How do I stop screen tearing in Tahr 6.0.5? Solved

Message

DustyPixel · #1 Post by **DustyPixel** » Tue 12 Dec 2017, 05:37

EDIT 11/21/2018 - Please see new update in the post at the end of this page

================================================

Is there any way to stop screen tearing in You Tube videos with Puppy Tahr? I read elsewhere that it has something to do with compositing - if so, I don't know what changes to make in the settings to fix this.
This happens in Pale Moon and in Firefox.

Edit: My apologies if this is in the wrong section - I should have posted this in Users

bigpup · #2 Post by **bigpup** » Tue 12 Dec 2017, 16:30

What is the computer?
Make and model?
Specs if you know them?

Are you watching using HTML5 or something else.
Usually a YouTube video starts using HTML5.

Tried to change any settings in the HTML5 screen settings?

DustyPixel · #3 Post by **DustyPixel** » Wed 13 Dec 2017, 03:06

Hello bigpup -

The computer is a Gateway laptop, model NV55C 03U, manufactured in 2009.

Here are specs:

Processor : 2x Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU P6100 @ 2.00GHz
Memory : 2386MB (252MB used)
Machine Type : Physical machine
Operating System : tahrpup - 6.0.5
User Name : root (root)
-Display-
Resolution : 1366x768 pixels
OpenGL Renderer : Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ironlake Mobile x86/MMX/SSE2
X11 Vendor : The X.Org Foundation
-Audio Devices-
Audio Adapter : HDA-Intel - HDA Intel MID
Audio Adapter : PC-Speaker - pcsp
Audio Adapter : USB-Audio - USB Sound Device
-Input Devices-
Power Button
Lid Switch
Sleep Button
Power Button
AT Translated Set 2 keyboard
USB Sound Device
PC Speaker
Video Bus
1.3M WebCam
Acer WMI hotkeys
Acer BMA150 accelerometer
ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad
-Printers (CUPS)-
CUPS-PDF : <i>Default</i>
-SCSI Disks-
MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ890AS

-Version-
Kernel : Linux 3.14.56 (i686)
Version : #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Dec 21 14:52:08 GMT 2015
C Library : GNU C Library version 2.19 (stable)
Distribution : tahrpup - 6.0.5
Desktop Environment : Unknown (Window Manager: JWM)
-Misc-
Load Average : 0.17, 0.12, 0.14

I am running Tahr in 4.1G RAM with 3.9G free.

The hard drive crashed a few days ago, so the only memory left is RAM.

I am using HTML5, no Flash Player installed. YT videos play correctly in VLC player, but I hate to have to copy and paste the URL into VLC every time.

As for changing settings in the HTML5 screen settings - do you mean in about:config or Tools, in the Puppy Tahr settings, or in the You Tube settings?

I've seen fixes for several other versions of Linux where lines of code are added and/or modified in the OS but nothing specifically for Puppy Tahr.

bigpup · #4 Post by **bigpup** » Wed 13 Dec 2017, 04:40

As for changing settings in the HTML5 screen settings - do you mean in about:config or Tools, in the Puppy Tahr settings, or in the You Tube settings?

On the HTML5 viewing window is a settings icon on the lower right.
Left click on it with the video stopped to see the menu.

Try adjusting the speed and quality settings.

On old video hardware that does not have the latest features. The quality setting has a big affect on how the video plays.

I have a very old graphics hardware on one of my old computers. I have to set the quality to 360p or even lower to get good viewable play.

DustyPixel · #5 Post by **DustyPixel** » Wed 13 Dec 2017, 07:21

I tried changing the speed/quality settings as suggested and nothing helped.

The thing is, this happens in both HD and lower quality videos. I never had issues with this until I started using Linux. I initially started working with the Linux OS by using Puppy Precise, Lucid and Tahr on this computer. All had the same problem with screen tearing. It originally came with Windows 7 and that OS never had any problems playing videos smoothly, as long as i didn't go above 720p. Above that it would start to skip frames and start buffering.

I installed Lubuntu Xenial Xerus on the hard drive earlier this year. I noticed this same problem with the video and after researching online found a way to fix it by copy/pasting some code into a folder then modifying a couple of lines in it in Lubuntu. It reconfigured some of the compositing settings. Also, I was not using Flash Player in Lubuntu Xenial - the videos played fine without it.

But since the hard drive has crashed I have to use another OS and deal with it again. This was not caused by the fix - after I installed Lubuntu Xenial, it had a problem with frequent screen freezing as well as other issues before and after I fixed the video.

