The Terminator flashes text

thommen · 2022-09-05 13:28:37

This case is hard to explain. When I type commands in the Termiantor console, the text blinks. Best to see it on video. I recorded a screenshot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itaiUqQCJa8

What is the reason for this error? I only have it in the Terminator console (GTK +?)

ewaller · 2022-09-05 15:04:29

I cannot tell from that what is your desktop environment. Are you using a compositor?

thommen · 2022-09-05 15:07:26

plasmashell --version && kf5-config --version
plasmashell 5.25.4
Qt: 5.15.5
Szkielety KDE: 5.97.0
kf5-config: 1.0

ewaller wrote:

Are you using a compositor?

I have off Compositor

ewaller · 2022-09-05 15:10:54

If you turn it it, does it help?
I did not expect it to be Plasma, as far as graphics goes, it is pretty well behaved. Also, are you running Plasma on Xorg or Wayland?

thommen · 2022-09-05 15:13:20

ewaller wrote:

If you turn it it, does it help?

Composer turned on is a bug for me. My system slows down

ewaller wrote:

I did not expect it to be Plasma, as far as graphics goes, it is pretty well behaved. Also, are you running Plasma on Xorg or Wayland?

Xorg

ewaller · 2022-09-05 15:16:49

thommen wrote:

Composer turned on is a bug for me. My system slows down

That's fine, but we are debugging here. It will be useful to know if turning on the compositor, for a moment, has any effect on this phenomenon.

thommen · 2022-09-05 15:19:09

I have 4 GPUs. For me, turning on the Composer slows down the system a lot. I can't use it. I can't turn off the composer later. I have no way to check it.

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 390.144  (dvs-builder@U64-P10-09)  Wed Jun  2 22:56:57 UTC 2021

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
#    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
#    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "BaseMosaic" "True"
    Option         "MetaModes" "GPU-0.DP-2: 1920x1080+0+0 GPU-0.DP-3: 1920x1080+1920+0 GPU-1.DP-2: 1920x1080+3840+0 GPU-1.DP-3: 1920x1080+5760+0 GPU-2.DP-2: 1920x1080+0+2160 GPU-2.DP-3: 1920x1080+1920+2160 GPU-3.DP-2: 1920x1080+3840+2160 GPU-3.DP-3: 1920x1080+5760+2160"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Last edited by thommen (2022-09-05 15:26:22)

seth · 2022-09-05 15:38:29

It looks like terminator (it's not "The Terminator", there's just one Terminator who's "The" Terminator - and two movies. Great, now the theme dominates my head for the rest of the day…) switches between the focused and unfocused colors.
Does it ever flicker this way when you've constant output (eg. from top) but no input (ie. don't type)?
What is your kwin focus model?

bamm-bamm. bamm. bamm bamm.
bamm-bamm. bamm. bamm bamm.
bamm-bamm. bamm. bamm bamm.

thommen · 2022-09-07 09:23:20

The problem arises when I type content in the CLI. Also, at the same time I am having trouble viewing content in Liferea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwkg7Xk0owg

seth · 2022-09-07 14:38:18

The question was whether is *only* happens on input and *not* eg

seth wrote:

when you've constant output (eg. from top) but no input (ie. don't type)

And then

seth wrote:

What is your kwin focus model?

because I suspect that you're constantly re-focusing.

You can also run

xev -event focus -id $(xwininfo | awk '/Window id:/ {print $4}')

in a second terminal and click the one you want to monitor to see whether the focus is changing w/ the input.

Also: Do you use some fancy IM (fcitx etc)?

thommen · 2022-09-08 14:20:17

seth wrote:

The question was whether is *only* happens on input and *not* eg
seth wrote:
when you've constant output (eg. from top) but no input (ie. don't type)

I do not understand this question. What does "from top" mean?

seth wrote:

seth wrote:
What is your kwin focus model?
because I suspect that you're constantly re-focusing.

In "window behavior" I have "Click to focus"; Delay focus by: 300 ms; Focus stealling prevention: Low; Raising windows: [yes] Click raises active windows; Multiscreen behavior: [yes] Active screen follows mouse

seth wrote:

You can also run
xev -event focus -id $(xwininfo | awk '/Window id:/ {print $4}')
in a second terminal and click the one you want to monitor to see whether the focus is changing w/ the input.

xev -event focus -id $(xwininfo | awk '/Window id:/ {print $4}')

FocusIn event, serial 18, synthetic NO, window 0x5a00048,
    mode NotifyNormal, detail NotifyNonlinear

FocusOut event, serial 18, synthetic NO, window 0x5a00048,
    mode NotifyNormal, detail NotifyInferior

seth wrote:

Also: Do you use some fancy IM (fcitx etc)?

No

Last edited by thommen (2022-09-08 14:24:08)

seth · 2022-09-08 14:38:14

Nope, there's just one focus event (and I assume you triggered a lot of flickering in the monitored window?)

What does "from top" mean?

man top

If you run it, it'll print the cpu load every couple of seconds and the question is whether that too (w/o your entering anything into the terminal) causes the flicker.

thommen · 2022-09-09 11:06:15

I understand. You're right. I also have a problem with the 'top' tool running. The image blinks for me too. Not only as I enter the text

seth · 2022-09-09 11:13:45

Terminator is a wrapper around VTE3 that also powers a host of other terminals, https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x86_64/vte3/
Do they (any of them) show the same behavior?

thommen · 2022-09-09 11:24:22

Yes. For example, I installed "lxterminal" and have the same problem. But, now I noticed something. The problem appears only when the window is maximized to full screen.

seth · 2022-09-09 13:24:50

Fullscreen like covering multiple outputs that are attached to different GPUs?
Do you have the same problem w/ a single-gpu configuration?

thommen · 2022-09-09 18:26:20

seth wrote:

Fullscreen like covering multiple outputs that are attached to different GPUs?

No. The full screen is on 1 GPU (NVIDIA NVS 310)

seth wrote:

Do you have the same problem w/ a single-gpu configuration?

One window uses 1 GPU.

seth · 2022-09-09 21:18:57

One window uses 1 GPU.

Thath is not how this works.

I'm pretty sure the GL context of the process runs on only one GPU, but the X11 server still utilizes them all to make pixels colorful.
Please test the behavior w/ a single GPU setup (just disable the other ones, you don't have to physically manipulate around) since you're running a fairly exotic setup there, that could very much be the cause.
Especially if the size of the terminal matters that much.

Arch Linux

#1 2022-09-05 13:28:37

The Terminator flashes text

#2 2022-09-05 15:04:29

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#3 2022-09-05 15:07:26

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#4 2022-09-05 15:10:54

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#5 2022-09-05 15:13:20

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#6 2022-09-05 15:16:49

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#7 2022-09-05 15:19:09

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#8 2022-09-05 15:38:29

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#9 2022-09-07 09:23:20

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#10 2022-09-07 14:38:18

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#11 2022-09-08 14:20:17

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#12 2022-09-08 14:38:14

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#13 2022-09-09 11:06:15

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#14 2022-09-09 11:13:45

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#15 2022-09-09 11:24:22

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#16 2022-09-09 13:24:50

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#17 2022-09-09 18:26:20

Re: The Terminator flashes text

#18 2022-09-09 21:18:57

Re: The Terminator flashes text

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