X won't start after fresh Debian install

sgosnell · 11-09-2020, 10:15 AM

You can use either Testing or Bullseye in sources.list. If you use Bullseye, you will move to Stable when Bullseye replaces Buster as Stable. If you use Testing, you will stay on Testing when Bullseye becomes Stable, switching to whatever the next release name is. It's a choice you make, and either is fine, depending on your preferences.

Allen_B · 11-09-2020, 02:27 PM

You learn something every day

So can I set my sources to Buster so I can get working versions of these programs? This would hopefully prevent my wanting to reinstall stable.

Debian also seems to suggest this...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Debian testing release information

Please note that security updates for testing distribution are not yet managed by the security team. Hence, testing does not get security updates in a timely manner. You are encouraged to switch your sources.list entries from testing to buster for the time being if you need security support

Allen_B · 11-09-2020, 02:50 PM

Again commenting on my own question, it seems it can be done but not simply.

Timothy Miller · 11-09-2020, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen_B

Again commenting on my own question, it seems it can be done but not simply.

Which is the reason for backports. The apps are recompiled to run on Stable from Testing, so you don't run into those issues.

sgosnell · 11-09-2020, 05:31 PM

I would strongly suggest adding backports instead of switching to Testing. Testing breaks, sometimes for a week or more. IMO Unstable is better for most users than Testing. I run Sid (Unstable) on most of my machines, but I have more than one available, and one runs Stable, just in case. If Sid breaks, it's only for a day or two, and I can live with that. The thing you should never do is to mix multiple versions on one computer, other than backports. Do not have both Stable and Testing in your sources.list. Run one or the other, but not both. You will have borkage sooner or later, and probably sooner. Pick one and stick with it. In your situation I would use Stable with backports, and add only the backported packages that i really needed. Mostly you only need the kernel and associated firmware.

Allen_B · 11-09-2020, 11:06 PM

I now have stable and I have 5.8.0 and X.

I have software rendering. I can't see a reason in the boot messages.

sgosnell · 11-10-2020, 09:07 AM

You need the mesa drivers from backports. Specifically, the i915 driver.
xserver-xorg-video-intel and firmware-misc-nonfree.

Allen_B · 11-10-2020, 01:27 PM

Thanks, I have those already.

Code:

sudo apt install -t buster-backports firmware-misc-nonfree
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
firmware-misc-nonfree is already the newest version (20200918-1~bpo10+1).
firmware-misc-nonfree set to manually installed.

Code:

sudo apt install -t buster-backports xserver-xorg-video-intel
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
xserver-xorg-video-intel is already the newest version (2:2.99.917+git20180925-2).
xserver-xorg-video-intel set to manually installed.

sgosnell · 11-10-2020, 03:10 PM

Do you have mesa-va-drivers installed? That's what gives the hardware acceleration. I overlooked that earlier.

Allen_B · 11-10-2020, 04:40 PM

Yes, I have mesa-va-drivers.

Code:

lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 9bc8 (rev 03)

Code:

find /dev -group video
/dev/fb0
/dev/dri/card0

Code:

glxinfo | grep -i vendor
server glx vendor string: SGI
client glx vendor string: Mesa Project and SGI
    Vendor: VMware, Inc. (0xffffffff)
OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.

Code:

lsmod | grep "kms\|drm"
drm_kms_helper        258048  1 i915
cec                    49152  2 drm_kms_helper,i915
drm                   614400  4 drm_kms_helper,i915

Code:

cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.8.0-0.bpo.2-amd64

Code:

find /etc/modprobe.d/
/etc/modprobe.d/
/etc/modprobe.d/intel-microcode-blacklist.conf
/etc/modprobe.d/amd64-microcode-blacklist.conf

Code:

glxinfo | grep -i "vendor\|rendering"
direct rendering: Yes
server glx vendor string: SGI
client glx vendor string: Mesa Project and SGI
    Vendor: VMware, Inc. (0xffffffff)
OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.

Code:

grep LoadModule /var/log/Xorg.0.log
[     2.673] (II) LoadModule: "glx"
[     2.677] (II) LoadModule: "modesetting"
[     2.678] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev"
[     2.678] (II) LoadModule: "vesa"
[     2.709] (II) LoadModule: "fbdevhw"
[     2.710] (II) LoadModule: "glamoregl"
[     2.860] (II) LoadModule: "fb"
[     2.861] (II) LoadModule: "shadow"
[     3.124] (II) LoadModule: "libinput"

sgosnell · 11-10-2020, 07:19 PM

Well, I'm out of ideas. I've never used Cinnamon, so I have no advice for that. I'm not sure why you're getting that error message,

Are you running this in a VM? I'm not sure it's possible to get hardware rendering in one. I don't use VMware. Your glxinfo output says the vendor is VMware, and it should be Intel.

Allen_B · 11-10-2020, 07:31 PM

No VM, host or client. I guess I'll try another desktop environment. Thanks all the same

Say I do, and it has this problem but doesn't tell me. I'd like to be able to confirm it other than moving a window around and looking for tearing?

sgosnell · 11-10-2020, 07:36 PM

I don't think it really matters, as long as it works. Your glxinfo output says it's using direct rendering. If you're not doing serious gaming or video editing, I doubt you would see any difference either way. But you probably should look further, because I'm far from an expert on computer video.

EdGr · 11-10-2020, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen_B

Say I do, and it has this problem but doesn't tell me. I'd like to be able to confirm it other than moving a window around and looking for tearing?

You can use X without hardware GPU acceleration, but the experience is not optimal. You want hardware fills and copies.

As I understand, Glamor acceleration maps 2D operations onto OpenGL. It uses Mesa and LLVM.

I would have gone with the working bullseye installation.
Ed