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Linux Distro Noob thread of Linux noobs

S

Slavik81

Member
Computer said:
I've had a bad day with Linux. I reinstalled my system and I don't know what to do anymore.

  • Unity: Doesn't load at all after installing the proprietary drivers, all I have is the wallpaper
  • Cinnamon: Screenshots don't work as intended and Steam always crashes. Also I had a couple freezes
  • MATE: I won't use it without Compiz but it's impossible to set it up without breaking the whole desktop
  • Gnome Classic: See MATE
  • Gnome Shell: What the hell is this. Even if it has no bugs I will never use that unintuitive piece of shit.
  • KDE: See Gnome Shell

Also, I don't like my desktop being slow and I want to play some games so sticking to the open-source drivers is not an option. I'm sick of wasting my time so I'm considering buying a Mac in the future and, for the time being, I'll stick Windows and running Linux Mint from VirtualBox. I don't mind spending more for something that just works.
Click to expand...
Sounds like this bug
 
T

TheNatural

My Member!
Andrex said:
If you're gonna go Linux, definitely go Intel + nVidia. ATI/AMD are crap.
Click to expand...

Do you do any major gaming on Linux?

I've been using Linux on my laptop with an HD 4000 card, and it seems to run basically all available games on Linux pretty well. Which isn't a ton obviously, but there doesn't even seem to be any games out right now that would require more than decent integrated graphics.
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
I play some games yes, now that Steam's available. I believe my laptop has HD4000 too and it's ran everything I've thrown at it so far (which to be fair are mostly indie games like World of Goo and older games like Half-Life.)
 
O

Oracle Dragon

Member
Gnome 3 lovers - what do I need to do to make this UI fast and responsive? I've finally given it a go and I'm actually really liking it, but boy, does it feel so sluggish! Even just opening new windows, dragging them around, pressing the window key to go back to the menues and view of the workspaces... my PC responds instantly to these requests but when it trys to draw or animate it just feels so choppy :(

Is it just a total hardware hog, or does it run like that even on the newest stuff around? My PC is far removed from cutting edge but it's not a total antique (just mostly)... 2.1Ghz triple core AMD, 8GB of ram and AMD HD 3200 w/ 8.6.94 driver version. (WARNING: I'm a total linux newb! Possibly this issue is due to my own ineptitude). I don't have any illusions of running games or anything, but I would have thought my PC was good enough the UI should feel responsive.
 
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
Massa said:
If you find Gnome Shell an unintuitive piece of shit you will most definitely hate Mac OS X, since Gnome is like a better and improved version of that. :p

It seems like you want some stability in your Linux experience. My advice? Stop messing with these no-name distributions. Compiz is crap. Get something a little less bleeding edge like Debian wheezy and stick to its defaults.



Intel contributes directly to the open source graphics stack - if you're running a Linux distribution on an Intel system you're using their drivers.
Click to expand...
I've used a Mac before (2006 MacBook Pro, great machine until it died) so don't worry.
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Oracle Dragon said:
Gnome 3 lovers - what do I need to do to make this UI fast and responsive? I've finally given it a go and I'm actually really liking it, but boy, does it feel so sluggish! Even just opening new windows, dragging them around, pressing the window key to go back to the menues and view of the workspaces... my PC responds instantly to these requests but when it trys to draw or animate it just feels so choppy :(

Is it just a total hardware hog, or does it run like that even on the newest stuff around? My PC is far removed from cutting edge but it's not a total antique (just mostly)... 2.1Ghz triple core AMD, 8GB of ram and AMD HD 3200 w/ 8.6.94 driver version. (WARNING: I'm a total linux newb! Possibly this issue is due to my own ineptitude). I don't have any illusions of running games or anything, but I would have thought my PC was good enough the UI should feel responsive.
Click to expand...

Hmm I'm not sure, maybe it's using software rendering? It's always been super zippy for me.
 
T

TheNatural

My Member!
Oracle Dragon said:
Gnome 3 lovers - what do I need to do to make this UI fast and responsive? I've finally given it a go and I'm actually really liking it, but boy, does it feel so sluggish! Even just opening new windows, dragging them around, pressing the window key to go back to the menues and view of the workspaces... my PC responds instantly to these requests but when it trys to draw or animate it just feels so choppy :(

Is it just a total hardware hog, or does it run like that even on the newest stuff around? My PC is far removed from cutting edge but it's not a total antique (just mostly)... 2.1Ghz triple core AMD, 8GB of ram and AMD HD 3200 w/ 8.6.94 driver version. (WARNING: I'm a total linux newb! Possibly this issue is due to my own ineptitude). I don't have any illusions of running games or anything, but I would have thought my PC was good enough the UI should feel responsive.
Click to expand...

