Another X-server transition coming up

[kubicle]

A word of warning for Maverick testers from the devel mailing list


Summary for the impatient:
************************************************** ******************
A new X server is soon to be uploaded which requires all the
drivers to be rebuilt. Be careful when upgrading in the next few
days.
************************************************** ******************

As promised earlier in the cycle, we've got the second X server
transition coming up. This will take us to X server 1.9, which features
improvements to startup time, some memory usage improvements, and many
DRI2 fixes.

The 1.9 server has a new input and video ABI which means existing driver
packages will break.

The server needs to be uploaded first so the new drivers build against
the correct ABI, which means that there will be a period where safe
upgrades will have held-back packages. The dependencies should ensure
that you won't accidentally get a non-working combination of X server
and drivers, but be careful if an upgrade wants to remove X packages.

Happy testing!

[Yuri sss]

Thanks for the warning.
How long will it take for the X server and new drivers to be built and uploaded, so we can safely upgrade again?

[kubicle]

Thanks for the warning.
How long will it take for the X server and new drivers to be built and uploaded, so we can safely upgrade again?

If all goes as planned, when you can dist-upgrade the packages without removing any packages.

[doctordruidphd]

If all goes as planned, when you can dist-upgrade the packages without removing any packages.

Great theory, but in practice, not so great. I did the dist-upgrade today, no packages removed, and now I cannot load the proprietary NVIDIA drivers. They do appear to install properly, but will not start (the dreaded "low graphics mode" warning).

I was able to reactivate the nouveau driver, so the system is running.

Awaiting further developments.

[GreyGeek]

I have maverick installed as a guest OS for testing purposes.
I did the dist-upgrade, which went off without errors. The reboot hangs on the slash screen. The failsafe graphic mode fails to start. The reason is that "X" is NOT installed. Attempts to install it fail because of unmet dependencies of a secondary package.

EDIT: corrected by adding missing word "NOT".

[Yuri sss]

If all goes as planned, when you can dist-upgrade the packages without removing any packages.

Great theory, but in practice, not so great. I did the dist-upgrade today, no packages removed, and now I cannot load the proprietary NVIDIA drivers. They do appear to install properly, but will not start (the dreaded "low graphics mode" warning).


That's because the proprietary nvidia drivers don't support the new X server. You'll have to wait for a version which supports the new X server 1.9.

[Fintan]

After yesterdays update kdm and desktop are completely washed out (to bright, no contrast) to the point of not making it usable.

alpha will be alpha ;)

[GreyGeek]

I redid the dist-upgrade on my guest Maverick installation and got my KDE4 desktop back. X now exists in my files. Unfortunately, the VBoxGuestAddtions won't compile with the new xserver-xorg files so I am stuck on 800X600 vesa. :(

[Fintan]

Hey GG, try vmplayer (latest:)
http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/player_310/ZGp0YmQqQHdiZHR3ZQ==

You can install a vm from the iso and the vmware add-ons should word for x-server.

Edit: sorry use the alt cd-iso. Live does not work well with alpha's

[GreyGeek]

I've used VM before and switched to VBox because VM requires dkms and dkms kernels. It also creates permanent network devices (besides eth0, lo, wlan0 - on my box) which I don't like. Every time there is a kernel upgrade vm has to recompile the dkms kernel, etc... I got tired of that. (BTW, the link you gave pointed to the windows versions ;D )

[Yuri sss]

After yesterdays update kdm and desktop are completely washed out (to bright, no contrast) to the point of not making it usable.


I've updated my my Maverick now with all the latest updates, including the new X server and new Kde 4.5.0b (actual final).
Kdm and desktop are fine, not washed out or anything (using the radeon driver).
However, I have the following two issues:

- every time I start Maverick, compositing is disabled. When I want to enable it again under Systemsettings > Desktop Effects, I get the message that compositing has been disabled by some other application. Pressing the button again finally enables compositing gain, and it works without problems.
Any idea what could cause this? I'm not using Compiz or anything, only Kwin.

- right-click popup menus are flickering sometimes (especially in Dolphin).

Other than that, no problems so far.

[zenarcher]

If all goes as planned, when you can dist-upgrade the packages without removing any packages.

Great theory, but in practice, not so great. I did the dist-upgrade today, no packages removed, and now I cannot load the proprietary NVIDIA drivers. They do appear to install properly, but will not start (the dreaded "low graphics mode" warning).


That's because the proprietary nvidia drivers don't support the new X server. You'll have to wait for a version which supports the new X server 1.9.


This fix worked for me:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1549195&page=8

Cheers,
zenarcher

[doctordruidphd]

Confirmed fix here. Working with the 256.44 driver.

The fix is adding the following lines to /etc/X11/xorg.conf :


Section "ServerFlags"
Option "IgnoreABI" "true"
EndSection

I should mention that the nouveau driver that comes with Maverick is far superior to the one available in Lucid. Shuts the fans up, for one thing.

To disable the nouveau driver so that you can load the proprietary driver, you need to remember to do 3 things:

1. Create an /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf file that contains the following line:
blacklist nouveau
2. Run update-initramfs -u, then reboot.
3. If you set up an xorg.conf for nouveau, remove it (though novueau doesn't need it), and install one for nvidia (which can be done during driver installation, if you don't already have one).

[Yuri sss]

One more issue I found, which also appeared after the X server upgrade:
Window thumbnails are broken. When I hover the mouse over an entry in the taskbar, the upper third of the preview image is empty, while the preview image is shifted downwards, with the bottom third being cut off.

