fleshyorgans

NVidia has a known issue with compositing and VRAM exhaustion. This doesn’t manifest under Vista because it (appears to) start using system memory properly.

Under Linux, it reaches a point where VRAM is filled and subsequent window draws end up black or with just decoration. You can duplicate this by running Beryl without the use-copy option, then open 12 or 15 maximized windows.

My solution for a GeForce FX 5200
In Beryl, set the following:
Use COW,
Automatic rendering path,
Rendering platform is Force AIGLX,
Strict binding,
Rendering is automatic

It kind of sucks to have to do a work around, but unless NVidia gets on the ball and fixes things, this is how I’m gonna roll.

(Edit: this is running dual head, each monitor at 1280×1024 and with mimaps generated for window decorations only. It’s a Feisty Fawn system w/ gnome. All of this may or may not be relevant.)