Linux

Guest OS is Debian 12.7, no desktop environment. VM was created with Powershell so that I could specify the Configuration Version (9.0). This VM is intended to be migrated to a Server 2019 host.

I have a series of checkpoints so I can observe the behavior at each. After installing (rootfull) docker, VM memory demand idles around 526 MB. Starting a session and running top doesn't change the memory demand at all.

When I start with the checkpoint where I've made docker rootless, memory demand idles slightly higher before login, maybe 870 MB. When I start a session and run top, though, memory demand skyrockets and assigned memory quickly reaches max dynamic memory, 4096 MB. The output in top barely changes. For giggles I bumped the max to 6 GB and demand still continued to rise.

There are no containers defined in either case. Any ideas about what I'm seeing?

When I run Cheese, the inbuilt webcam light flashes for an instant then stops. Assuming Cheese opens correctly, it never successfully shows the webcam feed. Cheese worked prior to update. ( Zoom webcam fails too D: )

setup

Arch Linux, kernel 6.11.5-arch-11, Hyprland v0.44.1 (pipewire 1.2.6) on a hybrid Nvidia+Intel Lenovo laptop.

$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 25a7:fa23 Areson Technology Corp 2.4G Receiver
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8087:0a2b Intel Corp. Bluetooth wireless interface
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 138a:0094 Validity Sensors, Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 033: ID 13d3:5673 IMC Networks EasyCamera
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

$ v4l2-ctl --list-devices                                         
EasyCamera: EasyCamera (usb-0000:00:14.0-5):
	/dev/video0
	/dev/video1
	/dev/media0

packages

I'm up-to-date.

$ yay -Q |egrep -i 'gstreamer|video|cam|media|mtp'
fswebcam 20200725-1
gnome-video-effects 1:0.6.0-2
gst-plugin-libcamera 0.3.2-1
gstreamer 1.24.8-1
gstreamer-vaapi 1.24.8-1
guvcview 2.1.0-4
guvcview-common 2.1.0-4
gvfs-mtp 1.56.1-1
haskell-http-media 0.8.1.1-18
intel-media-driver 24.3.3-1
libcamera 0.3.2-1
libcamera-ipa 0.3.2-1
libmtp 1.1.21-2
media-player-info 26-1
perl-lwp-mediatypes 6.04-6
pipewire-libcamera 1:1.2.6-1
# qt omitted
xf86-video-intel 1:2.99.917+923+gb74b67f0-2

tried apps

Tried cheese and fswebcam, among a few others (logs are too long to fit)

$ cheese
cheese

(cheese:53011): Gdk-WARNING **: 11:41:45.977: Native Windows taller than 65535 pixels are not supported
[0:56:26.030577084] [53011] ERROR IPAModule ipa_module.cpp:171 Symbol ipaModuleInfo not found
[0:56:26.030591748] [53011] ERROR IPAModule ipa_module.cpp:291 v4l2-compat.so: IPA module has no valid info
[0:56:26.030607425] [53011]  INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:325 libcamera v0.3.2

(cheese:53011): GStreamer-CRITICAL **: 11:41:46.096: gst_structure_get_value: assertion 'structure != NULL' failed
[0:57:26.270746293] [53011] ERROR IPAModule ipa_module.cpp:171 Symbol ipaModuleInfo not found
[0:57:26.270790988] [53011] ERROR IPAModule ipa_module.cpp:291 v4l2-compat.so: IPA module has no valid info
[0:57:26.270850259] [53011]  INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:325 libcamera v0.3.2
[0:57:26.432615229] [53061]  INFO Camera camera.cpp:1197 configuring streams: (0) 640x480-MJPEG
[0:57:26.449271361] [53574] ERROR V4L2 v4l2_videodevice.cpp:1931 /dev/video0[450:cap]: Failed to start streaming: Protocol error
[0:57:26.449379043] [53574] ERROR V4L2 v4l2_videodevice.cpp:1266 /dev/video0[450:cap]: Unable to request 0 buffers: No such device

(cheese:53011): cheese-WARNING **: 11:42:46.537: Failed to start the camera: Protocol error: ../libcamera/src/gstreamer/gstlibcamerasrc.cpp(680): gst_libcamera_src_task_enter (): /GstCameraBin:camerabin/GstWrapperCameraBinSrc:camera_source/GstBin:bin37/GstLibcameraSrc:libcamerasrc0:
Camera.start() failed with error code -71

(cheese:53011): Clutter-CRITICAL **: 11:42:48.119: Unable to create dummy onscreen: No foreign surface, and wl_shell unsupported by the compositor