Bad driver support possibly. Probably a year plus or so I had a computer I built with one of those cheap Radeon cards for basically a HTPC, and netbook intensive games that ran fine on Windows were even stutery with the Catalyst drivers in Ubuntu.
 
P

Polari

Member
Oracle Dragon said:
Gnome 3 lovers - what do I need to do to make this UI fast and responsive? I've finally given it a go and I'm actually really liking it, but boy, does it feel so sluggish! Even just opening new windows, dragging them around, pressing the window key to go back to the menues and view of the workspaces... my PC responds instantly to these requests but when it trys to draw or animate it just feels so choppy :(

Is it just a total hardware hog, or does it run like that even on the newest stuff around? My PC is far removed from cutting edge but it's not a total antique (just mostly)... 2.1Ghz triple core AMD, 8GB of ram and AMD HD 3200 w/ 8.6.94 driver version. (WARNING: I'm a total linux newb! Possibly this issue is due to my own ineptitude). I don't have any illusions of running games or anything, but I would have thought my PC was good enough the UI should feel responsive.
Click to expand...

It definitely shouldn't be that slow. 8.6.94 doesn't sound quite right, but maybe give this a crack: http://somethingididnotknow.wordpre...-very-slow-using-latest-ati-catalyst-drivers/

Otherwise maybe try uninstalling the Catalyst driver and using the free radeon driver instead?
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Same. A shame the next release is gonna use 3.6 though since Canonical is dragging their heels.
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Pctx said:
Oh calm down. You can add a ppa and get 3.8 as soon as its released.
Click to expand...

I WILL NOT CALM DOWN I WANT 3.8 BUILT IN DAMN IT!!!!
LLShC.gif
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
13.04 = 3.6, that's why I'm annoyed.

Presumably 13.10 will have 3.8.

Pctx said:
oh is it? I can't keep track of what version Ubuntu is on since I only care about the LTS releases.
Click to expand...

Aren't they doing away with the whole LTS soon?
 
M

Maxrunner

Member
Just had to install ubuntu 12.10 from scratch but now while the nvidia drivers seems to be installed, i can't run any game, specially from steam, i can't seem to run anything....i'm considering going back to 12.04.
 
P

Pctx

Banned
Andrex said:
13.04 = 3.6, that's why I'm annoyed.

Presumably 13.10 will have 3.8.



Aren't they doing away with the whole LTS soon?
Click to expand...

Not that I know of. I know Canonical is thinking of rolling release but I think they'll keep their LTS versions IIRC.
 
tfur

tfur

Member
Why would you use stock nvidia drivers anyhow. Is this a requirement of Ubuntu?

Download the latest drivers from nvidia, and install/compile those against your installed kernel/kernel-dev environment.

Just remember each kernel upgrade, will require a nvidia driver recompile.

On CentOS:

download latest nvidia drivers
init 3, on CentOS this exits gdm/xdm
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.oldversionwhatever
sh ./nvidia_install.sh
yes to the defaults
startx and and see if the nvidia banner comes up etc. Now exit X session.
init 5. restarts gdm/xdm xsession login
done

It's like a 2 minute operation. I have not used a default distribution driver in many many years for nvidia equipped hardware.
 
M

Maxrunner

Member
tfur said:
Why would you use stock nvidia drivers anyhow. Is this a requirement of Ubuntu?

Download the latest drivers from nvidia, and install/compile those against your installed kernel/kernel-dev environment.

Just remember each kernel upgrade, will require a nvidia driver recompile.

On CentOS:

download latest nvidia drivers
init 3, on CentOS this exits gdm/xdm
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.oldversionwhatever
sh ./nvidia_install.sh
yes to the defaults
startx and and see if the nvidia banner comes up etc. Now exit X session.
init 5. restarts gdm/xdm xsession login
done

It's like a 2 minute operation. I have not used a default distribution driver in many many years for nvidia equipped hardware.
Click to expand...


i installed the nvidia 313.26 directly from the ppa xorg-edgers and then selected the 313 from another drivers in the software sources, and everything works except games.
 
tfur

tfur

Member
Maxrunner said:
i installed the nvidia 313.26 directly from the ppa xorg-edgers and then selected the 313 from another drivers in the software sources, and everything works except games.
Click to expand...

I don't know much at all about ubuntu. I download nvidia drivers directly from nvidia.com.

Does glxinfo say "direct rendering: Yes"... 3rd line.
 
