Jaervosz' burrow

Coming Underground

2009-04-09 21:22, by jaervosz, Categories: Gentoo, Universe/English

Normally I only use open source software, but for some reason I'd like to try out Google Earth. However it refuses to start on my amd64 workstation with the generic error "Could not access graphics card" and when I click OK it crashes.

It's the same issue wether I use Google Earth 5.0.11337.1968_beta or the latest stable 4.2.205.5730.

I updated to latest masked emul-linux-x86-gtklibs-20081109 and got rid of some OpenGL warnings, but Google Earth still refuse to start. OpenGL and DRI (with vblank_mode 0) is working fine with KDE4 desktop effects. Glxgears yields around 500 FPS.

I'm using a Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller with the following X versions:

x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.3-r5
x11-libs/libdrm-2.4.5
media-libs/mesa-7.3-r1
x11-drivers/xf86-video-intel-2.6.3-r1

Oh the joy of proprietary software:-/

Update: Actually it works with a 32 bit chroot as described in 32Bit Chroot Guide for Gentoo/AMD64, emerging mesa glib libXrandr, then Google Earth actually runs. To remove graphics artefacts I had to disable Desktop effects in KDE4. See comments for further details.

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Comment from: Andrey Vihrov [Visitor]

Hi,

This is probably because the emul-linux-x86-xlibs ships an old version of mesa. You could try creating a 32-bit chroot, which will pull 7.3-r1, and starting Google Earth from there.

2009-04-09 @ 22:31

Comment from: jaervosz [Member]

I was actually too lazy to go the 32 bit chroot route, but what the heck. The chroot is currently emerging world so I'll see later wether it works.

2009-04-09 @ 23:06

Comment from: TopperH [Visitor]

· http://topperh.blogspot.com

Same thing happens here:

00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
x11-base/xorg-server 1.5.3-r5
x11-libs/libdrm 2.4.5
media-libs/mesa 7.4
x11-drivers/xf86-video-intel 2.6.3-r1
app-emulation/emul-linux-x86-gtklibs 20080316

Let me know if the chroot works :)

2009-04-10 @ 12:21

Comment from: jaervosz [Member]

Well the chroot made Google Earth launch, Yay! Now I'm just stuck with a garbled display of Earth. It seems to be a quite common problem:-(

2009-04-10 @ 20:55

Comment from: jaervosz [Member]

Ok, finally I found a workaround. With KDE4 you have to disable desktop effects as the current Intel dirvers seems to be unable to handle two OpenGl applications at the same time. See below for further information: http://forum.kde.org/google-earth-bad-display-with-desktop-effects-t-11227.html

2009-04-10 @ 21:14

Comment from: ElCuGo [Visitor]

If you are using KDE4 anyway you should try Marble (http://edu.kde.org/marble).

2009-04-11 @ 18:51

Comment from: jaervosz [Member]

I tried out Marble and it looks very promising, though still appears a bit basic compared to GE. However it doesn't seem to support placemarkers(yet?) and satellite images are not very detailed to say the least. On the other hand OpenStreetMap is very detailed for my area and I especially like the house number feature.

2009-04-12 @ 18:17

Comment from: shpalman [Visitor] · http://shpalman.livejournal.com

Try copying libGL.so.1.2 from /usr/lib/opengl/xorg-x11/lib/ of your 32-bit chroot, into /usr/lib32/opengl/xorg-x11/lib/

2009-04-17 @ 18:37

Comment from: Max [Visitor]

So, how about using a real graphics card and possibly a proprietary OS that has at least proper drivers? You could get a proper GL implementation...

2009-04-17 @ 23:14

Comment from: Jim [Visitor] · http://none

Hey.. I've been battling with gl stuff for a little while, just not enough time to dedicate to it. I can only manage to pull about 59fps (glxgears) on the same video card. It's in an inspiron 1525 running gentoo. Would it be too much trouble to ask for a copy of your xorg.conf?

2009-04-29 @ 16:46

Comment from: shpalman [Visitor]

· http://shpalman.livejournal.com

@Jim: Run driconf and tell it to never synchronize with the vertical refresh, then see what fps you get.

The newest stable kernel for amd64 has GEM in it, and that seems to help with Intel graphics hardware.

2009-04-30 @ 17:18

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