[ubuntu] Installing on the Dell Mini 12

[dimeified]

well before now i had 2 scenarios,

1 - computer freezes, have to pressed power button to bring up shutdown screen then hit cancel to resume working.

2 - computer freezes with mouse still movable, nothing works except holding the power button down to power off.

scenario 1 happened after 10 minutes after booting, and 10 minutes thereafter.

scenario 2 happened EVERY TIME i booted the computer after about a half hour of use.

Now after editing xorg, adding uxa, saving,rebooting, freezing, removing uxa, rebooting... suddenly everything is ok. the freezes definately were NOT random for me, and i should have had them happen by now, ive been using the pc for 3 hours now without freezing.

[dimeified]

looks like scenario 1 just happened, damn

[puttux]

I got a new dell mini 10, four days back..... and am having the same problem... I first had the 2.6.28-11 kernel when I installed 9.04 first. But the psb drivers didn't work, so had to upgrade to the 2.6.28-13 kernel. But that broke my wifi. And the psb drivers weren't very smooth either. While the totem movie player could play my videos ok... smplayer seemed jerky... (there were random crashes of course... usually when there were lots of applications open or when I was copying file in large numbers)... So I just switched back to the old kernel, removed the psb drivers and am watching videos using mplayer on the svga mode now...
Just hoping for a stable psb driver at the earliest...

[pachistano]

Originally Posted by dimeified well before now i had 2 scenarios, 1 - computer freezes, have to pressed power button to bring up shutdown screen then hit cancel to resume working. 2 - computer freezes with mouse still movable, nothing works except holding the power button down to power off. scenario 1 happened after 10 minutes after booting, and 10 minutes thereafter. scenario 2 happened EVERY TIME i booted the computer after about a half hour of use. Now after editing xorg, adding uxa, saving,rebooting, freezing, removing uxa, rebooting... suddenly everything is ok. the freezes definately were NOT random for me, and i should have had them happen by now, ive been using the pc for 3 hours now without freezing.

ok, i know dell ubuntu is really a bloody mess. confusion everywhere, fix this and break that, freeze, lock, 2d, 3d, poulsbo, different kernels and repos...

i think we need to clarify the situation.
everybody has a system *NOT* freezing, could please post the running configuration?
i would like to know:
kernel version
psb version and from which repo
xorg version
additional packages
compiz yes or compiz no

what kind of modifications this system has.

thanks a lot, this could help a lot

fabio

[Xernie]

Originally Posted by pachistano ok, i know dell ubuntu is really a bloody mess. confusion everywhere, fix this and break that, freeze, lock, 2d, 3d, poulsbo, different kernels and repos... i think we need to clarify the situation. everybody has a system *NOT* freezing, could please post the running configuration? i would like to know: kernel version psb version and from which repo xorg version additional packages compiz yes or compiz no what kind of modifications this system has. thanks a lot, this could help a lot fabio

I second this excellent suggestion.

[aliosa27]

I can tell you weather your running -11 -13 it looks like the way to get around the freezing problem is to simply remove the binary firmware blob ./lib/firmware/msvdx_fw.bin

However Then we are back to square 2(as 1 was no acceleration) to no 3d/xv acceleration

That takes care of the freezing....


So the hardware cursor still functions...
weird


this happens with compiz and without..

logs to follow..

[pachistano]

Originally Posted by aliosa27 I can tell you weather your running -11 -13 it looks like the way to get around the freezing problem is to simply remove the binary firmware blob ./lib/firmware/msvdx_fw.bin However Then we are back to square 2(as 1 was no acceleration) to no 3d/xv acceleration That takes care of the freezing.... So the hardware cursor still functions... weird this happens with compiz and without.. logs to follow..

I removed /lib/firmware/msvdx_fw.bin from the system but:

-3d still working
-freezing still happens

where did you get this advice?
is it working for you?

fabio

[fitzkarraldo]

perhaps I've found some kind of solution...

before last week I had a jaunty install working without any problem, except 3d (no driver existed yet). I realized that maybe something got broken when I:
- updated my kernel to 2.6.28-13
- discovered and installed the 3d version of poulsbo driver.

Well, this morning I decided to remove the 3d driver, packages psb-firmware and xpsb-glx, and until now (more than 3 hours) I had no freeze. In last week, instead, with 3d driver installed, my notebook was freezing every hour more or less.

I'll keep you informed...

[aliosa27]

Fabio,


Your Right, it actually still does happen on -13 without the firmware blob..I think the firmware is compiled into the xpsb.so module now, looking at the xorg logs it does not show it attempting to find the firmware anymore on -13...However rolling back to -11, and removing the firmware blob does take care of the freezing..


sorry..

[fitzkarraldo]

Originally Posted by fitzkarraldo perhaps I've found some kind of solution... before last week I had a jaunty install working without any problem, except 3d (no driver existed yet). I realized that maybe something got broken when I: - updated my kernel to 2.6.28-13 - discovered and installed the 3d version of poulsbo driver. Well, this morning I decided to remove the 3d driver, packages psb-firmware and xpsb-glx, and until now (more than 3 hours) I had no freeze. In last week, instead, with 3d driver installed, my notebook was freezing every hour more or less. I'll keep you informed...

still no crashes, definitely actual config is more stable.