KDE and Beryl, white screen while kde is loading

[opvask]

I guess some of you guys should know this scenario. When starting Mandriva KDE (same for PCLinuxOS) I get a white screen for a couple of seconds while KDE is loading.

 

From looking in the Beryl forums, I think this is a problem with the way Beryl is being loaded (the commands "beryl" and "beryl-manager" being executed at the same time?).

 

So I have been trying to make Beryl start with the recommended command "beryl-manager" instead of "beryl" (this also makes it easy to start beryl with commands like --Force AIGLX, because of the "advanced" options in Beryl manager). I've tried adjusting the "compositing-vm" file and I have tried disabling the 3d stuff in MCC and do things manually myself instead. I also tried delaying the "beryl-manager" command like someone suggests in the PCLinuxOS forum.

 

None of my experiments have solved the problem. It must have something to do, with the way the 3d MCC setup is handling/starting beryl, because in other distro's like Ubuntu and Sabayon I do not get this problem. I use "native/AIGLX" and similar xorg config's in all those distro's.

 

I'm not really sure what files the 3D option in MCC is using to start beryl. I'm only aware of the possibility to adjust the "compositing-vm" file, which can actually be a very handy thing to do, in general.

 

My current compositing-wm:

#MCC default is =yes
COMPOSITING_WM_START=yes

# if COMPOSITING_WM is not empty, it overrides the default compositing window manager (which is compiz)
#MCC default is =beryl (tried changing this to =beryl-manager and skip the ARGS and DECORATOR options below + beryl-manager loads on startup BUT beryl then starts with kde windows decoration)
COMPOSITING_WM=/usr/bin/beryl

# if COMPOSITING_WM_ARGS is not empty, it overrides the default arguments for the compositing window manager
COMPOSITING_WM_ARGS=--force-aiglx 

# the default window decorator, the specified program will be run after compositing window manager
COMPOSITING_WINDOW_DECORATOR=/usr/bin/emerald

 

Any ideas?

Edited June 26, 2007 by opvask

[tyme]

After the white screen goes away (as you say it does) does the system continue to function as usual or is it unusable?

[opvask]

This is merely a cosmetic thing. Beryl and the system is working perfect (with --force aiglx) when I'm logged in. The white screen only occurs when the kde splash screen is loading/while kde is loading.

 

I guess, this happens when beryl takes over the windows management/decoration. I think it's a pretty common thing in Mandriva and PcLinux. Having tried beryl with both Ubuntu and Sabayon I know that this can be avoided. I'm just not sure how.

 

My idea at first, is to try loading beryl in some other way through a beryl-manager.desktop file in ~/.kde/Autostart or through some alternative code in "compositing-vm". Using a Autostart entry works, but with one problem - Beryl starts with normal kwin window decoration. Beryl/Emerald dosn't even take over the windows decoration in this case. It can be loaded manually from Beryl-manager or CLI.

 

Another idea is to delay the start of beryl by a few seconds. Basically, making kde start before beryl loads.

 

The problem is IMO related to this guide/problem/solution:

http://wiki.beryl-project.org/wiki/Tips/Qu...artup_under_KDE

 

But it's not a matter of "life or death". It's just a bit ugly with a 3-4 seconds white screen when kde is loading.

 

I just found out that Beryl is still supported in the new "compix fusion" forum. I'll probably try to post the question there also.

 

Regards

o

Edited June 26, 2007 by opvask

[opvask]

SOLVED (I think). :D

 

I've been trying to get a start up script working with different script solutions, but every time it gave me some other problem. Like no --force-aiglx, no Emerald themes etc.

 

Editing out/deleting all entries in "compositing-vm" and starting Beryl with a working script in ~/.kde/Autostart instead, seems to do the trick.

 

So I found this suggestion, which works BUT emerald window decorations start up a bit late after logging in:

#!/bin/bash

beryl --replace --force-aiglx & beryl-manager &

 

So I switched it to this solution:

#!/bin/bash

beryl --indirect-rendering --force-aiglx --replace & beryl-manager &

 

- This way there is no white screen during KDE startup.

- KDE loads a lot faster (like starting a normal kwin session).

- When KDE is loaded the screen will blink for a moment (very short time) and Beryl/Emerald then works perfectly.

 

BTW:

The --indirect-rendering and --force-aiglx (forced aiglx due to problems with the Nvidia driver) are recommended parameters, that I have been using all the time with Beryl to avoid black windows etc. These are not a direct part of the solution, since I was already using these in "compositing-vm" or in beryl-manager/advanced settings. I just didn't know how to get these parameters working in a start script, until now.

 

I hope this can help others with similar problems with slow kde startup/white screen during startup when using Beryl.

 

EDIT: By following the suggestions in the Beryl-Mandriva wiki for xorg.conf I solved this in a more simple way.

 

1. disabled 3D effects in MCC after editing xorg.conf

2. Removed all manual entries in "compositing-wm"

3. Start Beryl-manager automatically from ~/.kde/Autostart with the command "beryl-manager"

Edited June 29, 2007 by opvask

[Guest assassin]

hey bro i am a new user of mandriva linux so i dnt know too much about linux i enabled 3d effects two days ago and now when i log in kde there is just a white screen what should i do should i wait until it goes and then i might disable 3d effects help me out

[{BBI}Nexus{BBI}]

To disable the 3d effects:

 

At your login screen do: Alt & ctrl & F1 to switch to the terminal.  

 

Login as root.  Once logged in type: drak3d, press enter or return twice.  

 

Type exit to leave root mode.  Do alt & f8 to bring back the login screen.

 

 

Login as normal, 3d effects should now be disabled.

Edited August 16, 2010 by {BBI}Nexus{BBI}