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Old 01-12-2008, 09:50 AM   #1
mamadu.bwana
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Angry Why does Ubuntu update GIMP with a pointer bug?!


Ok. now I am getting really frustrated with Ubuntu.

In October of 2007 I upgraded from Feisty Fawn to Gutsy Gibbon and immediately found a bug with GIMP. First, the at bootup the splashscreen identified the version of GIMP only as "release candidate". I checked - turns out that the version is GIMP 2.4.0-rc3. More annoyingly, whenever I moved the cursor over an image I got green paint painted over the image (regardless of the brush or tool I selected). Turns out that this was a known bug: bug #158270 and a duplicate of another known bug: bug #156556. Bottom line: this problem is related to the ati video drivers (that is exactly what I have: VGA controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV100 QY [Radeon 7000/VE] (prog-if 00 [VGA]) Subsystem: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon 7000/Radeon VE).

Rather than remove the package and manually reinstall an earlier version of GIMP, I decided to wait until the bug would be fixed through the regular updates. I figured that GIMP+ATI was such a common thing that surely it would be fixed soon.

Now, four months later, I just downloaded an update for GIMP and the bug is still there. No ATI driver updates were offered. Nor I have been unable to find a workaround.

So my questions are:

1) why has Ubuntu not fixed this rather big double-bug?
2) how long might it take until a fix is finally available via the updates system
3) has anyone found a way to fix this in the meantime?

Thanks!

Mamadu
 
Old 01-12-2008, 10:05 AM   #2
Mega Man X
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Hi mamadu.bwana!

Depending how much you need Gimp, you may consider to use another driver for your ATI card or simply disable 3D altogether. Not the best solution by far, but then again, I believe you use Gimp for production, so disabling a few 3D effects won't really matter.

First of all, you should check which drivers for ATI you are using. Gutsy easily helps you to choose 2 different drivers for ATI: One is proprietary, the other is open-sourced. I was very pleased with the open-sourced driver and apparently, it is even faster than the proprietary drivers from ATI regarding 2D. 3D-wise, it was a bit disappointing, but still functional overall.

So do this first, test both drivers. If both gives you problems, disable them all together and use a generic driver.

Now, I don't want to say this, but ATI in Linux is pretty bad. I had a X800 before I upgraded my computer to a 8600 Nvidia and ATI in Linux was just awful. Basically, I did not get any game to run with wine, which are known to work fine. Maybe you can invest in a cheapo 7300 Nvidia? The LE edition is no gaming card, but extremely good for daily production and some 3D games and it goes for really low prices.

Last edited by Mega Man X; 01-12-2008 at 10:07 AM.
 
Old 01-12-2008, 10:06 AM   #3
pixellany
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Every distro seems to have different policies about offering the latest SW. Most often, I get frustrated when they are behind instead of--in this case--maybe too far ahead.

Other than corresponding with the distro maintainer, your only real choice would be to ask for your money back and move on to something else....

Some data on GIMP:
2.4.0 was released in October
The latest release is 2.4.3
My distro (PCLOS) offers 2.4.2, which I have installed

I can't duplicate the problem you describe. I have ATI Radeon 7500 with "radeon" driver.

Finally, regardless of what distro you use, you can always install another version of an app and have both available. I use /opt for such things.
 
Old 01-12-2008, 12:26 PM   #4
mamadu.bwana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mega Man X View Post
Depending how much you need Gimp, you may consider to use another driver for your ATI card or simply disable 3D altogether..
Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I have to admit that I have no idea how to change drivers. All I know how to do is to install Ubuntu which is, admittedly, something any retard can do as the installer is the easiest one I have ever seen. But tweaking the video drivers is something I have never done. Also, I would be somewhat fearful to do so as I suppose I would have to edit xorg.conf (right?) and, in particular this section:

Code:
Section "Device"
        Identifier      "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV100 QY [Radeon 7000/VE]"
        Driver          "ati"
        BusID           "PCI:2:0:0"
EndSection
Is my guess correct? Or are video drivers loaded as a module with insmod?

I use no games whatsoever, and my 'eye candy' is rather limited as I am running a single GenuineIntel, Pentium III (Coppermine) CPU rated at 996.746 MHz with 256 KB cache.

However, I liked GIMP a lot to edit photos and I have never come across a better program. I really would love to have it working again.

