Thread: Need Linux Help

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  1. #1

    Need Linux Help

    So im trying to repurpose an old late 2013 iMac (Core i5, 24GB of RAM, has the GTX 775M) 27" with Linux, because Apple wont be issuing security updates for it anymore.

    Itll make a decent guest/browsing computer in the living room.

    I put Ubuntu on it, which ive used casually for some time in a VM on my actual Mac (well, at least, before i recently got an M1 Mini), but ive never had any issues that required me to deep-dive into Linux-dom.

    Even on the iMac, its working 95% fine - except the GPU drivers or something seem to be off.

    Even on the VM i was using, the animations and window movement in the OS were always smooth.

    On the iMac, everything runs fine and speedy (except Linux cant use the Fusion drive correctly, but whatever, dont care)... EXCEPT the animations, which are laggy and dragging windows around the OS looks choppy - rather like when you very first install WIndows and the GPU drivers aren't in yet so everything is choppy.

    Its perfectly usable but i cant imagine that this issue cant be resolved, because it worked fine in a VM and was smooth, so im assuming there's just some driver issue (or lack of a driver issue, or whatever).

    Anyone got any ideas?

  2. #2
    Linux and nVidia don't get along. I've never installed linux on apple machine before so take my advice with a grain of salt however you can try and install lets say PopOS (which has better support for nvidia out of the box) and see if that will resolve the issue you are facing.

  3. #3
    Ill give that a go.

  4. #4
    Stood in the Fire Sinaa's Avatar
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    Is that choppy window Brave Browser? It tends to be choppy by itself on Ubuntu for some unidentifiable reason..

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Sinaa View Post
    Is that choppy window Brave Browser? It tends to be choppy by itself on Ubuntu for some unidentifiable reason..
    Xorg and choppy go hand in hand. Did wayland fix it? Do drivers crashing don't bring whole system down like they do with Xorg? God damn, linux on desktop is a joke.
    My nickname is "LDEV", not "idev". (both font clarification and ez bait)

    yall im smh @ ur simplified english

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Sinaa View Post
    Is that choppy window Brave Browser? It tends to be choppy by itself on Ubuntu for some unidentifiable reason..
    Nope, even the OS windows. Like i said, it reminds me of a Windows install that doesnt have GPU drivers installed. It works, but it looks super framey.

    Im going to try i stalling Pop and see if that fixes it.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Pop! Is better, and now it looks more like screen tearing rather than absurdly low framerate.

  7. #7
    Under software and updates, additional drivers tab does it give you the option of using a proprietary driver or just X.org?
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  8. #8
    Herald of the Titans Serpha's Avatar
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    If he's using Pop! than he most likely chose nvidia iso and that would install nvidia drivers automatically I believe, been a while since I had nvidia card. For tearing in NVIDIA X Server find X Server Display Configuration > Advanced, than at the bottom find Force Full Composition Pipeline option and make sure it's checked. That used to fix the problem.
    Quote Originally Posted by Venant View Post
    I think many people will agree that genocide can be justified.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Serpha View Post
    If he's using Pop! than he most likely chose nvidia iso and that would install nvidia drivers automatically I believe, been a while since I had nvidia card. For tearing in NVIDIA X Server find X Server Display Configuration > Advanced, than at the bottom find Force Full Composition Pipeline option and make sure it's checked. That used to fix the problem.
    It depends on the signature of the graphics card, it could still default to X.org so worth double checking.
    Quote Originally Posted by dribbles View Post
    Wealth inequality is here to stay, sometimes it's just how lifes cookie crumbles and all of society is better off for it.
    Quote Originally Posted by dribbles View Post
    But from what I can see it is quite probable Æthelstan was the first Brexiteer, likely the Farage of his age seeing off the European continentals in the very first successful Brexit.

  10. #10
    Herald of the Titans Serpha's Avatar
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    Possibly, the beauty of having AMD card is that drivers are baked into kernel. Easiest way to check if nvidia drivers are installed is to check for the X Server app, if it's not there than most likely they are not installed. I believe you can find the drivers in Pop shop.
    Quote Originally Posted by Venant View Post
    I think many people will agree that genocide can be justified.

  11. #11
    On PC yes I agree, but on Apple configured hardware it might not be as straight forward.
    Quote Originally Posted by dribbles View Post
    Wealth inequality is here to stay, sometimes it's just how lifes cookie crumbles and all of society is better off for it.
    Quote Originally Posted by dribbles View Post
    But from what I can see it is quite probable Æthelstan was the first Brexiteer, likely the Farage of his age seeing off the European continentals in the very first successful Brexit.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Serpha View Post
    If he's using Pop! than he most likely chose nvidia iso and that would install nvidia drivers automatically I believe, been a while since I had nvidia card. For tearing in NVIDIA X Server find X Server Display Configuration > Advanced, than at the bottom find Force Full Composition Pipeline option and make sure it's checked. That used to fix the problem.
    Tried to do this, but those options dont appear to exist:

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/1Q9m8mAZYcYGPSXc6

  13. #13
    Herald of the Titans Serpha's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kagthul View Post
    Tried to do this, but those options dont appear to exist:

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/1Q9m8mAZYcYGPSXc6
    What do you see on the second row? This looks odd.
    Quote Originally Posted by Venant View Post
    I think many people will agree that genocide can be justified.

