Hi, I bought myself a Dell L502X recently with Optimus technology (= dual graphics card). After a lot of playing, I discovered the latest edition of Mint Debian Edition (the iso came out mid- August) will install and run on it without any hitches. There doesn't seem to be a lot of benefit buying the card if running Linux, but this is the first distro I found where the dual card didn't result in loss of output. I suspect if you get any distro running a kernel more recent than 2.39 you should be fine (which is probably why your Ubuntu iso is OK). I did try to change to the proprietary Nvidia driver a few days back; ended up reinstalling. I'm sure it's possible, but didn't have time or energy to chase it up.
The basic idea (in my understanding) is not that you run 2 separate graphics cards. The secondary ( more featureful/ expensive/ power hungry) card is not directly linked to your main display; if the primary(basic) card can't handle graphics demand, it passes it on to the secondary, which then writes back to to graphics buffer of the first, _not_ to the display. Just to make it fun, apparently MS has access to the API for that, but nobody else has. The theory is that the OS can shut off the second graphics card or turn it on as requested by programs which know to pass info on their graphics demand. Alternatively, the OS can ask for the card to activate if it recognises a demanding program or if the user has specified that graphics mode. Ignoring the technology won't help; it looks like it may be the defacto standard in most new laptops soon. The problem is when you install an OS, it's got to recognise Optimus (the name for the graphics switching) technology is on the motherboard; if not, it seems to assume the display is on the high end card output and you end up with a blinking cursor. With some laptops you can turn off the high end card in the BIOS; not much of a solution, but you do get a working display. The low end card _has_ to be working; it does the actual drawing of the buffer on the screen, even if the high end card does the processing to fill the buffer. The relevant Linux projects are bumblebee (you need to have watched Transformers to appreciate the name) and ironhand. They're both currently in development+++, have a look http://www.martin-juhl.dk/2011/08/reassemble-of-the-bee/ at that for the back story. Ian ________________________________ From: "debian-user-digest-requ...@lists.debian.org" <debian-user-digest-requ...@lists.debian.org> To: debian-user-dig...@lists.debian.org Sent: Thursday, 15 September 2011 1:53 PM Subject: debian-user-digest Digest V2011 #1691 undefineddebian-user-digest Digest Volume 2011 : Issue 1691 Today's Topics: USB ACM vs USB memory device conflic [ "Thomas H. George" <lists@tomgeorge ] Console access using F1 etc [ John Foster <jfoster81...@gmail.com ] Re: Console access using F1 etc [ Bob Proulx <b...@proulx.com> ] Re: Free drivers for AMD Radeon (Vai [ Dan <ganc...@gmail.com> ] Re: Console access using F1 etc [ John Foster <jfoster81...@gmail.com ] Re: Console access using F1 etc [ Bob Proulx <b...@proulx.com> ] Re: 'apt-get dist-upgrade' from Lenn [ Alex <avko...@hotmail.com> ] Re: Console access using F1 etc [ Whit Hansell <skippe...@comcast.net ] Re: Console access using F1 etc [ John Foster <jfoster81...@gmail.com ] I purchased a Verizon Samsung SHU-u370 cell phone and installed a microSD card. When connected to a usb port the phone registers as an ACM device, specifically as ttyACM0. The settins on the phone allow a choice between Media Sync Mode and Modem modem and clearly the Debian kernel has chosen the latter though the phone is set for the former. The manual for the phone says it should appear as a new cd drive (presumably when connected to a Windows system, not having a Windows system I have not tried this). Any ideas as to how I can persuade my Debian system to cancel the ACM setting which I am unlikely to need and recognize the phone as a mass storage device? Tom I recently had to do a new installation of squeeze on a production server. Its been a LONG time since I did that and I see a few things are different since my last time. I can not access the consoles by hitting ctrl,alt, delete. I recall a couple of years ago that I had to edit something somewhere to enable this feature. I like to use the console for doing many things as root from a command line. I thought it was a file in /etc/X11 but do not recall. Anyone know what & where I should edit. John Foster wrote: > I recently had to do a new installation of squeeze on a production server. Excellent! > Its been a LONG time since I did that and I see a few things are different > since my last time. I can not access the consoles by hitting ctrl,alt, > delete. You mean Control-Alt-F1 instead. Or Control-Alt-F2 and similar for other function keys. After dropping to the console then you don't need to use control anymore. Originally on the console it was only Alt-F1, Alt-F2, and Alt-Left and Alt-Right to shift between virtual consoles. Recently because so many people have finger memory from X that the Control modifier was also added as additional key shortcuts. You installed X Windows on your server? Is that wise? If it is a server does it need to run X11 at all? I wouldn't think so and don't run it on any of my servers. Bob On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 6:43 AM, Camaleón <noela...