$ fswebcam -v
***
Opening /dev/video0...
Trying source module v4l2...
/dev/video0 opened.
src_v4l2_get_capability,91: /dev/video0 information:
src_v4l2_get_capability,92: cap.driver: "uvcvideo"
src_v4l2_get_capability,93: cap.card: "EasyCamera: EasyCamera"
src_v4l2_get_capability,94: cap.bus_info: "usb-0000:00:14.0-5"
src_v4l2_get_capability,95: cap.capabilities=0x84A00001
src_v4l2_get_capability,96: - VIDEO_CAPTURE
src_v4l2_get_capability,107: - STREAMING
No input was specified, using the first.
src_v4l2_set_input,185: /dev/video0: Input 0 information:
src_v4l2_set_input,186: name = "Camera 1"
src_v4l2_set_input,187: type = 00000002
src_v4l2_set_input,189: - CAMERA
src_v4l2_set_input,190: audioset = 00000000
src_v4l2_set_input,191: tuner = 00000000
src_v4l2_set_input,192: status = 00000000
src_v4l2_set_pix_format,523: Device offers the following V4L2 pixel formats:
src_v4l2_set_pix_format,532: 0: [0x47504A4D] 'MJPG' (Motion-JPEG)
src_v4l2_set_pix_format,532: 1: [0x56595559] 'YUYV' (YUYV 4:2:2)
Using palette MJPEG
Adjusting resolution from 384x288 to 424x240.
src_v4l2_set_mmap,675: mmap information:
src_v4l2_set_mmap,676: frames=4
src_v4l2_set_mmap,725: 0 length=203520
src_v4l2_set_mmap,725: 1 length=203520
src_v4l2_set_mmap,725: 2 length=203520
src_v4l2_set_mmap,725: 3 length=203520
Error starting stream.
VIDIOC_STREAMON: Protocol error
Unable to use mmap. Using read instead.
Unable to use read.

logs

$ journalctl -b-0
# some stuff removed for post character limit
pipewire[1028]: spa.v4l2: '/dev/video0' VIDIOC_STREAMON: Protocol error
pipewire[1028]: pw.node: (v4l2_input.pci-0000_00_14.0-usb-0_5_1.0-78) suspended -> error (Start error: Protocol error)
kernel: usb 1-5: USB disconnect, device number 50
pipewire[1028]: spa.v4l2: VIDIOC_REQBUFS: No such device
kernel: usb 1-5: new high-speed USB device number 51 using xhci_hcd
kernel: usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=13d3, idProduct=5673, bcdDevice=16.04
kernel: usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=1, SerialNumber=2
kernel: usb 1-5: Product: EasyCamera
kernel: usb 1-5: Manufacturer: AzureWave
kernel: usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 0001
kernel: usb 1-5: Found UVC 1.00 device EasyCamera (13d3:5673)
mtp-probe[66565]: checking bus 1, device 51: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-5"
mtp-probe[66565]: bus: 1, device: 51 was not an MTP device
mtp-probe[66599]: checking bus 1, device 51: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-5"
mtp-probe[66599]: bus: 1, device: 51 was not an MTP device
kernel: usb 1-5: USB disconnect, device number 51
kernel: usb 1-5: new high-speed USB device number 52 using xhci_hcd
kernel: usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=13d3, idProduct=5673, bcdDevice=16.04
kernel: usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=1, SerialNumber=2
kernel: usb 1-5: Product: EasyCamera
kernel: usb 1-5: Manufacturer: AzureWave
kernel: usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 0001
kernel: usb 1-5: Found UVC 1.00 device EasyCamera (13d3:5673)

$ sudo dmesg
[ 5248.449913] usb 1-5: USB disconnect, device number 50
[ 5248.842621] usb 1-5: new high-speed USB device number 51 using xhci_hcd
[ 5249.025592] usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=13d3, idProduct=5673, bcdDevice=16.04
[ 5249.025612] usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=1, SerialNumber=2
[ 5249.025620] usb 1-5: Product: EasyCamera
[ 5249.025626] usb 1-5: Manufacturer: AzureWave
[ 5249.025632] usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 0001
[ 5249.030816] usb 1-5: Found UVC 1.00 device EasyCamera (13d3:5673)
[ 5259.873533] usb 1-5: USB disconnect, device number 51
[ 5260.268988] usb 1-5: new high-speed USB device number 52 using xhci_hcd
[ 5260.454354] usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=13d3, idProduct=5673, bcdDevice=16.04
[ 5260.454371] usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=1, SerialNumber=2
[ 5260.454378] usb 1-5: Product: EasyCamera
[ 5260.454384] usb 1-5: Manufacturer: AzureWave
[ 5260.454389] usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 0001
[ 5260.460370] usb 1-5: Found UVC 1.00 device EasyCamera (13d3:5673)

Any help appreciated! ^_^

Just made a dedicated repo about a bunch of tricks I regularly use.

