Glitchy display in Settings -> Appearance -> background

Kevin77 · 18 August 2022 12:28

Manjaro runs as guest in latest virtualbox. Settings → Appearance is glitchy (screenshot attached). Any clue why?

$ inxi -Fauxi                                                      ✔ 
System:
  Host: manjaro Kernel: 5.15.60-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 12.1.1 parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.15-x86_64
    root=UUID=3598832e-8748-4f88-8a4e-faaaf70d851b rw quiet splash apparmor=1
    security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: GNOME v: 42.4 tk: GTK v: 3.24.34 wm: gnome-shell dm: GDM v: 42.0
    Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Virtualbox System: innotek GmbH product: VirtualBox v: 1.2
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: Oracle Corporation type: 1
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Oracle model: VirtualBox v: 1.2 serial: <superuser required>
    BIOS: innotek GmbH v: VirtualBox date: 12/01/2006
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 50.0 Wh (100.0%) condition: 50.0/50.0 Wh (100.0%)
    volts: 10.0 min: 10.0 model: innotek 1 type: Unknown serial: N/A
    status: full
CPU:
  Info: model: 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11800H bits: 64 type: MCP
    arch: Tiger Lake gen: core 11 built: 2020 process: Intel 10nm family: 6
    model-id: 0x8D (141) stepping: 1 microcode: N/A
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 320 KiB
    desc: d-4x48 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 5 MiB desc: 4x1.2 MiB L3: 96 MiB
    desc: 4x24 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2304 min/max: N/A cores: 1: 2304 2: 2304 3: 2304
    4: 2304 bogomips: 18439
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX unsupported
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT Host state unknown
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass status: Vulnerable
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling,
    PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: VMware SVGA II Adapter driver: vmwgfx v: 2.19.0.0 ports:
    active: Virtual-1 empty: Virtual-2, Virtual-3, Virtual-4, Virtual-5,
    Virtual-6, Virtual-7, Virtual-8 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 15ad:0405
    class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.org v: 1.21.1.4 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.3
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: X: loaded: vmware unloaded: modesetting
    alternate: fbdev,vesa gpu: vmwgfx display-ID: :1 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-size: <missing: xdpyinfo>
  Monitor-1: Virtual-1 mapped: Virtual1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 size: N/A
    modes: max: 1240x795 min: 640x480
  OpenGL: renderer: SVGA3D; build: RELEASE; LLVM; v: 2.1 Mesa 22.1.6
    direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 82801AA AC97 Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_intel8x0
    v: kernel bus-ID: 00:05.0 chip-ID: 8086:2415 class-ID: 0401
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.60-1-MANJARO running: yes
  Sound Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.21 running: no
  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.56 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel 82540EM Gigabit Ethernet driver: e1000 v: kernel port: d020
    bus-ID: 00:03.0 chip-ID: 8086:100e class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp0s3 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: 08:00:27:14:cf:ae
  IP v4: 10.0.2.15/24 type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
    broadcast: 10.0.2.255
  IP v6: fe80::5294:2ea8:167e:f5ef/64 type: noprefixroute scope: link
  Device-2: Intel 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI type: network bridge
    driver: piix4_smbus v: N/A modules: i2c_piix4 port: N/A bus-ID: 00:07.0
    chip-ID: 8086:7113 class-ID: 0680
  WAN IP: 49.204.133.125
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 22 GiB used: 9.04 GiB (41.1%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: VirtualBox model: VBOX HARDDISK
    size: 22 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s
    type: N/A serial: VBc55e4240-39e573e0 rev: 1.0 scheme: MBR
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 21.99 GiB size: 21.48 GiB (97.67%) used: 9.04 GiB (42.1%)
    fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
    uuid: 3598832e-8748-4f88-8a4e-faaaf70d851b
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 512 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  Message: No sensor data found. Is lm-sensors configured?
Info:
  Processes: 233 Uptime: 12m wakeups: 974 Memory: 7.76 GiB used: 1.53 GiB
  (19.7%) Init: systemd v: 251 default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Compilers: gcc: 12.1.1 clang: 14.0.6 Packages: pacman: 1143 lib: 250
  flatpak: 0 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.20

bogdancovaciu · 19 August 2022 07:32

Switch to VBoxSVGA

Kevin77 · 25 August 2022 07:24

Thanks. But it did not help. VBoxSVGA turns off 3D. Without 3D Gnome feels clunky to use. Nevertheless, Manjaro doesn’t seem to play well in VirtualBox. Encountering too many issues to list here. Not that critical as I just need a VM temporarily for some experiments. Ubuntu does the job for now.

bogdancovaciu · 25 August 2022 07:56

I have 8 installs with different DE and WM, and i have no issue, but depends on your host and settings you applied to the VM.

raguse · 25 August 2022 08:39

Leave the Graphics Controller unchanged but deactivate 3D acceleration and the glitchyness should be gone.

