Ubuntu 12.10 - Dual monitors, move Gnome Shell (also, broken virtual termin


Recommended Posts

I've been trying Ubuntu again for roughly a week, I like it so far but have run into a couple of issues, hopefully someone here can help me resolve some of them!

My graphics card is Radeon HD 5850 and I'm using the 13.1 Catalyst drivers, other than that my specs are: ASRock Extreme4, Intel Core i5-3570k.

1) I'm using Gnome Shell (had a weird flicker issue with Unity, I tried the workaround in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/1070275 to no avail) but I'd like to move Gnome Shell to my secondary monitor - while keeping the current primary monitor as the primary so full screen programs still start on it. How can I do this? I have tried https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/323/multiple-monitor-panels/ and it's almost what I want - I'd just like the Top menu & HUD moved from my primary to my secondary monitor and not cloned.

2) Plymouth isn't working, it's not showing at boot - I get to the GRUB menu, but after that I just see a blank purple screen - and at shut down I simply get a yellow screen. I have tried http://debianandi.blogspot.se/2012/11/how-to-fix-plymouth-on-ubuntu-1210-with.html but it made no difference for me

3) My virtual terminals (TTY1-6) are broken, switching to them just gives a blank screen, commands still work as they should however (echo "why is this broken" > sillyTTY makes the file for example). I have tried several different fixes for this, for example http://askubuntu.com/questions/162535/why-does-switching-to-the-tty-give-me-a-blank-screen but the only difference that made was giving me a blinking cursor instead of a blank screen.

Any ideas?

The first and third problems, at least, are most likely a result of the proprietary AMD graphics drivers. I would highly recommend purging them and using the open-source radeon driver instead. Your video card is very well supported by radeon, and you will almost certainly have fewer problems with it.

Edit: I recommend that you read through this thread. It has lots of interesting details that you may find helpful.

Thanks for the replies!

Weird, I have no problem like this, it might be driver related (though, we share the AMD GPU brand),I am not a pro.

What driver are you using? I am/was using the 13.1 driver from AMD's website.

The first and third problems, at least, are most likely a result of the proprietary AMD graphics drivers. I would highly recommend purging them and using the open-source radeon driver instead. Your video card is very well supported by radeon, and you will almost certainly have fewer problems with it.

Edit: I recommend that you read through this thread. It has lots of interesting details that you may find helpful.

I removed fglrx and it did indeed fix the flicker & virtual terminal issues, it seems to have fixed my issue with resuming from suspend as well.

The only downside with what I'm using now is the performance in games is bad. My output from glxinfo | grep renderer is OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on AMD CYPRESS, is that correct?

I chucked together two scripts, one to install fglrx (when I game) and one to swap back to radeon (when I'm not), I'm guessing I'd need a reboot in-between but that's not really an issue. Would this be a sensible solution or would it cause issues in the long run?

I removed fglrx and it did indeed fix the flicker & virtual terminal issues, it seems to have fixed my issue with resuming from suspend as well.

The only downside with what I'm using now is the performance in games is bad. My output from glxinfo | grep renderer is OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on AMD CYPRESS, is that correct?

Gallium 0.4 is the 3D rendering component of the Radeon driver. CYPRESS is the code-name of your GPU architecture. That is the correct OpenGL renderer string.

I chucked together two scripts, one to install fglrx (when I game) and one to swap back to radeon (when I'm not), I'm guessing I'd need a reboot in-between but that's not really an issue. Would this be a sensible solution or would it cause issues in the long run?

That is an absolutely terrible idea! I strongly recommend that you don't swap drivers on a regular basis. If you really feel like you MUST swap drivers when you game, the least-bad idea is probably to install fglrx from the repository, generate a xorg.conf to force X11 to use radeon when you start your computer, then create a script to stop X11, load X11 with fglrx (and maybe a low-resource, non-compositing window manager, such as Openbox, to get higher framerates) so that you can game. Your script should probably be capable of switching back as well.

That is an absolutely terrible idea! I strongly recommend that you don't swap drivers on a regular basis. If you really feel like you MUST swap drivers when you game, the least-bad idea is probably to install fglrx from the repository, generate a xorg.conf to force X11 to use radeon when you start your computer, then create a script to stop X11, load X11 with fglrx (and maybe a low-resource, non-compositing window manager, such as Openbox, to get higher framerates) so that you can game. Your script should probably be capable of switching back as well.

Would that not be problematic due to the issue mentioned here? https://wiki.ubuntu....er#How_It_Works

Another potential option would be using the integrated Intel graphics in the CPU for non-gaming and then activate fglrx when gaming, but how would I go about doing that if it's possible?

Would it be as simple as installing fglrx, making two different xorg.conf files and essentially just swap the driver name in one of them to 'intel', and then when I want to change which driver to use I simply change the names of the xorg.conf-files and restart lightdm?

I forgot that the proprietary NVIDIA and AMD graphics drivers install hacked-together versions of the OpenGL libraries to replace the version used by open-source drivers. You're right: my suggestion above probably wouldn't work for that reason.

It might be possible to move each version of the conflicting libraries to a different location and create a script to soft-link only the version you need at the moment. Debian's alternatives infrastructure (man update-alternatives) may be able to handle the same thing with a little more automation (and the blessing of dpkg). In short, it will be a nasty hack at best and I still strongly recommend against it.

