Faster on Linux?

All things being equal- has anyone experienced SL running faster/better on Linux (Ubuntu) than on Windoze?
If so did you find any special tweaks needed to be done to make it run better?

The last time I ran Second Life on Linux (Ubuntu in my case), it was noticeably smoother and had slightly better framerates, but no sound

This was about a year ago, so your mileage may vary.

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If you have an ATI card, it will be hit or miss and you may have bad (slower) experience.

I think SL runs better on Linux. Going by simple, raw frames-per-second (FPS), a few of us have shown that there is no real difference between the Linux and Windows versions; however, in my own experience, SL on Linux just has a smoother feel to it.

That said, there are a number of factors that can affect your experience:

- ATI vs. nVidia: Simply put, nVidia has been doing a stellar job in taking care of the Linux community; ATI, on the other hand, has serious quality-control issues with its drivers, both Linux and Windows versions. Worse, ATI has ended support for older DirectX-9 cards (Radeon 9xxx and most Xxxxx, such as X1600, X800, etc.). While Windows users can still use older Catalysts (which works to their advantage, actually, given problems with newer drivers), it becomes much harder for Linux, as ATI's older drivers - the only ones that will work with DX9 cards - are not compatible with the latest X-server. This means, if you have an older ATI card, you're stuck using Ubuntu 8.10 or earlier. For Ubuntu 9.04 and other Linuxes that use X-Server 1.6, you'll have to use the free, open-source drivers.

- Restricted vs. Free Drivers: For nVidia users, the choice is easy: Use the proprietary (restricted) drivers. They're not open-source, but they work well, and fully support hardware-based 3D rendering. For ATI users, the proprietary (restricted) fglrx drivers are preferred, particularly for newer cards. For older ATI cards on the latest X-server, you must use the Mesa ati drivers. The good news here is that these drivers are very close to fully supporting hardware-based 3D rendering and may actually render SL decently.

32- vs. 64-bit: SL will run on 64-bit Linux (x64), but with limitations. Specifically, streaming media (video) does not work on 64-bit systems and may result in crashing to desktop when attempting to view an in-world video. Streaming music will require you to use the FMOD audio engine supplied with the viewer, as the viewer does not work with 64-bit gstreamer installations.

So, if you have an nVidia card in a new 32-bit Ubuntu install, SL should be pretty much smooth sailing for you; otherwise, you'll face some limitations.

for me SL is definately faster in linux.

Tip for ati users is, go to debug settings and set render_VBO to false...it increases framerate tenfolds

Streaming media should never cause crashing to desktop any more on 64-bit systems with the latest (1.23) viewer - is there a particular Jira you're referring to?

Oh! HAI!!

Tofu is one of the "good guys" o.0

Here's a link to Boy ane's blog post with comments on Linux versus Windows benchmark tests.

I'm afraid I don't have a specific JIRA to cite. I remember there was a lot of troubleshooting involved that led me and others to conclude the problem was with 64-bit gstreamer libraries. Unfortunately, it was about this time that, due to this and various other issues I was having outside of SL, I wiped my 64-bit Ubuntu installation, installed its 32-bit counterpart, and never looked back.

My troubleshooting is supported by the fact that 64-bit Linux viewers had streaming music capability until RC1.22.8, when streaming was switched from FMOD to OpenAL. Since OpenAL uses gstreamer, this explained the loss of streaming music for RC1.22.8 and later viewers unless the user edited the configuration file to blacklist OpenAL and re-enable FMOD. If I'm not mistaken, this is essentially what 1.23 is doing automatically - which is great in that one will no longer experience random departures to desktop caused by gstreamer incompatibilites, but it's not an ideal solution. It still leaves streaming media (video) non-functional, which leaves a new 64-bit Linux user with the impression of the system being crippled or broken compared to Windows. Although I feel the exact blame for this issue lies in the laps of the gstreamer developers and not with LL, I feel that the only practical way to fix this issue once and for all is to compile a 64-bit viewer.

Oh... Found a relevant JIRA: VWR-11947 (although I don't think Catherine quite fully grasped the full extent of the problem she was facing).

I absolutely agree 125%! If Tofu ever leaves LL, we're screwed!

*hugs Tofu tight*

Aww!

... watching streaming video on linux causes crashing to desktop on 32bit and 64bit systems FULL STOP. it is just a matter of time.

Has never happened to me, at least not on 32-bit Ubuntu with the gstreamer "good" and "ugly" plugins. It may depend on your video drivers, your x-server implementation, your gstreamer installation, and which codecs are being used; but I've never had any problem with it, at least with a kernel released within the last two years. I *have* managed to crash plenty of Windows systems with streaming video, however - and not just from SL, either.