antiX16 kernel boot options, want no framebuffer for my nv29 card

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galen
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Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2016 1:37 pm

antiX16 kernel boot options, want no framebuffer for my nv29 card

#1 Post by galen »

I've installed antiX16 386 on my system with an nv7900 card
and X is incorrect and unusable
1680x1050 x 8bit
and xterminal is unusable
cursor block is also bad,
console also has random LED dots
what boot kernel commands can I use to disable framebuffer and force a lower resolution and higher bit depth?
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BitJam
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Re: antiX16 kernel boot options, want no framebuffer for my nv29 card

#2 Post by BitJam »

Did these problem exist on the live system or did they suddenly appear after you installed? In general is it much easier to fix these problems on the live system and then install rather than install first and then fix them. If X is not working did you use the cli-installer to install? Usually we ask people to provide the output of "inxi -F" to give us information we need about your system to help fix the problem but if X is not working then you won't be able to provide this.

There are at least 3 different framebuffers that come into play but if we assume you are doing a BIOS/Legacy boot and not a UEFI boot then the number drops to two. On the live system the vga frame buffer is handle by the "F7 Console" menu, where you can select the resolution or turn it off. If you want to set it during an installed boot or if you want to control the depth or choose a resolution that is not in the F7 menu then you need to use the boot parameter "vga=ask". This will cause a text menu to appear early in the boot process showing you the vga framebuffer depths and resolutions available on your system. Select one and write down the hex number associated with it so you can set it directly in the vga=xxxx boot parameter on the next boot.

The second framebuffer that can come into play is the framebuffer that is part of a "KMS" video driver. Here, "KMS" stands for kernel mode setting. What it means is the video driver is responsible for switching between X and the virtual consoles in order to make switching fast and seamless. f you have a KMS video driver installed (for nividia it would be the nouveau driver, unless you installed nvidia later) that works with your hardware then it will take control of the framebuffer automatically when udev runs (early in the boot process). You will normal see some flashing and a change in console resolution when this happens.

If a KMS driver is kicking in then the vga setting won't matter except for during the very early part of the boot process. You can disable a KMS driver from taking control of the framebuffer with the "nomodeset" boot parameter. This is provided in the "Safe Video Mode" and "Failsafe Boot" options in the main menu of the Legacy/BIOS bootloader on the live system. You can also control the KMS framebuffer with the video=xxx" boot parameter. I don't know if you can use it to control the color depth but you should be able to use it to control the resolution as in "video=1680x1050". Note that, unlike the vga framebuffer, the KMS framebuffer will control the virtual consoles and X. They are tied together to make switching between them fast and seamless. Because of the way antiX Linux is configured there is no connection between the vga frame buffer and the resolution and depth of X (unless there is a bug, which may be possible on older, obscure hardware). If you want them tied together then you would need to use the boot parameter "xorg=fbev".

The live system automatically records some of the information we need to figure out what is going it. It gets printed to the screen and sent to the log file /var/log/live/live-init.log. The installed system doesn't gather any of this information automatically. The output of "inxi -F" or "inxi -G" will tell us some of it but if X is not working then the inxi output may not be helpful.
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself -- and you are the easiest person to fool."

-- Richard Feynman

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galen
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Re: antiX16 kernel boot options, want no framebuffer for my nv29 card

#3 Post by galen »

Live DVD was fine. (DVD was SHA checksummed ok)
I installed via command line to a BIOS Legacy drive.
noticed xorg.conf was not built on the target, assume nouveau controls all detection & functioning
1680x1050x8. 8bit!
boot kernel command vga= is deprecated
kernel parameters that do not correct the screen malfunctions:
xorg=fbev
xorg=nofbev
video=1024x768
video=800x600


inxi -F (unparsed sorry)

