Patchy pixels in Google Earth street view

[m654321]

Scott said:

I'm not a Google Earth user but I thought I'd at least make an attempt at a solution for this issue.
So it seems that the issue is in the rendering?  Googling "google earth rendering" resulted in many hits, here's one that looked promising.
https://support.google.com/earth/answer/148070?hl=en

Thanks Scott.  I had a look at the link you gave (above), but the rendering problem or 'patchy pixels', when Goole Earth is on street view, appears to be an LL-specific, as it does not show up in either Zorin 6.4 or Windows 7, running on the same laptop (Asus X71Q).  The step was to then go to Tools and then to Options within Google Earth, to check the display settings as you indicated in your link.  I found the settings were identical for Win 7 and Zorin 6.4, LL2.2 or LL2, so the 'patchy pixels' issue appears unrelated to the display settings in Google Earth.

Is anyone else having difficulties with Google Earth in LL? Any other ideas on how this problem may be removed in LL?

Regards
Mike

[m654321]

The 'patchy pixel' problem can be viewed here...
  http://imagebin.ca/v/1jogKCOPHlAT

[bugfree]

Same problem here. Only happens when LL is installed. Using live whether from DVD or USB stick works fine. Something changes during installation.

[anon222]

How did you installed Google Earth?
I assume you have 64bit LL and Google Earth 32bit package.
Maybe you are missing something.
First you have to install all of the dependencies.
Copy and paste all of this to Terminal window.

Code:

sudo apt-get install libc6-i386 libglib2.0-0:i386 libsm6:i386 \
libglu1-mesa:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libxext6:i386 \
libxrender1:i386 libx11-6:i386 libfontconfig1:i386 lsb-core

Then you download Google Earth 32bit package from here:
https://www.google.com/earth/download/ge/agree.html
And install the package.
Hope this helps.

[bugfree]

Hi misko,

Thanks for that!
Checked all those dependencies before originally installing and also originally used the GE version you provided the link to.
But I've repeated the install process using your example, just in case. Problem still exists, though.

I'm using the 32bit version of LL2 and obviously the 32 bit version of GE.

On reinstallation, there was a message about package 'libc6-i386', saying it was missing, has been obsoleted or is only available from another source. However next message says the following packages replace it 'libc6'.

New install was fine. GE is reporting the Renderer as OpenGL (the only option btw) and the video driver as 'Intel Open Source Technology Center" with Max Texture size of 8192*8192.

I'm sure if I run LL from a usb stick and install GE in the live environment, the video driver name reported by GE is different. I'll need to check that again after I recreate a live stick with GE. Apart from that everything looks OK, so I can't figure why just GE has the blocky display.

[m654321]

Just wondered how many of you see 'blocky' or 'patchy' pixels when viewing google earth in streetview: 18 months later I still have this problem.

Bugfree: you had the same problem - were you able to resolve it?  You said the problem didn't exist when you ran google earth in an LL live environment, but the problem returned following an LL install to disk.



Mike

[bugfree]

Hello Mike,
I never did resolve the patchy pixel problem with my initial setup and basically gave up. But eventually it got the better of me and after a rethink I un-installed the current Googleearth version (7+?) and installed version 6.2.1.6014 (beta). It's an old version (2/3/2012) and uses OpenGL as the rendering engine. Bingo! No more missing pixels in either map or street view and the maps are current. The downside is the fonts are not as legible as the latest version, but a small price to pay to finally have good resolution. BTW, I'm using LL 2.6, 64bit installed and running from a USB stick.

Also, you might consider installing Slimjet browser http://www.slimjet.com/
It's very fast, secure and configurable and IMHO the best browser out there. I just love it's ability to have bookmarks hidden on the left and its built-in down loader, adblock etc etc. Have a read of their webpage for all the goodies. Just add showmystreet to your bookmarks and use in lieu of GE, albeit without measurement functions etc.. http://showmystreet.com/
Showmystreet renders perfectly in map and street views in both 32 and 64 bit versions of every linux I've tried.
HTH. 

[m654321]

I un-installed the current Googleearth version (7+?) and installed version 6.2.1.6014 (beta). It's an old version (2/3/2012) and uses OpenGL as the rendering engine. Bingo! No more missing pixels in either map or street view and the maps are current.

Hi bugfree,
How did you specifically install version 6.2.1.6014?  I've already downloaded it onto my PC's desktop but am unsure what to do next using the terminal...

Mike

[bugfree]

Hello Mike,
Download the Ubuntu version from here.
http://google-earth.en.uptodown.com/ubuntu

It's a .deb file. Then just click on the file and it will install itself and place a menu option in Internet. Wait until it's finished. You don't need to be in a terminal.
Cheers

[newtusmaximus]

Thanks BF Uninstalled GE from Synaptic - not all dependencies removed apparently.  Then down loaded frrom your link and hey presto pixel problems gone LL 2.8 32bit.  Slimjet is nice also  Double whammy!!