Subj : Graphics driver quest To : Ky Moffet From : Barry Martin Date : Mon Sep 15 2025 07:45:00 Hi Ky! > (I know: overquoting!) KM> That can be fixed! KM> *RRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPP* -- sound of rampaging delete key Where'd the message go?! > KM> Yeah, you can get artifacting in one program but not in another, > KM> so not a huge surprise that the terminal was different. > Initially I was figuring along the lines of Terminal being old school > and without graphics, or at least minimal graphics. That sort of got > voided because while Terminals in the "overlay" (^*) options were noisy > Terminal in the primary screen were not. KM> My guess is that's the right track, wrong culprit. Not exactly KM> oldschool but using an old version of the GTK toolkit (the KM> programming framework that produces the window decorations and KM> such that the user sees onscreen), which responded less KM> gracefully than its neighbors. On Gnome desktop, it's all pretty KM> much GTK apps by default. (KDE desktop, Qt apps by default.) Probably more accurate, especially after I 'found' the one arrow graphic was also noisy. ..I wasn't intending to find the coding error but more semi-playing to discover what was working and what was not -- sort of training for future diagnostics. > *^ "Overlay" meaning using programmes like VirtualBox and Remmina to > obtain another machine screen over my main one. KM> Oh. Yeah, I don't know what you'd properly call that. But the KM> making-it-happen would be before it got to the display server KM> (what actually sends data to the screen). Probably right. Not disagreeing, but I could see where a 'coding error' in the video driver could be the problem. ...I didn't check to see what drivers or other software were updated with the detection of the new monitor: I'm not that ambitious! KM> And that may not be the same depending if you're using Wayland or KM> X11. You can check in whatever Ubuntu uses to spit up such info KM> (in KDE it's InfoCenter). KM> https://news.itsfoss.com/ubuntu-25-10-wayland-only/ Wayland. Have switched it off to use X11 on some computers around here because what they are running isn't happy with Wayland but on this computer figured as that's the utility future versions of the OS will be running then I need to get used to it. If something I need doesn't run under Wayland then I either need to use a VM or the other machine. ....Well, the article is pretty much verifying what I thought: X11 out, Wayland in. The bad part with that is some of our favourite utilities will be no longer be able to be used with future OS updates, so back to the usual: switch OS or stay with an old OS. KM> Everything had to be recompiled for Wayland, and some programs KM> still haven't been, and may misbehave in new and different ways, KM> and different ways again if you have an NVidia graphics card. Right. In the past I have read comments where the author/maintainers of certain utilies will not update to current just because of what boils down to too much work. So great 32-bit utilities - bye-bye. :( Now X11-utilities -- give one last hug. ...I'd guess a way to run X11 will be created, similar to the concept of WINE. ..."BEER"? Barry's Eyeball Emulator Rewinder?? > KM> Does sound like it's cuz one has halfbaked support. Sometimes all > KM> you can do is experiment til you find the combo that works. > It was sort of fun experimenting what caused the noise. Found in one > e-mail an up_arrow graphic was a little noisy on the new 75 Hz screen > but not on the old 60 Hz screen. So much for that Terminal Theory! KM> Ah, that arrow being the thing that's noisy does point to it KM> being a toolkit deficiency, nothing directly to do with your KM> setup. I'm guessing the problem is actually that the affected KM> apps use an older version of GTK (the toolkit most often used for KM> Gnome apps). If it's an old GTK, it's probably introducing a KM> scaling error. OK. ...Was thinking one thing I didn't do was reboot the system: may have completed some sort of update/revision but at the time had a bunch of projects on hold -- not going to be lost if reboot, just would take a little bit of time to bring back. And other than the video noise I saw no difference between running this monitor at 60 Hz and 75 Hz, so potentially a lot of work for nothing. > KM> I just tried two monitors on the Fedora box, works fine, after > KM> some thrashing around to figure out that you really do have to > KM> designate a primary or it'll just put up a random login screen > KM> background and nothing else. > I've not done that: here the computer desk is a corner-style and has a > hutch on it (used to house a CRT). One monitor in there, the other > monitor is on the wall to the right. I can't do the usual side-by-side > but do slide off to it the documents and projects on hold. KM> I have Silver (XP64) set up that way. I need to figure out how to KM> get both monitors to be available to Zombie too (Win11). The KM> linux side of the room already had two monitors because the KVM KM> liked the PCs on the table but wasn't speaking to the PCs on the KM> floor, so they got their own. But I hadn't tried dual monitors on KM> a single linux box before. Unless you count the Huion display KM> tablet, which is basically a touchscreen repeater that can be KM> plugged into a USB port. Here I have one monitor on the HDMI port and the other on DVI/DP -- whichever is available on the computer. AFAIK one or the other won't work with the VGA port. One problem I have had with the video switches is they will sometimes fail to detect the computer that has been plugged in ==> will no longer see, so skips that input. I've also had it where the switch switches inputs without a manual input, so "how come I'm typing but nothing is on the screen??!!". > > Duuuude! When I scroll my messages I don't want smearing! > > Yes, using the 60 Hz refresh rate seems more than adequate. > KM> Modern monitors are more than equal to a BBS's scrolling text!! > Probably always have been. ...I don't recall the model number but was > part of the Sanders Associates 720; the text character was written out > sort of like cursive as one continous line. Think how a neon sign has > its glass tube bent to create the letters. (Usual method is multiple > straight traces to create the letter.) KM> Woah, that is cool. Not very practical, but cool. I'm not sure why they did it that way, especially when the turn-on-and- off-the-raster had been around for ages, plus I would think the detail in positioning the beam on the screen would be immensely increased. ¯ ® ¯ BarryMartin3@MyMetronet.NET ® ¯ ® .... The word 'nun' is just the letter "n" doing a cartwheel. --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com (454:1/1) .