Mint 13 and 17: have the developers got it wrong?

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gingertom5005

Mint 13 and 17: have the developers got it wrong?

Post by gingertom5005 »

Have the developers got it wrong? On numerous occasions I have been unable to install Mint 17 Mate (32 and 64 bit) on a number of motherboards and laptops but could and can install Mint 13. I am told this is due to Mint 17 being Gnome3. I am currently loading Mint 13 onto an HP Pavilion dv6000 after Mint 17 wouldn't boot further than a black screen with a white square in the top left corner. I had exactly the same problem last week with another HP laptop.
This seems such a shame because Mint is so good.
What I wonder will the position be with PCs/laptops where Mint 13 is installed but LTS is finished?
Any thought or are there any known developments in the pipe line?
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xenopeek
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Re: Mint 13 and 17: have the developers got it wrong?

Post by xenopeek »

Linux Mint comes in four different choices for desktop environment: Cinnamon, KDE, MATE, and Xfce. If you have very old hardware, or hardware with poorly supported (by manufacturer) graphics cards, you could run into such problems using Cinnamon and perhaps also with KDE. MATE and Xfce should both run fine. For the ones that give trouble, have you attempted the remedy the situation? There are various workarounds to install if your graphics card has a poor driver: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=122257. After installation you can replace the graphics card driver with another one.
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Hoser Rob
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Re: Mint 13 and 17: have the developers got it wrong?

Post by Hoser Rob »

gingertom5005 wrote:Have the developers got it wrong?
Which devs? Mint or Ubuntu? Because most Mint versions are ubuntu based, and the exception is Debian based, and I would not suggest that unless you're a fairly advanced user.

In other words you can't necessarily blame mint for compatibility issues with your graphics card(s).

For some cards ... AMD Radeon e.g., which you probably have but I'm guessing ... the linux support isn't great anyway. There is a very real possibility that you'll do a system update and reboot to a black screen. Then generally using the nomodeset boot parameter will bring things back, though you won't be able to use the proprietary driver anymore. This can happen with AMD cards even in an lts release.

With some cards it's worse. The netbook I'm typing this on has the infamous Intel GMA3600 (Cedarview) video card. Intel is usually a very safe choice for video but they've outsourced some of them (like mine). And the maker won't release the source code for it.

So with that gma there is no hardware 3D accelerated video in linux, and there probably will never be. I knew this when I installed linux on it. It's a netbook. I don't play video on it, it's for knocking around.

AMD video cards in linux are better than that but not perfect.

You can't blame mint or ubuntu for this. GMA drivers are handled at the kernel level, and the linux kernel project is separate mostly.

Paste this into terminal:

sudo lshw -C video

and post results with

Code: Select all

 tags.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong - H. L. Mencken
Jerry N
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Re: Mint 13 and 17: have the developers got it wrong?

Post by Jerry N »

As a possible point of reference, I had no trouble installing and running Mint 17 Mate (32 bit) on an HP Pavillion DV5000. This is now a dual boot configuration with Mint 17 on the same hard drive with Windows XP. Of course I fiddled with the partitions some on the drive. I had Mint 13 on the machine and flushed it completely before installing Mint 17. This Pavillion is a 9 year old machine.

Jerry
BlackVeils

Re: Mint 13 and 17: have the developers got it wrong?

Post by BlackVeils »

sometimes you have to do a quick workaround to get the screen to show - nomodeset for example, since there cannot always be appropriate graphics driver support by default. then you do the installation, afterwards install the graphics driver.
gingertom5005

Re: Mint 13 and 17: have the developers got it wrong?

Post by gingertom5005 »

Thanks for all the comments made so far.

However there seems to be some misunderstanding of what I'm saying.

1) The problem occurs with absolutely new motherboards as well as older ones.

2) There is no way I can change a video driver when I can't even get to the start screen in the first place.
mate.png
The illustrated screen is what never appears, the DVD just keeps running after starting the process of booting up the illustrated screen.
cmost
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Re: Mint 13 and 17: have the developers got it wrong?

Post by cmost »

You need to boot the disk in a failsafe low resolution graphics mode. I'm not sure what type of motherboards you've been purchasing, but I build systems and frankly have never encountered one that Mint/Ubuntu failed to load successfully on. Also, FYI, Mint doesn't use Gnome 3.

Instructions

1. Turn on your computer. If the system is on and stalled at an error, turn it off by holding down the power button, and then turn it back on. Wait a few seconds while the BIOS loads. Most computers display the manufacturer's logo during this process.

2. Press and hold down the left "Shift" key. Press the key before the BIOS is completely done loading. If you see the Mint logo, you've missed your window.

3. Select "Advanced Options" from the GNU GRUB menu that appears on your screen. Navigate through the menus with the up and down arrows on your keypad, and press the "Enter" key to select an option.

4. Scroll down to the line with your Mint version followed by "(recovery mode)." This line usually appears in the second row of the Advanced Options.

5. Press the "Enter" key to begin booting in Recovery Mode with reduced graphics rendering to avoid errors. Mint will guide you through a number of menus to access files or gradually activate software or hardware.
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