Oooooohhhh. Yeah it's an issue with your GPU and compositing. Sometimes more than 1 screen does this but those bugs are less common these days.
For some reason the app window isn't refreshing properly and I'm pretty sure it's an interaction between your GPU and modern display software. The X1300 is an old chip that was dropped ages ago by AMD's linux driver. I had a laptop with an x1250 and ran into similar stupidness. So for the last several years, your X1300 GPU has been running the reverse engineered "radeon" driver module. AMD never really dumped support into this module directly, so it has always been incomplete. That chip is literally part of a batch I tested with post-2012 ubuntu desktops. It's not a happy combination. So Google Earth shows up, tries to render a nice 3D scene and your GPU is instructed by your Desktop Compositor to blend Google's Earth with the rest of your desktop. Transparent windows... smooth round edges... all the stuff people expect in a "modern" desktop. Now at this point the Earth smashes into your desktop leaving pieces of itself scattered in random places because your entire UI is assuming you have a recent, OpenGL compliant card. They assume too much. At Free Geek, we worked around the issue by not going with vanilla Ubuntu 12.04. After 10.04 we moved to Xubuntu, which solves this problem by using CPU rendering for the desktop. GPU-heavy apps are given a dedicated window to draw in, isolated from the rest of the desktop. By Simplfying the role of the GPU, there are less problems when using radeon and nouveau. Which was funny because Ubuntu, Xubuntu, and Kubuntu all use the same EXACT drivers. Towards the end of my interships at FreeGeek they moved to Mint and actually shipped 2 versions of Linux Mint because of the same problem. - Cinammon: a modern desktop for recent hardware - MATE: Legacy gnome2-ish desktop with support for outdated, but functional hardware. Your system would receive the latter. Again, same driver stack, but less problems on the old-school. I don't know if they still do it that way, but for a while it was routine to swap out the desktop the moment we saw signs of problems. I did a lot of testing to demonstrate these GPU driver issues on Ubuntu which allowed them to repurpose a bunch of HP and Dell dual-core systems. A box of donuts says Google Earth would work just fine if you switch to XFCE. On Tue, Dec 11, 2018 at 7:06 PM Michael Barnes <barnmich...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Tue, Dec 11, 2018 at 8:22 AM Ben Koenig <techkoe...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > The issue you are encountering is a conflict occurring between several > > different parts. With the right combination of hardware and software you > > get the problem represented in your screenshot. > > 10 years ago this was not a thing. The Ubuntu desktop wasn't even capable > > of doing that. > > > > Tomas already did the first thing for us, he installed on a different > > system, same ubuntu, same package and it worked. So I'm guessing that you > > have the correct version of Google Earth AND it is compatible with > Ubuntu. > > So what we need to know is which graphics card you have, and which driver > > it is using. I can't remember how to look this up in Ubuntu graphically > so > > just copy/paste the following command: > > > > lspci | grep VGA > > > > The output of that command will tell me what GPU you have. I'd be willing > > to bet that your 10 year old optiplex is not compatible with newer render > > techniques in Google Earth, but we can look that up :) > > Maybe a current ubuntu user could provide the point&click method since > that > > would be preferrable for getting the info we need. > > > > > > As for my claim about this being a common Ubuntu thing. Dude, I have > > > > > installed/configured/built/setup/maintained/supported/fixed/tested/designed/customized > > and otherwise touched (directly or indirectly) over 5000 Ubuntu systems > > based on 8.04, 10.04, 12.04, and 14.04 in a 5 year time-span. When I say > > this is a common problem, I'm literally just looking at my entire sample > > size. So that screenshot you showed us is not at all surprising to me. It > > can technically occur on any distro, just more common for recent Ubuntu > > versions (>12.04). > > > > > > On Sun, Dec 9, 2018 at 8:33 PM Michael Barnes <barnmich...@gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > > > On Sun, Dec 9, 2018 at 7:32 AM Ben Koenig <techkoe...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > > > > > The problem in that screenshot may not be related to Google earth. > > > > > > > > It looks like an issue with the GUI rendering system. Unity uses > > > > compositing (with GPU acceleration) to render all windows, but so > does > > > > Google Earth. So the points of failure could be any of the following: > > > > 1) google earth was built improperly, or for a different version of > > > Ubuntu > > > > 2) your graphics driver is not installed correctly (this is common > for > > > > nvidia cards) > > > > 3) ubuntu's desktop compositor is doing something stupid > > > > > > > > Rule out #1 by checking the file used to install Google Earth. Make > > sure > > > > the ubuntu version listed by the .deb is the version you are running > > > > Ruling out #2 is a bit more difficult. Maybe post your GPU > brand/model > > > and > > > > the driver version you are using here? > > > > > > > > Rule out #3 by running the same Google Earth package, on the same > > system, > > > > but a different DE. If it works on XFCE and not Unity then you know > > where > > > > the problem is. > > > > What you are seeing isn't actually that uncommon for an ubuntu-based > > > > system. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > You said "What you are seeing isn't actually that uncommon for an > > > ubuntu-based system." I will say that I have been running Ubuntu on my > > > desktop computers for well over 10 years and have never experienced > such > > > behavior. > > > > > > Oh my, getting way out of my memory and skill level here. I used this > to > > > install: > > > $ sudo apt-get install google-earth-pro-stable > > > > > > I have no idea what file or deb version that would be. How would I find > > > that out. > > > > > > My computer is a 10+ year old Dell Optiplex 745. How would I tell what > > GPU > > > brand/model and > > > the driver version I am using? > > > > > > "Rule out #3 by running the same Google Earth package, on the same > > system, > > > but a different DE. If it works on XFCE and not Unity then you know > where > > > the problem is." Please forgive my ignorance, but this is pretty much > > Greek > > > to me. > > > > > > While I was at one time, IMHO, fairly good with Linux, sadly, it works > > well > > > and I have not messed with anything but use it for quite a while and my > > > memory is not at all what it used to be. I'm sure I have dealt with > much > > of > > > this in the past, but CRS syndrome has its firm grip on me these days. > > > > > > I'm pretty good at running commands and getting answers. I just don't > > > remember the commands to run. > > > > > > Thank you all for your patience with me. > > > > > > Michael > > > > Ben, > I most certainly defer to your experience. Once again, I thank you for > your patience with me. Your time to explain this to me is exemplary and > refreshing. Too many times I ask a question and get dozens of worthless > "answers" of RTFM, or folks telling me what my question 'should' be, or > simply telling me I'm doing it wrong. > > Anyhow, per your request. > $ lspci | grep VGA > 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] > RV516 [Radeon X1300/X1550 Series] > > You know, I've been thinking it is probably time to get new hardware. I > used to build all my own computers, as I never could afford anything > pre-built, and they all came with Windows which jacked up the price. When I > started my previous job in 2006, they allowed me to order whatever I > wanted. At that time, we could buy Dell computers under the corporate > contract without an operating system installed. I got this machine and have > used it ever since. The only thing I have done to it was a couple times > installed a new hard drive and new version of Ubuntu from scratch and > copied my old files over. I haven't even done that since 2014 or so. > > While Google Earth isn't really that big of deal for me, this issue may be > the incentive I need to upgrade hardware. I hope the above information > confirms your suspicions. > > Thanks again for your help. > Michael > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > PLUG@pdxlinux.org > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list PLUG@pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
