1. Driver

Most of the problems that you encounter with slow display or OpenGL related errors are because you do not have the proper display drivers installed.

a) Install Drivers -- the Ubuntu Way

For NVidia drivers follow the guide here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Bi...erHowto/Nvidia

For ATI drivers follow the guide here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI

For Intel it is simpler since the drivers are open source so they are usually pre-installed. You need to make sure that you use the newer 'intel' driver and not the older 'i810' driver or the 'vesa' driver. This could be verified by checking the 'Driver' value in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

b) Install Drivers -- using Envy

There's a tool called Envy that helps you setup the proper display drivers. It usually contains newer versions of the drivers. Please follow the guide at http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html.

2. Verify OpenGL

Once you have your drivers in place, you need to make sure that OpenGL is properly configured. Run the following command:

# glxinfo | grep -i direct

The result should be:

direct rendering: Yes

If the result, is No, it means that the display driver is not properly configured.

Also, you can run the command glxgears and you should see the wheels turning smoothly.

3. Compiz

Make sure Compiz visual effects is disabled. You can do this by going to System -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Visual Effects. Make sure "None" is selected.

4. vsync

Some hardware requires vsync to be disabled. You can do this by editing ~/.boxee/UserData/guisettings.xml, and changing "vsync" value to 0.