Video appears choppy when playing back files

[stuartguthrie]

Hey all,

Sorry to be a pain yet again, but I'm really keen to learn more about Linux and get my system up and running perfectly.

I have a Dell Inspiron 530 with an Intel Core Duo 2, 3GBs of RAM, a 512MB nVidia graphics card and a 500GB hard disk drive running Mandriva Free 2010 64-bit, however, I've noticed that video playback often appears choppy. This isn't just limited to video playback but also tasks like dragging a window around my screen, whereas none of this occurred when I was running Vista. What can I do to fix it? Is it as simple as installing a correct driver or something like that? Could this be because I'm running the free (or One) version which supposedly just uses generic drivers? If yes, can I upgrade to the PowerPack without losing any of my settings and files?

A HUGE thanks in advance.
Stu

[reed9]

This is probably a video driver issue.

There are 3 (sort of 4) different possible drivers for nvidia cards.

1. xf86-video-nv
2. xf86-video-nouveau
3. Nvidia's official proprietary drivers (non-free)
4. Vesa generic driver (gives basic support to pretty much any graphics card)

The nv driver is nvidia's attempt at an open source driver, and is not very functional. It may never be.

The nouveau driver is open source and under development. It is currently not bad, but doesn't support 3D acceleration, ie, no compiz or special desktop effects. I use this driver on my desktop. 3D acceleration is slated for the future via the Gallium3D project.

The non-free official nvidia drivers work pretty well with linux and provide full 3D acceleration and all of that. This is probably what most people with nvidia cards use.

I'm not familiar enough with Mandriva to direct you in installation, but I think if you enable the PLF repos, the nvidia driver should be available through your package manager.

You should be able to upgrade to PowerPack without losing your settings or files, but backing up first is always a good idea.

[Phoronix] What Will Happen To xf86-video-nv In 2010?

[nmset]

First try to determine what driver is being used:

grep -i driver /etc/X11/xorg.conf

nv = opensource driver
nvidia = NVIDIA non free driver.

The latter one is readily installed during setup and works very well. You may run X Setup again from drakconf if neccessary.

Or perhaps your problem is elsewhere...

[reed9]

Does 2010 still have a xorg.conf file? In a lot of newer distros that method of determining the driver doesn't work anymore.

The contents of the file /var/log/Xorg.0.log will give better information.

[ongte]

If your basic repositories are setup, you should be able to switch to the non-free nvidia driver easily through the GUI.

Open up Mandriva Control Center (MCC)
Goto Hardware->Configure Graphics->Set up the graphical server
Click on Graphics Card, when asked to choose, just press OK on the default selection. You'll now be asked if you want to use the proprietry driver, say yes to that. Finally press OK, confirm the changes & reboot the PC.

[nmset]

2010 uses an xorg.conf, yes.

Xorg.0.log is a hacker's heaven and a newbie's hell fire !!!

I hope stuartguthrie gives update.

[stuartguthrie]

This is probably a video driver issue.


The nouveau driveris open source and under development. It is currently not bad, but doesn't support 3D acceleration, ie, no compiz or special desktop effects. I use this driver on my desktop. 3D acceleration is slated for the future via the Gallium3D project.

The non-free official nvidia drivers work pretty well with linux and provide full 3D acceleration and all of that. This is probably what most people with nvidia cards use.

I'm not familiar enough with Mandriva to direct you in installation, but I think if you enable the PLF repos, the nvidia driver should be available through your package manager.

You should be able to upgrade to PowerPack without losing your settings or files, but backing up first is always a good idea.

Hi Reed9,

Many thanks for the reply. I gave Nouvea a try, but unfortunately it won't work with my media player. Aside from that it appeared perfect and strangely enough, I could use YouTube without any problems. I'll check out the non-free NVidia drivers. Could you please tell me where I can find them from? I'm guessing by non-free, it means that I need to pay for them (not a problem though).

I'm loving Linux, but I must admit that I'm finding that software and hardware installation is a lot harder than on Windows or the Mac OS. Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up as time goes on.

Thanks again,
Stu

[stuartguthrie]

First try to determine what driver is being used:

grep -i driver /etc/X11/xorg.conf

nv = opensource driver
nvidia = NVIDIA non free driver.

The latter one is readily installed during setup and works very well. You may run X Setup again from drakconf if neccessary.

Or perhaps your problem is elsewhere...

Hi Nmset,

Please excuse my ignorance, but is grep -i driver /etc/X11/xorg.conf a command that I run in Gnome Terminal? I'd give it a try but since I don't know what I'm doing I don't want to stuff anything up.

Many thanks,
Stu

[ongte]

Stu check my post above for getting the non-free driver easily.

non-free means it's not under a free software license. It's proprietray & the source code is not available.

[stuartguthrie]

Stu check my post above for getting the non-free driver easily.

non-free means it's not under a free software license. It's proprietray & the source code is not available.

Thanks for explaining that and thanks also for the instructions. All is working great now.

Stu