HUGE icons at initial startup

• Apr 21, 2021 - 22:16

I have tried 6 different ways to install MuseScore into Linux Mint xfce including CLI on all new installations and no way works! I end up with two icons I can see and the remainder are off the screen. I can see them if I move the screen around.
Minimize does not work, Adjust screen size doesn't work. Nothing works.

Attachment Size
MuseScore.png 103.97 KB

Comments

On Linux there is one and only one supported method of installing MuseScore - the AppImage you download from this site. Other third-party methods may or may not happen to work, but we have no control over them.

Problems with sizing can occur with non-standard monitor configurations where the OS is not reporting the resolution in a way MuseScore expects - like it if it applies its own scaling without accounting for that in the reported resolution. So for such cases, simply pass in "-D xxx" (where "xxx" is the actual effective resolution in DPI) on the command line when running the AppImage. Or edit the ".desktop" file if you have installed the AppImage and wish to run it from the program icon.

On some systems, setting the environment variable QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=1 may help; on others, setting it to 0 or unsetting it might. Unfortunately different systems work differently and this is especially true with respect to high DPI, so it's impossible to always get it right automatically or to have one specific foolproof solution. But one or more of these techniques should work.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I have now tried the appImage which gave me a different output none-the-less frustrating. Blue screen, HDD light continually flickering, mouse barely moves, and according to my task manager, using a GIGABYTE of memory, and taking over 5 minutes to load (I had to hard reset the computer for the fifth time)!
It appears you haven't studied enough about writing for Linux.
~/Lee

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IMG_20210422_113048.jpg 2.66 MB

In reply to by Lee the Geek

Unfortunately each system is different, but many of us developers are on Linux and these problems don't exist for us. Could be an incompatibility with some driver or other resource on your system. If you'd care to contribute your own Linux expertise to help diagnose and the problem, we'd be happy to try to develop a workaround for those few systems that are affected by whatever the issue is. This is a new one, though, not one I've seen reported by the thousands upon thousands of other Linux users.

Unless perhaps you have specified a huge soundfont to startup with; then taking a lot of resources could be normal. You might try starting with the "-F" option to be sure.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Each system may be different, but there are millions of xfce users by now and the program used to work fine in xfce. I have personally been using xfce and MuseScore together since about Mint version 17 or earlier. The only driver which might be affected is, AFAIK, the same GeForce one Linux has been using for a long time. Again, NO OTHER PROGRAMS have this issue and, as you can see from the bottom of the earlier screencap, that's a bunch! It never gets to the point of loading any soundfont because I can't see the screen to tell it where the soundfont(s) is/are unless it comes with one prepackaged. What gigabyte-sized soundfont do you know of? The program is consuming 973 MEGABYTES and I'd guess it would take more if it were available!

If you wish to help me troubleshoot it, I can, and I have plenty of spare time since being forcefully retired plus a huge amount of computer and electronics technical experience. I wrote software - even TMS9900 assembler code - and designed my own hardware throughout most of the 80s and 90s for the TMS9900 CPU/TI99/4a and qi. I also professionally repaired TI, PC compatibles, Atari, Commodore, Apple, etc. computers down to COMPONENT level in a computer store for over 6 years. It looks as though version 2 is the candidate as the latest/greatest won't start at all and requires a HARDWARE reset. I promise I'll be happy as a Lark if I can use version 2 even. I just want to write music and edit & play music files.
One thing I noticed when I went back and reviewed the ver. 2 screenshot is that the fonts on the screen are normal sized. Only the icons aren't.

In reply to by Lee the Geek

Understood - on your particular system, it happens that other programs work well, MuseScore is the only one you've found so far that doesn't. Other people on other systems have different experiences, because, again, every system is different. And yes, since we have no way of reproducing the specific combinations of hardware and software on your system in order to test your particular configuration, anything you can do to help identify the issue would be appreciated.

One place to start is run from the terminal with "-d" and inspect the output. Also try with -s and -w (disables synth and web view respectively) to see if that makes a difference.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I am running ver. 2.1 because the appimage still fails to load at all.

