[linux] Constant flickering

[Martin Albisetti]

I installed the package for Ubuntu Hardy, and, when moving around in the app, I get constant flickering of the screen.
If I stay still, the screen is fine, but as soon as I select any option, the whole screen flickers.

I've got an Intel 945 video card, and I'm running Ubuntu Hardy with all the latest updates.

When running from a console, I get the following warnings:

WARN MainThread service_manager May 13 21:46:35 Missing dependency Un-met dependency for coherence: coherence to create coherence:coherence_service (elisa/core/manager.py:98)
WARN MainThread media_manager May 13 21:46:35 Missing dependency Un-met dependency for coherence: coherence to create coherence:upnp_media (elisa/core/manager.py:98)
WARN MainThread service_manager May 13 21:46:35 Initializing osso:osso_service failed: Component osso_service failed to initialize: hildon not running. (elisa/core/manager.py:95)
elisa: could not connect to socket
elisa: No such file or directory
WARN MainThread interface_controller May 13 21:46:36 Component lirc_input failed to initialize: Unable to initialize lirc! (elisa/core/interface_controller.py:326)
WARN MainThread comp_service_activity May 13 21:46:36 Plugin 'service' not found (elisa/plugins/base/activities/service_activity.py:54)
WARN MainThread db_backend May 13 21:46:36 column uri is not unique (elisa/core/db_backend.py:240)
WARN MainThread db_backend May 13 21:46:36 column uri is not unique (elisa/core/db_backend.py:240)
WARN MainThread db_backend May 13 21:46:36 column uri is not unique (elisa/core/db_backend.py:240)
WARN MainThread db_backend May 13 21:46:36 column uri is not unique (elisa/core/db_backend.py:240)
WARN MainThread db_backend May 13 21:46:36 column uri is not unique (elisa/core/db_backend.py:240)
WARN MainThread db_backend May 13 21:46:36 column uri is not unique (elisa/core/db_backend.py:240)
WARN MainThread db_backend May 13 21:46:36 column uri is not unique (elisa/core/db_backend.py:240)
[]
WARN MainThread config May 13 21:46:50 [Errno 13] Permission denied: u'/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/elisa/plugins/raval_frontend/tango_theme/tango_theme.conf' (elisa/core/config.py:195)

Is there anything else I can provide to help debug?

[bve (bve-telusplanet)]

WARN MainThread service_manager May 13 21:46:35 Missing dependency Un-met dependency for coherence: coherence to create coherence:coherence_service (elisa/core/manager.py:98)
WARN MainThread media_manager May 13 21:46:35 Missing dependency Un-met dependency for coherence: coherence to create coherence:upnp_media (elisa/core/manager.py:98)

python-coherence needs to be installed to meet the above dependency.

I am still stuck here though:

WARN MainThread service_manager May 13 21:46:35 Initializing osso:osso_service failed: Component osso_service failed to initialize: hildon not running. (elisa/core/manager.py:95)
elisa: could not connect to socket
elisa: Connection refused
WARN MainThread interface_controller May 13 22:23:08 Component lirc_input failed to initialize: Unable to initialize lirc! (elisa/core/interface_controller.py:326)
WARN MainThread comp_service_activity May 13 22:23:08 Plugin 'service' not found (elisa/plugins/base/activities/service_activity.py:54)
WARN MainThread db_backend May 13 22:23:11 column uri is not unique (elisa/core/db_backend.py:240)
WARN MainThread db_backend May 13 22:23:11 column uri is not unique (elisa/core/db_backend.py:240)
WARN MainThread db_backend May 13 22:23:11 column uri is not unique (elisa/core/db_backend.py:240)
WARN MainThread db_backend May 13 22:23:11 column uri is not unique (elisa/core/db_backend.py:240)
WARN MainThread db_backend May 13 22:23:11 column uri is not unique (elisa/core/db_backend.py:240)
WARN MainThread db_backend May 13 22:23:11 column uri is not unique (elisa/core/db_backend.py:240)
WARN MainThread db_backend May 13 22:23:11 column uri is not unique (elisa/core/db_backend.py:240)

At this point I have seen the splash screen and come up with a blank 'black' window, which eventually aborts, or it aborts when I click on the screen.

