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New Debian Install

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excollier
Posts: 20
Joined: 2013-03-26 10:24

New Debian Install

#1 Post by excollier »

Just want to say I just installed Debian Wheezy Gnome as my fifth OS on a multiboot computer. Although it won't run Gnome 3 it runs in "fallback", it seems to run well and I am initially very pleased with it.
Top marks to the Devs. :)

emariz
Posts: 2901
Joined: 2008-10-17 07:59

Re: New Debian Install

#2 Post by emariz »

excollier wrote:Although it won't run Gnome 3
Fix your video drivers.

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excollier
Posts: 20
Joined: 2013-03-26 10:24

Re: New Debian Install

#3 Post by excollier »

Thanks. Says it's a hardware problem. I wouldn't know where to start, but it's not a problem for me, as you can see, I have other OS to choose from that work perfectly out of the box.

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wtfmobutu
Posts: 22
Joined: 2013-05-25 18:07

Re: New Debian Install

#4 Post by wtfmobutu »

What's your graphics card? Nvidia or ATI/AMD ?

If you don't know, open up a terminal or "the" terminal and type the following:

Code: Select all

lspci | grep VGA
If you're running Debian stable and have an AMD graphics adapter, it's very easy to resolve now - although cards older than the HD5000 series are no longer supported. I know you haven't said it is that but to save time and just in case, here is all you need to do currently with AMD on Debian 7 stable:

1. Open up some terminals. Pick one that you feel comfortable using and type the following into it as root (as root directly or prefixing the command with "sudo", depending on how you have set your system up):

Code: Select all

apt-get install linux-headers-3.2.0-4-all
2. Once that's done, in the same terminal type as root (see 1.) type:

Code: Select all

apt-get install fglrx-driver fglrx-control
3. Don't close the terminal just yet, and type (as you):

Code: Select all

fglrxinfo
If all is well, it will display something like:
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5000 Series
OpenGL version string: 4.2.11762 Compatibility Profile Context


4. Assuming all is well, type the following as root (see 1.):

Code: Select all

aticonfig --initial -f
Strictly speaking the"-f" (for "force") is redundant. However, it won't do any harm and I'm trying to give you something pretty much fool-proof here.

5. Reboot

6. Press the super key (the one that has what looks like a window on it - this is the window that Superman jumps out of, hence the name) to pull up the Gnome 3 app window thing and type "amd". You should see a red and white logo or two. One is the user version, the other is the admin version. I typically take the admin version on account of bad habits picked up in my linux infancy but if it's only you using your computer, there is probably no functional difference between the two.

---

Alternatively, your problem might be that you are missing the package firmware-linux-nonfree. However, try to get your graphics driver installed first.
Last edited by wtfmobutu on 2013-05-26 11:00, edited 4 times in total.
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wtfmobutu
Posts: 22
Joined: 2013-05-25 18:07

Re: New Debian Install

#5 Post by wtfmobutu »

Note that this works for both architectures as the fglrx-driver package now has the i386 packages/libraries x86_64 machines need.
WTF? Mobutu! is and always will be free of anything worth reading

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dasein
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Location: Terra Incantationum

Re: New Debian Install

#6 Post by dasein »

excollier wrote:I have other OS to choose from that work perfectly out of the box.
If "out of the box" functionality is high on your priority list, then Debian probably isn't the distro for you. For good or ill, Debian doesn't place a high priority of OoB functionality.

