be a /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, but that is no longer necessary (although if there is one present it will be used according to a certain priority)

For the 50-device.conf file I had in mind:

# Having multiple "Device" sections is known to be problematic. Make
# sure you don't have in use another one laying around e.g. in another
# xorg.conf.d file or even a generic xorg.conf file. More details can
# be found in https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=32430.
#
Section "Device"
   Identifier "Default Device"
   Driver "nouveau"

  Option "GLXVBlank" "ON"

#  #Driver "radeon"
#
#  ## Required magic for radeon/radeonhd drivers; output name
#  ## (here: "DVI-0") can be figured out via 'xrandr -q'
#  #Option "monitor-DVI-0" "Default Monitor"
#
EndSection

ie enure you uncomment ’ Section “Device” ’ and also uncomment ’ EndSection’

Note this is speculation on my part. I do not know if this will work.

As a reminder, do not keep backup files in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ directory, but rather keep them somewhere else.

5

(Though it certainly reads like you want to be able to run with them on) Have you tried disabling desktop effects and testing if the tearing persists?

And with them (DE) enabled, have you tried changing between Xrender and OpenGL (System settings -> Desktop Effects -> Advanced ) ?

6

The NVIDIA is a budget card, don’t expect miracles. But, you should find improvement by installing the NVIDIA driver. Not enough improvement? Turn off the desktop effects. You’ll be amazed.

7

thank you , i will try it and see

8

yes i tried to disabling desktop effects and the tearing is gone , also i tried to change to Xrender but the tearing is Terrible

9

My friend has a computer with intel vga , the effects run smoothly without any hang or slow at all
i will install the nvidia driver and disable the fade and minimize effects
thank you

10

Note if you install the proprietary ‘nvidia’ driver, you will need to remove any of the recommended edits I proposed to you in the 50-device.conf file.

11

yes i know
i installed the nvidia driver and disable the effects , now everything is fine , no tearing and without effects programs open faster :slight_smile:
thank you all

12

When 12.3 comes out make sure you keep the propriety blob and don’t delete it. Very handy in having it as it may require a terminal reinstall I used SuSe 12.1 on my older desktop until quite recently (12.2 never worked right with the card). I had to discontinue usage as the Ge Force FX5200 bless it’s heart since 2003 has finally been retired and resigned to collecting dust in my closet.

13

For those with an FX5200 who like me hope to still use it on future openSUSE GNU/Linux version with the 3.7.x and newer kernel versions, while the nouveau driver is currently broken for the NV34 (FX5200) graphic card (although there are bug reports which may or may not lead to a fix) I note one can still use the fbdev, vesa, nv and nvidia properietary graphic driver with that old FX5200 hardware. To use the proprietary driver with the 3.7.10 kernel on openSUSE-12.3 RC2 with that hardware I had to follow in the footsteps of others, and install a symbolic link and also patch the nvidia gnu/linux proprietary 173.14.36 graphic driver, and in the end graphics work well thus far on an old PC with this FX5200 card. I posted here on getting the FX5200 to work with openSUSE 12.3 RC1 (and the 3.7.10 kernel) : https://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/tumbleweed/481744-nvidia-kernel-3-7-problem.html#post2531281

I use an LXDE desktop with no special effects setup, … and for that setup the FX5200 thus far is working well (with proprietary graphic driver).