Kevin77 · 25 August 2022 16:07

Same configuration has no issues in Ubuntu as guest. So the problem must be in Manjaro and not host configuration.

bogdancovaciu · 25 August 2022 16:24

The virtualbox-guest-utils should be installed on your Manjaro guest VM … We can circle round and round about where the issue is, i say i have multiple VM installs of Manjaro and no issue, you say the issue is with Manjaro … Here is part of how i configure hardware on my end for VM

<Hardware>
      <CPU count="2">
        <PAE enabled="false"/>
        <LongMode enabled="true"/>
        <X2APIC enabled="true"/>
        <HardwareVirtExLargePages enabled="false"/>
      </CPU>
      <Memory RAMSize="4096"/>
      <HID Pointing="USBTablet"/>
      <Boot>
        <Order position="1" device="DVD"/>
        <Order position="2" device="HardDisk"/>
        <Order position="3" device="None"/>
        <Order position="4" device="None"/>
      </Boot>
      <Display controller="VBoxSVGA" VRAMSize="256"/>
      <BIOS>
        <IOAPIC enabled="true"/>
      </BIOS>

Probably the only relevant part is Display controller="VBoxSVGA" VRAMSize="256"
I can run in full screen and almost have same experience as on an older laptop … no glitches and no artifacts.

Kevin77 · 25 August 2022 16:47

Do you have 3D Acceleration turned ON under settings → display? I do. With the same host settings Ubuntu runs butter smooth, no glitches or stutter or anything even in full screen. Just feel like its running native. But Manjaro stutters and glitches. Both the guests use Wayland (X11 is atrocious in both Ubuntu and Manjaro guests when 3D accel is enabled). That makes me think there could be something wrong in Manjaro.

If I turn 3D accel OFF then I face no problems - in Manjaro as well as Ubuntu guest. But fact remains… with 3d enabled Manjaro guest is problematic and is not as good as Ubuntu guest given all configurations, settings and conditions the same.

bogdancovaciu · 25 August 2022 17:19

Nope …

The only OS that actually can use the 3D acceleration with the VBoxSVGA is Windows 11, but is experimental, and you do not get the

as with other OS when enabling the 3D acceleration.

Maybe Ubuntu installs by default the xf86-video-vmware with some tweaks or the latest from source hence the better performance when using the VMSVGA aka VMware SVGA II, while Manjaro inherits it from Arch Linux … can’t say i know what exactly could be different, but now i have time to do a quick test and see …

Edit:
Did a test, reproduced your issue 100% and now i might reconsider a few things … Maybe @Yochanan can let us know if he knows if this can be possible as result of some tweaks we do with the gnome-control-center and is simply revealing when using VMWare video driver ? The thing is, no other application glitches like that …

Edit2:
Installed the one from Arch and does glitches even worse … hahaha …

Yochanan · 25 August 2022 17:50

Not possible. The only thing we do different from Arch is use a custom logo and allow the Software Updates function to open Pamac on the About panel.

@Kevin77: Have you tried Arch, EndeavourOS or Garuda?

bogdancovaciu · 25 August 2022 17:52

Yeah, you are right … see my second edit above, and thanks for clarifying it! So, we might need more patches then?

Yochanan · 25 August 2022 17:58

Kevin77 · 26 August 2022 03:45

Were you also able to feel the performance difference?

bogdancovaciu · 26 August 2022 04:50

Very subjective and probably pavlovian, as my main system is quite old. First gen i7 with an old Nvidia GPU, so as a host for VM i have to lower my expectations anyway, but in comparison with something i experienced 2 years back when trying it, there is an improvement. Will have to test the other VM installs as well. Still, the Gnome Settings remains a mystery with those glitchy parts.

Kevin77 · 29 August 2022 12:19

@bogdancovaciu Ubuntu uses vmwgfx as the graphics driver when run as a VirtualBox guest. May be that explains the performance?

bogdancovaciu · 29 August 2022 17:35

In that case you have to follow the VMware/Install Arch Linux as a guest - ArchWiki … see the modules part.
But - from one of my installs …

/usr/include/libdrm/vmwgfx_drm.h
/usr/lib/dri/vmwgfx_dri.so
/usr/lib/modules/5.15.63-1-MANJARO/kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx
/usr/lib/modules/5.15.63-1-MANJARO/kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx/vmwgfx.ko.xz
/usr/lib/modules/5.19.4-1-MANJARO/kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx
/usr/lib/modules/5.19.4-1-MANJARO/kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx/vmwgfx.ko.zst
/usr/lib32/dri/vmwgfx_dri.so