The lirc error is no biggie since I haven't created a config for my remote, however the osso error seems to be a show stopper for me.

The odd thing is this is on a fresh Hardy install, however when I did a dist-upgrade from Gutsy on my other box I didn't run into these issues, Elisa - which was working fine continues to run fine.

HTH

[Martin Albisetti (beuno)]

I installed python-coherence, and I'm still having the same problems. I suppose that if it's needed, it should be in the deb's recommends.

[Michał Sawicz (saviq)]

Coherence only does UPnP, so no reference to your screen flickering.

Are you, by any chance, running Compiz? If so, try disabling it and try Elisa again. Compiz is known not to work well with OpenGL based appplications such as Elisa (or, actually, Pigment).

If you're not running Compiz, try the python / python-pigment examples to see if the flickering is there, too - and if it is, please file a bug at Pigment trac.

[Martin Albisetti (beuno)]

I disabled Compiz (which was activated by default with the Hardy Install), and it still flickers.

Where can I find the python-pigment examples?

[Kjetil Thuen (kjetil-thuen)]

The python-pigment examples flickers too. I've reported this at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pigment/+bug/227098 a couple of weeks ago.

[TenLeftFingers (tenleftfingers)]

I've noticed that the flickering on my system correlates exactly to hard drive reads. I know this because when the harddrive is being used (to load album covers etc.) I can see the light on my computer flicker and it's in perfect sync with the screen flicker.

I have the same hardware / software as the original poster.

[TenLeftFingers (tenleftfingers)]

Now I notice that I have the same issue as the original poster. Initially, the application flickered constantly until all the covers were read from the drive, including thumbnails for the videos. but now it flickers on interaction. But I think the harddrive reading might be a good place to start looking as when I do interact with the GUI I still hear harddrive reads from my machine for pretty much every key stroke.

[TenLeftFingers (tenleftfingers)]

The following fix is working for me so far. It's a linux / compiz specific fix.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4748642&postcount=10

[Ulrik Mikaelsson (rawler)]

I also experience the bug.

[Ulrik Mikaelsson (rawler)]

Sorry, forgot to mention; same hardware as previous posters. Intel Mac Mini with G945

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

Is the bug still reproducible with Elisa 0.5.1 released last week?

[Thomas Perl (thp)]

I have the same bug. Where is a .deb of 0.5.1 for testing?

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

Debian and Ubuntu packages are coming soon and also will be automatically generated soon.

[Martin Grimme (martin-grimme)]

I just want to add that the flickering is caused by the Intel video driver and that I have posted a workaround to fix the flickering for the pigment library.
The fix was successfully tested on a Mac mini with Ubuntu Hardy and Elisa 0.5.2.
Upstream has yet to pick up and accept the patch, though.

See https://code.fluendo.com/pigment/trac/ticket/247 for details.

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

This is excellent news Martin! Thank you very much for your work on the issue.

[Neil Broadley (scaine)]

I still experience intermittent flickering on Elisa - running 0.5.25 (released on 26th Jan 2009). Am I missing something regarding Martin's reply above? I thought that his patch to pigment would be rolled out with the latest release, but I'm still seeing the flickering issue.

Running on an Intel MacMini - Intel 945 chip. Ubuntu 8.10, fully patched. Installed from PPA (https://launchpad.net/~elisa-developers/+archive/ppa)

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

The bug is still open in pigment's trac (https://code.fluendo.com/pigment/trac/ticket/247).

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

heads up: Is this bug still alive with Moovida 1.0.8 on Ubuntu Karmic?

[dino99 (9d9)]

The latest free moovida 1.09 does not get any maintenance since a while. Now moovidadb.com is supporting Linux and support can be found at : http://www.fluendo.com/faq/