..:: seize the day ::..

Recently I update the xorg installation on my openSUSE 11.1 to the X11:XOrg repository. Guess what, my openSUSE installation become unstable. If I activate kwin and try to play with the cube, the cube moving become so heavy and then there is a notification from KDE saying that composite become unstable and the system disabled it. Also the 3D application like Google Earth cannot run, it only run if I disabled 3D support on Sax through Yast.

This problem was solved before actually and I wrote a blog about it, but I don’t know why the latest update to that X11:XOrg repo is not working. I’m very disappointed with this condition. Well, my laptop is HP2230s with Intel GM45 and I found a lot of complaint about the xorg support for this Intel graphics on the Net. GM45 is behave like Intel 965GM. There is also at least one discussion on openSUSE Forum about it.

I try to raise the the problem in opensuse-xorg list, and got the answer from suse staff. So I wait for the update and meanwhile revert back all the xorg component to oss version. And to be able to run 3D application like Google Earth I should modified the xorg.conf with the addition of lines below on section "Device":

  Option       "AccelMethod" "exa"
  Option       "MigrationHeuristic" "greedy"
  Option       "EXANoComposite" "on"

It has a drawback, because with that additions my system tray icon on panel is messed up and sometimes totally black.

Finally, tonight there is an update from online-update mentioned that there are some update on xorg component including Mesa, freeglut, Sax2, X11-input-wacom (which is I don’t use), xorg-x11-driver-input, xorg-x11-driver-video, xorg-x11-driver-redeonhd, and xorg-x11-server. I installed the update and voila it becomes stable again. Below are the components version that I have now in my openSUSE 11.1 installation:

• Mesa-7.2-10.2.1 (from repo update)
• MesaGLw-7.2-1.25 (from repo oss)
• libdrm-2.4.1-1.8 (from repo oss)
• xkeyboard-config-1.5-1.8 (from repo X11:XOrg)
• xorg-x11-7.4-8.13 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-driver-input-7.4-11.6.1 (from repo update)
• xorg-x11-driver-video-7.4-19.5.1 (from repo update)
• xorg-x11-driver-video-radeonhd-1.2.4_121202_4e89726-2.1.1 (from repo update)
• xorg-x11-driver-video-unichrome-20080807-12.44 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-fonts-7.4-1.32 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-fonts-core-7.4-1.32 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libfontenc-7.4-1.23 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libICE-7.4-1.24 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libs-7.4-8.1 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libSM-7.4-1.26 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libX11-7.4-1.25 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libXau-7.4-1.23 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libxcb-7.4-1.24 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libXdmcp-7.4-1.23 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libXext-7.4-1.25 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libXfixes-7.4-1.24 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libxkbfile-7.4-1.25 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libXmu-7.4-1.26 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libXp-7.4-1.25 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libXpm-7.4-1.27 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libXprintUtil-7.4-1.26 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libXrender-7.4-1.24 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libXt-7.4-1.26 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-libXv-7.4-1.25 (from repo oss)
• xorg-x11-server-7.4-17.4.1 (from repo update)
• xorg-x11-xauth-7.4-8.13 (from repo oss)
• freeglut-080721-20.2.1 (from repo update)
• sax2-8.1-542.8.1 (from repo update)
• x11-input-synaptics-0.15.2-5.24 (from repo oss)

So basically after I revert back all xorg component to oss, I just doing online update and everything back to normal (same condition with my last blog post). Don’t forget to check the xorg.conf, and make sure it doesn’t contain tree lines I mentioned above. Of course if I want to use Google Earth, I should disable the desktop effect (kwin) in Personal Setting - Desktop - General by deselecting Enable desktop effects button.

Besides that everything runs well, if I enable kwin, the cube spinning is smooth and no complaint again about composite stability. Thanks Stefan Dirsch and other openSUSE person who make it possible again. Here are some picture from my laptop: