Display worst on Linux than on Windows on dual boot laptop

On my laptop with Windows 7 i installed also Linux Mint Cinnamon but the display on Linux Mint is so bad i can't watch at the monitor, it's hurting my eyes. I find this very strange because both operating system are using the same hardware. I even set the same display settings on linux as they are on Windows: display is 100% on both, gamma is 1.0 on both, monitor refresh rate is 60Hz on both, there are some hue and saturation settings on Windows which i can't find in Linux Mint and i don't know if there are such settings for linux available at all. On Windows i am using f.lux and on linux i installed redshift. But even with all this the display on Linux Mint is hurting my eyes and the display on Windows 7 is not. I also installed Xubuntu, to test other operating system, but it's the same thing.
I am out of ideas what can i do more.
My laptop is Lenovo Thinkpad T420, monitor is LCD with 1366х768 resolution, video card is Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000.

Generally Intel is well supported but to be sure I'd double check what output is being used. Not knowing what a T420 is I can't say exactly.
https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-...ard-installed/ to report to us.


Linux is trying to use KMS which is supposed to start off with the correct driver from loader to OS. It may be bypassing it.


I'd also try a few other live distro's if possible.

It is possible that no linux will be fully as vibrant as windows is.

What do you mean by "no linux will be fully as vibrant as windows"? Linux is inferior to Windows somehow?

I tested couple of live linux distros, and some of them i installed, but for all of them i experienced eye strain except for Elementary OS, which i have currently installed. I don't know what Elementary OS is doing right, but i spent couple of hours using it without feeling any eye strain, and i even didn't have to install redshift. While with other linux distros i tried, i can barely spent 30 minutes, before starting feeling eye strain. I believe this is not hardware issue, but linux issue.

I did some extensive search on internet and it turns out many linux user are having this problem. And all of the suggested solution, like changing brightness, gamma, resolution, font anti aliasing, monitor refresh rate are not helping. Some of the culprit could be something called pwm - or pulse width modulation, as per this, and this posts. It seems that if the flicker frequency that control monitor backlight brightness is lower that may lead to eye strain. Currently, i am looking for a way to find what pwm frequency each linux distro is using, because if Elementary OS is using the same pwm frequency as other distros then the issue is not pwm. If someone can contribute with information on the subject will be very helpful, because i am not advanced linux user at all.

This is some information for my video card from lspci, lshw and glxinfo and i also uploaded file generated by hardinfo with the full specifications of my laptop:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T420
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 32
	Memory at f0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
	Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	I/O ports at 5000 [size=64]
	[virtual] Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
	Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
	Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [a4] PCI Advanced Features
	Kernel driver in use: i915
	Kernel modules: i915

  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 09
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:32 memory:f0000000-f03fffff memory:e0000000-efffffff ioport:5000(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff

name of display: :0
display: :0  screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
Extended renderer info (GLX_MESA_query_renderer):
    Vendor: Intel Open Source Technology Center (0x8086)
    Device: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Sandybridge Mobile  (0x126)
    Version: 19.2.8
    Accelerated: yes
    Video memory: 1536MB
    Unified memory: yes
    Preferred profile: core (0x1)
    Max core profile version: 3.3
    Max compat profile version: 3.0
    Max GLES1 profile version: 1.1
    Max GLES[23] profile version: 3.0
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Sandybridge Mobile 
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 19.2.8
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile

OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 19.2.8
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
OpenGL context flags: (none)

OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.0 Mesa 19.2.8
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.00

hardinfo_export.html

" "no linux will be fully as vibrant as windows"? Linux is inferior to Windows somehow?"

This applies to all linux drivers. In your case you have at least two issues. One is driver, two is window manager.
In some cases an OEM does provide what it has for drivers. It may not fully integrate with the window manager in linux.
In other cases the driver was created by alternate means and has no or little direct information from the OEM.
Very few computer makers built with linux in mind. Almost every system has been designed to run some OS that isn't linux.


Which version of linux are you using for the output?
The driver seems to be correct and mostly supported.

I find that fonts and display clarity is far superior in Linux, and even FreeBSD, than Windows. That is with an Intel GPU and an AMD GPU. Windows to me has fuzzy fonts and the display is generally OK, but not as crisp.

Originally Posted by jefro Which version of linux are you using for the output?

Operating system is elementary OS 5.1.4 Hera. Kernel version is Linux 5.3.0-53-generic (x86_64).

Any idea why on elementary OS i don't experience eye strain, but on other distros like Linux Mint Cinnamon, Xubuntu, Fedora i do?

I can’t help but wonder if the folks having issues are running with the vesa driver? The times I’ve seen a desktop running the vesa driver, they’ve looked terrible. Just a guess.

^ that's my guess too. But if OP isn't able to define "screen resolution" I am not the person to help.

Originally Posted by ondoho ^ that's my guess too. But if OP isn't able to define "screen resolution" I am not the person to help.

What do you mean? Screen resolution is 1366x768.

Originally Posted by sevendogsbsd I can’t help but wonder if the folks having issues are running with the vesa driver? The times I’ve seen a desktop running the vesa driver, they’ve looked terrible. Just a guess.

How to find if i am using this vesa driver?

Originally Posted by peter7089 What do you mean? Screen resolution is 1366x768.

Both on Windows and on Linux?

Originally Posted by ondoho Both on Windows and on Linux?

Yes, resolution is the same on Windows and Linux.

Originally Posted by peter7089 On my laptop with Windows 7 i installed also Linux Mint Cinnamon but the display on Linux Mint is so bad i can't watch at the monitor, it's hurting my eyes. I find this very strange because both operating system are using the same hardware. I even set the same display settings on linux as they are on Windows: display is 100% on both, gamma is 1.0 on both, monitor refresh rate is 60Hz on both, there are some hue and saturation settings on Windows which i can't find in Linux Mint and i don't know if there are such settings for linux available at all. On Windows i am using f.lux and on linux i installed redshift. But even with all this the display on Linux Mint is hurting my eyes and the display on Windows 7 is not. I also installed Xubuntu, to test other operating system, but it's the same thing. I am out of ideas what can i do more. My laptop is Lenovo Thinkpad T420, monitor is LCD with 1366Ñ…768 resolution, video card is Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000.

Should "Just Work" with Linux.
Maybe your monitor is too dark or too bright.
There's no hue & saturation settings for the whole desktop in Linux, though I'm sure some of that can be emulated with xrandr.
Or maybe you're just allergic to Linux.

FWIW, I also have a thinkpad (different model though) and find it plenty vibrant. Has a nice IPS screen.

How can OP tell if the vesa driver is loaded instead of the Intel driver? I don't know anything about the vesa driver, is it a kernel module? Could the frequency the monitor is displaying under Linux be off from what the manufacturer intended?

Originally Posted by ondoho Should "Just Work" with Linux. Maybe your monitor is too dark or too bright. There's no hue & saturation settings for the whole desktop in Linux, though I'm sure some of that can be emulated with xrandr. Or maybe you're just allergic to Linux. FWIW, I also have a thinkpad (different model though) and find it plenty vibrant. Has a nice IPS screen.

I don't know what the reason is, but i know on this laptop i can't use linux.
Is there any command line tools to manage intel video driver? I downloaded intel-gpu-tools but they don't seem to offer much control.