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Mon, 12 Sep 2011 22:56:48 -0400, Dan wrote: > >> On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 12:28 PM, Camaleón <noela...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> On Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:27:17 -0400, Dan wrote: >>> >>>> I would like to buy a Vaio S. It has the user-switchable graphics card >>>> AMD Radeon 6470M. >>> >>> Then take a look into this Ubuntu forum thread (post #11) where a user >>> talks about the status of that card in his distribution: >>> >>> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?s=467b83bbff9b48f6a32dc2c2d06bf452&t=1699832&page=2 > > (...) > >> Thanks for your answer. That post is from April and things may have >> changed but it seems that it is not a great idea to buy a laptop with a >> switchable graphics card, they are not well supported right now. I was >> debating between the Vaio S and the Macbook pro. The Macbook uses an >> integrated intel card which should work better with Linux. > > Uff... I would avoid a Mac at all. Better a compatible system than > irons from a "closed-minded" company :-) > > But I would reconsider a dual VGA based laptop, mainly because of two > points: > > 1/ They're still fairly new in the linux scope. > > 2/ I see no point of having a dual VGA card at all. A good power > management routine provided by the card's driver that reduces the watts > consumption of the card when it is required should be enough, I don't > see why the need of using two different graphic chipsets and what is > worst, they can be only controlled by "undetermined" (i.e., not open) > tools, so I prefer to stick to something that I know how it behaves. > >> Has anybody a good experience with switchable graphic cards? > > I can't tell for this, sorry ;-( > > Greetings, > > -- > Camaleón Hi, I went to the shop and tested a live ubuntu CD and it worked! The wireless, sound and graphic card worked. The switch was in Stamina (Intel graphic card) The fancy 3D effects of Unity worked pretty well, that is enough for me as I use bare gnome. I did lspci and I can see both cards the Intel and the AMD. Why would you stay away from Mac... and why did you mention compatibility? Everything should work with Debian because it is a PC. They are just using the new EFI system, but what I understood is that EFI will be the standard in the near future. Greetings, Dan On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 6:04 PM, Bob Proulx <b...@proulx.com> wrote: John Foster wrote: >> I recently had to do a new installation of squeeze on a production server. > >Excellent! > > >> Its been a LONG time since I did that and I see a few things are different >> since my last time. I can not access the consoles by hitting ctrl,alt, >> delete. > >You mean Control-Alt-F1 instead. Or Control-Alt-F2 and similar for >other function keys. > >After dropping to the console then you don't need to use control >anymore. Originally on the console it was only Alt-F1, Alt-F2, and >Alt-Left and Alt-Right to shift between virtual consoles. Recently >because so many people have finger memory from X that the Control >modifier was also added as additional key shortcuts. > >You installed X Windows on your server? Is that wise? If it is a >server does it need to run X11 at all? I wouldn't think so and don't >run it on any of my servers. > >Bob >--------------------------------------- Well I use it as an application server for a lot of video content so I need the X-windows for editing and viewing. I also do both on this system and it is an intranet server as well. Any idea what I need to edit to get my system back to what I like. I will probably figure it out sooner or later, but sooner will be better. Thanks. John Foster wrote: > Well I use it as an application server for a lot of video content so > I need the X-windows for editing and viewing. I also do both on > this system and it is an intranet server as well. When you said production server it implied something like a rack mount data center server. But you mean a machine with a graphics display and keyboard such as a deskside and it is acting as a server too. Gotcha. > Any idea what I need to edit to get my system back to what I like. I > will probably figure it out sooner or later, but sooner will be > better. Probably. But please do tell us on the mailing list what it is that you are trying to accomplish. You asked about how to drop from X Windows to the text console and I replied with Control-Alt-F1. As far as I can tell that should have completely and totally answered your question. But I guess not. I and others on the mailing list will be happy to help but we are not mind readers. Tell us something. Bob Hi Bob, Thank you very much