Hello KDE folks!

As a self proclaimed open source advocate myself, I've been using KDE 3.5 exclusively for the last 2+ years to do all my work on: from development (Java) over browing, e-mail, documentation to managing a bunch of amazon EC2 servers and running VMWare images. The distribution I've been using all this time is Kubuntu. I've been updating the 6.something all the way to 8.04. All in all, this has been a wonderful experience so far, absolutely loved the complete setup.

Since I've been running KDE 4.1 without too much of a problem on my other test-laptop, last week I decided to take the plunge and go to Kubuntu 8.10 which runs KDE 4.1.3. Since then, all has not been that great. Browsing around for a week or so, checking bug reports (digging both into the Ubuntu launchpad as in the KDE bugs) and reading feedback on forums, I'm now in a position where I don't feel like I have a usable desktop anymore.

The main culprit is in my opinion the nvidia-glx drivers that are out there at the moment. Symptons include: not being able to browse with Firefox 3.0.4 for more than 2 minutes without a (silent) crash, garbled icons in kwin, kwin itself completely freaking out with garbage all over the place, garbage in the back-drop of menu-items right before they appear, garbage in the ALT-F2 execute window, a screen full of garbage when you want to shut down or suspend your machine (except for a small readable window), VMWare player losing the border when the image keeps running, etc, etc.

There are obviously other small things that are different or annoying if you compare it to version 3.5, like the eternal "wait" cursor in the Kontact RSS reader, but those don't really offset the benefits and the beauty of 4.1 in general.

Now the question comes: what do I do about this? Why is the video driver causing havoc with KDE 4.1 when all was fine in 3.5? Did anything change to the qt-gtk bridge? Where do I start looking? I already tried the 177 and 173 drivers and both seem equally unstable on my box (Nvidia Quadro FX 350M). I also tried disabling just about each and every graphical effect in the settings without too much difference. I never was a fan of Compiz and co but ironically most of those special effects seem to work just fine.

So, what are my options besides going back to 3.5 in order for me to get back to a stable and usable desktop? (**) Can I wait it out in the hope that soonish there will be a new driver or a fix on the KDE 4.1 side? Are there any other settings I can try?

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Kind regards,

Matt

(**) The first one to propose "you know what" gets flaimed into oblivion.

mattcasters wrote:The main culprit is in my opinion the nvidia-glx drivers that are out there at the moment.

My KDE4 experience became much smoother after using the NVIDIA 180.06 beta driver. True, it is not in the repos and requires a manual installation, but it finally makes KDE4 usable.

Relating to the garbage problem: We might have found one of the problems relating to it so it should be less of a problem in 4.2 beta 2 (Not in beta 1). I don't think the patch fixes it 100% but it's getting there. As for myself I haven't seen any garbage for quite a few months now but I did used to get it before then.

Just as a reference, the 180.06 driver will cause your fonts to corrupt on KDE4 as well. See this thread for more information and a quick fix.

mattcasters wrote:Thanks musta, that certainly helped a lot. Contrary to prior experience, the manual install went smooth. I'll use the 180.06 driver for the time being. I also bumped the relevant launchpad bug.

Thanks again,
Matt

Glad to see it worked.
A newer version (180.08) is available, however it did not work for me (frequent screen flickering) so I stuck with 180.06, which runs just fine.

As for an nvidia-glx-180 package, I think we may have still some time to wait, at least until nvidia release a final version.

[quote='mattcasters' pid='21199' ]
Just as a reference, the 180.06 driver will cause your fonts to corrupt on KDE4 as well. See this thread for more information and a quick fix.
[/quote]

In addition to GlyphCache=0 I also had to set the InitialPixmapPlacement to 0

Code: Select all

 nvidia-settings -a GlyphCache=0 -a InitialPixmapPlacement=0

I am still running KDE 3.5 with kubuntu 8.04, and, apart from still being unable to print from my Lexmark x2470 printer, I am very happy with the setup. I am considering moving up to KDE 4.1, and yet I find myself thinking it may be better to wait for KDE 4.2 to come along, and maybe I will be running Kubuntu 8.10 or higher by then, without any problems, who knows?
Any help getting my x2470 to print in Kubuntu 8.04 through KDE 3.5 will be greatly appreciated!


regards

John

Actually there is a 180.11 beta driver available

google01103 wrote:Actually there is a 180.11 beta driver available

And at least for me works very smoothly :thumbs_up:

tkoski wrote:

google01103 wrote:Actually there is a 180.11 beta driver available

And at least for me works very smoothly :thumbs_up:

today a 180.16 driver was released
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=a ... 8016&num=1

I have checked out the site http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=ar...8016&num=1 and saw the 180.16 beta driver you mentioned.
However, I notice it is a nVidia driver, and mentions GPUs, which seems to me that it is meant to help with graphics cards etc. I have an ATI graphics card, and am wondering if this driver, or the 180.11 beta version would help me to be able to use my Lexmark X2470 printer in kubuntu 8.04 with KDE 3.5 as I asked?
Am I missing something here? help further please.

regards

John

assassin66: No it won't. Please start a new thread regarding your problem. But before that you might want to check OpenPrinting, where you'll find this icon for your printer:

With other words, not Linux compatible. This post suggests that it'll print with the Z600 linux drivers, but that's not something I can help you with.

mattcasters wrote:Now the question comes: what do I do about this? Why is the video driver causing havoc with KDE 4.1 when all was fine in 3.5? Did anything change to the qt-gtk bridge?

The problem is that KDE4 is using some advanced visuals that most Xorg drivers do not support. Even with Desktop Effects turned off there are some problems! As you've seen, NVidia cards have a lot of problems. I have ATI cards on my systems, and their drivers suck under KDE4 too.

I have filed bug after bug on display issues, only to have them closed with a "it's the driver's fault" response. I had one closed today because "it's an X.org bug", even though it doesn't occur in KDE3, GNOME, XFCE, etc, etc. It's very frustrating.

KDE4 is like a brand new car that runs on advanced fuel cells... except that the fuel it needs is still being developed.

Compared to the 170 series, The 180.16 drivers do make KDE4 a good deal faster and more usable, but there are still some performance issues. KRunner doesn't have the annoying draw lag that it used to, but resizing konsole is painful, for instance.

Although to put things in perspective, even early versions of OS X had window resize sluggishness.