S

Slavik81

Member
Computer said:
I've reinstalled Linux Mint and everything works well with the open-source drivers except everything is laggy as fuck. Is there any distro/desktop environment that will work with the AMD proprietary drivers?
Click to expand...
Are you sure your drivers installed without error when you tried them before? The fact that your Unity experience was identical to mine with a failed install of a NVIDIA driver makes me suspicious.
 
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
I've finally got my system to works in a decent manner.

  • First, I installed MATE because I already knew that Steam insta-crashes on Cinnamon if the proprietary drivers are installed
  • Enable the AMD proprietary drivers form the Software Sources menu
  • Everything works fine except windows weren't transparent anymore
  • Since installing Compiz completely breaks MATE, I had to find an alternative. After lots of googling, I learnt that you could just enable compositing through MATE's Desktop Settings
  • Problem: 'Desktop Settings' is nowhere to be found in MATE
  • More googling
  • Solution was sudo apt-get install mintdesktop
  • Run mintdesktop -> Windows -> Performance -> Enable compositing
  • Voilà, everything works, the UI is responsive, Steam games work fine, except now my speakers seem to have died (everything work fine when I plug my headphones straight to the sound card). That's weird, I'll look into that later.

Edit: Steam crashes again.
 
M

Maxrunner

Member
tfur said:
I don't know much at all about ubuntu. I download nvidia drivers directly from nvidia.com.

Does glxinfo say "direct rendering: Yes"... 3rd line.
Click to expand...

~$ glxinfo |grep rendering
direct rendering: Yes
GL_NV_parameter_buffer_object2, GL_NV_path_rendering,

yep.
 
P

Pctx

Banned
Computer said:
I've finally got my system to works in a decent manner.

  • First, I installed MATE because I already knew that Steam insta-crashes on Cinnamon if the proprietary drivers are installed
  • Enable the AMD proprietary drivers form the Software Sources menu
  • Everything works fine except windows weren't transparent anymore
  • Since installing Compiz completely breaks MATE, I had to find an alternative. After lots of googling, I learnt that you could just enable compositing through MATE's Desktop Settings
  • Problem: 'Desktop Settings' is nowhere to be found in MATE
  • More googling
  • Solution was sudo apt-get install mintdesktop
  • Run mintdesktop -> Windows -> Performance -> Enable compositing
  • Voilà, everything works, the UI is responsive, Steam games work fine, except now my speakers seem to have died (everything work fine when I plug my headphones straight to the sound card). That's weird, I'll look into that later.

Edit: Steam crashes again.
Click to expand...

You on the list to get a steam box? I mean, you could just create a profile for gaming and one for everything else that uses the two different environments if it NEEDS Unity to run without a hitch.
 
tfur

tfur

Member
Maxrunner said:
~$ glxinfo |grep rendering
direct rendering: Yes
GL_NV_parameter_buffer_object2, GL_NV_path_rendering,

yep.
Click to expand...

ok, there was also glx strings as well etc, as well as OpenGL lines?
server glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
server glx version string: 1.4
server glx extensions:

Xorg/nouveau, or nvidia kernel module? Should be nvidia
lsmod | grep nv
nvidia 9375371 58
i2c_core 31276 2 i2c_i801,nvidia

What are the permissions on /dev/nvidia*

Can you just launch a game in a console, and see what errors are output? The output should be obtainable somewhere. Also, look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log, or something similar after a failed game start.

If it's a nouveau driver, then I don't know what to do. I only use nvidia drivers.
 
M

Maxrunner

Member
tfur said:
ok, there was also glx strings as well etc, as well as OpenGL lines?
server glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
server glx version string: 1.4
server glx extensions:

Xorg/nouveau, or nvidia kernel module? Should be nvidia
lsmod | grep nv
nvidia 9375371 58
i2c_core 31276 2 i2c_i801,nvidia

What are the permissions on /dev/nvidia*

Can you just launch a game in a console, and see what errors are output? The output should be obtainable somewhere. Also, look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log, or something similar after a failed game start.

If it's a nouveau driver, then I don't know what to do. I only use nvidia drivers.
Click to expand...

Cant see evertyhing at the beginning.

~$ lsmod | grep nv
nvidia 9162192 43
 
tfur

tfur

Member
Maxrunner said:
Cant see evertyhing at the beginning.

~$ lsmod | grep nv
nvidia 9162192 43
Click to expand...

glxinfo | more
should have some glxinfo, but since you already have the module loaded, it should be ok.

ls -l /dev/nvidia*
should be rw-rw-rw

So, no console err output for execution? I am sure you could figure it out with that output. Probably missing or not seen libraries. LD_LIBRARY_PATH related usually, if X is properly configured.
 
