I am getting flickering of video when using Skype on the following system. Intel Core i7-6700cpu 3.7GHz Intel Skylake DT GRT2 running Ubuntu 15.10 64bit. I have followed the instructions on this site for upgrading the driver but get the following error:

[MKnig1]

"W:GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net/ http://ppa.launchpad.net wily InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 52165BD6B9BA26FA, W:Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/mc3man/gstffmpeg-keep/ubuntu/dists/wily/main/binary-amd64/Packages http://ppa.launchpad.net/mc3man/gstffmpeg-keep/ubuntu/dists/wily/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found

, W:Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/mc3man/gstffmpeg-keep/ubuntu/dists/wily/main/binary-i386/Packages http://ppa.launchpad.net/mc3man/gstffmpeg-keep/ubuntu/dists/wily/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found

, E:Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead."

The install then fails.

I have ascertained the camera is working on a different system.

modinfo i915 | grep filename

filename: /lib/modules/4.2.0-30-generic/kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915.ko

I get nothing with dkms status

[ML4]

Greetings!

In layman's terms, the error message is (correctly) warning that you are trying to install untrusted and out-of-date software, in this case Doug McMahon's software repository PPA for 'gstffmpeg-keep'.

Doug McMahon hasn't updated his repository in a while, and his software is not up-to-date for Ubuntu 15.10 Wily. I don't know why you added this unsupported and outdated 3rd party PPA to your software sources. What were you hoping to achieve? Do you trust Doug and his code? Is there a specific reason you need an old/unsupported version of this software?

If you wish to proceed with installing the unsupported/unofficial Doug McMahon software, then you should contact Doug McMahon for help with his software. Intel won't be able to help you with outdated 3rd party software from some random website.

[MKnig1]

Thank you for your prompt reply.

I was not aware of the McMahon repository being activated in my software repositories. In any event I have got rid of that and have now successfully update the Intel graphics driver.

Nonetheless despite the upgrade I still have the same problem with the flickering video picture of my caller on Skype. Do you have any knowledge of this problem? I assume it is some type of video driver issue with respect to Skype, but as a layman I do not really know.

[ML4]

I personally have found that Skylake HD 530 graphics are buggy and unstable under Linux (and not just limited to Skype). I think Intel likes to rush their new products to market without really testing them. Troubleshooting Intel's QA failures for them might be beyond our abilities as laypeople, but let's do our best to help each other in the spirit of Ubuntu (which means "I am what I am because of who we all are").

Here are the settings that are currently working best for me, Not perfectly, but better than stock/vanilla. I can't vouch that what has worked for me will also work for you, but at least we can compare notes and see the differences between your system and my system. Also please note that you are running Ubuntu, and I am running Fedora, so my solution may not be 1:1 applicable to your case, for example you should use "apt" instead of "dnf":

$ uname -a

Linux snowpine 4.3.5-300.fc23.x86_64 # 1 SMP Mon Feb 1 03:18:41 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ dnf info xorg-x11-drv-intel.x86_64

Last metadata expiration check performed 0:03:29 ago on Mon Feb 29 13:48:42 2016.

Installed Packages

Name : xorg-x11-drv-intel

Arch : x86_64

Epoch : 0

Version : 2.99.917

Release : 19.20151206.fc23

Size : 1.9 M

Repo : @System

From repo : updates

Summary : Xorg X11 Intel video driver

URL : http://www.x.org/ http://www.x.org

License : MIT

Description : X.Org X11 Intel video driver.

$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf

Section "Device"

Identifier "Intel Graphics"

Driver "intel"

Option "TearFree" "true"

EndSection

I should also point out that Skype is a proprietary, "closed source" product of Microsoft Corp. So, even if you and I can miraculously figure out the bug that is causing poor Skype performance on Skylake hardware, unfortunately we do not have access to the Skype source code to actually fix the bug.

[MKnig1]

Thank you for that information which led me to a similar answer for Ubuntu 15.10 on Github.

https://github.com/linuxenko/ubuntu-skylake-i915-video-fix https://github.com/linuxenko/ubuntu-skylake-i915-video-fix

This seems to have solved my problem with the Skype graphics.

• Copy 20-intel.conf from repository to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf
• Restart / reboot the system

I hope this will help others with the same problem.

Section "Extensions" Option "XVideo" "Disable"EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Intel Graphics" Driver "intel" Option "AccelMethod" "sna" Option "TearFree" "true" Option "DRI" "true" # VideoRam 461632 # sometimes (before i updated the bios, it were useful)EndSection

[ML4]

Glad you got the problem sorted! Do you mind if I ask you a few follow up questions, as I am trying to troubleshoot my own Skylake graphics problems, and I think it would be helpful for us to compare notes?

1. You never answered my questions, which kernel version and which version of the Intel graphics driver do you have installed?
2. Which "desktop environment" are you using? (Unity, Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc.)
3. Would you say that graphics are "excellent/flawless" since you applied this fix, or would you say they are "not perfect, but at least I can use Skype."
4. Would you test the media players VLC and mplayer in fullscreen mode for me? Do videos look nice, filling the whole screen, with no flickering or black borders around the edges? What if you "alt-tab" while a VLC video is fullscreen? Does it properly switch to the other application, or does the video stay on top?
5. Did you test my suggested 20-intel.conf first, or did you go straight to linuxenko's version without trying mine first? If you did try my suggestion, did it fix the Skype problem?
6. Who is "linuxenko"? Do you know this person? Do you trust them and their code? Is their code up-to-date and being currently maintained? Will it update automatically for you over time?
7. I wonder, what are the implications/limitations of disabling xvideo extension support?
8. Have you tested a live-USB of Ubuntu 16.04 (currently in Beta, final release next month) to see if it has better Skylake support than last year's release?

Again, thanks for sharing this information. Bummer that we even need to use a .conf file in the first place; most graphics cards are plug-and-play in Linux. I will be testing linuxenko's individual suggestions on my Fedora to see if I can drill a little deeper down into the problem/solution. If I have a chance, I'll give it a try in some other distros (like Ubuntu) too.

[ML4]

I tested linuxenko's code, but did not see an improvement, so I reverted back to what I had before. Glad it is working well for you.

[MKnig1]

1. 4.2.0-30-generic

2. Unity

3. They work, have no experience of degree excellence

4. I only use vlc and yes does everything correctly

5. Straight to linuxenko

6. since I simple type the required text into and editor and created the required file I can say that it was trust worthy

7. I do not investigate new versions of Ubuntu until it has been release for several months and is well tried by the users and the wrinkles ironed out.

[ML4]

Thanks, very helpful info for Ubuntu users!

The reason I asked about your kernel version is this: I did a little research on the Arch Linux wiki (those guys are so smart) and found out that 4.3 kernel is their recommended minimum kernel for Skylake. For 4.2 kernel they recommend adding "i915.preliminary_hw_support=1" to the boot options. So I am kind of wondering, would the linuxenko code still have been necessary with a newer kernel and/or the "i915.preliminary_hw_support=1" boot option?

However, since your Skype issue is resolved to your satisfaction, then I would completely understand not wanting to experiment with other variables. Probably you just want to get on with your life and make some Skype calls. The important thing is you are happy with your computer.

I am test-driving a Live USB of 16.04 Beta myself (which uses kernel 4.4). My first impression is that tearing/flickering seems better in 16.04 than it was in 15.10 (at least without linuxenko's code). Good news for Skylake users in 2016.