who can use Linux but not windows? Share your Linux setup

jordan

Try Ubuntu 18, which the autobot installed. It seems that it doesn't support the Xe architecture, on which the A770 is based. It’s necessary to check that the i915 and xe modules are not loaded using the lsmod terminal command.

If Ubuntu 18 is comfortable, so the monitor should be fine and the graphics card in basic mode is also okay. If that's not the case, then there's probably not much that can be done here without changing hardware. But it's hard to say for sure, as everyone has different sensitivity in their eyes, but for me, reading in this case is quite comfortable.

If everything is okay, then you can switch to newer versions of Linux where video card support is available and try different desktop environments with various compositors. Try turning off text anti-aliasing in Ubuntu Tweaks (apt install gnome-tweaks).

P.S. I agree 100% with JTL: you need to understand what specifically strains your eyes (vivid colors, contrast, high brightness of white areas, etc). This way, you'll have a set of small tasks to address, with the ability to check the results. This will be more manageable.

moonpie What if we disable the GPU, aim at a reasonably expensive fast CPU(for ex. $500-600$), with the goal of running all steam games before a given date(for ex. before 2018) ?

Would this work reasonably well , for those who are willing to settle on the gaming experience?

Installed Zorin os lite 17.2, based

on ubuntu 22.10.

Driver - i915.

Disabled xfce compositor(colors became somewhat muted), disabled font anti-aliasing, disabled firefox "hw acceleration" , disabled firefox "pages choose their own font".

Based on short testing, feels good. But needs more testing.

I came across an interesting comment in the kernel (module i915):

'For Display < 13, Bits 5-7 of PIPE MISC represent DITHER BPC with valid values of: 6, 8, 10 BPC.

ADLP+, the bits 5-7 represent PORT OUTPUT BPC with valid values of: 6, 8, 10, 12 BPC.'

I think '13' refers to the 13th generation of Intel; ADLP stands for Alder Lake P.

I wonder if this confirms that ADLP and later generations are free from dithering.

JTL thank you, that is very helpful.

I looked there, found this registers manual that includes info about dither registers:

https://cdrdv2-public.intel.com/703047/intel-gfx-prm-osrc-tgl-vol-02-c-command-reference-registers-part-2.pdf

• It's iris xe gen 11th but alder lake n is 12th generation, but the registers are Probably the same
• And yes, registers 7:5 from PIPE_MISC are responsible for dither_bpc, like the source code

When ACM is turned on, the 4th and 8th bits (counting from right to left starting at zero) are set to one. The 4th bit is for Dithering enable, and the 8th is for Pixel Rounding. The dithering is present.

If you set the 6th bit but do not set the 4th bit, the monitor will simply switch to a 6-bit mode without dithering (the FRC module of my monitor goes crazy during Spatial Dithering, so it can be detected).

autobot

I think the most interesting part is the pipeline register.

UPD. I was wrong. I found another interesting register related to dithering: TRANS_DDI_FUNC_CTL_A (0x60400). Bits 22-20 (page 1343), this register works together with the pipeline register.

https://cdrdv2-public.intel.com/703047/intel-gfx-prm-osrc-tgl-vol-02-c-command-reference-registers-part-2.pdf

jordan

The AMD Raphael iGPU should use the standard amdgpu module. You can check this by using the lsmod command in the terminal, which will show all loaded kernel modules.

It's a mining OS, so I'm assuming all of the acceleration stuff is disabled for the UI which maybe helps comfort.

HiveOS is based on Ubuntu. The terminal command inxi -G (install it with sudo apt install inxi) should show the necessary information: desktop environment, compositor, and whether OpenGL uses the GPU for rendering.

I just wonder what normal distro would be similar to this? I think it uses openbox, x11, and Compton?

You should try Intel Arc A770 with various Linux distributions, as we might have different reasons for eye strain. My eyes get strained due to the high-contrast interface of some desktop environments in Linux. This happens even in Ubuntu Desktop (Gnome) on a Parallels virtual machine on a Mac. So I think it's not about the Intel Arc A770 but rather the color scheme (colors, saturation, brightness, contrast, gamma) used by the OS. I need a less contrasting interface with muted colors. So far, the best I've found is Kubuntu (I installed KDE on Ubuntu Desktop).

autobot

Which Windows version are you using?

Windows 11 23H2 (22631.4169).

On a 4K TV (true 8-bit), it looks good to my eyes; the image is calm, and I don't see too much contrast or very high brightness of white. However, this is Limited Range, and I couldn't find where to set Full Range in the control panel for the entire OS; the setting is only available for video.

On my monitor, due to FRC, it looks worse because of text fringing, which leads to eye strain when reading; but I don't notice this on the TV.

WhisperingWind kde? Interesting.

I too prefer muted colors. Do you disable the compositor in kde?

And win11 with No issues?

That is something i need to try. Any special setting?

autobot

Do you disable the compositor in kde?

The compositor is on. It's slightly better without the compositor, but only on my 6+FRC monitor; I didn't notice much difference on the TV.

[kde] Any special setting?

No, everything is default, but text is smoothed with a gray effect.

And win11 with No issues?

The only reliable tool for testing right now is the TV, but I mostly watch YouTube there. I didn't notice any issues with Windows 11 (ARC A770) in this regard. Unfortunately, tests on my monitor are not objective because in Windows 11, the FRC module is more active, which strains my eyes.

UPD But I can say something with 100% certainty after working for a week, 8 hours a day, with the setup. Right now, I don't have that opportunity.