Harvey Could someone with the issue give me the output of inxi -G

I've logged on to an X11 session, but I'll change now and do that. Stand by ...

root@malachite /home/jerry # inxi -G
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 630 driver: i915 v: kernel
Device-2: NVIDIA GM107 [GeForce 940MX] driver: nouveau v: kernel
Device-3: Sunplus Innovation Integrated_Webcam_HD driver: uvcvideo
type: USB
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.10 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.3 driver: X:
loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: iris,nouveau gpu: i915
resolution: 1920x108060Hz
API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,nouveau,swrast
platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.3 vendor: intel mesa v: 23.3.3
renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 630 (KBL GT2)
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.261 drivers: intel,llvmpipe surfaces: xcb,xlib

      WetGeek I've logged on to an X11 session, but I'll change now and do that.

      I didn't realize that I'd gotten distracted by the Dallas/Green Bay game, and forgot to change the logon to X!! when I said I did. I was still on Wayland, and could have saved logging on again, but that doesn't matter. The inxi results I sent are what you need.

      I didn't notice my mistake at first, because the problem isn't constant - it's just frequent. And it apparently affects Intel video cards only, which are used in DELL computers such as this one.

        Thank you.

        From googling some suggest addingi915.enable_psr=0 to kernel boot parameters and removing xorg-driver-video-intel

        If you are game you can try this at your own risk.
        echo "i915.enable_psr=0" | sudo tee /etc/kernel/cmdline.d/20_intel_fix.conf
        sudo clr-boot-manager update
        sudo eopkg rm xorg-driver-video-intel
        sudo reboot

        I have tested this on my laptop that uses the i915 driver without breaking anything but I also never had any flickering / tearing issue, mine is much older.

          Harvey If you are game you can try this at your own risk.

          Emphasis on "your own risk." After several minutes, that laptop is still on the DELL screen, so apparently that's not the answer. (No worries about that - the system was upgraded from an RC installation, and I've been thinking of reinstalling it from a released .ISO anyway.)

          Fortunately there are other laptops here that I can use in the meanwhile.

              Harvey Thank you for your hard work and suggestions and also to @WetGeek who tested while I slept.
              I'm not sure that it was specifically for the issue we are experiencing, This is a flicker triggered when the mouse cursor is at a specific position on the screen.
              The code for the X11 fix might give some insight as to how plasma can be patched.
              Contents of /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel_flicker_fix.conf
              Section "Device"
              Identifier "Intel Graphics"
              Driver "intel"
              Option "TripleBuffer" "true"
              Option "TearFree" "true"
              EndSection
              There are other more complicated fixes suggested on the net but this entry that only implements TripleBuffer and TearFree seems to work perfectly for X11. As an experiment I will try enabling only the one Option for X11 to find out if it is one or the other or a combination of the two.
              More to follow.

                So the followup is that Triplebuffer and TearFree options don't seem to matter if they are in the .conf file or not.
                What seems to be fixing things for X11 is a file that identifies the device and it's driver.
                Perhaps all that Wayland needs is a sign saying "Intel Graphics this way" :-))

                WetGeek Fortunately there are other laptops here that I can use in the meanwhile.

                Well, that's done. Everything is installed, and configured. Actually, it was hours ago, befrore I went to bed. The only pain that still remains is recreating a couple hundred email filters as messages arrive. I wish those could be copied and saved for future installation in Thunderbird, but that's a feature I haven't seen yet.

                @Harvey, it's important that you know that I knew what I was doing when I tried this workaround, and I appreciate that you tried to help us with this issue. I knew quite well that testing it here might mean reinstalling this system, and I was quite prepared to do that.

                And @BuzzPCSOS, thanks for continuing to work with Harvey on this when I couldn't help. The better he understands the details, the more likely he is to find a fix.

                    WetGeek I was doing some reading woke up early
                    I think its Mutter issue with wayland but I could be wrong.
                    Some said dont run an (applet,widget) that adjust screen.

                        Axios I think its Mutter issue with wayland but I could be wrong.

                        All indications point to an issue in the Intel video driver that can be corrected by a config/patch file, but the correction we're now using is specific to X11. We need a way to make it affect the Intel video driver when Wayland is in use, because that's what matters more these days.

                          Harvey Hi @Harvey I am posting inxi -G reports for both the patched X11 output and the flickering Wayland output. It looks to my untutored eye as if both are using the same Xorg server but on one there is a one missing from the version number. Is this by flaw or design? Would be so good if the fix could be just modifying a typo :-)

                          Wayland with flicker

                          Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 620 driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: Realtek Integrated Webcam_HD driver: uvcvideo type: USB
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.10 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.3
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: N/A resolution: 1366x768
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast
    platforms: gbm,wayland,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 23.3.3
    renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.261 drivers: intel,llvmpipe surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland

                          X11 patched conf - no flicker

                          Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 620 driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: Realtek Integrated Webcam_HD driver: uvcvideo type: USB
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.10 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.3 driver:
    gpu: i915 resolution: 1366x768~60Hz
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 23.3.3
    renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.261 drivers: intel,llvmpipe surfaces: xcb,xlib

                              BuzzPCSOS You dont have a compositor on x11 you do on wayland.

