OT - configuring XWindows

[Bugbear]

Apologies for this being off topic...but then I did just drop AU$2K on a new grunty laptop with the specific intention of said laptop becoming my Ooniversal interface...

Getafix, you were very patient with me last time - can you point me in the direction of any good XWindows configuration reference materials? No-one on the Debian forums seems to want to help...

[Lone_Wolf]

Debian Squeeze may be to old for your sandybridge laptop.

It uses kernel 2.6.32 and that doesn't support sandybridge.

Try a live CD with with debian unstable SID ?

[Bugbear]

Ah ok, I had read various messages that Intel had been dragging the chain on compatibility for Linux. I didn't realise that Squeeze was that old. I'll give it a try.

[Bugbear]

Quick update - downloaded the Wheezy DVD - OS install failed due to a corrupt file on the DVD.
Downloaded the CD - OS install threw an error towards the end but the install appeared to complete, but unfortunately, the OS failed to launch...at least this time my network connection was detected successfully during the install.

Luckily GRUB wasn't screwed so my Windows partition is still intact...maybe I'll wait for next week's build and try again...

I'll keep you all posted...

[SiriusCG]

I hope I'm not intruding too much here ...

If I might suggest, I would recommend an Ubuntu distro these days. The install is usually trouble free, the device drivers work 99% of the time out of the box, it uses the newer up-to-date kernals, etc. Just download the .iso, burn to DVD and pop it in the DVD drive ... You can even run it in the Windows filesystem first without changing your partition to see if it suits you. Then, it's a very easy operation to have it install itself in a separate partition.

I've been a Debian user for a long, long time and I hardly ever use that "pure" distro anymore. I've installed Ubuntu on a lot of different computers and all in all, been very pleased.

My current Xubuntu: http://www.xubuntu.org/ runs the Oolite trunk builds without any problems.

Cheers.

[Bugbear]

I hope I'm not intruding too much here ...

If I might suggest, I would recommend an Ubuntu distro these days. The install is usually trouble free, the device drivers work 99% of the time out of the box, it uses the newer up-to-date kernals, etc. Just download the .iso, burn to DVD and pop it in the DVD drive ... You can even run it in the Windows filesystem first without changing your partition to see if it suits you. Then, it's a very easy operation to have it install itself in a separate partition.

I've been a Debian user for a long, long time and I hardly ever use that "pure" distro anymore. I've installed Ubuntu on a lot of different computers and all in all, been very pleased.

My current Xubuntu: http://www.xubuntu.org/ runs the Oolite trunk builds without any problems.

Cheers.

Thanks for the advice...I was hoping to avoid using Ubuntu. A few months back I was toying with the idea of migrating my wife off Vista to Ubuntu, so I set up a VM on her laptop and installed the latest Ubuntu. It installed without error and ran without issue. (She didn't like it, though so she's back to complaining about Windows...some battles aren't worth fighting but that's another story )

The ubuntu installer did do one thing that I didn't like - towards the end it said that it was going to create some sort of online account for me. To be honest, I didn't look too hard into the intent of that account, but I took issue with the fact that it was using my logon name, and I couldn't see any obvious way of opting out of that action (as the installation was only a proof of concept, I didn't really care too much about digging deeper). It's little things like that, where the OS tries to presume it knows better than me in matters regarding my privacy, that really get my back up.

For that reason, I'm reluctant to use Ubuntu.

I try to be protective of my online privacy, and try to minimise the amount of personal info I have online (yes, it's a futile endeavour but I try). It's for that reason I don't have a Facebook account (that and the fact that I don't particularly trust the admins of Facebook to respect their user's privacy), and I tend to not put personal information into any of my online profiles.

Am I over-reacting? Probably, but as we all know, once a piece of information is online, it can't be retracted...

I'll get down off my soap box now!

[Smivs]

The ubuntu installer did do one thing that I didn't like - towards the end it said that it was going to create some sort of online account for me. To be honest, I didn't look too hard into the intent of that account, but I took issue with the fact that it was using my logon name, and I couldn't see any obvious way of opting out of that action (as the installation was only a proof of concept......

I think this must have been the optional Ubuntu One cloud service, which allows you to sync various computers so for example all your bookmarks are the same across all your computers. It is optional - I have used Ubuntu for some time now and have never signed up.
Not a reason to not use this excellent O/S really

[Mauiby de Fug]

Huh! I did a clean Natty install recently and I don't recall that option popping up on the install... I understand why you wouldn't want it - I too have never signed up to Ubuntu One. But I have to say I do enjoy using Ubuntu. I haven't used Windows in about a year and a half, although it's still sitting on my computer taking up 80GB of my harddrive...

[Bugbear]

Huh! I did a clean Natty install recently and I don't recall that option popping up on the install... I understand why you wouldn't want it - I too have never signed up to Ubuntu One. But I have to say I do enjoy using Ubuntu. I haven't used Windows in about a year and a half, although it's still sitting on my computer taking up 80GB of my harddrive...

Ahh...Windows Bloat. Another reason why I prefer Linux over Windows. When I got my laptop, it had a 256GB SSD, 100GB or so was just the OS + Crapware that Dell saw fit to install. I mean WTF...whose frigging machine is it anyway?

Then I did a fresh Debian Squeeze install...3GB!!

