Vinagre sends frozen image to rdesktop in Jaunty 9.04

[Swarup Dev]

In Jaunty, the image being sent to the remote desktop via either Vinagre or tightvncserver, freezes up. It appears that the problem lies with the server side, and not the remote side. Because, the remote computer (Ubuntu 8.10) can receive rdesktop images just fine from other computers.

Detail: Dell Precision M6400 laptop, with Jaunty 9.04. Attempting to use it as a server supplying images to a remote desktop. I have tried using Vinagre as well as tightvncserver, but the same problem arises regardless of which I use: the remote desktop can initiate a connection to my laptop, request permission, and achieve a connection. And the image on my laptop's screen immediately appears on the remote desktop's monitor-- as it should. But that initial image which gets transmitted, gets immediately fixed on the remote moniter and does not continue to update as the image on my laptop changes. Whatever the first image was, that is all that gets transmitted.

One odd thing is that if I move the cursor on my laptop screen, the remove desktop moniter will see the cursor moving around. But if I open and close any applications, or anything I do on my laptop screen, nothing of that is visible to the remote desktop except that the cursor itself is moving.

My laptop can work just fine as the remote desktop and recieve images from the desktop of any other computer. But any other computer which tries to connect as the remote desktop to my laptop, will get only one fixed image.

[Swarup Dev (dinbandhu)]

The bug I have reported here above is not a duplicate of bug #353126. That bug involves a freeze during the use of compiz. But I do not have compiz, and never have. So this is the main point-- that for me, this freeze is occuring without compiz, and it therefore has nothing at all to do with compiz or beryl or any other special effects. So under such circumstances, how can one possibly call the above a "duplicate" of bug #353126?

[Chris Lawcock (clawcock)]

The above symptoms are identical to the issue outlined in bug #353126. If your settings under System>Appearance>Visual Effects tab are anything other than: None you will have this issue. The bottom line is vino is not being told that the screen has been updated so no screen updates are sent down stream. It is not a lock up as such or freezing... Sadly...

[Swarup Dev (dinbandhu)]

Yes, you are right! The Visual Effects tab has three options: none, normal, and extra. Mine was on "normal"-- I guess that is the default setting in Ubuntu. So I've tried changing it to "none", and -- amazing!!-- vino started working completely normally. And not only that, at least for me use, I don't see any difference at all in the appearance of my desktop or anything on it. All my applications appear just the same way they did before I switched from "normal" to "none". So what is the difference between the two settings? I guess is it perhaps only for special 3-D type graphics and stuff (which I never use)?

[Swarup Dev (dinbandhu)]

And also, does this bug occur regardless of what graphics card is used? I didn't notice the problem in Jaunty with my other computer. It was only when I started using this computer, which has an NVIDIA graphics card.

[Chris Lawcock (clawcock)]

Depending on the system most default to none... So most likely you would not have noticed it (i.e. Intel graphic adapters). The difference between the setting is essentially "none" uses every graphics card as a straight frame buffer with no hardware acceleration. Normal and extra employ the restricted drivers from nVidia or ATI in which case they redraw the screen faster and can handle additional effects. Some of the effects with Extra are extremely nice and very helpful.. I enjoy 3D cube, transparencies and window preview. Unfortunately either a new bug or previous problem has crept back in with Jaunty where the restricted drivers are simply not telling vino that it needs to update part or the whole screen. I am glad this helps, I personally hope they get this issue resolved in short order. I like my effects on and I often VNC into my Ubuntu development box.