Problem- axis causes horizontal streaks in display

[stoughto]

I have an EMC2/Ubuntu 8.04 installation on a Dell Dimension L667r.

Once emc2 starts the axis interface, the display (in and out of the emc2 window) has horizontal bands. You can see most of the display, but it is not that useful. The tkemc and mini guis display fine.

1. Is axis that much better that I should figure out how to make it work?
2. What can I try? The problem reappears when I change the screen resolution via system->preferences->screen resolution. What else can I do?

Thanks

[cyclestart]

Originally Posted by stoughto 1. Is axis that much better that I should figure out how to make it work?

imo yes. Recent emc2 development has been centered around axis as the interface. Not that the other ones aren't functional, but you'll be missing out on some nice features. Especially when 2.3 is released with additional good stuff.

2. What can I try? The problem reappears when I change the screen resolution via system->preferences->screen resolution. What else can I do?

Not sure. The resolution would have also been my first guess.

Hardy 8.04 has been a bit of a step backwards for some hardware Sometimes it doesn't become obvious until you try an openGL app.

What's your graphics hardware ? (model, card or onboard, monitor)

A proprietary driver (you would have been asked for permission before installing) or the default open source driver ?

 lspci

will return what hardware was detected.

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep Driver

should return what driver is in use

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep -i render\*

might give a clue if hardware acceleration is being used

I'm grasping at straws here a little, but more info never hurts. Maybe someone here is running similar gear. There's a a driver called vesa if all else fails but it can be ugly or not work at all..

[samco]

How was emc installed? Livecd? If not - set 'visual effects' to none. (this is under the menu - system -> preferences -> Appearance.)

(easy to test)

sam

[stoughto]

samco,
I installed from the livecd. I forgot to mention that the first thing I checked was that the visual effects were disabled. I thought that would have done it, but no such luck.

cyclestart

Here are the specs of the system.

$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82810E DC-133 (GMCH) Graphics Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82810E DC-133 (CGC) Chipset Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801AA PCI Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801AA ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801AA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801AA USB Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801AA SMBus Controller (rev 02)
01:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1371 [AudioPCI-97] (rev 06)
01:0a.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] (rev 78)
$ grep Driver /var/log/Xorg.0.log
X.Org Video Driver: 2.0
ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 2.0
Module class: X.Org Video Driver
ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 2.0
Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
(II) intel: Driver for Intel Integrated Graphics Chipsets: i810,
ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 2.0
ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 2.0
ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 2.0
ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 2.0

$ grep -i render /var/log/Xorg.0.log
X.Org Font Renderer : 0.5
Module class: X.Org Font Renderer
ABI class: X.Org Font Renderer, version 0.5
(II) intel(0): Direct rendering enabled
(II) Initializing built-in extension RENDER


I have the package xserver-xorg-video-vesa installed. What is the best way to try it out? Do I edit xorg.conf, or is there a more polite way to try it out?

Thanks again.

[cyclestart]

Go here
http://www.linuxcnc.org/content/view/4/8/lang,en/

and do a search of the user-mail-archives for the term "i810"

I didn't have time to give it a full read. Got to run. Good luck.

[stoughto]

Thanks for the tip. In /etc/X11/xorg.conf I added a line to the "Device" section so it looks like this.


Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Option "NoAccel" "On"
EndSection


then restarted x with ctrl-alt-bksp

By the way, adding this line

Driver "i810"

or this line

Driver "vesa"

did not work at all. Had to ctrl-alt-f1 and login to revert xorg.conf to a working version.

[jmelson]

Originally Posted by stoughto I have an EMC2/Ubuntu 8.04 installation on a Dell Dimension L667r. Once emc2 starts the axis interface, the display (in and out of the emc2 window) has horizontal bands. You can see most of the display, but it is not that useful. The tkemc and mini guis display fine. 1. Is axis that much better that I should figure out how to make it work? 2. What can I try? The problem reappears when I change the screen resolution via system->preferences->screen resolution. What else can I do? Thanks

Sounds like an OpenGL problem. To be totally sure, run glxgears from a terminal window. If you get the same trash on the screen, then that is the problem. OpenGL is a 3-D rendering package that supports a variety of graphics hardware, some better than others. Some other comments mention other solutions, but I just put in a different graphics card from nVidia - way overkill for this, but it works.

[cyclestart]

Originally Posted by jmelson Some other comments mention other solutions, but I just put in a different graphics card from nVidia - way overkill for this, but it works.

But you also provided the fix stoughto applied (?)
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux....emc.user/10390

The similarity in names is more than a coincidence I think

8.04 is mis-configuring some older graphics hardware that worked in 6.06. There are other examples.

[jmelson]

Originally Posted by cyclestart But you also provided the fix stoughto applied (?) http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux....emc.user/10390 The similarity in names is more than a coincidence I think 8.04 is mis-configuring some older graphics hardware that worked in 6.06. There are other examples.

Aha! So, I already had run into this last year - I forgot! I set that machine up for a customer and then it just got purged out of my memory. Sometime I will have to try this with the more recent box I have here.

Jon