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excollier
Posts: 20
Joined: 2013-03-26 10:24

Re: New Debian Install

#7 Post by excollier »

I did say in the original post that I was happy with Gnome in fallback mode, and was happy with Debian. I did say that I have four other distros on this computer for stuff that they do out of the box - which is precious little more, if anything, than Debian
I wanted pure Debian to complete the set, adding to 2 x Debian based and 2 x Ubuntu based OS, Debian being the root of all of them.
I tried the command above

Code: Select all

root@debian:~# lspci | grep vga
root@debian:~# 
and got no response at all. So who knows what's going on there.
I will try to discover what graphics card I have, but honestly, it's irrelevant, Debian can do all I need it to do without all the bells and whistles, they are totally unnecessary.
Others may want the froth, I much prefer the beer, thank you.
I'll update when I get a readout of the graphics card somewhere.
Edit:
I rebooted into Mint Debian and entered this into my terminal

Code: Select all

ian@ianlmde ~ $ inxi -Gx
Graphics:  Card Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RV620 [Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series] X.Org 1.12.4 Res: 1024x768@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer Gallium 0.4 on AMD RV620 GLX Version 2.1 Mesa 8.0.4 Direct Rendering Yes
ian@ianlmde ~ $ 
So I guess it's a hardware thing then, no worries. And thanks for your suggestions.
By the way the above commands were unrecognised in my Debian 7 terminal. Why would that be? Especially when LMDE is currently based on Wheezy, and it can use them.

kedaha
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Re: New Debian Install

#8 Post by kedaha »

hi,
excollier wrote: I tried the command above

Code: Select all

root@debian:~# lspci | grep vga
root@debian:~# 
and got no response at all. So who knows what's going on there.
That's because vga is lower case; if you do:

Code: Select all

$ lspci | grep VGA
Use -i, --ignore-case after grep to ignore case distinctions:

Code: Select all

$ lspci | grep -i vga
or

Code: Select all

$ lspci | grep --ignore-case vga
then you'll get the output.
excollier wrote: I rebooted into Mint Debian and entered this into my terminal

Code: Select all

ian@ianlmde ~ $ inxi -Gx
Graphics:  Card Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RV620 [Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series] X.Org 1.12.4 Res: 1024x768@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer Gallium 0.4 on AMD RV620 GLX Version 2.1 Mesa 8.0.4 Direct Rendering Yes
ian@ianlmde ~ $ 
So I guess it's a hardware thing then, no worries. And thanks for your suggestions.
By the way the above commands were unrecognised in my Debian 7 terminal why would that be? Especially when LMDE is currently based on Wheezy.
The second command was not found because the third-party inxi script is not included in Debian.
DebianStable

Code: Select all

$ vrms

No non-free or contrib packages installed on debian!  rms would be proud.

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wtfmobutu
Posts: 22
Joined: 2013-05-25 18:07

Re: New Debian Install

#9 Post by wtfmobutu »

^I've corrected my original post.

My solution won't help you with your card, as it is too old, and you will need the legacy driver. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about that. What you can probably do is follow my guide to the point of installing fglrx-driver, without actually doing it. Prepare to install it and take a note of the extra packages it would pull in. Don't go any further there but install separately those packages fglrx is dependent on. Then get the legacy driver from the AMD site. Basically you will need to download that, make it executable, then run it via root. Then "aticonfig --initial" and reboot.
WTF? Mobutu! is and always will be free of anything worth reading

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excollier
Posts: 20
Joined: 2013-03-26 10:24

Re: New Debian Install

#10 Post by excollier »

Thank you so much for your time and effort, much appreciated, but honestly, I can do well enough without Gnome 3. Fallback runs well and I can't see any loss of actual useful functionality. I like #! because of it's stripped down lightweight look and feel, so Gnome 3 extras are not really required.
Incidentally, isn't Cinnamon run on top of Gnome 3? Cinnamon runs well on this computer.

