Hey guys. I am getting a poor picture from Google Earth. For example, when I spin the globe around, only half of it moves and the rest stays still. This breaks up the picture completely. Also, if I place a window on top of Google Earth and then move it away again, Google Earth doesn't bother to re-render the image. I have difficulty zooming into locations because half of the picture stays static. Anyone know what the problem could be? I know the Google Earth for Linux version is only a beta at this stage, but i'd have thought it'd be a little better quality? I am running Kubuntu 6.06 and my graphics card is an integrated Intel 845G 64MB RAM
It could be your graphics chipset, I'm not sure. From my (albiet limited) experience, Intel video chipsets tend to have somewhat shoddy performance and features, it's entirely possible that there's a GL problem between the two. My rigs are using NVidia cards and I'm amazed; even as a beta, Google Earth seems to work and look better on Linux than it does in Windows. It may be a toy, but it's a cool toy and I missed it. Additionally, as opposed to Picasa which is ported using WINE libraries, Google Earth seems to be a totally native port, so the performance is exemplary.
Yes you are right, Intel graphics are not the best. But still, I would have thought it be enough for Google Earth. That doesn't suprise me much The other computer I have that runs Ubuntu has an nVidia Geforce2 Ultra 64MB. I will install Google Earth on that tomorrow, see if works any better. Yeah, I missed it too! It's nice to see companies such as Google taking notice of the Linux platform. I read somewhere that they fixed around 200 bugs in the WINE project when they were creating Picasa. BTW, i've included a screenshot. What do you make of it?
They should develop for Linux IMHO, since they have been reliant on the Linux community since the very beginning. I believe all 100,000+ of their servers run Linux. (Before you ask which distro, they have their own internal distro) It looks like either a driver issue or a GL library issue. Could you run glxinfo and post the verbosity here?
Well if they have their own internal distro, it shouldn't be too hard for them to develop a desktop Linux distribution . If a company like Google made a Linux distribution, people would take note. They could be a real threat to Microsoft, and not only for web-related services. Yeah it works fine on my Ubuntu/nVidia box I'll post the output of glxinfo on my Kubuntu/Intel box a bit later BTW, did Google Earth show up in your KDE menu?
Here is the output of glxinfo in full: Code: name of display: :0.0 display: :0 screen: 0 direct rendering: Yes server glx vendor string: SGI server glx version string: 1.2 server glx extensions: GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_hyperpipe, GLX_SGIX_swap_barrier, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig client glx vendor string: SGI client glx version string: 1.4 client glx extensions: GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_MESA_allocate_memory, GLX_MESA_swap_control, GLX_MESA_swap_frame_usage, GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_OML_sync_control, GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGI_swap_control, GLX_SGI_video_sync, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_pbuffer, GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap GLX version: 1.2 GLX extensions: GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_MESA_allocate_memory, GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig OpenGL vendor string: Tungsten Graphics, Inc OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) 845G 20050225 OpenGL version string: 1.3 Mesa 6.4.1 OpenGL extensions: GL_ARB_imaging, GL_ARB_multisample, GL_ARB_multitexture, GL_ARB_point_parameters, GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp, GL_ARB_texture_compression, GL_ARB_texture_cube_map, GL_ARB_texture_env_add, GL_ARB_texture_env_combine, GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar, GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3, GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat, GL_ARB_texture_rectangle, GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object, GL_ARB_vertex_program, GL_ARB_window_pos, GL_EXT_abgr, GL_EXT_bgra, GL_EXT_blend_color, GL_EXT_blend_equation_separate, GL_EXT_blend_func_separate, GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_EXT_blend_subtract, GL_EXT_clip_volume_hint, GL_EXT_cull_vertex, GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array, GL_EXT_convolution, GL_EXT_copy_texture, GL_EXT_draw_range_elements, GL_EXT_fog_coord, GL_EXT_histogram, GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays, GL_EXT_packed_pixels, GL_EXT_point_parameters, GL_EXT_polygon_offset, GL_EXT_rescale_normal, GL_EXT_secondary_color, GL_EXT_separate_specular_color, GL_EXT_stencil_wrap, GL_EXT_subtexture, GL_EXT_texture, GL_EXT_texture3D, GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp, GL_EXT_texture_env_add, GL_EXT_texture_env_combine, GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3, GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic, GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias, GL_EXT_texture_object, GL_EXT_texture_rectangle, GL_EXT_vertex_array, GL_3DFX_texture_compression_FXT1, GL_APPLE_client_storage, GL_APPLE_packed_pixels, GL_ATI_blend_equation_separate, GL_IBM_rasterpos_clip, GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat, GL_INGR_blend_func_separate, GL_MESA_pack_invert, GL_MESA_ycbcr_texture, GL_MESA_window_pos, GL_NV_blend_square, GL_NV_light_max_exponent, GL_NV_texture_rectangle, GL_NV_texgen_reflection, GL_NV_vertex_program, GL_NV_vertex_program1_1, GL_OES_read_format, GL_SGI_color_matrix, GL_SGI_color_table, GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap, GL_SGIS_texture_border_clamp, GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp, GL_SGIS_texture_lod, GL_SUN_multi_draw_arrays glu version: 1.3 glu extensions: GLU_EXT_nurbs_tessellator, GLU_EXT_object_space_tess visual x bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer ms cav id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro r g b a bf th cl r g b a ns b eat ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 0x23 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x24 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x25 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x26 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x27 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 0 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x28 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 0 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x29 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x2a 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x2b 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x2c 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x2d 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x2e 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None 0x2f 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 0 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x30 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 0 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x31 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow 0x32 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 Slow Does this give away any clues?
Everything looks right, but it seems from what I've read that most Intel chipsets have problems with Google Earth (in any OS). Sorry.
Well never mind, at least I've got it working on my other computer. BTW, how would i go about un-installing Google Earth?
If you installed Google Earth as root, it'd be something like this (as root): Code: sh /usr/local/google-earth/uninstall If you installed it as a user, it's probably in your home: Code: sh ~/google-earth/uninstall Barring that, it's a Linux app; there's no registry. All you have to do is delete the google-earth directory and the symlinks, you're good to go!
haha, oh I can still remember the countless times i've had to clean the Windows registry after a bad app wouldn't un-install fully. The registry can become real mess in only a short amount of time. I am someone who likes their Operating System to be very clean, no pointless empty folders and such like. Windows was a nightmare on that front. It would take me ages to clean out the 'Documents & Settings' folder, the 'Program Files' folder and all those old redundant configuration files in the System folder. :x: With Linux, I know that all my personal settings are stored in one place - the home folder. Anyway, thanks for the tip. I'll try it out later
I've found a fix for this: Code: sudo cp /usr/local/google-earth/googleearth.desktop /usr/share/applications/
