Any fellow Linux users on here?

[Judge]

That was pretty much my thoughts when deciding to stick with 1080p. It might be nice but not enough to quantify the resources required. And as Judge just mentioned, I'd have to rescale all my fonts and icons etc to suit my older eyes.

When I bought this monitor I wasn't specifically looking for a 4K monitor, but when I talked to the bloke in the shop about building a gaming computer he said "We've got these monitors on special at the moment..." so that's what I ended up with.

A 27 inch screen at 1080p is kinder to old eyes.

I'm absurdly picky about any potential monitor these days. My existing one works ok...but is getting old. Must have:

* 27 inches or more in screen size
* Must be IPS monitor (for optimal graphics editing)
* Must have a response time of no more than 4 MS (GTG)
* Must default to 1080p

 

[Outdated]

* Must have a response time of no more than 4 MS (GTG)

For games you want 1 Ms.

 

[Judge]

For games you want 1 Ms.

Yep (using a GTG metric). Problem is though, generally that kind of response time is associated with VA rather than IPS formats. And in most cases you have to pay a lot more for that kind of performance.

But lately I've backed off from the notion of gaming, apart from another drive using Microsoft Windows. At least I'm in no hurry to see how messed up Windows 11 continues to be. So those rapid response times don't matter as much now as they once did.

Funny though to consider the LCD monitor I use for my legacy Windows XP system that has an appalling 16ms response time. Very poor for gaming, and yet that's all I ever did with that computer when I went to Windows 7 years ago.

 

[Outdated]

Yep (using a GTG metric). Problem is though, generally that kind of response time is associated with VA rather than IPS formats. And in most cases you have to pay a lot more for that kind of performance.

I was unsure of the terminology and did a quick search to check - it's the IPS format that has the quicker response times.

Gaming Monitor Panel Face-Off: IPS Versus VA

And I just did a quick search because I only paid Au$200 for my monitor, that's about the average price for a 1080p 27" monitor with 1ms response time here. Roughly US$130.

 

[Judge]

I was unsure of the terminology and did a quick search to check - it's the IPS format that has the quicker response times.

Gaming Monitor Panel Face-Off: IPS Versus VA

Point taken...though what skews the issue is often what metric is used in advertising VA monitors. Though if they stick to GTG they're apt to expose a higher response time. That much is true.

(It's an issue of potentially false-advertising to me if and when they use another metric to claim their response times.) Reminds me of almost being suckered into buying a VA monitor advertised in such a manner.

But in my case I'm focused primarily on IPS no matter what, as my primary use of a computer has always involved image creation. I wouldn't consider any VA monitor...that's a deal-breaker for me.

"Pixel response time refers to how fast a monitor can shift from one color to another (typically black to white or gray to gray) and is measured in milliseconds. But what does a low response time mean for gamers in the real world? First, a lower response time will garner less motion blur and allow for a clearer picture with fast-moving scenes in games. Of the two, IPS panels tend to have the lower response times, typically at 1 to 3 ms for the fastest panels (some even going as low as 0.5 ms).

On the other hand, many gaming monitors with VA panels are advertised with a 4ms or lower (GTG) value for gaming monitors. We've seen some VA monitors spec'd as low as 1ms GTG with overdrive. However, those lower response times can come at the expense of inverse ghosting, leaving bright artifacts behind fast-moving objects on a screen."

Gaming Monitor Panel Face-Off: IPS Versus VA

 

[Outdated]

(It's an issue of potentially false-advertising to me if and when they use another metric to claim their response times.) Reminds me of almost being suckered into buying a VA monitor advertised in such a manner.

That's an issue Aussies take seriously and our government watchdog for that sort of thing, the ACCC, is the only government watchdog here that seems to have any real teeth.

A lot of American based fast food companies have just been informed of their legal obligations if they want to keep operating in Australia. Asking for tips is illegal. So is adding a surcharge of any kind to the bottom of the bill. Aussies pay the advertised price, if you forgot to include tax in that price the you have to pay that tax yourself, not try to extract it from customers afterwards. The same goes for credit card surcharges, they must be included in the advertised price, not tacked on afterwards.