for the prompt and very comprehensive reply. There are some questions and comments arising, please:- * Since I am working from a partimage backup of the Debian system partition (S.O.E. that can be transferred from one machine to another in case of emergency), it is not a problem to restore that and start again, if you think that would be the best course and then check the extra packages, circular dependencies and lint etc.. I presume that all that would be done BEFORE adding the DVD's to /etc/apt/sources.list. * The full distro. set, is as a result of "old habits die hard" ;-) :- * From my old days in the industry working on DEC PDP's (RSX/RT11/RSTS) & VAX's (VMS) and even the bad old days when Novell Netware came on 5.15" 'floppy disks' - you just did NOT start doing ANYTHING to the OS until you had the full distro in your hand, in front of the machine * From days when we did not have any internet connectivity at home * Proprietary Ethernet controllers that do not allow network connectivity when SOE's from one machine are partimage restored to new hardware Lastly, while having spent many fruitful and prosperous years in the industry, times and circumstances change, and I am now just a 'user of infotech' rather than a directly interested party. For this reason, I have not kept up with this LSB and 'dependency based boot system' stuff. I have only recently started to get my head around all the /dev/etc.etc. naming conventions. I am not sure if this is part of this 'dependency based boot system', but when I get told that I have to have something that looks like a hexadecimal version of 'nameinternationaladdresspostcodeandinternationalphonenumber' as my NEW device naming convention, I must admit that the old "acronym phobia" that forced me from the industry in the end, starts to rear its ugly head again and the questions start to arise "why do we want to make life MORE complicated and LESS?". At that point just say NO! Please just give me the /dev/etc.etc. naming convention that I have just managed to get my head around. Any chance of a link to a "concise primer" / "idiots guide" to LSB and 'dependency based boot system'? Thank you once again for the prompt and very comprehensive reply. Thanking you in anticipation. Regards Alex On 09/14/2011 06:59 PM, John Foster wrote: I recently had to do a new installation of squeeze on a production server. Its been a LONG time since I did that and I see a few things are different since my last time. I can not access the consoles by hitting ctrl,alt, delete. I recall a couple of years ago that I had to edit something somewhere to enable this feature. I like to use the console for doing many things as root from a command line. I thought it was a file in /etc/X11 but do not recall. Anyone know what & where I should edit. > John, I had the same problem using Lenny when I changed monitors. Found to fix it was to add vga=785 to the end of the kernel lines in /boot/grub/menu.lst. The 785 has to do w. the font size. I forget exactly how it all works but that was what did it for me. Hope that helps. It did for me. I kept getting a message "out of range. It did not like my new monitor for some reason. Here is an example of some of the lines in my old menu.lst file... [...] title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-1-amd64 root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-1-amd64 root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet vga=785 initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.26-1-amd64 [...] Whit On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 6:42 PM, Bob Proulx <b...@proulx.com> wrote: John Foster wrote: >> Well I use it as an application server for a lot of video content so >> I need the X-windows for editing and viewing. I also do both on >> this system and it is an intranet server as well. > >When you said production server it implied something like a rack mount >data center server. But you mean a machine with a graphics display >and keyboard such as a deskside and it is acting as a server too. >Gotcha. > >> Any idea what I need to edit to get my system back to what I like. I >> will probably figure it out sooner or later, but sooner will be >> better. > >Probably. But please do tell us on the mailing list what it is that >you are trying to accomplish. You asked about how to drop from X >Windows to the text console and I replied with Control-Alt-F1. As far >as I can tell that should have completely and totally answered your >question. But I guess not. I and others on the mailing list will be >happy to help but we are not mind readers. Tell us something. > >Bob >Sorry I thought I made it plain. I can NOT use CTRL/ALT/F1 to get to the basic console. I have noticed that in the last 2 systems I have built & installed linux on that this was the standard installation with xwindows. This function is disabled. I had to edit some file in /etc/ X11 or Xorg to get this to work. Its been a couple of years & I forgot what I had to edit & where it was. Sorry for the confusion. Not a rookie, just don't do this often. Thanks
