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Paddy Landau
Asked: 2012-08-10 09:05:30 +0800 CST

Would a new Mesa driver help to fix WebGL problems?

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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.

webgl

2 Answers

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

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  2. 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.

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