Ubuntu Linux and Steam Link: Screen flickering and performance issues!

[Frank Drebin]

Recently I switched from Win 10 to Ubuntu Linux. I bought Steam Link in January and it worked fine over WLAN with Windows 10. Now, with Ubuntu Linux (15.10) I get a horrible flickering screen effect with Big Picture Mode thus making use of the Steam UI horrible and nearly unusable experience. The effect, however, goes away when I go ingame or when I minimize BPM.

Also, the performance with games isn't as fast as it was with Windows. Most notable performance issues are with internet videos (like football matches and YouTube videos) streamed thtough Steam Link to my TV. They worked fine with Windows 10 but they are basically unwatchable in Linux.

My computers main specs are:

Ubuntu Linux 15.10 (64 bit)
Intel i3 dual core, 3.3 GHz
GeForce GT 520 (352.63 drivers)
10 GB's of RAM
WLAN: 5 GHz WiFi band, 802.11 AC

I know my video card isn't nowhere near the best available but it worked under Windows just fine. I know that in Ubuntu Linux the 'latest' GeForce drivers aren't really the latest video card drivers but the latest drivers tested and specifically built for Ubuntu. Would it help if I update my video card drivers through this (http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2015/08/ubuntu-nvidia-graphics-drivers-ppa-is-ready-for-action)?

[william A.]

Be careful of drivers that are not ready for uss in linux yet

[Frank Drebin]

Well, I managed to do a of workaround with the flickering screen problem: I set BPM to start in windowed mode and the flickering issue is gone! :)

[retro_Ed]

Originally posted by Frank Drebin:

Well, I managed to do a of workaround with the flickering screen problem: I set BPM to start in windowed mode and the flickering issue is gone! :)

Thanks for sharing this tip. I had same flickering issue and it worked just fine.
( Ubuntu 16.04 - Nvidia 361.42 - GTX750Ti - Steam Link 516

[toidi]

Had the very same issue on a couple of rigs here (buntu and arch). Either went away with gfx card driver update or system update. Not exactly sure which as I just noticed that it wasn't flickering anymore when I ran steam recently.

[hateball]

I get the flickering just as BPM starts up, then it goes away. Havent been on the 352 driver for ages however, so I can't say for sure that that's the problem.

You could try upgrading to 16.04 LTS (15.10 goes EOL soon) which gets you a newer nVidia driver.

If you require even newer drivers, try using this PPA https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa

[Frank Drebin]

Originally posted by retro_Ed:

Thanks for sharing this tip. I had same flickering issue and it worked just fine.
( Ubuntu 16.04 - Nvidia 361.42 - GTX750Ti - Steam Link 516

Good to hear that my solution worked for you

[Shawnster P]

Okay, Frank's work around definitely worked for me too. For other people's sake when they read this, I just wanted to note that even though it is windowed on the computer, it still shows up full screen on the tv through steam link. Honestly, this might even be a prefered way to keep it. Thanks again, Frank!

[jrodder]

Another thanks for Frank, I was battling this from my Linux rig as well, had another post on it and was driving me nuts! I would still like some hardware encoding but I guess this is still being worked on. I can at laest play some games now and don't have to deal with that insane flickering.