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Reading AskUbuntu and on the forums, I am trying to find out what to do about a WebGL and Google MapsGL problem (described in a Google forum thread starting at post #5).

Specifically, Google's MapsGL works perfectly in Windows 7 (on this same machine with dual-boot), but on Ubuntu, the Photo Tour and 45 Degree Satellite View show grey blurry blobs (see screen-shot).

According to post #10, I may have better luck with an updated driver. I seem to have Mesa 8.0.2 installed, and see from the Mesa website that 8.0.3 is available.

I have added PPA ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates, but the only two items it provides for update are xdiagnose and xserver-xorg-video-intel. These aren't the Mesa drivers, are they?

So…

  1. Would it help to update my Mesa drivers?
  2. If so, how would I go about it?
  3. If not, what can I do to fix the problem?

I would be happy to try it out as long as I could roll back the changes should they fail.

More information:

  • Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit fully updated.
  • Firefox 14.0.1 gives the error
  • Chromium 18.0 will not run MapsGL at all (see post #2)
  • EDIT: Chromium 20.0 does work if started as chromium-browser --ignore-gpu-blacklist. The latest Chromium is available from the PPA ppa:webapps/preview (thank you, mikewhatever — see his answer below).
  • EDIT: Chromium has a setting that works the same way as --ignore-gpu-blacklist. Go to chrome://flags and enable setting Override software rendering list.

Thank you.

Community
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Paddy Landau
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2 Answers2

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How about just enable "Override software rendering list" in chrome://flags, it works in my chromium 18.0.1025.168.

caasi
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  • Thank you, caasi. That does indeed work in Chromium, which is a cleaner solution than --ignore-gpu-blacklist. All we need to do now is to find out how to get Firefox to work! – Paddy Landau Aug 21 '12 at 07:38
  • That's strange, WebGL works with my intel GMA X3100 and FireFox 14.0.1. – caasi Aug 25 '12 at 17:40
  • Thanks for the note about your GMA X3100. How do I find out which hardware version I have? – Paddy Landau Aug 26 '12 at 07:01
  • Sorry for my late reply, I just checked my notebook's spec on the Internet and try to find new drivers for my card, then I found chrome://flags. – caasi Oct 15 '12 at 20:51
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According to the GPU info you've posted, WebGL is unavailable for your hardware. I suspect that Intel graphics/drivers are not up to the job, and had been blacklisted. I don't think updating mesa will help. You might want to try launching Chromium like this:

chromium-browser --ignore-gpu-blacklist

...but expect problems. It would not have been disabled, had it worked well.

Info source

PS: By the way, there was a PPA to update Chromium. The current version is at 21, and 18 is many months old.

For Firefox, the situation is about the same. If you wish to enable hardware acceleration, follow the wiki page.

Community
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mikewhatever
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  • Thanks for the comments. Your command should show chromium-browser, not chromium. You are right that problems remain when I do this. I have searched for the right PPA and found two: ppa:chromium-daily/stable and deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main, but neither of them showed me an updated Chromium (after reloading the apt cache). I find this most puzzling, as the relevant web pages say that there are updates. – Paddy Landau Aug 10 '12 at 10:34
  • Thanks for the correction, and see the edit above conserning the PPA. – mikewhatever Aug 10 '12 at 12:57
  • Thank you for the PPA. Post #14 on the Google thread explains the problem clearly; in summary, the updated Chromium works provided I use ignore-gpu-blacklist, but Firefox (even after a reboot) still has the same problem of blurry grey blobs. I'm voting up your answer because of your help, but it's still not quite an answer because Firefox is still a problem. – Paddy Landau Aug 10 '12 at 17:05
  • Firefox has the same (or similar) blacklisting, you can see if it's on or off at the about:support page. To force WebGL on, check out the wiki page by Mozilla. ...and thanks for upvoting. – mikewhatever Aug 10 '12 at 17:23
  • Thanks. Google Maps accepts WebGL in Firefox, so that's not where the problem lies. In about:support, the only item with "blacklist" in is gfx.blacklist.suggested-driver-version — Mesa 7.10.3. Obviously, my hardware is capable (it works in Windows Firefox, and on Linux Chromium with --ignore-gpu-blacklist), so it should work in Linux Firefox. How can I find out which version of Mesa I have? In the package manager, lib*mesa shows 8.0.2-0ubuntu3.1, so would it mean that I have 8.0.2 and therefore that the Firefox blacklist is irrelevant? – Paddy Landau Aug 11 '12 at 08:48
  • I think it's safe to assume that if WebGL is blacklisted in Chrome, it would be also blacklisted in Firefox. You need both, the hardware and the driver support, so, for example, if the card is blacklisted, the mesa version wouldn't metter. – mikewhatever Aug 11 '12 at 11:46
  • Thanks. How would I see the Firefox blacklist, and, if necessary, undo it? – Paddy Landau Aug 12 '12 at 08:01
  • I was under the impression, that only niewer Nvidia cards were whitelisted for Linux, but, apparently, that was for older versions of Firefox. What's the hardware exactly? Also, what's the supported OpenGL version, as shown in about:support? If the hardware is blacklisted, MOZ_GLX_IGNORE_BLACKLIST=1 firefox should bypass it. – mikewhatever Aug 12 '12 at 08:53
  • I appreciate the time you have taken over this. The command you gave unfortunately made no difference. I do not know how to attach files here, so I've loaded the about:support page onto Ubuntu One for you. It should load in Firefox (you may have to download it first); if it doesn't work, let me know and I'll try a different format. – Paddy Landau Aug 12 '12 at 12:22
  • Got it. You seem to have Intel's Sandybridge graphics that supports OpenGL 3. Nothing seems to be blacklisted, so it should work, ...not sure why it doesn't. – mikewhatever Aug 12 '12 at 18:37
  • Thanks. We'll have to wait to see if Google gets back with anything useful. – Paddy Landau Aug 13 '12 at 10:22