Color profile is (sometimes) lost when the screensaver kicks in

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1

Hi all, let me start with the mandatory (and clearly due) thanks to the Manjaro developers.

I am using an up-to-date Manjaro, with gnome 45, and I have a (not tragic, but still) problem with color profiles on my monitors (inxi data at the end of the message).

I have two monitors, a BenQ that comes color-calibrated from factory (E<3), and an auxiliary IPS panel by LG. I managed to calibrate the second one, more or less (still can’t keep the blue, and probably it’s not stellar, but it’s tolerable as a second screen while photo-editing).

Sometimes (often, but not always), the second screen loses the color profile. I mean, I find that the images are shown like this (that’s a phone shot, screenshots get profiles otherwise):

image
image1392×730 77.4 KB

where you can see that the right screen is completely off-tinted (rosy, I’ll say). If I enter in the Control Settings → Colors, everything seems ok:

image
image957×617 37.5 KB

If I switch off and back on the color management of the monitor, it goes back to a reasonable color profile:

image
image1121×604 50.3 KB

As I said, it’s not perfect, it’s colder, but much better than the first one. (And BTW, the color settings do not let me choose the automatic one — selecting and clicking “enable” does nothing).

Is there anybody able to help/suggest a way to debug the thing?

Thanks!

inxi output:

CPU: 8-core AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics (-MT MCP-)
speed/min/max: 492/400/4680 MHz Kernel: 6.6.8-2-MANJARO x86_64 Up: 9h 7m
Mem: 12.29/30.78 GiB (39.9%) Storage: 3.64 TiB (37.3% used) Procs: 482
Shell: Zsh inxi: 3.3.31

Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Cezanne [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Mobile Series]
    driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: GCN-5 code: Vega process: GF 14nm
    built: 2017-20 pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 4
    speed: 16 GT/s ports: active: HDMI-A-1,HDMI-A-2 empty: DP-1,DP-2
    bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:1638 class-ID: 0300 temp: 38.0 C
  Device-2: Creative Live! Cam Sync 1080p V2 driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo
    type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-2.3:5
    chip-ID: 041e:40a0 class-ID: 0102 serial: Creative Live! Cam Sync 1080p
    V2 Audio
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.10 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.3
    compositor: gnome-shell v: 45.2 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
    unloaded: modesetting,radeon alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: radeonsi
    gpu: amdgpu display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 model: BenQ LCD serial: 65N01873019 built: 2022
    res: 2560x1440 dpi: 123 gamma: 1.2 size: 527x296mm (20.75x11.65")
    diag: 604mm (23.8") ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 2560x1440 min: 720x400
  Monitor-2: HDMI-A-2 model: LG (GoldStar) IPS224 built: 2011 res: 1920x1080
    dpi: 102 gamma: 1.2 size: 477x268mm (18.78x10.55") diag: 547mm (21.5")
    ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi
    device: 1 drv: swrast surfaceless: drv: radeonsi wayland: drv: radeonsi x11:
    drv: radeonsi inactive: gbm
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 23.1.9-manjaro1.1
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon Graphics (renoir LLVM
    16.0.6 DRM 3.54 6.6.8-2-MANJARO) device-ID: 1002:1638 memory: 500 MiB
    unified: no display-ID: :0.0
2

I don’t use Gnome, so this is just a general exploration.

Is there any way you can assign a manual colour profile to the LG?
… a profile that matches that used on the BenQ.

Your screenshot seems to indicate it’s assigned automatically.

3

The profile was generated with DisplayCAl and a SpyderX hardware calibration device and was imported by the program. The color calibration of the Gnome shell does not work (at least, it did not work, and the developers are even thinking of ditching it, making gnome unusable for serious photographic work).

I can’t change to the automatic profile; clicking on it and then on “enable” does nothing.

I do not understand well what do you mean with a “manual” profile, sorry (my bad).

4

Well, manual, as opposed automatic.

I presume the colour profile files (.icc, for example) are stored somewhere. Logic suggests (at least to me) that there should be some way to manually select a profile.

However, if you’re using a calibration device to automatically generate profiles, my presumption is probably moot.

5

Ah, ok. Sorry (I’m a bit dense today).

Yes, the selected profile is “manual” in that sense, I generated it with the SpyderX device. And it works well enough when it is working; the problem is that sometimes after the lock screen kicks in, the monitor reverts as if the color management were off…

Not tragic (I really hope that the gnome developers will not remove color calibration and even make it better…), but it would be nice to see what happens. I tried to ask colord log, but there is nothing interesting:

  journalctl --unit=colord 
-- Boot a60c47792bc34972ba9f03b6c645738b --
Jan 08 18:18:20 ramoth systemd[1]: Starting Manage, Install and Generate Color Profiles...
Jan 08 18:18:20 ramoth systemd[1]: Started Manage, Install and Generate Color Profiles.
Jan 08 22:19:55 ramoth systemd[1]: Stopping Manage, Install and Generate Color Profiles...
Jan 08 22:19:55 ramoth systemd[1]: colord.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jan 08 22:19:55 ramoth systemd[1]: Stopped Manage, Install and Generate Color Profiles.
-- Boot cfb4ca8f811d44eb8ab55ba282b58c3e --
Jan 10 08:02:39 ramoth systemd[1]: Starting Manage, Install and Generate Color Profiles...
Jan 10 08:02:39 ramoth systemd[1]: Started Manage, Install and Generate Color Profiles.
6

I understand the annoyance, nonetheless.

Have you considered setting up KDE with Wayland (on a separate SSD) to experiment a little? Wayland is getting better and better in KDE (in Gnome, not so much), and seems to be attracting more developer attention than X11 lately.

There is nothing much else I can add.
I’ll chime in again, if I think of anything useful.

Cheers.

1 Like
7

Yes, I’ve thought about it. The last time I tried to set up a system with both (with two different users), it resulted in a disaster ;-)… do you know if it’s possible now?

Otherwise, I’ll try to test it. A bit sad because I like gnome, but I edit photos often, and color is important there.

8

That scenario would be destined for trouble – KDE and Gnome should never be mixed, despite opinions to the contrary.

The most trouble-free method is to install a second instance of Manjaro, on a second disk (SSD preferably).

I wrote the following information for another thread; you might find it useful (I’ll quickly edit it for relevance):

Multiboot 2 Manjaro distributions on separate disks

  1. Shutdown, turn off, and unplug your computer.
  2. Disconnect the Manjaro (1) Gnome disk.
  3. Plug in the power again.
  4. Boot with the respective Manjaro (2) KDE Installer.
  5. Install and configure Manjaro (2) KDE.
  6. Shutdown, turn off, and unplug your computer.
  7. Reconnect the Manjaro (1) Gnome disk.
  8. Plug in the power again.
  9. Boot to BIOS and select Manjaro (1) Gnome as the 1st boot option (which I presume would be your preference).
  10. Reboot, and enjoy.

This will allow Grub on Manjaro (1) Gnome to become your prime bootloader for both Manjaro instances. The Manjaro (2) KDE could just as easily be made the default.

This scenario allows for either disk to be removed at a future time without affecting the other Manjaro installation.

Well, that’s it in a nutshell. I hope it’s useful. :slight_smile:

1 Like