So what shall I do and, even more importantly, *how* do I do it?

Many thanks for your patience with this noob,

Mamadu
 
Old 01-12-2008, 12:40 PM   #5
pixellany
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The available drivers (on my system) are here:
/usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers
If that doesn't work, then do "find /usr -name radeon* (or find......ati*)

If a driver exists in that directory, then all you have to do to use it is change the "Driver" entry in the xorg.conf section you posted.

If you don't have a driver that you need, chances are good that it will be available using the package manager.


You don't specifically mention if you have tried GIMP 2.4.2
 
Old 01-12-2008, 01:55 PM   #6
mamadu.bwana
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here are the contents of my /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers:

Code:
amd_drv.so        fbdev_drv.so     nv_drv.so             tfp410.so
apm_drv.so        glint_drv.so     psb_drv.so            tga_drv.so
ark_drv.so        i128_drv.so      r128_drv.so           trident_drv.so
ati_drv.so        i740_drv.so      radeon_drv.so         tseng_drv.so
atimisc_drv.so    i810_drv.so      rendition_drv.so      v4l_drv.la
ch7017.so         imstt_drv.so     s3_drv.so             v4l_drv.so
ch7xxx.so         intel_drv.so     s3virge_drv.so        vesa_drv.so
chips_drv.so      ivch.so          savage_drv.so         vga_drv.so
cirrus_alpine.so  libmm.so         sil164.so             via_drv.so
cirrus_drv.so     mga_drv.so       siliconmotion_drv.so  vmware_drv.so
cirrus_laguna.so  neomagic_drv.so  sis_drv.so            voodoo_drv.so
cyrix_drv.so      newport_drv.so   sisusb_drv.so         ztv_drv.so
dummy_drv.so      nsc_drv.so       tdfx_drv.so
Here is the output of 'sudo find /usr -name radeon*'

Code:
/usr/sbin/radeontool
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.22-14-generic/include/config/fb/radeon.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.22-14-generic/include/config/fb/radeon
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.22-14-generic/include/config/drm/radeon.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.22-14-generic/include/linux/radeonfb.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15-generic/include/config/fb/radeon.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15-generic/include/config/fb/radeon
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15-generic/include/config/drm/radeon.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15-generic/include/linux/radeonfb.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.22-14/include/video/radeon.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.22-14/include/linux/radeonfb.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15/include/video/radeon.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15/include/linux/radeonfb.h
/usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/radeon_drv.so
/usr/lib/mplayer/vidix/radeon_vid.so
/usr/lib/dri/radeon_dri.so
/usr/share/man/man4/radeon.4.gz
/usr/share/man/man7/radeontool.7.gz
/usr/share/doc/radeontool
And here is the output of 'sudo find /usr -name ati*'
Code:
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.22-14-generic/include/config/input/ati
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.22-14-generic/include/config/snd/atiixp.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.22-14-generic/include/config/snd/atiixp
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.22-14-generic/include/config/blk/dev/atiixp.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.22-14-generic/include/config/agp/ati.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15-generic/include/config/usb/ati
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15-generic/include/config/snd/atiixp.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15-generic/include/config/snd/atiixp
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15-generic/include/config/blk/dev/atiixp.h
/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.20-15-generic/include/config/agp/ati.h
/usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/ati_drv.so
/usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/atimisc_drv.so
/usr/lib/codecs/ativcr2.dll
/usr/share/man/man4/ati.4.gz
/usr/share/doc/tcpdump/examples/atime.awk
/usr/share/xserver-xorg/pci/ati.ids
So what should I do now?
 
Old 01-12-2008, 03:07 PM   #7
pixellany
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As a minimum, you have 3 drivers that will work: ati, radeon, and vesa

To try one:
Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf so that the "Device" section has an entry like "Driver "radeon"" (without the outer quotes)

to edit config files like this, you need to be root or use sudo. e.g. "sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf". If you don't like nano, substitute gedit or whatever other text editor you prefer.

You will probably need to re-start X with ctrl-alt-backspace (or maybe even re-boot) for the change to be effective.
 