I find it quite fascinating that either because I had run the later appimage or because I started it with -d, something evidently got reset.
Running with -d yielded:

lee@lee-2-4-Quad:~$ musescore -d
qt5ct: using qt5ct plugin
global share:
configured localeName
real localeName
load translator
load translator
load translator failed
load translator from
load translator failed
read shortcuts from <:/data/shortcuts.xml>
initScoreFonts 0x564617844410
DPI 72.000000
Information for screen: "HDMI-1"
Available geometry: 0 0 1920 x 1047
Available size: 1920 x 1047
Available virtual geometry: 0 0 1920 x 1047
Available virtual size: 1920 x 1047
Depth: 24 bits
Geometry: 0 0 1920 x 1080
Logical DPI: 96.1263
Logical DPI X: 96
Logical DPI Y: 96.2526
Physical DPI: 3048
Physical DPI X: 3048
Physical DPI Y: 3048
Physical size: 16 x 9 mm
Refresh rate: 60 Hz
Size: 1920 x 1080
Virtual geometry: 0 0 1920 x 1080
Virtual size: 1920 x 1080
LibraryPath:
LibraryPath:
qt5ct: D-Bus global menu: no
MuseScore::changeState: STATE_DISABLED
libpng warning: iCCP: known incorrect sRGB profile
libpng warning: iCCP: known incorrect sRGB profile
qt5ct: D-Bus system tray: no
Stop I/O

Physical DPI appears quite incorrect. Where does it get this data?
Running it from the CLI with -d, it came up with proper items on the page, but still the icons are HUGE, and I have to scale the Score to minimum to view it at all.

-w made no difference.

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MScore Screen.png 173.51 KB

In reply to by Lee the Geek

To answer your question, the DPI is as reported by the system to us, via the Qt libraries we use to isolate most system-dependent things like this. It tends to be wrong in certain cases like TV sets connected via VGA, for example. And the "-D" option I explained back at the beginning of the thread is how to override this.

But to be clear, MuseScore 2 is obsolete, we're not really looking to fix issues in it, so the -d output from that isn't what I was interested in. It's MuseScore 3 I wanted to see the "-d" output from, so we can perhaps understand the nature of the specific unusual conflict that is causing trouble on your particular system. And that's also why we want you to try -s and -w, to find out quickly if the problem is related to sound or to the webview.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I use a 32" TV connected to HDMI output on the GeForce card just as I have for the past 8 years.
Graphics: Device-1: NVIDIA GF108 [GeForce GT 630] driver: nouveau v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.0
chip ID: 10de:0f00
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: NVC1 v: 4.3 Mesa 20.0.8 direct render: Yes
I have my choice of two audio outputs as the GeForce card outputs the audio through my HDMI port and there is OnBoard audio through:
Audio: Device-1: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK P5KPL-CM
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:27d8
Device-2: NVIDIA GF108 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
bus ID: 01:00.1 chip ID: 10de:0bea
Device-3: QinHeng CH345 MIDI adapter type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio bus ID: 2-1:2
chip ID: 1a86:752d
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-72-generic

I will attempt one more try of 3.1, but if it takes 1 GB, I will never try it again. Please explain how I can run the appImage -d

In reply to by Lee the Geek

The AppImage is run directly from the command line. And not 3.1 - that's years old also. Downlaod the 3.6.2 AppImage, run "chmod +x" on it to make it executable, then run it from the command line with "-d" and capture the terminal output. As in, type "./MuseScore.AppImage -d" in the terminal window (or whatever name you saved the AppImage as ). Actually, make it "./MuseScore.AppImage -d >out 2>&1" to capture the terminal output, at least with Linux shells I am familiar with.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Still nothing except a blue screen, memory hogging, and complete lockup to the point where I have to HARDRESET the computer!
There is no way I can see to run this version as it locks up the computer EVERY DAMNED TIME!
I have a lot of time, but I don't have time to troubleshoot your memory hogging crap!
Looks like I need to search for a better music editor.

In reply to by Lee the Geek

You say you have some experience in these matters. I hope, then, you can understand from the symptoms you've described that the program itself is almost certainly not what is causing the problem. It is doubtless a conflict between some library we use (we never interface with the operating system or devices directly) and some particular driver or other subsystem unique to your particular configuration. Or something like that - that's the only thing that would really explain why there is a problem that only manifests on your system and not the tons of others also on Linux Mint. So please lay off the insults and profanity.

