no GUI after upgrade to buster

[serandrzej]

@OP: try installing the firmware-linux-nonfree metapackage..

how do I install the metapackage? I ran this command with this result:

Code: Select all

apt-cache search | grep metapackage
E: You must give at least one search pattern

or

Code: Select all

sudo apt-cache search | grep firmware-linux-nonfree
E: You must give at least one search pattern


I was just hypothesising on a possibility of instructing buster to boot into graphical environment by placing this entry "BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-5-amd64 home=UUID=9f475ba3..e4a720 ro quiet" in a file which controls booting

The kernel doesn't understand home= as a command line parameter and anyway it would make no sense to only mount /home

that's disappointing. I thought as simple idea as replacing an entry in some file(s), would fix the problem. and note, graphical GUI appears when I try to log in using gdm3, but that's it, after typing login and password I'm just returned to greeter.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

how do I install the metapackage?

The same way you would install any package, see apt(8) for the details.

[serandrzej]

The same way you would install any package, see apt(8) for the details.

yes, but what do I instruct apt to install? I tried this

Code: Select all

apt install firmware-linux-nonfree-metapackage

the response was

Code: Select all

E: Unable to locate package firmware-linux-nonfree-metapackage

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Code: Select all

# apt install firmware-linux-nonfree

[serandrzej]

Code: Select all

# apt install firmware-linux-nonfree

after this command some packages were installed but no progess with the issue, still no GUI.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Try the Liquorix kernel.

[Dai_trying]

Another thing to check would be having enough free space on your system partitions, I've had occasion where free space was used and the system could not log-in to GUI, as this was an upgrade it is possible to have used up more space than expected.

To check this you can log-in a fresh tty (ctrl+atl+F1) and check free space (I use df -h), if anything looks to high (Use%) then free up some space and try again (ctrl+alt+F7 to return to GUI login).

[serandrzej]

Another thing to check would be having enough free space on your system partitions, I've had occasion where free space was used and the system could not log-in to GUI, as this was an upgrade it is possible to have used up more space than expected.

To check this you can log-in a fresh tty (ctrl+atl+F1) and check free space (I use df -h)

df -h returns nothing worrying, most used partition is /home at just 77%
oh, and I've just remembered, the problem of not enough space occurred after first regular dist-upgrade from CLI. then I started to reinstall the system from CD and ended up in no GUI.

[serandrzej]

Try the Liquorix kernel.

I can't seem to manage to type in correctly the debian prerequisits. I get response ">" and that's it. tried to copy the command via nano but just can't find a way how to copy and paste in text mode.

[djk44883]

But if you needed proprietary firmware, installer should have made it known.

The installer doesn't warn about firmware requirements for video cards.

@OP: try installing the firmware-linux-nonfree metapackage.

...because you don't actually need a proprietary drive for basic video function. While installing, I was informed I needed a driver for wifi - basic function. Video functions, basically, without special drivers -- how else could you turn it on and see any thing.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

...because you don't actually need a proprietary drive for basic video function. While installing, I was informed I needed a driver for wifi - basic function. Video functions, basically, without special drivers -- how else could you turn it on and see any thing.

My AMD graphics chip will not display the desktop at all unless the firmware is installed. We have had threads recently from a few other users suffering the same issue.

[djk44883]

...because you don't actually need a proprietary drive for basic video function. While installing, I was informed I needed a driver for wifi - basic function. Video functions, basically, without special drivers -- how else could you turn it on and see any thing.

My AMD graphics chip will not display the desktop at all unless the firmware is installed. We have had threads recently from a few other users suffering the same issue.

Back to my previous post about the installer and firmware:
Debian buster -- Installation Guide
2.1.5. Graphics Hardware Support

Whether advanced graphics card features such as 3D-hardware acceleration or hardware-accelerated video are available, depends on the actual graphics hardware used in the system and in some cases on the installation of additional “firmware” images (see Section 2.2, “Devices Requiring Firmware”).

On modern PCs, having a graphical display usually works out of the box. In very few cases there have been reports about hardware on which installation of additional graphics card firmware was required even for basic graphics support, but these have been rare exceptions. For quite a lot of hardware, 3D acceleration also works well out of the box, but there is still some hardware that needs binary blobs to work well.

2.2. Devices Requiring Firmware

With many graphics cards, basic functionality is available without additional firmware, but the use of advanced features requires an appropriate firmware file to be installed in the system.

If the debian-installer prompts for a firmware file and you do not have this firmware file available or do not want to install a non-free firmware file on your system, you can try to proceed without loading the firmware. There are several cases where a driver prompts for additional firmware because it may be needed under certain circumstances, but the device does work without it on most systems (this e.g. happens with certain network cards using the tg3 driver).

So, you shouldn't need firmware, but if you do - installer prompts for you to install it. That's what we get from Debian. This not working for you or others... makes this documentation obsolete?

[dilberts_left_nut]

and note, graphical GUI appears when I try to log in using gdm3, but that's it, after typing login and password I'm just returned to greeter.

This doesn't match your thread title, and it looks like you are trying to solve the wrong problem.
You DO have a working gui, what you have is a failure to log in to your upgraded profile.
Make a new user and try logging in to that.