Making radeon work again by bringing back Linux-libre 3.4
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I wanted to say that I'm resurrecting the Linux-libre 3.4 series in my APT repository. I had previously dropped support for it last October in favor of the newer LTS kernels 3.10 and 3.14 but since it seems these have problems with the radeon module running without blobs, and since some people report their computer crashing with the radeon patch for 4.1 and 4.2, I'm bringing 3.4 back. It's supported for about a year from now, until September 2016.
Information and instructions can be found at https://jxself.org/linux-libre/
Thanks!!
I am one of the unfortunate souls who have a Radeon GPU, and this is really a life saver. I saw your reply to my post on the other thread but couldn't get back to you before I saw this. I will certainly use it!
Keep up the good work!
The PAE thing is unimportant in amd64 right?
"The PAE thing is unimportant in amd64 right?"
Yes.
After installing Trisquel 7, and installing the 3.4 kernel, how can I remove the older kernel? I don't want to just make it disappear from the list of options that GRUB gives me, I want to really "uninstall" it from the system.
Just remove the appropriate package. There should be one with a name that starts with "linux-headers" and one that starts with "linux-image". You can find them easily with this command:
aptitude search "~i linux"
The graphical way is to open synaptic and select (in the lower left part) status > installed packages and search for "linux-image".
And "linux-firmware" sometimes.
I am a translator!
easiest way, as lembas pointed out, is to write "linux" in the synaptic search field and there select all the older kernels (but one - it is always advisable to keep at least one in case something goes wrong with the newest one) end remove them.
I am a translator!
Jxself - your work is highly appreciated (as always)!
P.S - btw, we are very pleased to inform you that we have funded the "fsm" - the free software mob. Unanimous decision dictates our first target be the AMD Headquarters.
Jxself, if you want to join, we want you as our Comrade n.1 (that is what usually is defined as "boss" or "CEO" in the business institutions..)
hey, have you tried jxself 3.4 libre kernel? Did you got it to work? I am having some difficulties (read below comments) if you can give any insight would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
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I have no idea why it is not working for you GNUser :(
Try reinstalling Triskello 7 and follow again the instructions on the jxself's website. Also, I remember, I once had issues related to apparmor. The kernel would not install correctly. Then, looking at the logs I noticed it outputted a shitload of apparmor related warnings. So I just removed it, restarted the lappy and reinstalled the kernel and it worked flawlessly..
All jxself's kernels have installed and worked very fine on my setup.
I hope you solve it mate!
Sorry, but I added the key, edited sources.list, but the only linux-libre that appears is 3.13. I can't find the 3.4... Should I do something else? Or maybe the problem is that I am trying to downgrade a package??
How can I solve this?
After adding the repo, update the list and install the new kernel
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install linux-libre64-3.4
Hi.
Thanks, that actually worked! synaptic wasn't showing 3.4 but apt actually did it.
Now the problem I am facing is that even after I installed both kernel and headers, and updated grub, it still isn't showing :(
Grub only shows the old kernel... I even checked here https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/update-linux-libre-kernel
Do I have to edit something in grub.cfg? never edited that file, no idea what to do.
Still not able to boot with the new kernel.
Can someone please help? Thanks!
You have to press 'shift' key on boot to access grub menu.
Hello.
Thanks for the reply.
Actually, if I am not mistaken, GRUB always appears when I boot, I have a black screen with
"
GRUB 2.02 (think this is the right number)
Trisquel
Advanced options for GNU/Linux Trisquel"
But that's it.
I tried using the shift key on boot, but it gave me nothing different.
When I installed a new kernel in debian (with dpkg -i) it actually would appear in the GRUB options. Somehow it doesn't now, maybe because it was from the repos??
Any help greatly appreciated!
Don't you see your new kernel under "Advanced options for GNU/Linux Trisquel"?
No it asks me for a user name. Dunno what to input
"grub". And the password is in /etc/grub.d/01_PASSWORD.
According to GRUB's documentation, "requiring authentication at the boot loader level would only serve to make it difficult to recover broken systems" in most environments: https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html#Security
To disable GRUB's password, comment or remove /etc/grub.d/01_PASSWORD and execute 'sudo update-grub'.
Thanks! That allowed me to access the 3.4 kernel.
However I am running it right now and still can't get access to native resolutions. Even though I am running the 3.4 kernel it only gives me 1024 (4:3) as the max resolution.
Maybe I have to remove/install something else, since this system was getting booted with the simplified kernel? Any idea what it could be?
Btw, do you think it's wise to change the GRUB password to be the same as my disk encryption password?
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I never needed to do this but I've read some did.
