Transition between Plymouth and GDM is not smooth

[Lee Hyde]

Binary package hint: plymouth

The transition between Plymouth and GDM is far from smooth, involving (in my experience) a brief black screen. This needn't be the case if this post (http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/plymouth/2009-June/000126.html) regarding a smooth Plymouth➔GDM transition in Fedora is accurate. Details of how the Fedora developers allegedly* achieved this smooth transition are available via the above link.

I don't know whether this is technically feasible, or even desirable, within Ubuntu. However that non-smooth Plymouth➔GDM is a blight on an otherwise splendid start-up process.

*I have no direct experience of Fedora
---
Architecture: amd64
DefaultPlymouth: /lib/plymouth/themes/elementary-logo/elementary-logo.plymouth
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100429)
MachineType: Sony Corporation VGN-FZ31M
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: plymouth 0.8.2-2ubuntu5.1
PackageArchitecture: amd64
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-23-generic root=UUID=2e0a2b81-aa09-4534-a56d-4715bff57a7f ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB: 0 EFI VGA
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-23.41-generic 2.6.35.7
Tags: maverick
TextPlymouth: /lib/plymouth/themes/ubuntu-text/ubuntu-text.plymouth
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-23-generic x86_64
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout fuse lpadmin plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 12/21/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies LTD
dmi.bios.version: R2110J7
dmi.board.asset.tag: N/A
dmi.board.name: VAIO
dmi.board.vendor: Sony Corporation
dmi.board.version: N/A
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: N/A
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Sony Corporation
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologiesLTD:bvrR2110J7:bd12/21/2007:svnSonyCorporation:pnVGN-FZ31M:pvrC6005QFD:rvnSonyCorporation:rnVAIO:rvrN/A:cvnSonyCorporation:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: VGN-FZ31M
dmi.product.version: C6005QFD
dmi.sys.vendor: Sony Corporation

[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

I've tried adding GDM as an 'also affects' but for some reason launchpad only offers me the option to link upstream. If someone more experienced in the ways of launchpad stumbles across this bug, would you be so kind as to add GDM as an 'also affects'.

Thank you.

P.S.: Surely It should be 'also Effects' and not 'also Affects'; the later implies an emotional context (affection) and so you would only use it (affect) when referring to something which effects a person/animals emotional state.

[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

I'm not certain that this is strictly a matter for upstream developers but I thought it worth reporting upstream just in case

I can only speak to my own experiences under Ubuntu 10.10 (x86-64) wherein the visual transition between Plymouth and GDM is far from smooth. Typically this visual transition entails an abrupt change to a black screen between plymouth and GDM. I assume that this affects over distributions and display managers.

If the following post to freedesktop's mailing lists (http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/plymouth/2009-June/000126.html) is to be believed* this need not be the case. With a few patches to both Plymouth and GDM they appear to have achieved a smooth transition of sorts.

I'm not sure whether the Fedora developers approach is technically desirable, but the current situation which entails a somewhat jarring and abrupt transition to the display manager is sub-optimal in my opinion.

*I have no direct experience of Fedora

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Smooth transition from plymouth to gdm is contingent on the cooperation of a suitable in-kernel video driver. What video driver are you using? Please run 'apport-collect 727136' to send this information to the bug.

[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

apport information

[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

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[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

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[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

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[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

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[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

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[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

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[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

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[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

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[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

apport information

[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

"Smooth transition from plymouth to gdm is contingent on the cooperation of a suitable in-kernel video driver."

Am I to assume then that all of the relevant work w.r.t. Plymouth and GDM has already been done? (i.e. a smooth, unabridged transition between Plymouth and GDM is presently possible under Ubuntu 10.10 or 11.04a). I've never once observed a smooth Plymouth➔GDM transition since adopting Ubuntu 9.10 as my primary OS, but then I have been using nVidia's proprietary graphics drivers from the outset.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

> Am I to assume then that all of the relevant work w.r.t. Plymouth and
> GDM has already been done? (i.e. a smooth, unabridged transition between
> Plymouth and GDM is presently possible under Ubuntu 10.10 or 11.04a).

Yes, this was already implemented for 10.04 LTS, but it's only possible with drivers that implement KMS - the nvidia binary drivers do not. Marking this bug as invalid, there's nothing more that can be done in plymouth to make this happen.

[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

Thank you for responding Steve,

Do you know whether or not there are any plans for nVidia to implement KMS within their proprietary drivers? If not I may play around with the nouveau drivers sometime in the near future. I'd avoided them as I'd heard that they aren't very compiz/visual effects friendly.

Also, can you tell me whether smooth transitions was implemented upstream or via patches in Ubuntu (as Fedora appear to have done in the past). I'd like to close/amend the upstream bugs I've (perhaps prematurely) files if appropriate.

All the Best,

Lee.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

On Tue, Mar 01, 2011 at 09:33:10PM -0000, Lee Hyde wrote:
> Do you know whether or not there are any plans for nVidia to implement
> KMS within their proprietary drivers? If not I may play around with the
> nouveau drivers sometime in the near future. I'd avoided them as I'd
> heard that they aren't very compiz/visual effects friendly.

Sorry, I don't know what plans nvidia have for their binary driver. I have
heard that nouveau now has accelerated 3D support for some devices (but not
all).

> Also, can you tell me whether smooth transitions was implemented
> upstream or via patches in Ubuntu (as Fedora appear to have done in the
> past). I'd like to close/amend the upstream bugs I've (perhaps
> prematurely) files if appropriate.

There are two patches applied to the Ubuntu gdm package to integrate with
plymouth. Both are from the plymouth upstream author.

--
Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer http://www.debian.org/
<email address hidden> <email address hidden>

[Lee Hyde (anubeon)]

>Sorry, I don't know what plans nvidia have for their binary driver. I have
>heard that nouveau now has accelerated 3D support for some devices (but not
all).

Thanks for responding, you know more than I on this matter and so I appreciate the heads up. Google suggests that support for KMS within nVidia's proprietary drivers is not forthcoming (which is a shame) although I think I'll forgo nouveau until they at least officially support their 3D drivers.

>There are two patches applied to the Ubuntu gdm package to integrate with
>plymouth. Both are from the plymouth upstream author.

In that case I may leave the upstream bugs in place, at least for a while, as it would seem (unless I'm drawing the wrong inferences) that the patches have yet to be applied upstream. At the very least those upstream bug reports can serve as a loci for clarification, and I couldn't locate any duplicate bugs.

Thanks once again for taking the time to respond to this (non-)bug report, much obliged. :-)

[Rstrode (rstrode)]

GDM now ships with a --enable-plymouth configure option.