  14. #14
    Refer to my earlier posts.
    Quote Originally Posted by dribbles View Post
    Wealth inequality is here to stay, sometimes it's just how lifes cookie crumbles and all of society is better off for it.
    Quote Originally Posted by dribbles View Post
    But from what I can see it is quite probable Æthelstan was the first Brexiteer, likely the Farage of his age seeing off the European continentals in the very first successful Brexit.

  15. #15
    Herald of the Titans Serpha's Avatar
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    Just to make sure run this command
    sudo apt-get install system76-driver-nvidia

    It will reinstall the drivers
    Quote Originally Posted by Venant View Post
    I think many people will agree that genocide can be justified.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Serpha View Post
    Just to make sure run this command
    sudo apt-get install system76-driver-nvidia

    It will reinstall the drivers
    You are missing the point Apple have always reconfigured hardware for their machines, so reinstalling it will do nothing if the driver doesn't recognise the GPU's ID. Looking under software and updates to see it give you the option of using a proprietary driver or just X.org is a simple way off finding out if that is the case or not.
    Quote Originally Posted by dribbles View Post
    Wealth inequality is here to stay, sometimes it's just how lifes cookie crumbles and all of society is better off for it.
    Quote Originally Posted by dribbles View Post
    But from what I can see it is quite probable Æthelstan was the first Brexiteer, likely the Farage of his age seeing off the European continentals in the very first successful Brexit.

  17. #17
    Herald of the Titans Serpha's Avatar
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    I don't know anything about Apple's hardware, never used it and never installed Linux on it but X server should look exactly the same it looks on every other Linux distro, that is universal and has nothing to do with hardware. Re-installing drivers won't hurt and might help.
    I understand what you are suggesting but even if it's installed and in use it might be corrupted or something, hence re-installing. I'm not disagreeing with you but going beyond that.
    Quote Originally Posted by Venant View Post
    I think many people will agree that genocide can be justified.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Serpha View Post
    I don't know anything about Apple's hardware, never used it and never installed Linux on it but X server should look exactly the same it looks on every other Linux distro, that is universal and has nothing to do with hardware. Re-installing drivers won't hurt and might help.
    I understand what you are suggesting but even if it's installed and in use it might be corrupted or something, hence re-installing. I'm not disagreeing with you but going beyond that.
    On a PC you are correct, I messed around with Hackintosh's quite a bit in the past and now use Linux daily, Apple tend to make it difficult to do anything outside their ecosystem if they can, so they can charge 3x as much for repairs and upgrades.

    The OP having problems with graphic settings is no surprise to me, as they might of edited the firmware (maybe to reduce the thermal and power limits?) and this would make it unrecognisable to a regular PC driver.
    Quote Originally Posted by dribbles View Post
    Wealth inequality is here to stay, sometimes it's just how lifes cookie crumbles and all of society is better off for it.
    Quote Originally Posted by dribbles View Post
    But from what I can see it is quite probable Æthelstan was the first Brexiteer, likely the Farage of his age seeing off the European continentals in the very first successful Brexit.

  19. #19
    Herald of the Titans Serpha's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Iliena View Post
    On a PC you are correct, I messed around with Hackintosh's quite a bit in the past and now use Linux daily, Apple tend to make it difficult to do anything outside their ecosystem if they can, so they can charge 3x as much for repairs and upgrades.

    The OP having problems with graphic settings is no surprise to me, as they might of edited the firmware (maybe to reduce the thermal and power limits?) and this would make it unrecognisable to a regular PC driver.
    Funny you say that, I was messing with hackintosh a bit, trying to install it on my PC but I had the same problems as OP, everything was choppy so I gave up. I'm actually waiting on OP's response because this topic got me curious.
    Quote Originally Posted by Venant View Post
    I think many people will agree that genocide can be justified.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Iliena View Post
    and this would make it unrecognisable to a regular PC driver.
    Nope. If i put Windows on it, nVidia's driver recognizes it immediately. (This machine has had Windows on it in the past, when my wife dual-booted instead of letting me build her a separate gaming PC).

    The problem with the screen tearing is not unique to Apple hardware, as i have found references to it on other forums, and even the solution that Serpha said to use (force full compisiting)

    If i could access that option it would almost assuredly work. However, since the options dont appear in the X Server app (a separate problem, that i have also found reference to on other forums, but none of them have a solution that ive been able to find, but its happened to people with regular old PC hardware too, not just Apple hardware).

    This is what the second option looks like:

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/hrxwSVSUmda9uowa7

    Ive seen screenshots of what it is supposed to look like, with more choices (like the Advanced options) on the left hand menu. And, like i said, people have had this issue (missiong options in X server app) as well. I just haven't been able to track down a thread with a fix or even a "why it happens".

    Serpha, i did reinstall the driver with the command line. It did update a few things, but didnt bring the options back, as you can see.

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