Intel Sandy bridge graphics on 10.04 [solved]

[jamo]

OK, I'm starting a new forking thread here. I mean, I'm forking the thread or something like that because my other can deal with the hanging after initrd on dvd install which is something else.
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php/topic,12499.0.html

The problem, to re-iterate, is "Failed to setup X".

The chipset is Intel Sandy Bridge graphics.

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00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Sandy Bridge Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0102] (rev 09)

The auto-setup wants to use an intel driver (fair enough, it's an intel chip) but the comment from l3mce below probably still applies

....

I will tell you that this will NOT work on Sandy Bridge/HD3000. Just too new for 1004.

So, where to now? Well, as far as the x-configuration goes - this is ultimately my headless core so I really just need basic graphics on it. Is there some way we can fall back to a simple vesa driver or something like that?

Or should I be doing something nasty to configure this one that will not work for everyone else

eg. I did find a link to a set of steps for getting sandy bridge graphics working under 10.04
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1879121

I guess first prize would be to get it working well for everyone (ie right driver auto-installed etc). If possible, I'd like to help with that. Let me know l3mce?

2nd prize would be to get it working badly for everyone - ie wrong driver but enough graphics performance to use on very basic core.

3rd prize would be a nasty hack that allows me to set up my own system but has to be repeated by anyone else with similar hardware.

[JaseP]

You'll need backported drivers...

See here...
http://www.subcritical.org/running_ubuntu_lts_on_sandy_bridge/

I think this'll qualify as a number 3...

Note though, that this includes a modified kernel. If LinuxMCE's kernel is modified or there are kernel dependencies that LinuxMCE needs that aren't supported by this kernel hack, you'll break everything ...

Use at your own risk...


PS - I had a second thought... that thing is an i7, right?!?! I think it supports KVM, you might want to setup a KVM environment, and set the graphics environment to something more generic... Plus, you'll essentially have a slew more virtual machines to tinker with... I've only played with VirtualBox a little, but KVM might be worth a shot...

[l3mce]

As JaseP said, if you wanna give her a go, you will need the backported natty drivers. Merk and I gave this some hell, and his conclusion was this was gonna be next to impossible. I believe him, but would like to take another swing at it anyway. It will take a lot of back and forth, so if you could drop into irc.freenode.net #linuxmce I will go ape on it with you. If it CAN be done, we will get it done... and I will script it for everyone.

[merkur2k]

yeah, i couldnt even get it to work in vesa mode.
theres a couple things in that ubuntu forum thread that i havent seen though, so i may give it another try this weekend.

[jamo]

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions, guys. Difficult to know the path to follow here because this is just my core I'm talking about and it sits in a cupboard (closet) when it's not being installed so the graphics really aren't an issue for me personally (provided I can still use the machine as a headless core or at least a hybrid that never gets used as such). Of course if sorting them out could help others then it would be worth doing! If not, I don't want to waste all of your time tinkering with it!

First a couple of embarassing newbie questions... if someone could clarify it would help me-

1. How is it that the basic Kubuntu 10.04 X-server appears to work easily but the linux-mce configuration battles? I presume the Kubuntu basic install uses some kind of simple default x-config that wouldn't hack it for the video requirements of MCE? If that is the case, is it not possible to fall back to this basic configuration where more advanced can't be done? I guess for most people that would be no good because the whole point of the install is to get decent video but in my case all I really need is the dcerouter. Video is nice for the initial setup (sarah etc) and checking everything is installed and working but no train-smash if I just get the basics.

2. If I were to buy an N-vidia pci-e card and throw that in, presumably that would improve my chances of getting this baby up and running?

OK, now for the way forward-

l3mce, if you want to try to get this thing sorted on my hardware for the benefits of others, I'm happy to be of as much assistance as I can be... just let me know what you need to do. PM me or post here when you want to have a go- we'll have to co-ordinate times because I'm GMT+2 so it'll take a bit of organisation to get a compatible time-zone. Also let me know what you need on my side- obviously I'll have the system at a point where all is installed but avwizard is at the "failed to setup X" point and will be using another machine to communicate. I'll check out the chat channel in the meantime.

[l3mce]

1) If you just want a core only config, the next snapshot to come out might be your best bet. It has a headless install option, and I am 99% sure I have worked out 99% of the kinks.
2) If you throw an nvidia card in there, then it will be happy.
3) I am a mutant. I almost never sleep. Drop in IRC and I will probably be around.
4) X server in 10.04 mode works because we are attempting to install the correct combination of drivers automagically for every chipset on the planet... and we haven't worked out how to backport the right stuff for this particular animal. I could probably write a config that just makes that particular one work sub-par, like 1004 basic... but if I am going to write something specific for it, it will be to make it WORK.

