Operating system or graphics card?

Jolly_Roger

I recently acquired a Novatech iFlame computer (http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/pc/range/iflame.html), which does not have a standalone graphics card.

My operating system is Suse 11.4, which those of you in the know will appreciate is the latest Suse version. Previously, on a different computer, I ran Suse 11.1, which did have a separate graphics card.

Using this older system, I could use Firefox to open iPlayer and either watch tv live or watch an archived programme in either the small screen or full screen modes; there was no change in quality.

However, with the combination of new computer and new operating system, I can only watch iPlayer as a small screen display. If I maximise it to the full screen version, the picture slows to a frame-by-frame display. The original version of Firefox incorporated into Suse 11.4 was a beta version, which gave a flickering display even on the smaller screen and full screen watching was impossible, because of the frame-by-frame problem mentioned above.

Standard updates now mean I have the latest version of Firefox, which has cut out the flickering on the small screen display, whose quality is fantastic. However, a full screen display leaves me stuck with the frame-by-frame, often frozen display.

Oddly, when in full screen mode, hitting the Esc button to return to small size display doesn't trigger an immediate response. It takes some time before the screen size is reduced. I tried changing the keyboard, but this problem remained.

My question is this: is the problem likely to be with the Suse operating system, Firefox or with the lack of a graphics card?

Thanks.

societys_child

So, it's most likely shared memory for the on-board graphics. Can you assign more memory to the graphics in the bios? Might be nothing to do with it, but my first thought.

23n1th

I'd look to the OS first for two reasons, one that hardware shouldn't have a problem with the iplayer and two trying out another OS wont cost you anything provided you stick with linux.

mr_fishbulb

I don't know about SUSE, but this cured my Ubuntu laptop when 4 on demand and iplayer full screen video was freezing:

sudo mkdir /etc/adobe 
echo "OverrideGPUValidation=true" >~/mms.cfg 
sudo mv ~/mms.cfg /etc/adobe/

esuhl

I'm not a Linux guru, but it sounds like the right drivers haven't been loaded. Given that the motherboard uses an Intel chipset, I'd read the SuSE documentation to see if you can identify the correct video drivers for that chipset, then check whether they're installed correctly (or how to install them if not)...

S0litaire

What version of Firefox is SUSE using?
FireFox 3 is VERY bad when it comes to Flash players in general.
The latest Flash 10.3-b1 is a bit better with resources and playback.
But Chrome, or Firefox-4, uses plugings in a slightly different way and are x100 better than the default Browsers and Flash.

Try the latest Chrome or Firefox and see if you get the same problem. If you do it's more likely hardware related.

*NOTE*
your SUSE install might be upto date, but they usually don't do Major Software Upgrades (like Firefox 3 to Firefox 4), they rather update the version (e.g. from 3.1 to 3.5)

you might have to manually install the latest Firefox version

spakkker

Not hardware.

kabayiri

I'd check the graphics layer performance first, to confirm it is solid.

Download and run glxgears. Let us know what the figures you get for FPS are.