Code: Select all

[1;34mSystem:   [0;37m [1;34mHost:[0;37m antix16 [1;34mKernel:[0;37m 4.4.10-antix.1-486-smp i686 (32 bit) [1;34mConsole:[0;37m tty 1[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [1;34mDistro:[0;37m antiX-16_386-base Berta Cáceres 26 June 2016[0;37m
[1;34mMachine:  [0;37m [1;34mMobo:[0;37m Gigabyte [1;34mmodel:[0;37m GA-78LMT-USB3 6.0 [1;34mv:[0;37m x.x [1;34mBios:[0;37m Award [1;34mv:[0;37m F2 [1;34mdate:[0;37m 11/25/2014[0;37m
[1;34mCPU:      [0;37m [1;34mQuad core[0;37m AMD FX-4300 (-MCP-)[0;37m [1;34mcache:[0;37m 8192 KB[0;37m 
[1;34m          [0;37m [1;34mclock speeds:[0;37m [1;34mmax:[0;37m 3800 MHz [1;34m1:[0;37m 2600 MHz [1;34m2:[0;37m 1800 MHz [1;34m3:[0;37m 1800 MHz [1;34m4:[0;37m 2600 MHz[0;37m
[1;34mGraphics: [0;37m [1;34mCard:[0;37m NVIDIA G71 [GeForce 7900 GT/GTO][0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [1;34mDisplay Server:[0;37m X.org 1.16.4 [1;34mdriver:[0;37m N/A [1;34mtty size:[0;37m 210x65 [1;34mAdvanced Data:[0;37m N/A out of X[0;37m
[1;34mAudio:    [0;37m [1;34mCard[0;37m Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) [1;34mdriver:[0;37m snd_hda_intel[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [1;34mSound:[0;37m Advanced Linux Sound Architecture [1;34mv:[0;37m k4.4.10-antix.1-486-smp[0;37m
[1;34mNetwork:  [0;37m [1;34mCard-1:[0;37m Ralink RT5392 PCIe Wireless Network Adapter [1;34mdriver:[0;37m rt2800pci[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [1;34mIF:[0;37m wlan0 [1;34mstate:[0;37m down [1;34mmac:[0;37m 00:ec:6a:00:02:26[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [1;34mCard-2:[0;37m Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [1;34mdriver:[0;37m r8169[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [1;34mIF:[0;37m eth0 [1;34mstate:[0;37m down [1;34mmac:[0;37m 1c:1b:0d:ae:f3:29[0;37m
[1;34mDrives:   [0;37m [1;34mHDD Total Size:[0;37m 128.0GB (1.4% used) [1;34mID-1:[0;37m /dev/sda [1;34mmodel:[0;37m Patriot_Torch_SE [1;34msize:[0;37m 128.0GB[0;37m
[1;34mPartition:[0;37m [1;34mID-1:[0;37m / [1;34msize:[0;37m 3.2G [1;34mused:[0;37m 1.8G (58%) [1;34mfs:[0;37m ext4 [1;34mdev:[0;37m /dev/sda3[0;37m
[1;34mSensors:  [0;37m [1;34mSystem Temperatures: cpu:[0;37m 15.1C [1;34mmobo:[0;37m N/A[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [1;34mFan Speeds (in rpm): cpu:[0;37m N/A[0;37m
[1;34mInfo:     [0;37m [1;34mProcesses:[0;37m 122 [1;34mUptime:[0;37m 2 min [1;34mMemory:[0;37m 53.2/3282.5MB [1;34mInit:[0;37m SysVinit [1;34mrunlevel:[0;37m 5[0;37m
[1;34m          [0;37m [1;34mClient:[0;37m Shell (bash) [1;34minxi:[0;37m 2.3.0[0;37m [0;37m
[0m
Linux user since 1999, on-line 1993
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User avatar
galen
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Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2016 1:37 pm

Re: antiX16 kernel boot options, want no framebuffer for my nv29 card

#4 Post by galen »

I assume my install went bad so I've reinstalled.
iceWM is acting up so I'm sticky with fluxbox
Linux user since 1999, on-line 1993
Dtop#1: XU20 AMD-FX6300, GT730
Dtop#2: MX19 AM3ATH2X2, GT218-8400
Ltop#1: MX21 T500
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Ltop#5: Sparky32 T30 :turtle:
Ltop#6: MX21 Acer E5

fatmac
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2017 4:59 am

Re: antiX16 kernel boot options, want no framebuffer for my nv29 card

#5 Post by fatmac »

AntiX 16 has had all the known bugs sorted out, so either you got a dodgy download, or your disk might be going bad.

(I've installed a few times & never had any problems with any of the official releases, other than a dodgy download, once.)
Last edited by fatmac on Thu Sep 14, 2017 9:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Ogis
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 12:41 pm

Re: antiX16 kernel boot options, want no framebuffer for my nv29 card

#6 Post by Ogis »

Did you check MD5sum?

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