[jamo]

Big thanks to L3mce, we had some success on this issue. Basically, I ran the inernet install script and prior to reboot, the steps in the link posted by JaseP above:

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apt-add-repository ppa:kernel-ppa/ppa
apt-add-repository ppa:glasen/intel-driver
apt-add-repository ppa:f-hackenberger/x220-intel-mesa

apt-get update
apt-get install -y linux-image-generic-pae-lts-backport-natty
apt-get dist-upgrade -y

Many thanks for finding these JaseP.

Then reboot and, hey-presto, AVWizard.

In the end I was able to get UI2 but couldn't get vids to show using alpha-blending... not sure why- The DVD title page would start but once "play movie" was selected the screen would just be black with sound. I only tried with DVDs, unfortunately didn't have any other decent vid files to tinker with... Still, the video is good and working well. Yay!

Next step is for l3mce to get this scripted into the install and I'll retry with a snapshot install.

[JaseP]

You probably need the DVD CSS libraries to decrypt the DVDs (if legal in your region, of course,    ). Nice to know the the backports worked.

[jamo]

You probably need the DVD CSS libraries to decrypt the DVDs (if legal in your region, of course,    ). Nice to know the the backports worked.

Yup, I did install those... didn't appear to change the black screen issue though. Will see when I redo the install via snapshot- maybe I missed a step somewhere.

My rant: As far as DRM goes, my conscience is clear- I legitimately obtain any digital media and for my viewing/listening convenience I make a digital copy. To try to prevent me from doing so because the same technology might make it easier for me to do something illegal is ridiculous...

[l3mce]

Pretty sure some more/different drivers are going to be required. But this is a lot closer. I will see what I can come up with.

Scripting this moves into a bit more work, because we don't want other repo/ppa's in sources. So I will have to figure out a scheme to get and build these drivers from source, figure out if they conflict with other intel stuff, and if so, differentiate between them...

Chances are that you will simply have to add these things yourself on 1004. They should work automagically when we get to 1204.

[jamo]

Pretty sure some more/different drivers are going to be required. But this is a lot closer. I will see what I can come up with.

Scripting this moves into a bit more work, because we don't want other repo/ppa's in sources. So I will have to figure out a scheme to get and build these drivers from source, figure out if they conflict with other intel stuff, and if so, differentiate between them...

Chances are that you will simply have to add these things yourself on 1004. They should work automagically when we get to 1204.

Well, thanks for the help so far... let me know if you want to script it and I'll give it a whirl. In the meantime I'll get clonezilla going so I can image my machine in case we want to try a clean install.

[JaseP]

My rant: As far as DRM goes, my conscience is clear- I legitimately obtain any digital media and for my viewing/listening convenience I make a digital copy. To try to prevent me from doing so because the same technology might make it easier for me to do something illegal is ridiculous...

Oh, I definitely agree with you there, ... But it's not your conscience you have to watch out for,... It's your posterior. With the current state of affairs,  the only chance we got for relief is from the Librarian of Congress carving out a DMCA exception. Well, that or a wealthy lobbyist buying enough of Congress-persons to get them to pass a law or amendment to a law carving out an exception.

[l3mce]

Please report success in these sort of threads so they can be marked [SOLVED].

[jamo]

Please report success in these sort of threads so they can be marked [SOLVED].

I'm happy to mark the thread solved but, as I understand it, currently, the fix involves doing an internet install. Is that correct l3mce? Presumably the same steps can't be followed for a dvd install or could they be run after the "failed to setup X" point? (we ran them prior to the first reboot)? Let me know if you want me to try anything else, otherwise I'll note the steps down and mark the thread solved.

[l3mce]

How you install makes no difference. The system re-evaluates your video setup every time you boot. So, the best time to do it would be when you get to failed avwizard. Just drop to tty2 and go.

BTW, I made a fundamental error in intel support you should correct manually.
If you open /usr/pluto/bin/Utils.sh and find the function InstallVideoDriver (), the last routine has an evaluation something to the effect of:
if [[ "$prop_driver" == "intel" ]] && [[ -z $online ]]; then...

If you change that -z to -n, you might be pleasantly surprised at the result. This is fixed for the next build...