Display corrupted

[SheetLightning]

Expected Behaviour

Stellarium should start and display the default background.

Actual Behaviour

Stellarium starts but display a corrupted screen. Some transparent menu icons seems to show but are very difficult to make out omn top of the corruped background.

Steps to reproduce

Launch from the manu icon, command line or appimage

System

• Stellarium version: <Name of downloaded installable file?>

Repository: 23.3.01
Appimage: 24.3

• Operating system: <Name, version number>

MX Linux, kernel 6.1.0-28-amd64

• Graphics Card: <Manufacturer (likely Intel, NVidia, AMD?), Model (HD, Geforce, Radeon..., with model number), driver version?>

Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA TU106GLM [Quadro RTX 3000 Mobile / Max-Q] driver: nouveau
v: kernel
Device-2: Quanta HP Full-HD Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: nouveau gpu: nouveau resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
API: OpenGL v: 4.3 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: NV166

• Screen type (if applicable): Resolution, HighDPI, scaling

Laptop, 1920x1280

Logfile

If possible, attach the logfile log.txt from your user data directory. Look into the Guide for its location.

None created.

Screenshot of display:

[gzotti]

nouveau usually does not work with Stellarium. The "binary blob" driver does.

[SheetLightning]

Just tried installing it on another computer and got a similar problem. No graphics, but this time a black screen. What is a "binary blob" driver please? I am not a developer.

[gzotti]

NVidia provides a proprietary driver for (at least some versions of) Linux which many Linux users refer to as "binary blob" because it is not open-source.

[SheetLightning]

Ah, Ok, the Nvidia proprietary driver. Why doesn't it work with Nouveau, given that most Linux systems now use it?
Haven't used Stellarium in a very long time now, but it used to be install and go and worked very well.
I will see whether I can get the Nvidia proprietary driver installed and report back. Thanks.

[gzotti]

If we knew what the problem is we or somebody else could have solved it by now. NVidia has stopped driver support for their 5xx series, would also need nouveau support now for my old battleship. Still excellent hardware for Stellarium, crippled by lack of a working driver.

[SheetLightning]

Ok, it seems to have worked on the old computer. Installed the Nvidia driver using the tools within the OS, rebooted and then ran Stellarium again. This tie it loaded with graphics. Movement is rather slow and juddery though, not the fluid smooth movement that I remember from years back. I see the location setting dialogue is still a PITA to work with. Think I have managed to set my location though. Now going to do the same on the laptop and will report back.

[SheetLightning]

Just finished updating the driver on the laptop and it seems to have worked OK o there as well. Guess both were within that 95% requiring driver updates. The movement on the laptop is much more fluid and consistent with what I remember it to be.

Thank you for your help.

[gzotti]

Given a significant speed boost done for the latest version, I wonder what "older version" worked better (smoother) for you.

[10110111]

Why doesn't it work with Nouveau, given that most Linux systems now use it?

This driver has always been unstable for any contemporary hardware due to the way the GPU documentation for its development is obtained (by reverse engineering). So making nouveau the default driver for NVIDIA by most Linux distributions was an unwise (and I'd say, mostly political) decision from the beginning (2009 Fedora, 2010 Ubuntu, at that time its quality was even more awful).

Nouveau might have stabilized for some very old GPUs (like 10+ years old), but even then I'd avoid it if I had an option.

[gzotti]

Nouveau "supports" my 2012 GTX580 at 640x480 resolution in Ubuntu 24.4. Haha... I cannot even finish system setup, given larger config panels. Must find time to reinstall 22.4.

[SheetLightning]

Just finished updating the driver on the laptop and it seems to have worked OK o there as well. Guess both were within that 95% requiring driver updates. The movement on the laptop is much more fluid and consistent with what I remember it to be.

Thank you for your help.

Given a significant speed boost done for the latest version, I wonder what "older version" worked better (smoother) for you.

Not sure, but it was some 10 or more years ago.... There was no exoplanets feature yet. The transparent menu bars at the bottom left had been around for a relatively short while, maybe a year or two. I ran it on Linux Mint, probably version 19, but on the same "old" computer I installed it on last night that now runs MX Linux 23. The only difference is that it has a bit more RAM now. I also had it on an old HP laptop with a gen1 i5 CPU, same OS. That laptop was used to control the telescope, and it ran reasonably well on that too. Never had any issues with graphics drivers. It just installed and ran.

The current laptop is a much newer Zbook HP machine with i9 processor.

However, I don't remember whether we had real Nvidia drivers back then or Nouveau.

[SheetLightning]

Why doesn't it work with Nouveau, given that most Linux systems now use it?

This driver has always been unstable for any contemporary hardware due to the way the GPU documentation for its development is obtained (by reverse engineering). So making nouveau the default driver for NVIDIA by most Linux distributions was an unwise (and I'd say, mostly political) decision from the beginning (2009 Fedora, 2010 Ubuntu, at that time its quality was even more awful).

Nouveau might have stabilized for some very old GPUs (like 10+ years old), but even then I'd avoid it if I had an option.

Whatever the politics behind it were, Nouveau seems to work for all of the other applications including the CAD and 3D design apps I have installed. I guess there is always the exception and this is that first time that I have seen the display corrupt like that. My first thought was to un-install Stellarium, except that my Uni course requires it, so I was motivated to try and fix it. Fortunately digging a little deeper and with some help here I now have it working. Most users won't care about the politics or the why's and wherefore's. They will just want it to work. To be fair, its not a difficult fix for the user, just requires a little research for the knowhow and the effort to install the driver.

Stellarium is a great program which has been going for years which is an achievement. Hope it keeps going for many more.