Intel confirmed no dithering on Intel arc a770

I dont think an OS will do dither at software level, I only know some monitors will do dither at hardware level which hurt eyes.

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I have a hypothesis regarding Ubuntu 18: the display might feel easier on the eyes because some new graphics cards aren't supported, resulting in an image that's less straining. If that's the case, we could blacklist the necessary kernel modules to achieve the same effect in newer versions of the OS.

WhisperingWind What's our goal? Something like an eye-safe linux distribution?

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WhisperingWind we could also disable the gpu like this:

https://superuser.com/a/210381

It's easy to just try it on a given system and see if it solve the issue.

And if this solves the issue and we know that using intel Arc also is dithering and eye strain free, that's easy to buy an Arc card if a gpu is needed.

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moonpie i meant: if someone has a other gpu, he could test it by disabling it.

And if the gpu is the issue, using intel arc could solve it.

autobot

we could also disable the gpu like this:

https://superuser.com/a/210381

The environment variable LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 switches Mesa to use CPU for calculations. The graphics card continues to function normally and is managed by its driver. When I enable software rendering, the image quality seems a bit nicer. Previously, I noticed that colors change between CPU and GPU rendering, which might trigger the FRC module on my monitor. So, I'm currently using only software rendering, but I can still manage the graphics card through the driver (I have it set to 6-bit). I think for cards where the driver enables dithering, software rendering won't fix the issue.

Below is the system information for the software rendering mode:

$ inxi -G
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel DG2 [Arc A770] driver: i915 v: kernel
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X:
loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: swrast gpu: i915
resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device 
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: mesa v: N/A renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 18.1.3 256 bits)
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.275 drivers: N/A surfaces: xcb,xlib

$ lsmod | grep i915
i915                 4329472  5
drm_buddy              20480  2 xe,i915
ttm                   106496  3 drm_ttm_helper,xe,i915
drm_display_helper    253952  2 xe,i915
cec                    94208  2 xe,i915
i2c_algo_bit           16384  2 xe,i915
video                  73728  2 xe,i915

llvmpipe (LLVM 18.1.3 256 bits)is the CPU (software) render.

The lsmod command indicates that the video driver is loaded.

To “disable” the video card, you need to blacklist its driver. In this case, Mesa will also switch to software rendering, but the video card driver won't be loaded.

WhisperingWind

I've blacklisted the i915 driver.

inxi -G

Graphics:

Device-1: Intel driver: N/A

Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: modesetting

unloaded: fbdev,vesa gpu: N/A resolution: 1920x1080\~60Hz

OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 15.0.7 256 bits)

v: 4.5 Mesa 23.2.1-1ubuntu3.1\~22.04.2

echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

XFCE

"enable display compositing" = off

System is less comfortable than

inxi -G

Graphics: Card: Intel Device 46d2

       Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.20.4 )

       drivers: fbdev (unloaded: modesetting,vesa)

       Resolution: 1920x1080@77.00hz

       OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 8.0, 256 bits)

       version: 3.3 Mesa 19.0.8

ubuntu 18.04(zorin 15 lite)

echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

XFCE

"enable display compositing" = off

Maybe some other small differences between. i"m not sure.

autobot

This sounds intriguing! I will install Ubuntu 18.04 and try to figure out which system components might differ.

WhisperingWind It could also be placebo, the difference exists but it is small-medium. also edited previous reply to add details.