[Dell Vostro 14 5401] Eye strain on using ubuntu but not windows

[Shraman]

I am not sure if the bug is with intel drivers or with font rendering or with xorg but I am facing eye strain on ubuntu(and other distributions as well, and other desktop environments too) but not on windows.

Although I'm not sure, if I had to guess I would say bug is in intel drivers. The issue exists when I switch to wayland as well. I have tried tweaking hinting and aliasing settings of fonts using gnome-tweaks(or equivalent in other DEs) but to no effect. Maybe something is wrong with colors on linux so I copied my ICC profile from windows over to linux and applied it but that didn't work either. I just want a fix for my problem as it prevents me from using ubuntu.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+19ubuntu14
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-45.51~20.04.1-generic 5.8.18
Uname: Linux 5.8.0-45-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.capabilities.gpu0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/capabilities/gpu0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.capabilities.mig: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/capabilities/mig'
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0000.01.00.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0000:01:00.0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.suspend: suspend hibernate resume
.proc.driver.nvidia.suspend_depth: default modeset uvm
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 460.39 Thu Jan 21 21:54:06 UTC 2021
 GCC version:
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.16
Architecture: amd64
BootLog: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/boot.log'
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CompositorRunning: None
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Fri Mar 19 11:38:32 2021
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: focal
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, if not too technical
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation Device [8086:8a56] (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:09ea]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2021-03-19 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04.2.0 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20210209.1)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Vostro 14 5401
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.8.0-45-generic root=UUID=18819299-a0e3-4e05-83b0-9d0f57b4c653 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 12/18/2020
dmi.bios.release: 1.5
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.5.3
dmi.board.name: 0C54N1
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr1.5.3:bd12/18/2020:br1.5:svnDellInc.:pnVostro145401:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0C54N1:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct10:cvr:
dmi.product.family: Vostro
dmi.product.name: Vostro 14 5401
dmi.product.sku: 09EA
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.102-1ubuntu1~20.04.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 20.2.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx N/A
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers-* N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.20.9-2ubuntu1.2~20.04.1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:19.1.0-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20200226-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.16-1

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thanks for the bug report. In order to assign this bug to the correct component and investigate it properly we will need more information about what is specifically wrong with the image.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Your LCD panel appears to be a BOE NV14N4H-2X30K. Some googling of that mentions colour problems and low frequency flickering used to implement brightness settings. Is that the kind of thing you're seeing or is it something different?

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

If the problem is just the colour temperature then please try this:

Settings >
Screen Display >
Night Light >
Night Light = ON
and customize to your liking

[Shraman (shraman23)]

My googling also suggests that it might be low frequency flickering and PWM/dithering. Turning on night light/redshift does not help. Turning on dark mode doesn't help either.

For the PWM thing, I tried the solution at https://superuser.com/a/707852/1261816 but that only made my screen go dark and removed ability to change brightness while not helping with eyestrain. I think that solution works for some specific older GPUs only.

I also tried solution at https://ledstrain.org/d/785-eyestrain-when-switching-from-windows-to-linux/24 for PWM on my screen but I think that is outdated too as xrandr didn't seem to recognise the option.

[Shraman (shraman23)]

Screenshot for the second attempt at PWM(https://ledstrain.org/d/785-eyestrain-when-switching-from-windows-to-linux/24)

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Comment #5: Wow, I didn't know PWM could be configured like that. Maybe it is the problem and you just haven't found the right Intel register tweak yet.

Comment #6: That's for the nouveau Nvidia driver, not Intel.

Can we maybe take a step back and verify the problem you experience really is the LCD panel and not some part of the desktop design? You could check that by displaying the same image full screen in both Ubuntu and Windows and verifying that you can notice a difference in the display, even though it's the same image file.

[Shraman (shraman23)]

It does seem like its an issue with the LCD panel and I tried to check by doing the full screen image thing, but it generally takes 15-20 minutes for my eyes to really start becoming strained and dry.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

OK, if this is a software bug at all then it sounds like it would be a kernel issue.

[Shraman (shraman23)]

Yes I suspect that if its a PWM issue it's probably a driver or kernel thing. That said I have tried other kernels such as 5.4 generic lts, 5.8 generic, 5.6-oem, 5.10-oem. I have also I tried other distributions. I think fedora 33 had the 5.10/5.11 kernel. I know this is a vague problem lol sorry.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Your LCD has two detailed modes: 60Hz and 48Hz. Please check that you're in a 60Hz mode and not 48Hz.

[Shraman (shraman23)]

Yes I have tried both 60Hz and 48Hz refresh rates.

Here's and askubuntu thread I had made where I listed lots of other things I tried: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1320941/eye-strain-on-kubuntu-but-not-on-windows

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

We will need to wait for you to find a definite cause/description of the problem before we can do anything about it. This bug will close automatically if no further comments are added after 60 days.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for Ubuntu because there has been no activity for 60 days.]