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wtfmobutu
Posts: 22
Joined: 2013-05-25 18:07

Re: New Debian Install

#11 Post by wtfmobutu »

Yeah that's ok if you're fine with that. I just find fallback a bit like MATE (which is available independently) without the options. But if you're happy, that's all that matters.
WTF? Mobutu! is and always will be free of anything worth reading

User avatar
excollier
Posts: 20
Joined: 2013-03-26 10:24

Re: New Debian Install

#12 Post by excollier »

Bump, Sorry.
I was poised to delete Debian Wheezy from my computer yesterday, Reason? I couldn't get Chromium or Iceweasel to play a particular radio station's radio player,(Manx Radio for the Isle of Man TT races) because I was getting Flash Player "out of date" type warnings.
I found instructions on this site and carried them out to the letter, installing the latest Flash Player in a new folder - still no go! Then when I rebooted hey presto it worked!! Happy days. Now all my operating systems play it for me, but I particularly wanted Debian to work, so now it's a keeper.
That aside I am very pleased with Debian and hope to be using it regularly from now on. Top Marks for a great OS. :D

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llivv
Posts: 5340
Joined: 2007-02-14 18:10
Location: cold storage

Re: New Debian Install

#13 Post by llivv »

This thread was a pleasant read for me.
I may even try to start a new thread to give credit to my favorite devs /dev teams,
both debian and upstream.
I'm glad to hear you are satisfied with gnome fallback mode too.
I noticed you had to repeat yourself at least three times about this... :lol:

I run my old hardware in fallback mode too, when running wheezy gnome.
( the dri /drm upstream code is getting so complex these days, if debian-x
hadn't shut off 3D a year or so ago, wheezy probably would still not be released yet).
I still remember putting off all upgrades for at least a month so I could keep
the still new gnome 3 desktop they way it looks today on newer supported hardware.

I may eventually try building upstream mesa for the 3D hints
as recommended by the debian-x team http://x.debian.net/ -> http://x.debian.net/howto/build-mesa.html
but it will have to flow into my schedule, since my current schedule is already full up.

I also have several multiboot systems. In fact all my machines are multiboot.
And I have several installs of Debian stable testing and sid on each machine.
Since I have other non computer projects that need serious attention,
I only run one box these days.

thanks for sharing and I hope to see some more of your threads in the forum,
In memory of Ian Ashley Murdock (1973 - 2015) founder of the Debian project.

User avatar
excollier
Posts: 20
Joined: 2013-03-26 10:24

Re: New Debian Install

#14 Post by excollier »

You will, I am bound to run into problems as I learn and break stuff.

christoff522
Posts: 9
Joined: 2013-05-09 12:28

Re: New Debian Install

#15 Post by christoff522 »

excollier wrote:Thank you so much for your time and effort, much appreciated, but honestly, I can do well enough without Gnome 3. Fallback runs well and I can't see any loss of actual useful functionality. I like #! because of it's stripped down lightweight look and feel, so Gnome 3 extras are not really required.
Incidentally, isn't Cinnamon run on top of Gnome 3? Cinnamon runs well on this computer.
without the driver, a lot of other performance will be affected too.

its like riding a mountain bike with the front wheel replaced with one from a child's tricycle.

cynwulf

Re: New Debian Install

#16 Post by cynwulf »

I don't think the OP cares anymore... he's on tour apparently... (it's called "The Debian forums asshattery tour 2013 LIVE")

Anyway, there is a driver - the radeon driver and it only needs the kernel firmware to be usable (in terms of mesa/DRI). The proprietary fglrx and nvidia drivers are often worse for rendering 2D graphics than their FLOSS counterparts.

tableplant
Posts: 1
Joined: 2014-03-24 04:41

Re: New Debian Install

#17 Post by tableplant »

Hey wtfmobutu,

I liked your response and I am interested in making Gnome 3 work. I'm also super new to linux

I have an Acer Aspirec One 722 and installed Debian on it and had it go to fallback mode. I started following your steps. After I do the graphics card command I get

Code: Select all

00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Wrestler [Radeon HD 6290]
Step 2: seemed to run and install things properly

Step 3: Gave me this error in a multicolored screen

Code: Select all

Package configuration                                                           
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
  ┌──────────────────────┤ Configuring fglrx-driver ├───────────────────────┐   
  │                                                                         │   
  │ Manual configuration required to enable fglrx driver                    │   
  │                                                                         │   
  │ The fglrx driver is not yet configured. Please consider using           │   
  │ /usr/bin/aticonfig to create a working xorg.conf configuration.         │   
  │                                                                         │   
  │ For example, "sudo aticonfig --initial" should be sufficient for most   │   
  │ use cases.                                                              │   
  │                                                                         │   
  │                                 <Ok>   
and at some point I also received these messages....