This computer is eight years old but can still handle regular and HD video with the right software. Is there any way to change Puppy Tahr's configuration settings to do this?

bigpup · #6 Post by **bigpup** » Wed 13 Dec 2017, 13:32

Let's see exactly what you are using for graphics hardware.

menu>System>Pup-Sysinfo>Devices>Display>Video-info

Copy and past what it reports.

Need to know the hardware. What driver and settings it is using. This should tell me.

Sailor Enceladus · #7 Post by **Sailor Enceladus** » Wed 13 Dec 2017, 19:09

DustyPixel wrote:I am using HTML5, no Flash Player installed. YT videos play correctly in VLC player, but I hate to have to copy and paste the URL into VLC every time.

So you're saying that the screen tearing happens only in the browser, not in VLC? In my experience the browser does take more CPU or GPU to play videos. I have seen screen tearing before in some games, I believe I had to use double-buffereing or adjust the vsync. I would also check in CPU Frequency Tool that you are able to hit 2GHz and not stuck at 800MHz or whatever the lowest speedstep is.

edit: I wonder of turning on or off graphics acceleration in the browser would help too
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/up ... celeration

DustyPixel · #8 Post by **DustyPixel** » Wed 13 Dec 2017, 22:41

bigpup:

VIDEO REPORT: tahrpup, version 6.0.5

Chip description:
VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)

Requested by /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
Resolution (widthxheight, in pixels): 1366x768
Depth (bits, or planes): 24
Modules requested to be loaded: synaptics dbe

Probing Xorg startup log file (/var/log/Xorg.0.log):
Driver loaded (and currently in use): intel
Loaded modules: dbe dri2 extmod glx kbd mouse synaptics

Actual rendering on monitor:
Resolution: 1366x768 pixels (361x203 millimeters)
Depth: 24 planes

Sailor Enceladus:

Here's the result from CPU frequency tool:

Intel Pentium CPU P6100
Current Speeds (MHz) Core 0:933 1:933
Scaling driver: 'acpi-cpufreq' governor: 'ondemand'

I tried turning off the hardware acceleration - nothing changed.

DustyPixel · #9 Post by **DustyPixel** » Thu 14 Dec 2017, 13:39

I remembered what I did to fix this problem in Lubuntu Xenial Xerus - I installed Compton.
I installed the compton PET package from PPM and followed the same procedure as for Lubuntu.
How do I disable the current composite manager and make Compton the default?
EDIT: I haven't fixed the problem yet. Any existing display compositing has to be turned off first before this will work properly. (Hopefully!)

If I type compton into terminal the message is 'Another composite manager is already running'.

666philb · #10 Post by **666philb** » Thu 14 Dec 2017, 16:47

hi DustyPixel m

this might work....
create a blank file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf
and add

Code: Select all

Section "Device"
  Identifier  "Card0"
  Driver      "intel"
  VendorName  "INTEL Corporation"
  Option "DRI" "3"
  Option "TripleBuffer" "true"
  Option "TearFree" "true"
EndSection

and restart X

if it doesn't work it could cause X not to start, if so just delete it and X should work

Code: Select all

rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

DustyPixel · #11 Post by **DustyPixel** » Thu 14 Dec 2017, 17:40

Hi 666philb -

This is simple enough but I must be doing something wrong. I know how to open a blank file by right clicking and how to copy/paste code but I'm having trouble with the /xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf part.
EDIT: I should have done this in terminal. I'm brushing up on simple command line stuff like mkdir - I haven't done much of it in Puppy Linux.

666philb · #12 Post by **666philb** » Thu 14 Dec 2017, 21:21

hi DustyPixel,

the mouse way is to navigate to /etc//X11/xorg.conf.d right click and choose 'new' then 'blank file' and call it '20-intel.conf'
then open the file (left click or right click & open as text ) and paste the code in and save.

or the terminal way ...

Code: Select all

echo 'Section "Device"
  Identifier  "Card0"
  Driver      "intel"
  VendorName  "INTEL Corporation"
  Option "DRI" "3"
  Option "TripleBuffer" "true"
  Option "TearFree" "true"
EndSection' > /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

the above worked for me on an intel graphics based PC

and the combi way ... high-lite the code above and use middle click (or both mouse buttons at once) to paste into a terminal .

write down on a some paper the path to the file ....
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf
so you can delete it from the terminal if X doesn't start
rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

DustyPixel · #13 Post by **DustyPixel** » Fri 15 Dec 2017, 06:17

There was no xorg,conf.d folder listed so I just created one and put the file in it.
It worked!!!