[Edit] Just thought I should clarify - tipping isn't illegal. Asking for a tip is. It's also known as Begging or Soliciting.

 

[Princess Viola]

Alright well that took a bit longer to deal with than I needed to.

For some reason, even though the Driver Manager said I was running the recommended proprietary drivers for my GPU, a certain game I play (Old School RuneScape) was running like total butt when using the 117 HD plugin, which is a plugin I basically have to use when playing this game because it turns the game from this:

to this:

For the record - with the plugin disabled, this game does not use the GPU at all, it is entirely CPU-based (because it's a revived version of what was a browser-based Java game originally launched in 2004) but this plugin does utilise the GPU.

Anyways back on Mint 21.3, I had absolutely no issues using 117 HD, would enable it and I basically wouldn't get any drops below 60 fps with the graphics settings I chose for this plugin (which was 'everything on max except for anti-aliasing, because I genuinely cannot see a difference between 8x and 16x MSAA so why go for 16x if it comes at a noticeable performance hit + shadow quality at 8K and not 16K because, admittedly unlike with AA, I can tell the difference between the the best and second best shadow quality options, it's not enough for me to care since the difference is really only noticeable if you zoom in and it comes at a cost of losing like 10 fps).

BUT now when I was running it, I wouldn't be getting more than like 30 fps and even then 30fps would only happen when I was zoomed in all the way and in like the upstairs of a building where there was less stuff to be rendered. Normally I was getting like 20 fps typically.

And I was thinking 'OK, maybe it's not running using my GPU for some reason - be a bit weird since the profile is set to NVIDIA On-Demand but I had this issue before where it wouldn't run on my GPU, I'll set my the profile to always use the GPU, that's what I did on Windows anyway and that way I won't have to deal with some programs not using the GPU when I want them to use it' and...that still didn't fix it, it was still running like butt and the Driver Manager still said I was using the recommended proprietary driver.

Then I go into System Reports and check my system info and for my dedicated GPU it says driver...N/A. So what the heck.

Yeah anyways as it turns out, I just had to go into the BIOS to disable secure boot because whatever I did when I installed 21.3 that made NVIDIA drivers work fine without disabling secure boot didn't happen when I installed Mint 22 so even though it would say that I was using the proprietary drivers, it wasn't and they weren't even installing.

And I know for a fact that they weren't installing because as soon as I disabled secure boot and logged back into my PC, guess what I got in the update manager?

Yeah, the recommended NVIDIA drivers.

 

[Judge]

I do recall attempting to run my system with and without Secure Boot to see if it impacted the freezing problem I had, in both Mint 21.3 and 22.0, but to no avail.

I normally keep Secure Boot disabled so I can boot up Pop!OS22.04 quicker when I switch drives.

 

[Levitat0r]

Hi,
Are you using Linux? If so, which distrubution and why? I am using Ubuntu Budgie 20 beta because it is very reliable and I am used to the format. That and my canon printer works with it.

Yep. I was a computer programmer for a long time, so it made sense to invest myself in the extra study to learn Linux, and it is vastly more efficient, versatile, and customizable than Windows. And free. If you want to play games, you will still probably need a Windows partition.

 

[Levitat0r]

Alright well that took a bit longer to deal with than I needed to.

For some reason, even though the Driver Manager said I was running the recommended proprietary drivers for my GPU, a certain game I play (Old School RuneScape) was running like total butt when using the 117 HD plugin, which is a plugin I basically have to use when playing this game because it turns the game from this:

to this:

...

This looks neat and I want to try it. Also, I tell all of my fellow nerds to try this: Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead

It's single-player, but it's an open-world procedurally generated Rogue-like where you scavenge a fully realized apocalypse for tools, food, fuel, vehicles, armor, equipment, books, etc, etc, etc....

 

[Judge]

Ugh. Mint 22.0 freezing/locking up on me is back. Seems one of the last updates I did was about Cinnamon. But in most cases it happens whenever Firefox is running. Had to reboot, and so I lost whatever crash data showed up in the System Reports. Damn.