M

Maxrunner

Member
maxrunner@maxrunner-Qosmio-F60:/dev$ ls -l /dev/nvidia*
crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 195, 0 Mar 11 14:08 /dev/nvidia0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 195, 255 Mar 11 14:08 /dev/nvidiactl

will try checking by running the games in console. Counter strike source gives the error:

could not find opengl entry point "glGetError".

~$ LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose; glxinfo | grep gl

server glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
server glx version string: 1.4
server glx extensions:
client glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
client glx version string: 1.4
client glx extensions:
GL_ARB_texture_query_lod, GL_ARB_texture_rectangle, GL_ARB_texture_rg,
GL_NV_texture_rectangle, GL_NV_texture_shader, GL_NV_texture_shader2,
 
tfur

tfur

Member
Maxrunner said:
maxrunner@maxrunner-Qosmio-F60:/dev$ ls -l /dev/nvidia*
crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 195, 0 Mar 11 14:08 /dev/nvidia0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 195, 255 Mar 11 14:08 /dev/nvidiactl

will try checking by running the games in console. Counter strike source gives the error:

could not find opengl entry point "glGetError".
Click to expand...

Welp, I don't really know then. Once you can see console output, you can figure it out. If glxgears runs, and you have direct rendering, its a software problem related to the game itself and what it requires.

I did see a few posts here, that may help. Halfway down.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/1/882966056488160497/#p2
 
M

Maxrunner

Member
tfur said:
Welp, I don't really know then. Once you can see console output, you can figure it out. If glxgears runs, and you have direct rendering, its a software problem related to the game itself and what it requires.

I did see a few posts here, that may help. Halfway down.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/1/882966056488160497/#p2
Click to expand...

The thing is, it was working before. I could play trine2, cs, cs:source, the cave...after i did a fresh install. Webgl browser is not working either. But im using the home folder as a different partition, and i just reinstalled steam without redownloading the games.
Also:

uname -r
3.5.0-25-generic
 
tfur

tfur

Member
Maxrunner said:
The thing is, it was working before. I could play trine2, cs, cs:source, the cave...after i did a fresh install. Webgl browser is not working either. But im using the home folder as a different partition, and i just reinstalled steam without redownloading the games.
Click to expand...

Not sure, different partition, sounds like path or permissions issues. Selinux can cause issues, if you move outside of trusted paths?
# sestatus

Without console output, it just trial and error.

If you get desperate, the last ditch is to strace the command. It shows the systems calls, and inevitably your execution error. Or what could be causing the error.

strace -f somecommand > somelogfile.log 2>&1

You will see the errors toward the bottom of the output. Its a bit cryptic, but it will be there.
 
M

Maxrunner

Member
maxrunner@maxrunner-Qosmio-F60:~/games/Grimrock$ Grimrock
Grimrock: error while loading shared libraries: libopenal.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
 
tfur

tfur

Member
Maxrunner said:
maxrunner@maxrunner-Qosmio-F60:~/games/Grimrock$ Grimrock
Grimrock: error while loading shared libraries: libopenal.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Click to expand...

find / -name libopenal.so.1 -print

use the directory where it was found to set the LD path.

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/path_where_found:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
example
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib64:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

Sounds like you either do not have the proper libs, or the wrapper that runs the program is expecting them somewhere else.

do an ldd on the file Grimlock

find / -name Grimlock -print
its probably a wrapper script, if not ldd will show you all of the paths to the .so linked libs. Any that are missing, means either not installed or they are no longer where they were. You over ride or set by setting the LD_LIBRARY_PATH to where they live now. Good luck, heading home.
 
M

Maxrunner

Member
maxrunner@maxrunner-Qosmio-F60:~/games/Grimrock$ sudo find / -name libopenal.so.1 -print
[sudo] password for maxrunner:
/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libopenal.so.1
/home/maxrunner/Steam/SteamApps/common/Amnesia The Dark Descent/libs/all/libopenal.so.1
/home/maxrunner/Steam/SteamApps/common/Amnesia The Dark Descent/libs64/all/libopenal.so.1
/home/maxrunner/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libopenal.so.1
 
Z

zoku88

Member
maxrunner, can you do a quick

uname -a ?


I can't tell if you have a 32-bit install or a 64-bit install.

What could be happening is that Grimrock is a 64-bit executable (no clue if it even has one) and is looking for 64-bit libopenal, but you have 32-bit libopenal only installed.

Otherwise, it probably would have found libopenal without modifying the LD_LIBRARY_PATH
 
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