A blog about technology and code.
Archive for February, 2010
Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala: Fix Video Tearing with Compiz & Nvidia Geforce GTS 250
Feb 22nd
I am using Ubuntu 9.10 but steps should be similar for other distributions too.
Video Tearing with Compiz
Ubuntu’s NVidia drivers are okay for this card. I tried playing 1080p video and it works well if you don’t have compiz turned on. When compiz is on, the video tearing is noticeable. This is what I did to solve it:
- In CompizConfig Settings Manager (installable via Ubuntu Software Cemter), go to General Options > Display Settings. Set Refresh Rate to 60 and check “Sync to VBlank.”
- Enable “Sync to VBlank” under nvidia-settings. To do this, go to System > Administration > NVIDIA X Server Settings. Then, choose OpenGL Settings, and check the “Sync to VBlank” box.
This stopped the tearing I guess, but the 1080p became very choppy, probably because the driver is old. Once I installed the latest drivers, the problem was no more.
Update NVidia Drivers
The drivers in the Ubuntu repositories are almost always old. To install the latest version, go to the NVidia site and download the latest version. As of Feb. 22, 2010, the latest version is 190.53. Set the .run as executable by right clicking the file > Properties > Permissions and then checking “Allowing executing file as program.”
Before installing, close X by typing into a terminal:
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
Then run the installer:
sudo ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-190.53-pkg2.run
Choose “Yes” for every dialog.
After installation, start X again:
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start
And the new drivers should be loaded.
Set Up the Logitech MX Revolution in Linux with Revoco
Feb 22nd
Download Revoco 0.5
Wheel:
The basic mouse functions will work in Linux but to get the mouse wheel customized, download Revoco 0.5. Extract the contents to some folder, go to that folder in the terminal and compile it by typing “make”.
Run revoco without any parameters to see the usage. Remember to run it as root! I personally prefer setting it to auto so I’ll run something like this:
sudo ./revoco auto=18
Where the number indicates the sensitivity. 0 = free scroll, 50 = clicky scroll.
The neat thing about revoco is that, unlike Logitech’s SetPoint, you only need to run this once and the settings stay regardless of whether the next computer you plug it in has SetPoint or revoco. Handy if you need it to function the way you like on a work computer 
Extra Functions:
Download btnx and you can set functions to the mouse wheel/buttons. Remember to detect the mouse buttons first before assigning features.
Note that while btnx has a tab for revoco, it may not work if revoco is removed from the build of btnx due to a licensing issue.