Is there *any* video card that works properly with KDE 4.X? Apparently the 'big two' (ATi and nvidia) have serious problems.

I have an nVidia 8800gt and I have no serious problems at all. I do have a minor problem that seems to be driver related though, but it's so minor, only one other person has reported a similar problem(strange-problem-wi ... 29936.html). What card do you have and what problems are you having?

I'm using a Gigabyte GeForce 7600 GS AGP w/ 256MB memory and the nvidia 'recommended' 177 driver.

I've managed to get things working mostly most of the time. Every once in a while I see a 'scrambled' effect in the panel icons, but it clears if you right mouse click on the desktop and dismiss the resulting pop-up menu. (Yeah - crazy, but it works). And sometimes plasmoids on the desktop show a transparent checkerboard artifact around the upper edges of the plasmoid when you mouse over them.... and windows seem to have a light ghost shadow around the upper, right and bottom borders.

My main reason for asking is simple - if the common denominator for video problems is the desktop environment, then perhaps our problems aren't in the drivers at all, but in the implementation of the display software itself. Put another way: what are we getting with this paradigm shift in KDE? Surely we could get all the cool plasmoid functionality (getting old, but I actually don't see much to be excited about) using the more stable (and apparently proven) technology underlying the 3.X versions.

Hrmmmm...I can only say, I've seen nothing like that. But, nVidia and KDE 4 have not always played well together in the past though...and it's usually been nVidia's fault. Not saying so this time...yes, KDE 4 has added a lot more eye-candy, but I like it personally. You may want to try the nVidia 188.22 series driver (currently stable) and see if it helps. I have a few other very very minor glitches I see occasionally, but I can't yet pin on the driver or KDE 4. I hardly ever notice them anyway. I am sure that after both the drivers and KDE 4 matures a bit more, they will disappear...and I still may not notice them. The issues you are having sound more substantial. For the record, which version of KDE 4 are you using...4.1 or 4.2?

I am using the 180.22 drivers on a nVidia 7800GT in KDE 4.2 and don't even have a single graphical glitch or suboptimal performance.

I'm interested in an answer as well. nVidia is not an option for me, because I want an open source driver for my open source system. I'm researching hardware right now for my next system, and I would love to know what is open AND works with KDE4.

p.s. And by "works", I mean no flashies or tearing, usable peformance, full window effects, etc.

platoJones wrote:Hrmmmm...I can only say, I've seen nothing like that. But, nVidia and KDE 4 have not always played well together in the past though...and it's usually been nVidia's fault. Not saying so this time...yes, KDE 4 has added a lot more eye-candy, but I like it personally. You may want to try the nVidia 188.22 series driver (currently stable) and see if it helps. I have a few other very very minor glitches I see occasionally, but I can't yet pin on the driver or KDE 4. I hardly ever notice them anyway. I am sure that after both the drivers and KDE 4 matures a bit more, they will disappear...and I still may not notice them. The issues you are having sound more substantial. For the record, which version of KDE 4 are you using...4.1 or 4.2?

Running 4.2 on Kubuntu 8.10 'Intrepid Ibex' (on an HP Pavilion Dual Pentium)

Given that I'm running Kubuntu it's difficult to upgrade the driver without taking some serious risks. In fact, I was trying to upgrade to 180 when I mashed up the system so badly I just gave up, formatted the partition and re-installed.

you are so right.. be carefull with the official driver from nivida website (NVIDIA-Linux-x86-180.22-pkg1.run) every fourth update of kubuntu breaks it somehow and you will end up in a terminal.. (i hate it that there is no warning or something)

BUT i stick with it anyway.. it is sooo much better than the 177.x -- you should give it a try.. just remeber two things: save your NVIDIA-Linux-x86-180.22-pkg1.run somewhere, where you can find it in case of emergency and run it again from a terminal.. (and leave it there) and the second thing is: unload the nvidia module before installing another driver and remove the module first! (/lib/modules/2.6.27-11-generic/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko) or you will face an "api mismatch" or something else when starting the xserver after installing the driver...

waldelf wrote:... and the second thing is: unload the nvidia module before installing another driver and remove the module first! (/lib/modules/2.6.27-11-generic/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko) or you will face an "api mismatch" or something else when starting the xserver after installing the driver...

That's how I screwed up this last weekend - forgot to unload and remove.

I *think* I can find the procedure to unload (and remove?) the module somewhere on the 'net - but if you have a pointer to the procedure I would appreciate it. Thanks.

I am running the Nvidia 180.27 with no problems! but I can relate to spending way too much time in terminal land:'( What would be good is to have back some of the controll we had in previous xorg versions where you could easily go back to vesa while the prblems got sorted out.


2c Cary

BTW I'm running Kubuntu Jaunty & thats what you expect & get when playing with development software.

I have an ATI Radeon 2400 HD with KDE 4.2, and have no problems with it at all

oh i meant just a simple

Code: Select all

sudo rmmod nvidia
sudo rm /lib/modules/2.6.27-11-generic/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko

caryb wrote:I am running the Nvidia 180.27 with no problems! but I can relate to spending way too much time in terminal land:'( What would be good is to have back some of the controll we had in previous xorg versions where you could easily go back to vesa while the prblems got sorted out.

why can't you? is this a jaunty issue .. in intrepid you still can edit the xorg.conf from (driver "nivida") back to (driver "nv") to get X up and running again...

I am running KDE 4.2 with an Nvidia 8700M GT using 180.22 drivers and it is going swimmingly.
I have noticed though that if you have used package installers to install your drivers then install via source you can have lots of problems with links, so be careful how you upgrade.