Old 01-12-2008, 03:53 PM   #8
mamadu.bwana
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would this work:

Code:
Section "Device"
        Identifier      "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV100 QY [Radeon 7000/VE]"
        #Driver          "ati"
        Driver           "radeon" #added to fix GIMP bug
        BusID           "PCI:2:0:0"
EndSection
and is there a risk, any at all, for me to totally crash and screw-up X or can I just reverse any changes by uncommenting the line removing the new entry?

Lastly, what kind of changes in my video performance should I expect from this driver?

Thanks!

Last edited by mamadu.bwana; 01-12-2008 at 03:55 PM.
 
Old 01-12-2008, 04:12 PM   #9
fragos
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Not an ATI user I don't share your problem. You can however always get the latest GIMP in deb format from http://www.getdeb.net. THere are 4 packages and you need to install them simultaniously which can be done from the command line.
 
Old 01-12-2008, 10:53 PM   #10
Mega Man X
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mamadu.bwana View Post
would this work:

Code:
Section "Device"
        Identifier      "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV100 QY [Radeon 7000/VE]"
        #Driver          "ati"
        Driver           "radeon" #added to fix GIMP bug
        BusID           "PCI:2:0:0"
EndSection
and is there a risk, any at all, for me to totally crash and screw-up X or can I just reverse any changes by uncommenting the line removing the new entry?

Lastly, what kind of changes in my video performance should I expect from this driver?

Thanks!
Sorry I wasn't around all day, but pixellany is by far better at Linux than I am, so you were in good hands

Anyway, yes, there is a possibility that this will screw up your x-server completely. If that happens, when you boot you PC, you have the choice to boot into safe mode right? Do so. You will be dropped to the command line. Login normally and edit your xorg.conf back to what it was, then reboot (shutdown -r now).

There should be a way to change the driver through GUI in Ubuntu as well. Unfortunately, I've only Kubuntu installed and that may be different for you. For me, I go into System Settings >> Monitor and Display >> Hardware On the section "Graphics card", you can see which driver is loaded and you have the chance to change to another driver by clicking on the "Configure" button.

I did this in Ubuntu with my ATI card, but I have totally forgotten how. A senior moment perhaps
 
Old 01-13-2008, 09:54 AM   #11
pixellany
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mamadu.bwana View Post
would this work:

Code:
Section "Device"
        Identifier      "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV100 QY [Radeon 7000/VE]"
        #Driver          "ati"
        Driver           "radeon" #added to fix GIMP bug
        BusID           "PCI:2:0:0"
EndSection
and is there a risk, any at all, for me to totally crash and screw-up X or can I just reverse any changes by uncommenting the line removing the new entry?

Lastly, what kind of changes in my video performance should I expect from this driver?

Thanks!
The change you show is correct and will not do anything bad that can't be fixed. In the worst-case scenario, you can always boot in "single-user" mode** and fix things in config file.

I am the kind of user for whom the simplest graphics functions are more than enough. If I ever saw a difference bewteen the "ati" and "radeon" drivers, I can't remember what it was. (It might have to do with dual-monitor support?)
 
Old 01-13-2008, 09:58 AM   #12
pixellany
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Quote:
Sorry I wasn't around all day, but pixellany is by far better at Linux than I am, so you were in good hands
I think the # of posts per year shows only that I blabber more---it does not provide a metric of knowledge. Perhaps Jeremy should rank the gurus by their error rate---I would be high on the list.
 
Old 01-13-2008, 11:43 AM   #13
Mega Man X
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pixellany View Post
(...) Perhaps Jeremy should rank the gurus by their error rate---I would be high on the list.
LOL, that would certainly put be back to "LQ Newbie" rank
 
Old 01-14-2008, 10:05 AM   #14
mamadu.bwana
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You ain't gonna believe this!

I changed my xorg.config exactly as proposed above.

X works just fine, BUT THE FRIGGIN GIMP BUG IS STILL THERE!!

If anyone can explain this to me or, better, help me fix it, I would be most grateful indeed!

Mamadu
 
Old 01-14-2008, 02:51 PM   #15
wildcat22
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Awfully bold of me - being in the presence of such Super Users...

But, I tend to agree with fragos, for now, until Ubuntu/Gimp work themselves out, why not go back a couple versions of Gimp? It shouldn't be that hard to install without packages. You should be able to install it right in your home directory, and it won't conflict at all with Ubuntu.

Just a thought.

ftp://ftp.gimp.org/pub/gimp/ - For old versions.
 
  


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