Try to comment (#) the radeon related entries in these files
/etc/modprobe.d/fbdev-blacklist.conf
/etc/modprobe.d/disable-radeon.conf
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer.conf
then:
sudo update-initramfs -u
Hi.
Thanks, that did the trick! I am now able to work with 16:9 resolutions!
Graphis controller now appears as "Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.4, 128 bits)"
Only thing thing missing for me is to make this kernel the default. I will not unninstal the other one (Trisquel's default) in case something goes wrong with an update or something like that.
Btw I sent you an email as a response to your previous email.
I am a translator!
nice! Glad that helped!
To make the 3.4 your default kernel you should reboot and see in GRUB the order in the list. It will be something like this:
kernel bla bla
Advanced options
kernel bla bla or whatever (I don't remember)
You will select "Advanced options" and then you will find the list of all the kernelzz. You need to remember the position of the libre 3.4 and have to consider that the list is numbered starting by 0 (0,1,2,3 etc)
So if your libre 3.4 is say the fifth on the list you remember the number 4.
Boot and edit /etc/default/grub
The very first entry is GRUB_DEFAULT=0
You want to make it into -> GRUB_DEFAULT="1>4"
You can also set GRUB_TIMEOUT to 0 if you want grub not to appear at all on boot and save yourself 5 seconds of time X_X
cheers!
p.s_: will respond to your mail in a few hours. Need to do something first :)
pps - don't forget to sudo update-grub
can't test it right now, but will give that a try tomorrow. THANKS! :)
Btw, when you do reply to my email, please give me more information on BitMask. Thanks in advance!
That driver didn't need propietary firmware while using UMS instead of KMS, no?
It was able to work, but not with hardware acceleration.
Maybe it needs a legacy xorg/DRI driver?
In /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-radeon.conf
Section "Device"
Identifier "Radeon"
Driver "radeon"
Option AccelMethod "UXA" #try with EXA or XAA instead of UXA if that doesn't work
EndSection
That change is supposed to give hardware acceleration without proprietary pieces? No blobs? Thought it couldn't be done.
Unfortunately no. It's 2D acceleration.
I see.
HOWEVER... should I do what was suggested in the comment above? Will my graphics work better (at least in 2D), than if I just use the standard, default Trisquel installation configs?
Because even if it is just 2D, it's still good to have my hardware working at the best possible/libre state.
Could anyone confirm if the above suggestion is recommended in Trisquel or not?
How can one know for sure if 2D acceleration is active or not?
If you see any graphics on screen then you have 2d. And some 2d acceleration method is being used. Which one works best depends on what card you have. (and what kernel and what xserver versions you have, possibly)
The only way to find out is to try. Unless there is a massive difference you have to figure out a way to measure the performance. On the other hand then it doesn't really matter.
There's a such thing as 2-D hardware acceleration, and not having it doesn't mean you can't see graphics at all. It just means it's rendered in a less efficient way. If anything, 2-D hardware acceleration being missing is likely to be so unnoticeable that it's pretty much impossible to tell from observation whether your system supports it. It's such a marginal benefit in most cases that tutorials for Pygame actually actively recommend that you don't bother taking advantage of it.
That probably is so but if you look at the name of the preference in question, you see it's acceleration method, not whether to use acceleration.
Thank you both lembas and onpon4.
No fix for me, 3.13, 3.4, 4.2, nothing make change, 4.2 works fine, no crash, but work the same way as 3.4.
With 3.4 I have option to 800x600, put the same way, nothing happens.
My gpu is HD 2400.
It is normal watch 360p or 720p movie fully lagged?
I know that this laptop works very well with Mint distribution, but I want to try to run Trisquel on it without paiful lag and resolution.
Have you removed radeon from the blacklist?
Also in my case I think I had to run
sudo update-initramfs -u -K all
in order to apply it to all kernels.
Not, I did not. How to do that right way?
https://trisquel.info/en/forum/making-radeon-work-again-bringing-back-linux-libre-34#comment-80331
(commenting means putting the hash (#) in front of a line)
BTW, in this thread discussion, do you guys mean all types of the Radeon video cards? (both AMD, NVIDIA and Intel)
Gracias
What do you mean? Only AMD makes graphic adapters called Radeon. However, they can either be integrated (AMD APU) or dedicated (AMD GPU). However, both are called Radeon.
But I saw a type of Radeon video card named as " Intel Radeon GMA HD 4000" or something... on THinkpad S3 serial...
Only AMD makes a trash hardware, CPUs and GPUs. Everything garbage, with blobs or without.
Does this apply to radeon ati express 200m gpu?
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