Wayland Screen Flicker Bug

BuzzPCSOS

After swapping from Budgie to Plasma (clean install) I noticed that the screen flicker that was so easy to fix using the 20-intel_flicker_fix.conf file at /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ location does not work on Plasma when I use the Wayland session. I am sure all I need is to tell Wayland not to flicker too as the X11 session is patched and working fine. Any suggestions here would be gratefully received.

Axios

BuzzPCSOS
There seems to be some rumbling on the net about that issue
from what I can tell it does not effect one video like intel navidia amd Seen posts from all them
at times having issues.
So if thats the case maybe its a wayland issue more so. (I know that does not help much)
Best advice I can give rummage around on net see if you can find something close to your setup/issue

WetGeek

BuzzPCSOS Any suggestions here would be gratefully received.

Yes. I just changed from my beloved Wayland session to X11 in order to confirm this. Someone needs to write up a bug report in order for this to get some attention, and I volunteer to be that someone.

EDIT: Done. The issue is #1291, in case anyone else would like to comment.

BuzzPCSOS

Axios Thank you for your reply.
Most definitely an Intel HD Graphics card/driver issue, I have seen posts regarding this display fault for both Windows and different flavours of Linux.
Fixes for Windows seemed to revolve around updating, or in some cases rolling back display drivers.
Fixes on Linux mostly seemed to work by adding a 'triple buffer' instruction for the X11 display driver, which I have done in the past with great success.
Wayland works in a different way to X11 and as yet I have not seen how to add in extra instructions to change the way the display behaves.
Wayland is still relatively new tech and is evolving fast, with luck an update will fix this in the near future.

BuzzPCSOS

WetGeek Thank you, very much appreciated.
I looked at the possibility of writing a bug report but quickly realised that I did not have the technical knowhow to fill in all the questions. That or I followed the wrong link!
Over the years I have a lot of hands-on experience and got a good understanding of what I am doing without ever having had formal training in computer maintenance. Generally if things start looking too technical I can find another fix that is easier and works. I hope that the Wayland solution will fall into this category also.

WetGeek

BuzzPCSOS Thank you, very much appreciated.

Actually, it was trivial, but I appreciate your kind words. The Solus team has done an outstanding job with the new Dev Tracker. It's very straightforward and self-explanatory. We should never hesitate to document a bug, because the first step in getting one fixed is to bring it to the attention of someone who can fix it.

Harvey

If it was not already clear X11 configs are not not used by Wayland.

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

WetGeek

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: 1920x1080_60Hz
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

BuzzPCSOS

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

WetGeek

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.

Harvey

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.

WetGeek

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.

BuzzPCSOS

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.

WetGeek

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.

BuzzPCSOS

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" :-))

Axios

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.

WetGeek

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.

Axios

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 )

BuzzPCSOS

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.

Harvey

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.

Axios

Harvey Makes sense.