Back to square one....and perhaps switching over to Pop!OS22.04 just to see if it happens with extended use. &$@^!(&^%$#@

Interestingly enough when I tried to switch drivers, the driver manager wouldn't function. Found an error to refer to in the System Reports that dictated I reinstall the driver manager, which I did. Now making me wonder if this has anything to do with Secure Boot. I turned it back on in my BIOS still using Nvidia's 550 driver, so we'll see whether or not it continues to randomly crash.

New Development:

It looks like Nvidia drivers are very much tied to the issue of Secure Boot. While my Pop!OS22.04 OS on another removable drive works fine using the same platform, it cannot be installed with Secure Boot engaged through the BIOS. Not to mention that Pop!OS uses the most advanced Nvidia 560 driver that Linux Mint has yet to offer.

The point being each and every time I installed Linux Mint 21.3 and later 22.0 to my newly built computer, I did so with Secure Boot engaged. To date I have never installed it with Secure Boot completely off, which should eliminate any need for a MOK password to be input when installing Mint 22.0 for the first time. The one profound thing that separates how Pop!OS was installed versus Linux Mint versions.

Guessing that whatever this glitch entails, that it will take more than just turning off Secure Boot from my BIOS. That I have to do so with the initial installation of the OS itself. I sure hope I'm onto whatever is causing this, as I'm running out of ideas based on logical deduction.

[SOLVED] Mint Cinnamon 21 freezes randomly/Nvidia issues - Linux Mint Forums

Another thing that spooks me is the possibility of Firefox being involved. In virtually all these freezes, Firefox is on when it happens.

Firefox Running Slow Or Freezing? Here's What To Do - SlashGear

 

[Judge]

This might be interesting. An avenue of approach I haven't tried yet relative to random freezes with Linux Mint in particular. Apparently an issue that can apply to certain Intel CPUs.

A simple addition to the GRUB file. "intel_idle.max_cstate=1"

Then saved in the terminal by simply typing: sudo update-grub + enter

(Whenever altering your GRUB file, it's best to save the previous one, renaming it as "old_grub" and keeping it in the same "default" folder.)

I've added it accordingly, so let's see whether or not I continue to get a random freeze that could happen over anywhere to minutes to several hours of use. I also tried to make sure with the power management that nothing comes on to put the computer in any standby mode. So far I haven't seen any ominous entries logged in the System Reports function. Everything reported as running well....for now. Still seems odd that I have not encountered any such issues while running Pop!OS22.04 on the exact same hardware platform with what I believe is the same Linux kernel.

Linux Mint 22.1 is supposed to be out in December...maybe that might help as well.

 

[Judge]

"intel_idle.max_cstate=1" It might stop the freezing of the OS, but it also raises temperatures even at idle by at least ten degrees. No thanks. Another thing I did do was to disengage the screensaver function. Freezes tend to reflection power issues....even though I've tried to eliminate anything that could alter how the OS uses power. A malfunctioning or corrupted Cinnamon screensaver might be the culprit.

I'm starting to run out of ideas and options. Ugh.

 

[Outdated]

I'm starting to run out of ideas and options. Ugh.

Ubuntu with Cinnamon desktop?

 

[Judge]

Ubuntu with Cinnamon desktop?

Frankly I'm also wondering if Cinnamon might be the culprit. Lots of Cinnamon updates lately. While Pop!OS22.04 runs fine on this platform, it doesn't use Cinnamon at all.

 

[Outdated]

Frankly I'm also wondering if Cinnamon might be the culprit. Lots of Cinnamon updates lately. While Pop!OS22.04 runs fine on this platform, it doesn't use Cinnamon at all.

I don't have the lockups you're talking about though, and I'm using Cinnamon. Also, I've only had one Cinnamon update in the last 6 months.

The constant updates that really annoy me are stupid Google Chrome. It does updates every Monday wether they're needed or not in order to look like it's more up to date and secure. Or it tries to do updates every Monday, I don't let it. I have to use Chrome for Microsoft Teams meetings but they're only once a month so that's how often I let Chrome update. I can't wait for this current project to finish, as soon as it has Chrome will be gone from my system.

 

[Judge]

I don't have the lockups you're talking about though, and I'm using Cinnamon. Also, I've only had one Cinnamon update in the last 6 months.

