Cursor flickers when stars are selected

[Mark Pokorny]

Binary package hint: stellarium

Description: Ubuntu hardy (development branch)
Release: 8.04
Packages:
    stellarium 0.9.1-2
    stellarium-data 0.9.1-2

When selecting stars (and other objects, but especially stars), the cursor flickers and doesn't rotate smoothly. This does not occur in version 0.8.2. I tried to get a video capture of it, but the video encoding algorithms cause artifacts which hide the effect.

I think it might have something to do with the thickness of the lines in the cursor, as they were thicker in version 0.8.2 than they are in version 0.9.1.

[Jon Reagan (jonreagan-deactivatedaccount)]

Mark,

Thanks for helping make Stellarium work better on Ubuntu. I have marked this bug incomplete, because I have been unable to obtain the issues you have found using Stellarium. If you could provide more information on your system ( graphics card, compiz vs non-compiz results, etc.) then it will be easier to determine the source of the problem.

Thanks!

Jon

[Mark Pokorny (iridium193)]

Hi Jon,

Gladly; unfortunately I won't be at my system again for another couple of weeks, so I won't be able to give you the information you require until then. In preparation, once I'm back at my system, are there any particular files/logs/other information in particular that you feel might be most beneficial?

Thanks for looking into this!

Regards,

Mark.

[Jon Reagan (jonreagan-deactivatedaccount)]

Mark,

A "how-to" recreate this bug would be great. I can't think of a log file to get, but maybe if you could run the "stellarium" command from the terminal, and then paste it into the bug description or new comment, then that would help locate the source of the problem.

Thanks!

Jon

[Mark Pokorny (iridium193)]

Hi Jon,

I shall do that for you, no problem! Might be a week or so at this stage - please bear with me!

Thanks,

Mark.

[Mark Pokorny (iridium193)]

Hi Jon,

I have attached a couple of short videos describing my problem:

The first is from Stellarium version 0.8.2-3, which is the current version for Ubuntu 7.04. As can be seen from the video, as stars, planets, nebulae, etc. are selected, the cursor moves smoothly and maintains its shape.

The second is from Stellarium version 0.9.1, the current version for Ubuntu 8.04.1. In this video, the selection cursors are much more pixelated and do not move as smoothly. They also appear to 'flicker' as they move. (NB: the frame flickering in this video is due to the video capture itself, and is not seen when using Stellarium 'live').

Both of these were captured using Ubuntu 8.04.1 with all the latest updates applied. Therefore, the environment is the same in both cases. One thing I notices was that the icons in the 0.9.1 version were much smaller than those in 0.8.2-3; could this be caused by a difference in resolution between the two versions?

I am using an nVidia GeForce 7600 GS (AGP) graphics card utilising the latest nvidia-glx-new drivers (version: 169.12+2.6.24.14-21.51).

Let me know if you need any further information.

Mark.

[Jon Reagan (jonreagan-deactivatedaccount)]

Mark,

Sorry for the late reply!!!

It appears that the errors you are experiencing are coming from the graphics drivers. I was unable to replicate the bug, but you might try a different graphics drivers. The new version of Stellarium may have hit a bug in the process, a bug with the graphics drivers.

[Mark Pokorny (iridium193)]

Hi Jon,

No prob! That sounds like the cause all right, I've just tried it from a different system that uses alternative drivers (I can't tell which ones exactly) and there's no problem. I think part of the problem is that my monitor at home does not support 1280 × 1024 resolution - changing the screen resolution to 1024 × 768 on the alternative system generated very mild effects similar to those in the attached videos.

Anyway, suffice to say your analysis seems to be correct - sounds like a a problem with visual systems rather than Stellarium itself.

Thanks a mill for looking into it. Take care now!

Mark.

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Is this symptom still reproducible in 9.04?

[Mark Pokorny (iridium193)]

I'm afraid I haven't tested 9.04.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

[This is an automated message]

In Jaunty (9.04), we have just updated to the latest
nvidia-graphics-drivers-180 package from nVidia, version 180.44.

This package provides fixes for a large number of bugs, and we need your
assistance in testing if it fixes the issue you reported.

To do this, please do the following:

 a. Update to the 180.44 version of -nvidia using your favorite update
     method

 b. Attempt to reproduce your bug

 c. If your bug still remains, please simply reply to this email
     indicating so.

 d. If your bug is now solved, you can help us by setting your bug
     report to Fix Released:
     * In launchpad, go to your bug report
     * Click on the downward pointing arrow under Status
     * Set the Status field to 'Fix Released'
     * Comment on the change, such as, 'Verified fixed in 180.44'
     * Click 'Save Changes'

 e. If the original problem is solved but there are now other problems,
     please close the original bug and open new ones for those issues.

Thank you!

For details on the changes in this version of -nvidia, please see:

   http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_ia32_180.44.html

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

I've posted a new version of the -nvidia driver to our xorg-edgers PPA,
would you mind testing it either on Jaunty or Karmic and see if it
resolves this bug?

Get nvidia-graphics-drivers-180 - 185.18.14 here:

  https://edge.launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.

[Mark Pokorny (iridium193)]

Hi Bryce,

My apologies for my apparent silence - I've been extremely busy over the past few months. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to test this and so cannot give you an update (it also doesn't look like I'll get time in the near future to test it either). However, the latest versions of both Stellarium and the nvidia drivers on Arch Linux do not produce this bug, and so it is likely that it has also been rectified in the latest versions using Ubuntu.

Thanks a million for spending time on this bug; I'm sorry I haven't been much help!

Regards,

Mark.