Code: Select all

root@debian:/home/shai#     apt-get install fglrx-driver fglrx-control
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  dkms fakeroot fglrx-atieventsd fglrx-glx-ia32 fglrx-modules-dkms gcc gcc-4.7
  glx-alternative-fglrx glx-alternative-mesa glx-diversions libc6-i386
  libfglrx libfglrx-amdxvba1 libgl1-fglrx-glx libitm1 libqtcore4 libqtgui4
  make nvidia-installer-cleanup
Suggested packages:
  xvba-va-driver amd-opencl-icd gcc-multilib autoconf automake1.9 libtool flex
  bison gdb gcc-doc gcc-4.7-multilib libmudflap0-4.7-dev gcc-4.7-doc
  gcc-4.7-locales libgcc1-dbg libgomp1-dbg libitm1-dbg libquadmath0-dbg
  libmudflap0-dbg libcloog-ppl0 libppl-c2 libppl7 binutils-gold qt4-qtconfig
  make-doc
Recommended packages:
  libgl1-fglrx-glx-i386
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  dkms fakeroot fglrx-atieventsd fglrx-control fglrx-driver fglrx-glx-ia32
  fglrx-modules-dkms gcc gcc-4.7 glx-alternative-fglrx glx-alternative-mesa
  glx-diversions libc6-i386 libfglrx libfglrx-amdxvba1 libgl1-fglrx-glx
  libitm1 libqtcore4 libqtgui4 make nvidia-installer-cleanup
0 upgraded, 21 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
E: Could not get lock /var/cache/apt/archives/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock directory /var/cache/apt/archives/
Any help would be appreciated, though I also might head to bed soon and revisit this thread in the morning


wtfmobutu wrote:What's your graphics card? Nvidia or ATI/AMD ?

If you don't know, open up a terminal or "the" terminal and type the following:

Code: Select all

lspci | grep VGA
If you're running Debian stable and have an AMD graphics adapter, it's very easy to resolve now - although cards older than the HD5000 series are no longer supported. I know you haven't said it is that but to save time and just in case, here is all you need to do currently with AMD on Debian 7 stable:

1. Open up some terminals. Pick one that you feel comfortable using and type the following into it as root (as root directly or prefixing the command with "sudo", depending on how you have set your system up):

Code: Select all

apt-get install linux-headers-3.2.0-4-all
2. Once that's done, in the same terminal type as root (see 1.) type:

Code: Select all

apt-get install fglrx-driver fglrx-control
3. Don't close the terminal just yet, and type (as you):

Code: Select all

fglrxinfo
If all is well, it will display something like:
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5000 Series
OpenGL version string: 4.2.11762 Compatibility Profile Context


4. Assuming all is well, type the following as root (see 1.):

Code: Select all

aticonfig --initial -f
Strictly speaking the"-f" (for "force") is redundant. However, it won't do any harm and I'm trying to give you something pretty much fool-proof here.

5. Reboot

6. Press the super key (the one that has what looks like a window on it - this is the window that Superman jumps out of, hence the name) to pull up the Gnome 3 app window thing and type "amd". You should see a red and white logo or two. One is the user version, the other is the admin version. I typically take the admin version on account of bad habits picked up in my linux infancy but if it's only you using your computer, there is probably no functional difference between the two.

---

Alternatively, your problem might be that you are missing the package firmware-linux-nonfree. However, try to get your graphics driver installed first.

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