[Yuri sss]

- every time I start Maverick, compositing is disabled. When I want to enable it again under Systemsettings > Desktop Effects, I get the message that compositing has been disabled by some other application. Pressing the button again finally enables compositing gain, and it works without problems.
Any idea what could cause this? I'm not using Compiz or anything, only Kwin.


Switched to Compiz now, and the problem is gone.

[GreyGeek]

It seems that the new Xserver-xorg is still not compatible with the latest VirtualBox GuestAdditions, so I still can't get my Maverick guest OS out of 800X600.

[SIR_Taco]

I guess I should assume this is the reason I've lost OpenGL support in Xorg with my Nvidia drivers (kernel module loads, GLX fails in Xorg log)?

[doctordruidphd]

Not if you are running in a real (as opposed to virtual) system. OpenGL is working fine here. This is 64-bit, dual 9800GT cards, 256.44 driver.

From Xorg.0.log:


[ 105.157] (II) NVIDIA GLX Module 256.44 Thu Jul 29 01:47:53 PDT 2010
[ 105.157] (II) Loading extension GLX
[ 105.160] (II) NVIDIA(0): Support for GLX with the Damage and Composite X extensions is
[ 107.122] (==) NVIDIA(0): Enabling 32-bit ARGB GLX visuals.
[ 107.582] (II) Loading extension NV-GLX
[ 107.668] (II) Initializing extension GLX

[SIR_Taco]

Hmm... well that is strange....


[ 43.181] (II) Module glx: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
[ 43.181] (II) NVIDIA GLX Module 256.44 Thu Jul 29 01:47:53 PDT 2010
[ 43.183] (II) NV: driver for NVIDIA chipsets: RIVA 128, RIVA TNT, RIVA TNT2,
Quadro NVS 210S / NVIDIA GeForce 6150LE, GeForce Go 6100,
[ 43.185] (--) NV: Found NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT at 01@00:00:0
[ 43.396] (EE) Failed to initialize GLX extension (Compatible NVIDIA X driver not found)

[doctordruidphd]

Have you blacklisted the Nouveau driver? It is apparently bundled in with the kernel for Maverick, and it will definitely zap your NVIDIA driver if you don't blacklist in /etc/modprobe.d. I don't believe the Nouveau driver supports OpenGL at this point. See if there are entires for NOUVEAU in your Xorg.log.
Also I am using the proprietary driver from the NVIDIA website. What may be going on with nv, I don't know.

[GreyGeek]

It is possible that the nvidia driver you are using is not compatible with the kernel. Is it new?

[SIR_Taco]

Doctordruidphd:
When I lost GL initially, nouvea driver was being loaded (a few days ago). So I blacklisted it. Then re-installed the Nvidia drivers (proprietary through apt) to make sure it was fresh and I wasn't missing any files etc.

I tried downloading the latest from Nvidia directly 256.44, which installed fine, but still no GL

GreyGeek:
According to Nvidia, >=2.4.7 is required and I have 2.6.35. Also, I would assume the kernel module wouldn't be loaded if it wasn't compatible, which it is.

If I run the 'nvidia-xconfig' script, it writes a new xorg.conf file, then when I restart Xorg, the 'helper' tells me the video settings are incorrect and to choose from a list of options (low graphics mode, re-detect hardware, etc.)

It's strange, there's a conflict somewhere, just not sure where.

[doctordruidphd]

Did you run sudo update-initramfs -u? Nouveau embeds itself in the initramfs, so you have to do this after blacklisting it.

Does nvidia-settings give any clue under the "OpelGL/GLX information" section?

[SIR_Taco]

Doctordruidphd:
I have tried updating initramfs before, but I did again to make sure. The problem doesn't seem to be the kernel module since it loads fine. The problem seems to be with the GLX and Xorg part. Possibly I'm missing a package that got lost during an update?

Installed for Nvidia I have:
nvidia-185-kernel-source
nvidia-185-libvdpau
nvidia-185-modaliases
nvidia-current (dummy package)
nvidia-current-dev (dummy package)
nvidia-current-modaliases (dummy package)
nvidia-glx-185
nvidia-glx-185-dev
nvidia-settings

I am at a loss.

[doctordruidphd]

I'm not sure what is going here, either. There MIGHT be some conflict between the repository and the proprietary version of the drivers. I know that when I wanted to try the repo version, I had to do a lot of hunt-and-kill for various nvidia files before it would work, and even then it wasn't very stable. Maybe you need to do something like that -- do a delete-and-purge on all the installed repo files, then manually go through and find all the nvidia files a delete them, then reinstall whichever you want to use -- repo or downloaded -- but only one of the two.

Although OpenGL seems to be working here, I have noticed some other bizarre effects. When I try to change colors, fonts, themes, or anything like that, I get what looks like static all over the screen, so bad I have to shutdown. Last time that happened, it was a failing video card, but this time it is doing it only on Maverick, not Lucid, nor Sidux, nor Debian, so I suspect there is still something strange about the video somewhere. I also notice that kdm is behaving strangely -- on the greeter, I no longer see my default name in the login box, but I have to either type it, or click the image to get it. And the "restart X server" option is gone. Maverick is still alpha soup, no doubt.

That being said, there is still something odd about your video problem. I guess I would start by purging and reloading.

[SIR_Taco]

No point in bogging down this discussion, since I'm sure now it's not related.... so I started a new topic:
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/index.php?topic=3113478.msg240188#msg240188