Installing Ubuntu 10.04 on fitPC2 and fitPC2i

[fly]

Mh, which display was it? How was it connected? There's a thread with displays causing trouble at [1] -- although I don't know where those problems come from. It's 2010 and monitors should just work...

[1] http://www.fit-pc2.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=953

[ekips]

The display was a samsung TV (LE32A436T1D) it was connected by HDMI
It worked fine when it was using the default generic drivers just the psb driver which seems to have the issue with it.
Ive also used a range of systems with that TV before with no issue.

Its now connected to a Samsung SyncMaster 913B which works fine.

[evleer]

Hi. I have the same problem with a Samsung Syncmaster P2370 monitor attached to my fit-PC2i. Installing Ubuntu 10.04 without psb driver works, but after installing the driver and rebooting, the screen goes blank. The same thing happens when i try to install Ubuntu 10.04 from the lucazade cd with build-in gma500 support: during boot from cd the screen goes blank.

So now i installed Linux Mint 8 (based on Ubuntu 9.10) and this works without issues with the psb driver and the monitor on native 1900x1080 resolution.

It would be very nice if I could upgrade my setup to 10.04 LTS though..

[fly]

The livecd is great, however I think it is only suitable for gma500 gpus connected via internal lvds. However, as I use the stock installer of ubuntu, I can't neither falsify nor confirm this. Just to make sure: Did you use the fitpc2 xorg.conf?

The state of Ubuntu 10.04 on fitPC2 is really bad, but improving. If you have the right (I can't see what defines if it works or not) display, you get quite good 2d and video acceleration and basic 3d support.

All other who aren't lucky to get it work are left on 9.10 for now. This will only change, if Intel decides to release a new driver. Despite some rumours I doubt that thsi will happen anytime soon...

[albig]

Hi,

thank you @fly for this great howto.

I follwed it step-by-step and also in my case, the screen stayed black and the keyboard didn't react

The reason for this was quite obvious. Maybe others have the same problem?

I started the update with a running Ubuntu 9.10 with kernel vmlinuz-2.6.31-34-fitpc2. During update, the kernel vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic was installed but the psb driver was build for the old kernel. After reboot, the psb driver was missing for the new, current kernel.

I logged in via SSH on the fit-PC2 running kernel 2.6.32-24-generic and run

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sudo dpkg-reconfigure psb-kernel-source

After a reboot, everything was perfect now!

Today, I was even more courageous and compiled recent vanilla kernel 2.6.35.
This took a long time because I used the default config but it works. Great!

[evleer]

Thanks for sharing your experiences on this forum. I think there really is a problem with certain monitors, fit-PC2 and Ubuntu 10.04. In my case, I installed from scratch, so no upgrade. And I did try the fitpc2 xorg.conf, but to no avail.

As with ekips, 'modprobe psb' on the root console gives a higher resolution, yet on starting X the screen goes black. Problem is that unlike him, I don't have another monitor with DVI to experiment with.

Anyway, I will stick to Ubuntu 9.10 for now and hope that driver improvements or a workaround will allow an upgrade soon.

[skinkone]

I have a Panasonic TV with an HDMI connection and have the same problem of the "black screen" upon upgrade to 10.04. Changing boot options to "nomodeset" or re-executing Step 5 solves nothing. Even the GRUB options of recovery mode or fail-safe graphics do not work. Is there anything I can do to roll back to the previous version of Ubuntu or get at least basic graphics? I don't want to reformat the PC!

Thanks for the help!

[fly]

Even the GRUB options of recovery mode or fail-safe graphics do not work. Is there anything I can do to roll back to the previous version of Ubuntu or get at least basic graphics? I don't want to reformat the PC!

That's weird, did you upgrade from a previous Ubuntu release (e.g. 9.10) or did a kernel upgrade? If so, please reconfigure the driver module (see albig). If you want to remove the driver, you can select recovery mode and drop to a root shell. There you should try to load the psb driver:

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modprobe psb

If the terminal changes to a high resolution, psb driver is working and you should spend some more time to get it working. If not or if the pc hangs, reboot and go again to the rescue root shell. Now try

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sudo apt-get purge poulsbo-driver-2d poulsbo-driver-3d poulsbo-config psb-kernel-source
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf
sudo reboot

The computer should reboot and start in vesa graphics mode. If you want to revert back to an older version of ubuntu, I would rather uninstall it. You can downgrade, but I don't think there is a recommended downgrade path.

[skinkone]

That's weird, did you upgrade from a previous Ubuntu release (e.g. 9.10) or did a kernel upgrade?

I upgraded from 9.10.

If so, please reconfigure the driver module (see albig).

I tried this as well, but no dice!

If you want to remove the driver, you can select recovery mode and drop to a root shell. There you should try to load the psb driver:

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modprobe psb

If the terminal changes to a high resolution, psb driver is working and you should spend some more time to get it working. If not or if the pc hangs, reboot and go again to the rescue root shell. Now try

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sudo apt-get purge poulsbo-driver-2d poulsbo-driver-3d poulsbo-config
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf
sudo reboot

The computer should reboot and start in vesa graphics mode

Because "modprobe psb" caused the screen to go blank and the system to lock up, I tried uninstalling the driver as you explained above. When rebooting, there's a dash cursor in the upper left of the screen and the TV flashes about 20 times. There's a brief splash of Ubuntu (with the red dots) and then the screen goes black as before.

All worked fine on 9.10, so I'm pretty perplexed. Thanks for answering my previous post so quickly.

Update: I issued the command

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sudo apt-get remove psb-kernel-source

This was able to do the trick; I'm now booted into what I assume is VESA mode. Thanks again! I will try reinstalling poulsbo later.

[fly]

I upgraded from 9.10.

Upgrading from one release to another works most of the time, when you have all opensource drivers and installed everything from the normal ubuntu repositories. But in case of fitpc2 I would not ever do this...

All worked fine on 9.10, so I'm pretty perplexed.

So what made you switch? If something works well and there is no reason (hardware support, upgraded version of a specific program, security) to upgrade, then DON'T. Especially if the upgrade is know to cause problems (e.g. with proprietary drivers). The root of all those problems is Intel not being able (license wise) or not being willing enough to keep their drivers up to date and in sync with major kernel and xorg releases...

There's a brief splash of Ubuntu (with the red dots) and then the screen goes black as before.

Can you switch to another tty (ctrl alt F1 e.g.)?
Try booting in rescue mode and select vesa/safe graphics. Does this work?


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Update: I issued the command

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sudo apt-get remove psb-kernel-source

This was able to do the trick; I'm now booted into what I assume is VESA mode. Thanks again! I will try reinstalling poulsbo later.

Oh, great. psb-kernerl-source should have been removed by autoremove If I remember correctly, but anyway, I am glad it works now. I will update my previous posting, if someone has the same problem!