                              And I wouldnt know why Xorg would have different ver numbers? Interesting
                              So on X11 you are working with the i915 is why the fix works

                              And on Wayland you are working with the Kwin_wayland compositor
                              So does it have anything to adjust compositor settings?

                              Kinda way I see it (I could be totally full of it dunno tho )

                                  Axios It is strange. A quick web search for X.Org v: 21.1.10 returns relevant looking hits whereas a search for X.Org v: 1.21.1.10 returned much more ambiguous results. Really out of my depth here. Wayland is all a way off mainstream for the moment, I will keep poking about and maybe something will turn up as it becomes more commonly used. Until then there will be X11 to fall back onto.

                                    I would not worry about the version numbers.

                                    My understanding is xorg changed it versioning system for... some reason, going from 1.20.x to 21.1.x But surprise, surprise applications do version checks and that would indicate to some existing software that it was not compatible.

                                    Under Wayland you are not using X11 even if an app does not have Wayland compatibility it will use Xwayland which is a partial protocol implementation of X11. So it needs to continue to identify itself with a leading 1 to not break things when being identified in this manner.

                                      Thank you all for your continued patience and perseverance with this issue.
                                      I understand that Wayland and X11 are two different systems and I compared the two only because the screen flicker bug on intel HD grapics cards has identical symptoms on Wayland to unpatched X11. I figured that there might be a clue as to what generally needs to be done on Wayland to fix the bug.
                                      Pretty sure this is not a type of mouse issue as I can recreate the exact same results using a trackpad, bluetooth and hard wired mouse. The glitch seems to happen only when the cursor is at specific x-y co-ordinates and seems to occur due to the graphics card failing to correctly redraw the cursor and the background along a single line of pixels.
                                      I still think that it is very relevant when patching X11 that the contents of the 20-intel_flicker_fix.conf file does not seem to need any tweaks, only a pointer to what graphics card is being used.
                                      Please keep up the good work, you are all the best whatever the outcome.

                                        BuzzPCSOS No problemo I have been killing time lately but got get back to real life for awhile
                                        (Oh what fun..lol) I just try help out my fellow Solushians I dont pretend to know everything but usually more
                                        Tin caps the better.

                                          12 days later

                                          I have some possible news regarding this issue. On my Plasma laptop, I've been using X11 since the work-around was provided to prevent the screen flickering we've seen with Wayland. Just now, I decided to let DoFlicky check to see whether there's something new for my video adapters in this Latitude (Intel + NVidia).

                                          Turns out, there was something. I selected the recommended driver, and another dependency was required. Somehow, I ended up with 3 items to install, and along the way I briefly saw something about a Wayland improvement.

                                          After shutting down and restarting, I dragged my mouse pointer all over the lower part of the screen, for quite a while, and there was nary a flicker. There was one drawback, but it's one I can live with. Although Plank is installed, it won't launch. I even reinstalled it, but no joy. However, I can live with that because the Latte dock does install and it works just fine.

                                          Again, a disclaimer: I started on this adventure about 15 minutes ago, and much of that time has been devoted to writing this message. I hope this will work for us all, and keep working for us. You now know as much as I do about it. Happy, happy, joy, joy! Now to update all the other Plasma machines here. 😃

                                            Woah ... this is even better! For a long time I've needed to use X11 in order to take VMs to full-screen (HOST+F). Recently I learned of a work-around involving turning off the mini-toolbar in the VirtualBox settings (the one at the bottom of the list). That's not a critical feature, so it was better than nothing.

                                            After seeing that there's almost no screen flicker anymore with Wayland on this laptop, I decided to try adding that mini-toolbar setting back to a VM (a Plasma VM for testing Discover), and seeing if it would still lock everything up if I switched to full-screen on Wayland. Turns out, that's fixed, too. Here's that VM on a wayland session on this laptop. And absolutely zero locking up, as you can tell from the items I've launched, including Spectacle, which I used to snap this screenshot.

                                            Now I've got some work-arounds to remove from a bunch of VMs. Just don't need 'em anymore. And to be perfectly honest, I have seen a couple of brief flickers since I wrote the first post about this. But they were trivial, lasted for less than a second, and I have no idea whether they're related to the earlier phenomenon. Again, they're nothing that will keep me from using Wayland full-time on all the machines here.

                                            WetGeek However, I can live with that because the Latte dock does install and it works just fine.

                                            Irony because I installed Latte in XFCE and it would not launch today.🙂.

                                            What's the difference in Plasma between X11 and Wayland so far? Minor screen flickers so far? I have not looked up all your wayland/plasma reports or @BuzzPCSOS 's either. (suddenly got reeeeeal curious today what the future brings). Thanks