I'm not sure how much time you plan to invest in that search, but since the program works flawlessly for millions upon millions of others, I suspect spending the same amount of time helping resolve this one conflict that produces a problem on your system would be of far more benefit both to you and to the community at large in case anyone else ever runs into the same problem.

You saying, then, that a file wasn't created when you ran that command? How about if you leave off the redirect at the end of the command and just scan the terminal output visually?

P.S. - I can also say with some confidence you could spend 1000 times as long searching for better notation software on Linux, but you won't find any - there are only a small handful and they are toys in comparison. Although you might find LilyPond interesting - not that it's a direct replacement, but it at least does something things as well as or better, even if it can't do 90% of what MuseScore can otherwise.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

The version you wish for me to use NEVER GETS to the point of outputting to any screen NOR CLI. It freezes my computer completely and utterly.
Yes, it created the file called 'out'. It was empty, because it never got to the point of outputting data while it was trying to hog EVERY BYTE of memory!

In reply to by Lee the Geek

Very very strange. I've literally never heard of this happening once in the 10+ years I've been involved with this project. Is there any device or shared library or other component to your system you think might be so unique that literally no other MuseScore user has ever had installed, that could be the source of the conflict?

When you ran it from the command line, you gave it the "-d" option? So it locked the system even before printing the normal first two lines about the location of a couple of shared library it uses? Did you also use -s and/or -w?

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Switched to a different clean Mint xfce boot, created a dedicated folder, copied the AppImage to that folder, changed the attrib to +x and ran it with -d.
I got two lines on the terminal screen about loading two support files (the second one had to do with jack) and no more. Before I could take a picture, it went to a blue screen with my panel at the bottom. Instead of doing a hard reset on the computer, I just let it run. It created the out file, but wrote nothing to it!
After about 3 minutes, it logged out of Linux desktop on its own.
If it created any more messages, they must be somewhere other than its own folder.

In reply to by Lee the Geek

Dang, I was hoping for more outut than that. Extremely mysterious. If you do end up having any insight into hardware or software you have installed that others don't that could be causing the conflict, do let us know.

But also, if you have a moment, please do try "-s" and "-w". If the former allows it to work, then we'll know the conflict has something to do with audio. If the latter does, we'll know it has something to do with the web view (used within the Start Center and the Save Online features). And in that case, it's also a reasonable workaround, as those aren't really crucial.

In reply to by Lee the Geek

Sorry, I am at a loss. This is literally the only report I have ever seen of a problem like this in the 10 years I've been here, so there is obviously something highly unusual about your system. It's apparently not related to audio system, so my best guess is the display / graphics drivers. But this sort of system administration detail is out of my area of expertise, I'm afraid.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I have long ago decided this must have something to do with video just from the symptoms.
1. version 2.1 used to work correctly and the only real issue with it is definitely video related. (I cannot recall at which point I had to replace my other monitor with this one. Since the TV is external, I didn't consider it as new/different hardware.)
2. v 2.1 even indicated a DPI conflict in it's output stream.
3. v 3.6.2 which is what I D/Led appears to also have video issues
4. You even mentioned video issues

Having said that, is there any way in either version to force video settings when running from the CLI? I don't really give a shit which version I use so long as it works!
I do have other computer monitors I could try to confirm. They just aren't this big, but it could possibly prove the issue.
I will get one and try it...
(edit) I grabbed a little Sansui TV and used the VGA input. 2.1 gave virtually the same error, but 362 gave me a normal sized splash screen. That's still as far as it got before it locked up again.

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IMG_20210429_125311.jpg 2.64 MB

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

BTW, since we are looking at two different versions of the software, let's recap.
Ver. 2 has huge icons, but the fonts are fine.
The newest appimage version which I D/Led from this website and installed was trying for over a gigabyte of memory and required a hardware reset all 4 times I tried to run it from a brand new installation of Linux Mint xfce 19.3. The only thing I changed was what wanted updates. I use the GeForce driver which comes prepackaged with Mint (see attached image). On this screen, it is 1920 x 1080 at 60Hz.

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GeForce Driver.png 27.65 KB

BTW, it seems from the title bar that you have MuseScore 2, that's years obsolete at this point. So I'm guessing you are not using the support AppImage, Try that and it might solve your problems already, but if not, then try the things I suggested.

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