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]

Re: Another X-server transition coming up

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]

Re: Another X-server transition coming up

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]

Re: Another X-server transition coming up

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]

Re: Another X-server transition coming up

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]

Re: Another X-server transition coming up

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]

Re: Another X-server transition coming up

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]

Re: Another X-server transition coming up

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]

Re: Another X-server transition coming up

Hey GG, try vmplayer (latest
http://downloads.vmware.com/d/detail...QqQHdiZHR3ZQ==

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]

Re: Another X-server transition coming up

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 )

[Yuri sss]

Re: Another X-server transition coming up

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]

Re: Another X-server transition coming up

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]

Re: Another X-server transition coming up

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]

Re: Another X-server transition coming up

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]

Re: Another X-server transition coming up

- 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.