A KDE Plasmoid is definetly missing on that list. Having it work without garbage Electron, at least most of the time, is crucial.

I love those guys, their way too long podcast-type videos are always fun to watch

Hi all! Either my Google fu is failing me, or such a cursor software might not have been done yet.

Is there a cursor-customizing software in which I can change the cursor image based on a .png/.gif file (or set of png files), and the image flips depending on movement direction in the X-axis? I kinda want to make a huge cursor, but don't want the image to get in the way of the direction the cursor is traveling.

And um, mint cinnamon btw?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20962151

Hello Linux folks, i would like to share one little hack which i have found.

On fedora, zram-generator comes installed and configured by default with lz4 algorithm i believe, and no disk swap, if you have 8gb of ram or more, that is fine, but if you have 4gb or less, systemd-oomd either kills you games when they use too much memory, or you face an OOMD and get your system frozen.

When configuring fedora, normally i would create an in-disk swap, so that my computer wouldn't freeze but face a MASSIVE slowdown when on way too high memory usage, i also set zram-generator to use the zstd algorithm so that zram compression rate is higher but slightly slower, like that i can use my low memory more efficiently with a lower risk of OOMD.

I was watching a bringus studios video once, where he tried to run counter-strike 2 on a ps4 using linux and proton; the game would always use too much memory and that would freeze the system before it got a change to actually launch, the strange ps4 linux was using in-disk swap, and so, increasing swapiness to 100 bringus tried to leverage that to make the game run. He was sucessful. In disk swap is very slow, so the performance was crap, but that does not matter...

So i saw that, and had the idea to combine it with zram-swap to avoid the in-disk swap penalty, also using zstd as the algorithm to make the most out of the memory, and it was a massive sucess! Some games which would make my system very unstable or straight up freeze on certain launch attempts started launching and working just fine! and without dumb in-disk swap slowdowns!

While running modded Victoria 2 i have noticed my system is using about 3.3 to 3.4GB of swap, and about 3.5 gb of ram, so about 100 to 200MB of real uncompressed memory usage, assuming zstd is running at level 1 of compression, and achieving at least 3.0 as compression rate, in thesis, my system has now the equivalent to 10GB of ram, well about it's weight! even more impressing considering how low are the numbers we are working here!

tldr: setting your swapiness=100 while using zstd as your zram-generator compression algorithm, and no in-disk swap will help your system use the most out of your ram with negligible performance penalty

From the Creator of HeliumOS, a distro based off AlmaLinux or CentOS Stream on top of the technology of Fedora Atomic Desktops, Bazzite, Fedora coreOS and RHEL Image Mode.

This is a pretty big thing, as extreme stability + stable packages makes the perfect workhorse for an install-and-forget PC.

Together with KDE or other Desktop Environments (CentOS 10 will have Plasma 6 in the external "EPEL" repos) this will be more than a great Windows 10 replacement.

Have all your apps as Flatpak or with a Fedora Distrobox, no problems.

Maybe even an image using packages of the "CentOS Stream Hyperscale SIG" that backports newer Fedora kernel, systemd, mesa and others for improved hardware support, GPU tasks, drivers etc.

After getting this setup for work for a few clunky applications I was curious if anyone has any knowledge of a similar solution hosted on Linux?

Here is the link to the resource I used. Remote Desktop Service

Games are technically run inside a virtual machine because of differences in how Apple Silicon and x86 systems address memory—Apple's systems use 16 KB memory pages, while x86 systems use 4 KB pages, something that causes issues for Asahi and some other Arm Linux distros on a regular basis and a gap that the VM bridges.

Rosenzweig's post shows off screenshots of Control, Fallout 4, The Witcher 3, Ghostrunner, Cyberpunk 2077, Portal 2, and Hollow Knight, though as she notes, most of these games won't run at anywhere near 60 frames per second yet.

"Correctness comes first. Performance improves next," she writes.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20819143

https://gitlab.com/christosangel/animatrix

This program written in C will create some basic animation of ascii-art loaded from a txt file, while rendering the matrix effect in the terminal window.

cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/23486789

This full packed release comes with three new staging protocols:

• system bell - allowing e.g. terminal emulators to hand off system bell alerts to the compositor for among other things accessibility purposes

• fifo - for implementing first in first out surface content update behavior

• commit timing - for adding time constraints to surface content update

Other than this, the presentation timing protocol protocol got a version minor bump describing how to deal with variable refresh rate.

Other protocols saw the regular clarifications and bug fixes, and some deprecated events is now properly indicated as such in the XML. Please see individual commits for details.