For some reason yesterday it wasn't letting me create new folders or files, and I kept getting error messages - I had been trying to get Compton to work so maybe some of the stuff I downloaded and created files for messed up some functions....
Thanks very much for your help, 666philb, and thanks to bigpup and Sailor Enceladus for your suggestions and feedback.

bigpup · #14 Post by **bigpup** » Fri 15 Dec 2017, 17:04

Thanks 666philb for this fix!

DustyPixel,
Thanks for sticking with finding an answer to this problem!
It should be helpful to others with hardware similar to yours.

We are Puppy.
Resistance is futile!

DustyPixel · #15 Post by **DustyPixel** » Sat 16 Dec 2017, 00:29

No problem, bigpup. I didn't want to waste anyone elses time on this thread if I could get a program I've already used with success - Compton - to work with Tahrpup. That turned out to be a bigger hassle than I expected, so thanks again to 666philb for this simple fix.

===============================================
NEW UPDATE 11/21/2018 Creating a new folder/file does work!!!!!
I'd been having some issues with the CD I was using when I posted this question, and when I tried the solution again, it didn't work. I ended up copy/pasting the code into xorg.conf. as an alternative.
I recently burned a new copy of the same Tahrpup 6.0.5 ISO live CD. Just to see what would happen, and because my alternative 'solution' (adding the code to the xorg.conf file) looked so clunky, I once again created a xorg.conf.d folder/directory in etc/X11, created a 20-intel.conf blank file in it and put philb's code in it - it worked!
I also tested this in Tahrpup 6.0.6 and it works there as well.
In both Tahrpup 6.0.5 and 6.0.6 I first had to create a xorg.conf.d folder since there isn't one.
In Bionicpup64 there is a xorg.conf.d folder, so just click on it and create a new blank file named 20-intel.conf, then add the code to it.
Remember to restart X to complete the install.
I've only tested this in Tahrpup 6.0.5, 6.0.6, and Bionicpup64 but I can confirm it does work in these pups.

===============================================

666philb · #16 Post by **666philb** » Sat 16 Dec 2017, 17:36

Hi DustyPixel,

i just tried compton in 32bit tahrpup and it worked fine for me.
& tahrpup64 comes with it pre installed although not set to run as the default settings are a bit bananas. .

i've made a small compton manager that might help and includes more sane settings

if you are using tahrpup 32 bit you will need to install compton from the PPM (puppy package manager) first.

if you are using tahrpup64 it already has compton so just install the .pet.

it should appear in the desktop menu.

DustyPixel · #17 Post by **DustyPixel** » Sun 17 Dec 2017, 00:19

EDIT: 11/21/2018 - Folder/file solution worked after all. Please see last post on 1st page.

- DustyPixel
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi 666philb -

I installed the Compton PET then installed the GUI, but when I went into settings I didn't see an option for "TearFree" or anything similar. Did you make any changes to the files?

I tried it but the tearing problem was still there. I did make sure to add it to the startup programs menu and tried clicking Restart then X, then Autostart at Boot then X.

I really appreciate you following up on this, but is there some reason why Compton would be a better option than simply adding your code to line 152 of xorg.conf? That's what ultimately worked for me, and it doesn't seem to have negatively affected the other functions in Tahrpup. It fixed the video in both minimized and fullscreen mode.

It does look a bit cluttered, though - is there a way to combine the two "Device" sections into one?

Here's a screenshot:

sickpig · #18 Post by **sickpig** » Wed 02 Jan 2019, 09:14

Hi 666philb and DustyPixel,

I was experiencing similar tearing issue. I tried disabling and enabling all sorts of chrome flags as per one online help article to no avail. Then I kind of got used to watching netflix with tearing. It gave the retro feel of playing videos on a vcr on a slightly bad tape. Then I stumbled upon this great post of yours and am back to watching content in the digital age tear free.

Thanks to DustyPixel for posting the question.
And bigger thanks to 666philb for providing a working solution.
Also appreciate all the other contributors effort.

Puppy is the best distro out there, all that is needed is a bit of patience to set it up just the way you like it.

DustyPixel · #19 Post by **DustyPixel** » Mon 07 Jan 2019, 02:55

Hi sickpig -

It's frustrating, isn't it? I call it the 'broken mirror' effect. I'm glad this helped you.

- Dusty

sickpig · #20 Post by **sickpig** » Tue 08 Jan 2019, 08:34

hahaha naah not that much, i had kinda adjusted with the retro feel of the video playback like a bad vcr tape. i would have continued with that, hadn't i stumbled upon your post

so much i have learnt just scouring through all the posts. amazing

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

How do I stop screen tearing in Tahr 6.0.5? Solved

How do I stop screen tearing in Tahr 6.0.5? Solved

retro feel of playing videos on a vcr