Probably the next thing to do if I can't figure it out will be to reinstall Mint 22.0, but with Secure Boot turned off.

I'm just trying to logically deduce the difference between one distribution and the other on the same hardware platform. Not ready to jump ship just yet...though I'd really wish I could figure out what is causing this. So far over several hours of use, plus a Cinnamon update and a driver manager reinstallation it hasn't frozen yet. But it's maddening as when it does, it can be minutes or even days before it happens again.

 

[Outdated]

Probably the next thing to do if I can't figure it out will be to reinstall Mint 22.0, but with Secure Boot turned off.

I still remember when Secure Boot first came out, it mucked everyone up for a while. Especially Ubuntu systems, they included everything necessary for secure boot in updates, and then all of a sudden people with old laptops that didn't have Secure Boot couldn't boot. I had to sort a few of those out.

I really hate those intermittent problems, never easy to diagnose. You might get a few extra clues if you start using a terminal to open programs, then there's a chance that there'll be a message in the terminal when it freezes.

The only freeze like that I've had in years was just the other day, but that was my fault. Eating and playing games at the same time, nearly dropped my lunch and mashed the keyboard with my fist. But it was only the game that locked up, not the whole system.

 

[Judge]

I really hate those intermittent problems, never easy to diagnose. You might get a few extra clues if you start using a terminal to open programs, then there's a chance that there'll be a message in the terminal when it freezes.

This one has been by far the toughest one to diagnose, largely because once it freezes, I am forced to reboot the system which clears the error messages logged in "System Reports".

And I've tracked down so many other possible reasons for a lock-up to no avail. And this later suggestion I saw on two separate YouTube presentations turned out to be bad news given I found further comments citing it raises operating temperatures...and that much turned out to be true and thus utterly unacceptable on my end.

I also ran into something new and unwanted recently as I got a screen that popped up citing that Cinnamon had crashed and offered me "fallback mode" which I had never even heard of before. I wisely chose "fallback mode" and it cleared the error screen and allowed my session to continue, unlike the whole system freezing up. But then it made me think of how many recent Cinnamon updates I've had. And sure enough, another update came just yesterday. Maybe it fixed whatever was ailing it. I don't know, but that has me spooked as well when it comes to Cinnamon now.

So far in the last 24+ hours I have experienced no freeze of the system, but I know I have gone much longer before it happens again. I even considered something very basic. To check the integrity of my SSD and its partitions. I unmounted them and ran them through the "disks" program, and they all are "undamaged".

Truth is, reinstalling the OS without Secure Boot may amount to just a "Hail Mary" because I was having a similar problem already with Mint 21.3. And initially thought I fixed it by upgrading to version 22.0. But the problem persisted and I decided to do a fresh install from a validated ISO flash drive, leaving me where I am today. And between those two versions I have migrated back and forth between Nvidia drivers 470,535 and 550. Even briefly using the Xorg-Nouveau open source driver after discovering my driver manager was corrupted and that I had to fix it before I could again cycle through video drivers.

So for now I'm just using the system until it fails...and whether or not I can catch a partial explanation of why through the System Reports.

And guess what? I see the update manager wants me to again install yet another Cinnamenu update. Wondering if that has anything to do with Cinnamon crashing? Or are they just playing a game of catching up with the latest Cinnamon update? Ugh. At least I can always try Mint Mate or Xfce versions, void of Cinnamon altogether. An option...

One other thing I've been doing since the last freeze is to reboot with any OS updates whether they specify the need to reboot or not. Maybe certain updates like Cinnamon actually require rebooting before using them. That not doing so might be corrupting them? Yeah, another "Hail Mary" for me.

 

[Judge]

My system just froze. But citing the culprit exclusively as Firefox. But I had to reboot and lost whatever explanation might have been in the System Reports.

Not the first time this has happened. But only in Mint- never Pop!OS22.04. In fact in most but not all cases, Firefox was running at the time. Ironically the rollout of Firefox 131 is just around the corner...allegedly involving a number of improvements.

I have subsequently turned off hardware acceleration as a possible fix to Firefox hanging/freezing/locking up. Another "Hail Mary"?