• OS

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

Yup I forgot that they are using a TCON chip to convert dp to the fake hdmi. I think they also state that if you enable rebar in bios that you can use the motherboard true hdmi 2.1 as a passthrough to the arc dgpus. I would like to know if capping it to 6bpc will dither or not since intel default behavior is to spatial dither under 8bpc. Do you find linux to be more comfortable with these edits than windows and the edits?

When it comes to Intel UHD Xe, Windows 11 is more comfortable. Although I constantly feel like something is always moving on the screen (even at 6 bits).

It's too early to say much about the A770 since I've had it for a short time. However, the image with it feels more stable and calm compared to the UHD Xe.

I have an old motherboard based on the Z390 chipset, and it most likely doesn't support ReBAR.

    WhisperingWind gotcha. I wonder if ditherig has the appropriate edits for Intel iris. I do own a iris laptop(10th gen Intel) I was doubting that ditherig supports arc.

    WhisperingWind
    Usually new bios updates support rebar but I'm not sure if I would ever update to a latest bios since they can bring strain. Instead this i think would be the better option. To add rebar support
    https://github.com/xCuri0/ReBarUEFI
    I was going to use my Intel arc on my z390 mobo and use that to modify my bios to support it since I manually rolled back my z390 to the very first bios version with a cha341a programmer (super easy)

    Definitely let me know how win11 feels! Seems like disabling ACM does more with the arc. If you plan to try win10 the minimum version supported is 20h2 which supposedly is safe to many. I do wonder if we can modify the Intel driver to install on 1507 or 1511 win10(most safe). Maybe even modify a very old Intel driver adding the arc hardware ids to it to support it on older os. (I'd pay for this lol)

          jordan

          I'm not sure if modifying the driver will require reverse engineering the application, which I believe is against Intel's policy. For now, I'll explore less invasive methods on Windows 11 to see if anything works. I couldn't find an option to switch between 6, 8, 10, 12-bit modes in the A770 control panel, so I may need to find an alternative solution.

          I'll make sure to update you tomorrow or on Saturday with the testing results. I just need a little time for my eyes to adjust.

              WhisperingWind oh okay I didn't know that. Sounds good! Curious to also hear if either win or Linux feels best

                jordan currently i use zorin os(based on ubuntu) which uses x11, still feel some levels of discomfort(less when using white text on black background) , but

                • There are a lot of reflection in the room i use my desktop, so this could be it
                  *
                • I've read conflicting information whether the display is 8-bit or 6-bit with frc.
                  *

                  ensete is that the bookworm 12.1 version? I forgot about this distro. I remember someone posted about it awhile back as something very lightweight. Maybe that's the way to go as a start for me then. I wonder if gnome could cause issues

                      jordan It's working well for me on a potato PC. Intel N95, So its lightweight, definetly.

                      The good thing about zorin Os linux, is that it feels like windows, so if we improve eye strain for it, it could help more people, which is good.

                      And more people using it would mean more effort in making it even more comfortable for eyes.

                          autobot I just looked it up you're right it does look similar to Windows. I quickly asked chatgpt and seems it uses gnome? I remember some people said gnome wasn't the most comfortable so maybe that could be why ? I think I may start with cbpp since it seems the most light weight. I just need to find a safe baseline with a computer so I can start trying other distros. I don't have a safe PC yet

                              autobot I don't have a safe PC yet. I was going to use a arc a770 and I have that spectrum view incandescent lit monitor I was going to use soon.

                              Edit: I mean I do have a HP spectre x360 13" that I occasionally use ONLY with an eink display but I don't count that since I'm sure eink bypasses alot of sw/driver strain. It's Intel iris gpu and 20h2 win10

                                I have tried working for two days in Linux and Windows (one day in Windows and one day in Linux) with the A770.

                                In Windows 11, white isn't completely white; it has a sort of golden tint, which gives a 3D effect but quickly leads to eye strain when reading. Using the Basic Microsoft Driver offers slight improvements, but it doesn't fully solve the problem. However, when watching videos on YouTube, my eyes don't get tired.

                                Regarding Ubuntu Linux Desktop 24.04, my eyes feel less strained when reading because the golden tint effect is less pronounced. Watching videos on YouTube is also fine.

                                As I've been using macOS (with dithering disabled) as my daily driver for over 10 years, I have compared them. Linux is closer to macOS in terms of comfortable white color display and screen reading. However, there's still room for improvement; while I don't feel any strain with a macOS, I do feel slight tension with Linux, which currently prevents me from using Linux fully for 8 hours a day, five days a week.

                                In Windows 11, my eyes get very tired after 30-40 minutes of reading text, leading to brain fog. So, I can't work in Windows 11 fully yet. The standard A770 driver seemed slightly worse to me than the usual Intel UHD (which can be installed by force, even if the system warns about incompatibility, but it works). During experiments with "non-native" drivers, I noticed occasional flickering in YouTube videos, but it quickly passed.

                                I plan to try Windows 10, but probably only by the end of next week.

                                  WhisperingWind wow thanks for the update! Do you think a Linux distro not using gnome could make it more comfortable? Something that is basic like x11 + openbox? Also how did you force the uhd driver? Do you think a uhd driver would install on 1507/1511 win10? Supposedly those have zero os strain.

                                  I thought macos wasn't the greatest nowadays? Which version and which Mac/specs? Thanks!

                                      I was unable to switch the A770 to 6-bit mode in Windows. The standard registers don't work. I went through a couple of dozen port addresses from the driver code, but nothing helps. No progress here yet.

                                      jordan

                                      Do you think a Linux distro not using gnome could make it more comfortable?

                                      I spent a lot of time with Linux in 2009-2013, but since then I returned to it a couple of months ago and have only tried Manjaro XFCE and Ubuntu Gnome. It's hard for me to compare them since it was on different hardware. But they feel roughly the same.

                                      Something that is basic like x11 + openbox?

                                      I haven't had the chance to try Openbox yet, but based on my experience, window managers typically don't manage rendering, and dithering usually isn't dependent on them. You need to check which library is used as the renderer, as it is responsible for turning everything into an 'image' and is usually where the chain of requests for enabling dithering begins. In Ubuntu Gnome, the renderer is Clutter.

                                          dev