11.04 on an Asus 1215b?

[emoguitarist06]

What is VAAPI?
Without video acceleration does that mean 720p & 1080p videos don't work? or does it mean they run really sluggish?

Video acceleration obviously works under windows correct?

I was debating to either get the 1215B or the 1215P
I know since everything is Intel the 1215P will work out of box
(which was also reported on this thread by someone else)
but I want the HDMI out that the 1215B has. Overall would everyone still recommend the 1215B??

Also does the 1215B come with 1 USB 3.0 jack in the USA??

Thank you!

[lakerssuperman]

VAAPI is the Video Acceleration API that Intel uses for video acceleration. It can also work in conjunction with VDPAU for NVIDIA or XVBA with AMD when utilizing the proper wrapper. Without it, low end CPU hardware will have a tough or impossible time playing back HD video. Basically it is the software that allows the hardware to do the decoding. Currently VAAPI is broken in 11.04 and will crash any video player trying to use it. As far as I can tell from testing, it hasn't worked right since 1.0.1 and we are now at 1.0.8 in the official repos and 1.0.12 if you get it from a PPA.

As to my previous posts, I enabled the Pre-release repo and installed a number of upgrades, including some Compiz updares. My whole desktop got much smoother and I don't have the lag and stutters nearly as much now on any of my systems. Video acceleration whether it be VDPAU VAAPI or VAAPI via XVBA (for my AMD hardware) is still really broken and drags the whole Unity interface to a crawl. Even my i7 system gets laggy when using VDPAU our VAAPI. However, my 1215b is much smoother now with everyday tasks.

If 720 and 1080p video is a must for you RIGHT now then this system may not be for you. My 1215B is not my primary system so I can afford to wait for them to straighten the video bugs out. If you want it and can hold off moving it to Linux, everything works with Windows 7.

[emoguitarist06]

Thanks for the quick response and explaining everything. It makes sense now

Man that's a tough decision.

Well do you have any recommendations for a netbook or tiny laptop that has HDMI out and can play 720p or 1080p and run smoothly with Ubuntu?

I was hoping to go with an all Intel like the 1215P but that one can't run HD movies and no HDMI out.

[lakerssuperman]

If you want something that works right now you could look for a netbook with NVIDIA ION in it. It would only have an Intel Atom CPU and wouldn't be able to do much in the way of heavy lifting tasks like video editing, the ION graphics chip would be able to play back 1080p video through VDPAU. Though VDPAU seems iffy in 11.04 10.10 worked fine for me and should be able to run on one of these. I would run 10.10 on the 1215B but it's too new and the wireless doesn't work out of the box without updating the kernel and related firmware packages.

http://www.amazon.com/Seashell-1201N.../dp/B002ZLOR56

Something like this would work. It's basically the Intel/NVIDIA version of the 1215b.

[lakerssuperman]

I just looked at your signature and saw the 1201. Lol. There isn't much middle ground if you're looking for that level of ultra portable. You could try for something like a 13 inch laptop with an Intel i3. That is capable of playing back 1080p video without using the video chip and hardware acceleration.

[emoguitarist06]

If you want something that works right now you could look for a netbook with NVIDIA ION in it. It would only have an Intel Atom CPU and wouldn't be able to do much in the way of heavy lifting tasks like video editing, the ION graphics chip would be able to play back 1080p video through VDPAU. Though VDPAU seems iffy in 11.04 10.10 worked fine for me and should be able to run on one of these. I would run 10.10 on the 1215B but it's too new and the wireless doesn't work out of the box without updating the kernel and related firmware packages.

I just looked at your signature and saw the 1201. Lol. There isn't much middle ground if you're looking for that level of ultra portable. You could try for something like a 13 inch laptop with an Intel i3. That is capable of playing back 1080p video without using the video chip and hardware acceleration.

Yeah Nvidia is still sluggish and even videos less than 720p are poopy sometimes haha
Yeah I'm going to have to sacrifice something... sounds like weight and portability lol
I guess I just want too much out of our current available consumer technology

[lakerssuperman]

I have an HTPC running a Atom / ION setup and it can play 1080p. Do you mean it has problems with local video clips or are you talking about Flash video on Youtube and the like?

Also, are you using VDPAU and, if so, through what player?

[emoguitarist06]

I have an HTPC running a Atom / ION setup and it can play 1080p. Do you mean it has problems with local video clips or are you talking about Flash video on Youtube and the like?

Also, are you using VDPAU and, if so, through what player?

Well I'm using the drivers that automatically installed when Ubuntu 11.04 installed.
And both, youtube or my own videos. Anything HD is crap... actually 720p or greater is pretty much unplayable

I use totem or VLC

[linuxinstalledfromhdd]

Review this walk through and make sure you have everything installed and updated correctly:

http://cinderbox.net/2011/04/03/to-d...natty-narwhal/

If you don't have the extra software installed from that guide, you will probably not be able to use VLC and other media players to their full potential either

[lakerssuperman]

In order to get hardware acceleration you need to use a player that supports it either directly or through a VAAPI wrapper such as what VLC does. Try installing Gnome Mplayer and making sure VDPAU is also installed, you can just search for it in Synaptic to check. Then go into the Gnome Mplayer settings and select VDPAU as the video output plugin. It is spotty on 11.04 but in 10.10 this should work just fine and give you, at least, local playback of HD content. Flash is a little more tricky. The latest Flash plugin supports acceleration through VDPAU but I haven't gotten the same smooth results with that as I have with local files.