Desktop Effects Re-Enabled

[ptoche]

Desktop effects had been disabled on my system because, reportedly, they had crashed kwin. I did a search and found many users with similar issues, but solutions appear to be quite specific to drivers and system versions. I tried a few of those solutions, but they didn't work for me, until I did this:

cd ~/.kde/share/config/
sudo kate kwinrc
change "OpenGLIsUnsafe=true" to "OpenGLIsUnsafe=false"

At this time, the Desktop effects have been re-enabled. I can't say how long this will last. Is there anything you would recommend for me to do?

for reference, in case it helps someone, I lay out below my attempts (no reference given, the tips were found in other discussion forums like ubuntuforums, kde-forum, I didn't write down the reference):

Possible solutions:

1.
remove all Nvidia references in package manager, remove libgl1-mesa-swx11. Install: libgl1-mesa-glx (7.11-0ubuntu3).
verdict: not installed

2.
uninstall the kde-window-manager-gles and intall kde-window-manager instead.
verdict: not installed

3.
Can you confirm that you have Direct Rendering support available?
The command "glxinfo | grep -i direct" should read "Yes"
you will need:
sudo apt-get install mesa-utils
verdict: answer is yes

4.
cd ~/.kde/share/config/
sudo kate kwinrc
change "OpenGLIsUnsafe=true" to "OpenGLIsUnsafe=false"
verdict: worked, so far

5.
sudo rm ~/.kde/share/config/kwinrc
kwin --replace
verdict: haven't tried this (yet)

[GreyGeek]

Re: Desktop Effects Re-Enabled

...
At this time, the Desktop effects have been re-enabled. I can't say how long this will last. Is there anything you would recommend for me to do?
...
4.
cd ~/.kde/share/config/
sudo kate kwinrc
change "OpenGLIsUnsafe=true" to "OpenGLIsUnsafe=false"
verdict: worked, so far

5.
sudo rm ~/.kde/share/config/kwinrc
kwin --replace
verdict: haven't tried this (yet)

I tried #5 and it restored acceleration, but then I noticed than the frames around the GUIs lacked the title, the menu and the three buttons in the upper right corner. Alt-M wouldn't bring back the menus and when a window appeared in the upper left corner I couldn't drag or resize it because the button in the upper left corner wasn't visible either.

My Desktop Effects are disabled (on Kubuntu 12.04 ALPHA) with every update of the video driver. At first I tried to check the "Enable" box but it wasn't highlighted, which forced me to use option #5. However, every since I tried option #5 the "Enable" box was active and I could check it. Having checked it, subsequent updates have disabled acceleration but I am always able to check the box again and restore it.

[ptoche]

Re: Desktop Effects Re-Enabled

I tried #5 and it restored acceleration, but then I noticed than the frames around the GUIs lacked the title, the menu and the three buttons in the upper right corner. Alt-M wouldn't bring back the menus and when a window appeared in the upper left corner I couldn't drag or resize it because the button in the upper left corner wasn't visible either.

scary! I'm glad I didn't try #5!

After one day with the desktop effect re-enabled, I've had no crash, but a total freeze of about one minute every hour or so. Always scary.

A weird thing is when I log in, the "task manager" horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen, where the battery and clock and other widgets are lodged, appears twice, as if a "mirage" were cloning it, one stacked on top of the other. But if I click on it, it disappears, and doesn't reappear again while I'm in session. This happens every time I log in and start a new session. Reproduced more than 20 times.

[ptoche]

Re: Desktop Effects Re-Enabled

On my other laptop (HP DV6, same sort of specs, Kubuntu 11.10), I can't even do anything without a freeze, the longest I can bear the Desktop effects is two minutes... even after disabling absolutely all of the desktop effects options (both "All Effects" and "Advanced") ...

[sithlord48]

Re: Desktop Effects Re-Enabled

On my other laptop (HP DV6, same sort of specs, Kubuntu 11.10), I can't even do anything without a freeze, the longest I can bear the Desktop effects is two minutes... even after disabling absolutely all of the desktop effects options (both "All Effects" and "Advanced") ...

you should know that those DV6s have crappy cooling for the cpu/gpu , its possible that your having hardware issues or your chips are partly unsoddlered.. i would urge you to look into that before blaming the software.

there are lots about it if you search . perhaps one of these will help you.

http://www.google.com/search?gcx=c&s...thermal+issues

[GreyGeek]

Re: Desktop Effects Re-Enabled

....
A weird thing is when I log in, the "task manager" horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen, where the battery and clock and other widgets are lodged, appears twice, as if a "mirage" were cloning it, one stacked on top of the other. But if I click on it, it disappears, and doesn't reappear again while I'm in session. This happens every time I log in and start a new session. Reproduced more than 20 times.

Two system trays installed? Or, perhaps, two panels?

[ptoche]

Re: Desktop Effects Re-Enabled

After a few hours of experimenting, and hair-pulling, I have narrowed down the problem (for the HP-DV6, haven't checked on the Lenovo-U300S) to this option:

Use OpenGL 2 Shaders

if I disable it, it seems to work (2 hours without a problem so far, a little hasty to reach a conclusion but it's almost bed-time so I'll leave it here for now)


@sithlord48
overheating issues with the DV6: yes, I noticed :P but I don't use the laptop much and always rest it on a cooler (I use it as a desktop replacement, as I have another, slimmer laptop to take in my backpack), and the problems I have with desktop effects occur even on a cold start-up, so I doubt this particular problem is related to overheating.

@GreyGeek
two system trays: I don't see anything about that, I don't use multiple desktops and have disabled all the shortcuts to navigate to other desktops; it looks more like a display problem, not sure though just a wild guess.

[sithlord48]

Re: Desktop Effects Re-Enabled

desktop effects will heat up your gpu faster then if they were off. cold boot or not the gpu heats up very fast. i would still look into this.

[ptoche]

Re: Desktop Effects Re-Enabled

@sithlord48, thanks I'll look into that as soon as I have no other option! like after a total meltdown...

I'm on my very cold and very new Lenovo-U300s, which has SSD and has amazing low temperatures. Kwin crashes all the time on it too. I'm now experimenting with disabling the "Use OpenGL 2 Shaders" option in System Settings --> Desktop Effects --> Advanced (as I did on my overheating HP-DV6). I got a pop-up message stating that it might improve performance, we'll see...

Quite frankly I'm doing all this for fun because I can live without any sort of Desktop Effects.

Especially the one where the windows explode. Who can bear that more than 2 minutes?

[arist]

I tried #5 and it restored acceleration, but then I noticed than the frames around the GUIs lacked the title, the menu and the three buttons in the upper right corner. Alt-M wouldn't bring back the menus and when a window appeared in the upper left corner I couldn't drag or resize it because the button in the upper left corner wasn't visible either.

This worked for me. Edit ~/.kde/share/config/kwinrc: if BorderlessMaximizedWindows is set to true, make it false.