Unfortunately I have some Windows only software to run so I'm forced to run a Win7 partition (for the moment - if I can get it set up with Wine then that partition will be toast also). I did a default install of Window 7 from the DVD - about 40GB. Once again, WTF??? What the hell are Microsoft shovelling into their OS?

So now it's 60GB for Windows, the rest of the disk for Linux ('cause I plan on loading up VirtualBox on the Linux partition and run a stack of VMs for work purposes).

I gotta admit though, Microsoft are losing the bloat war to Adobe - their Acrobat Professional weighs in at over 1GB....for a text file reader!

Hey, you got me back on my soapbox again. Stepping down...

I'll download the next build of Debian Wheezy (it's rebuilt weekly from what I've read). If I get no joy there then I'll take another look at Ubuntu (it was my first Linux OS after all...) I've read mixed reviews of the Unity interface so perhaps I'll aim for a non Unity UI...but if Canonical think they're going to start harvesting my info they've got another thing coming!!!!

[Bugbear]

My saga continues...

Tried Debian Wheezy (2.6.38.???) and Ubuntu 11.04 (again 2.6.38.???).

Both install flawlessly (although the Debian installer loses track of the CD drive towards the end of the installation).

When I boot into Linux, however, I now don't even get a desktop. In both cases, I get past the boot loader, then the screen goes black then cycles through a random selection of colours (i.e. all black, then all red, all cyan, all yellow etc). There's no particular pattern to the colours, and hitting Ctrl-Alt-F1 to 7 to switch to different consoles has no effect. (I'd better verify that it is Ctrl-Alt-Fx to switch consoles...my dodgy memory is telling me it's Ctrl-Alt-(1-7) instead)...

Not giving up though...

[fronclynne]

When I boot into Linux, however, I now don't even get a desktop. In both cases, I get past the boot loader, then the screen goes black then cycles through a random selection of colours (i.e. all black, then all red, all cyan, all yellow etc). There's no particular pattern to the colours, and hitting Ctrl-Alt-F1 to 7 to switch to different consoles has no effect. (I'd better verify that it is Ctrl-Alt-Fx to switch consoles...my dodgy memory is telling me it's Ctrl-Alt-(1-7) instead)...

Not giving up though...

Huh, my brain is pretty rotten from all the gin, but that sounds like one of the old VESA/VGA test modes that some of the old graphics chips used to have built-in. Either that or X is in some kind of loop. I'd wonder that you mightn't need to find & load some übersecret modules . . . or some of my searching leads me to believe a 2.6.39 kernel.

You're right about Ctl-Alt-Fx, but Alt-Fx usually works too. Ctl-Alt-Bkspc kills X (though on a default setup these days this usually just relaunches gdm or xdm (q.v. if you care)).

Best of luck. Keep asking questions, someone out there has to've gotten linux running on a Sandy Bridge.

[Lone_Wolf]

Bugbear, we need more info about the hardware in your laptop, and for that you need a terminal.


Try knoppix, and if that gives you a workable system, open a terminal and run lscpi post the output.

If knoppix fails to start X, try a debian server installation WITHOUT X.
again , run lspci and post the output.

As for the the keys :

The X environment runs on VT7 .

To get from VT 7 to VT1 - 6 , you need to use CTRL + ALT + Fx .

Once you are in the console environment, you can switch between VT1 to VT 6 with ALT + Fx
To get back to the X environment use ALT + F7

[Bugbear]

Here's my LSPCI output:

Code: Select all

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Sandy Bridge DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sandy Bridge PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Sandy Bridge Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Cougar Point HECI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Cougar Point High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Cougar Point PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Cougar Point PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev b4)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Cougar Point PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev b4)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Cougar Point PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev b4)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a4)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Cougar Point LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 RAID bus controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 82801 SATA RAID Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Cougar Point SMBus Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Broadway [ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6800 Series]
01:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc Juniper HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5700 Series]
07:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Device 1083 (rev c0)
0d:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (rev 35)
13:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 5209 (rev 01)
13:00.1 SD Host controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 5209 (rev 01)
19:00.0 USB Controller: NEC Corporation uPD720200 USB 3.0 Host Controller (rev 04)

I'll have another crack at installing Wheezy, but this time when the installer gets to the components to install section, I'll deselect the option to install a GUI.

[Lone_Wolf]

Here's my LSPCI output:

Code: Select all

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Sandy Bridge Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Broadway [ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6800 Series]

As i suspected, your machine has TWO graphics card that are both active.
The problems you have with X are very likely due to X sending the wrong videocard.

This means that (as you thought) the problems should be solvable by configuring X to work with this setup.
Configuring X is best done from console, but most distros nowadays focus so much on the graphics environment that getting to a console login prompt is hard.

[Bugbear]

This means that (as you thought) the problems should be solvable by configuring X to work with this setup.
Configuring X is best done from console, but most distros nowadays focus so much on the graphics environment that getting to a console login prompt is hard.

Considering that I've got Squeeze up and running, albeit with a 1200 x 1024 resolution on a 1920 x 1080 screen, do you think that X on the current Linux install is salvageable?

(FWIW, I'm working on building a bootable USB to install the OS, as I suspect I'll be doing a lot of that until I get the OS sorted...)