Adding nomodeset to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT seems to have fixed the problem with virtual consoles and Plymouth, and doing the workaround for the Unity flicker in my first post may have worked with nomodeset, fingers crossed!

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • I will keep my current devices for several years... no planning in upgrading until these devices stop working. Too pricey.
    • Apple raises MacBook and iPad prices as memory costs surge by Karthik Mudaliar Apple has raised the U.S. prices of several MacBook and iPad models, including the MacBook Neo, which it launched for $599 less than four months ago. The company’s cheapest laptop now starts at $699, while some MacBook Pro configurations have increased by $300. The changes affect the MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iPad Air, and iPad Pro. Apple has not changed the hardware or storage included with these models, so customers are simply paying more for the same configurations. Here is how the new US pricing compares with the previous starting prices: Product Previous price New price Increase MacBook Neo $599 $699 $100 13-inch MacBook Air, 512GB $1,099 $1,299 $200 14-inch MacBook Pro, 1TB $1,699 $1,999 $300 16-inch MacBook Pro $2,699 $2,999 $300 11-inch iPad Air, 128GB $599 $749 $150 13-inch iPad Air, 128GB $799 $949 $150 11-inch iPad Pro, 256GB $999 $1,199 $200 13-inch iPad Pro, 256GB $1,299 $1,499 $200 The updated prices are already appearing on Apple’s U.S. online store. The MacBook Neo increase will probably attract the most attention. Apple introduced the laptop in March for $599, pitching it as a more affordable Mac for students and buyers considering Windows laptops or Chromebooks. It uses an A18 Pro processor and originally undercut Dell’s new $699 XPS 13 by $100. Following the increase, the two laptops now have the same starting price. The M5 MacBook Air has also lost the price Apple promoted when it launched in March. The 13-inch model arrived with 512GB of storage for $1,099, while Apple’s store now lists the MacBook Air range as starting at $1,299. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip and 1TB of storage has gone from $1,699 to $1,999. Apple has made similar changes to its iPads. The recently released M4 iPad Air, which launched at the same $599 starting price as its predecessor, now starts at $749 for the 11-inch version. The 13-inch version has risen from $799 to $949. The iPad Pro increases are larger in dollar terms. Apple’s 11-inch M5 iPad Pro now starts at $1,199, up from $999, while the 13-inch version has moved from $1,299 to $1,499. Both base models still include 256GB of storage. Apple blamed the increases on the rapidly rising cost of DRAM and NAND flash, which provide system memory and device storage. The company told Reuters that it had tried to shield customers from the increases but could no longer absorb them. “We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly,” Apple said. Tim Cook had already warned that price increases were coming. Cook said Apple’s existing component inventory had softened the immediate impact, but that higher memory costs would increasingly affect the company after the June quarter. Much of the pressure comes from the construction of AI data centers. Memory manufacturers are directing more production toward high-margin server products, leaving PC, tablet, and smartphone makers competing for the remaining supply. Apple has not said whether the new prices are temporary or whether further increases are planned. For now, the changes show that even Apple’s purchasing power has not been enough to keep the AI-driven memory shortage away from consumer devices.
    • Ventoy 1.1.16 is out.
    • This is a none story - these low volume Chinese models will always get new experimental features first because Apple and Samsung can't produce them in huge volume to meet demand.
    • Nvidia GeForce NOW gains support for Dark Scrolls, Empulse, and more by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe The final update of June for Nvidia's cloud gaming service GeForce NOW is now available, and it is touting support for six more games. The company is also drawing subscriber attention towards the summer sales kicking off across stores, so they can stock up on more cloud-supported titles. Of course, the Steam Summer Sale is the biggest promotion, which is kicking off later today. "Supported Steam games can be streamed across devices with GeForce NOW, making it easy to buy a game once, keep progress synced and pick up where the gameplay left off on PCs, Macs, handheld devices, phones, TVs and more," says the company. "In other words, the Steam Summer Sale brings the deals; GeForce NOW adds the flexibility." Don't forget that the GeForce NOW summer sale is still active as well. This limited-time offer drops the 12-month Performance membership from $99.99 to $64.99, saving members $35. At the same time, the 12-month Ultimate membership is currently going for $129.99, dropping the price by $70 from the original $199.99. Here are the games joining GeForce NOW's supported list this week: Dark Scrolls (New release on Steam, available June 22) SAND: Raiders of Sophie (New release on Steam, available June 22) Deer & Boy (New release on Steam, available June 23) EMPULSE (New release on Steam, available June 24) The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales (Steam) FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves (Steam) With the June expansions coming to an end, Nvidia should be announcing its July GeForce NOW plans next week. Keep in mind that, unlike subscription services like Game Pass or EA Play, a copy of a game must be owned by the GeForce NOW member (or at least have a license via PC Game Pass) to start playing via Nvidia's cloud servers. There is also a limit to how many hours subscribers can use the service per month.
  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      kinowa earned a badge
      First Post
    • Rookie
      krychek57 went up a rank
      Rookie
    • Grand Master
      Jaybonaut went up a rank
      Grand Master
    • One Year In
      Philsl earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Dedicated
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Dedicated
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      463
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      171
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      134
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      77
    5. 5
      Xenon
      77
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!