UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Archived topics about LMDE 1 and LMDE 2
Locked
sobrus

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by sobrus »

clem wrote:Thanks for your feedback everyone... there's a lot of support questions in here so I had to filter through and ignore most of the posts unfortunately. UP5 was synced this morning into latest and we've only just noticed the fact that fglrx was missing... so we're in a bit of a hurry now, and trying to add these drivers back in.

Many thanks to sobrus for flagging this issue. We added warnings in the UP info and on the blog and we'll get these in ASAP.
I can see fglrx 12.6 in repository already! You're really fast :) Thank you!

edit:
I've updated to UP5 on real machine and while it works (fglrx too) I've noticed some glitches:

- mate volume control applet disappeared (file "mate-volume-control-applet" not found in mate-media)
- subpixel font rendering/antialiasing is not as good as it used to be. Fonts seem a bit pixelated and with noticeable chroma aberration although subpixel rendering works (LG 2370V-BF IPS panel, connected using DVI)
- synaptic asks for password every time

Updating just mate-media package (with dependencies) causes two first problems
Updating just synaptic causes another one.

I've reverted to UP4 for further investigation using VirtualBox.

Can anyone confirm this?
on4aa

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by on4aa »

GeneC wrote: On reboot Nvidia failed, but expected as it was installed with sgfxi.
Reinstall Nvidia with sgfxi.
Same over here. I filed a bug report with a code submission: https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/1052903

Upgrading LMDE with a new UP resulted in the loss of X windows system and a reboot to the terminal mode
if a proprietary (Nvidia) videocard driver was previously being used.

The famous sgfxi script sure manages quickly to resolve this situation.
However, the script is not in the LMDE repositories.

The following videocard.sh shell script proved to be tremendously helpful when upgrading multiple LMDE machines.

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
cd /usr/local/bin
sudo wget -Nc smxi.org/sgfxi
sudo chmod +x sgfxi
sudo sgfxi
on4aa

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by on4aa »

As per bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/1052895

I was happily using the Mint-X-Metal-xfce theme on LMDE XFCE UP4.

After upgrading to UP5 this theme is no longer available.

When I try to install the package mint-x-theme in synaptic,
I am asked if it is ok to remove the packages:
  • mint-artwork-debian
    mint-meta-debian-core
    mint-meta-debian-xfce
    mint-theme
Obviously, that is not ok!

Apart from that and the usual proprietary Nvidia video kernel upgrade thingy, everything went very well.
I was even very surprised that my LMDE XFCE became markedly more responsive !!!
Monsta
Level 10
Level 10
Posts: 3071
Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:46 am

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by Monsta »

on4aa wrote:When I try to install the package mint-x-theme in synaptic,
I am asked if it is ok to remove the packages:
  • mint-artwork-debian
    mint-meta-debian-core
    mint-meta-debian-xfce
    mint-theme
Obviously, that is not ok!
It is. The new mint-themes package is compatible with GTK+ 3.4 (and is the same as in the Ubuntu-based Mint). The old mint-x-theme is not. Installing the old one won't do you any good.
What's not ok, of course, is the killing of Mint-X-Metal. It's quite a surprise for those who use it, they have to manually switch to Mint-X after the upgrade.
zerozero

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by zerozero »

maybe this will help a bit

Code: Select all

zerozero@wine ~ $ apt show mint-x-theme
Package: mint-x-theme
New: yes
State: installed
Automatically installed: no
Version: 1.0.7
Priority: optional
Section: universe/gnome
Maintainer: Clement Lefebvre <root@linuxmint.com>
Architecture: all
Uncompressed Size: 2,519 k
Depends: mint-x-icons
Conflicts: mint-clearloox-theme
Replaces: mint-clearloox-theme
Description: Mint-X GTK themes
 A mint/metal theme based on mintified versions of Clearlooks Revamp, Elementary
 and Faenza.

zerozero@wine ~ $ apt show mint-themes
Package: mint-themes
New: yes
State: not installed
Version: 1.0.8
Priority: optional
Section: universe/gnome
Maintainer: Clement Lefebvre <root@linuxmint.com>
Architecture: all
Uncompressed Size: 1,577 k
Depends: mint-x-icons
Conflicts: mint-clearloox-theme, mint-x-theme, mint-z-theme
Replaces: mint-clearloox-theme, mint-x-theme, mint-z-theme
Description: Mint themes
 A collection of mint themes.

zerozero@wine ~ $ apt install mint-themes
[sudo] password for zerozero: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libebackend-1.2-2 libedata-book-1.2-13 libedata-cal-1.2-15
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  mint-x-theme
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  mint-themes
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 299 kB of archives.
After this operation, 942 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
Get:1 http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian/main mint-themes all 1.0.8 [299 kB]
Fetched 299 kB in 1s (199 kB/s)       
(Reading database ... 195771 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing mint-x-theme ...
Selecting previously unselected package mint-themes.
(Reading database ... 195241 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking mint-themes (from .../mint-themes_1.0.8_all.deb) ...
Setting up mint-themes (1.0.8) ...
zerozero@wine ~ $ 
jasmineaura

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by jasmineaura »

Just realized, that after going from LMDE 201204 x64 install from livedvd -> UP4 -> UP5 , the UUID of the swap partition in /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume is wrong. The UUID of the swap partition in /etc/fstab is correct, however. So had to change it by hand in /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume from resume=UUID=xxxxxxx to resume=/dev/disk/by-uuid/yyyyyyyyyyy

So this bug still applies I guess?
https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/930295
Trapper
Level 4
Level 4
Posts: 357
Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2011 12:21 pm
Location: North Port, Florida USA

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by Trapper »

sobrus wrote: - subpixel font rendering/antialiasing is not as good as it used to be. Fonts seem a bit pixelated and with noticeable chroma aberration although subpixel rendering works
I can verify this. It's the same here. A definite downgrade to font clarity. Actually, there's a definite loss of clarity in video overall using default video. I an rather dissapointed with the UP5 video presentation. It's not bad but it's not as good as it was with UP4. That's called going backwards around here.
sobrus

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by sobrus »

Trapper wrote: I can verify this. It's the same here. A definite downgrade to font clarity. Actually, there's a definite loss of clarity in video overall using default video. I an rather dissapointed with the UP5 video presentation. It's not bad but it's not as good as it was with UP4. That's called going backwards around here.
I think the culprit is
- fontconfig-config
and/or
- libfontconfig1
Trapper
Level 4
Level 4
Posts: 357
Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2011 12:21 pm
Location: North Port, Florida USA

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by Trapper »

sobrus wrote: I think the culprit is
- fontconfig-config
and/or
- libfontconfig1
We've done a visual comparison here between this machine that we just updated and an exact twin hardware and software-wise, including monitors, and the difference is very apparent. I cannot update my users machine with this going on. I surely cannot ask them to 'adjust' visually to this. It's usable but aggravating and it's not right to make users squint because fonts aren't clear, especially when they didn't have to previously. Even when fonts are enlarge they still lack clarity. We are going to have to wait for some sort of fix before we can do anymore machines.
killer de bug

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by killer de bug »

sobrus wrote: - subpixel font rendering/antialiasing is not as good as it used to be. Fonts seem a bit pixelated and with noticeable chroma aberration although subpixel rendering works (LG 2370V-BF IPS panel, connected using DVI)
I think I can confirm this. The chance is small but the font seems not as good as before UP5... :(

Edit : using mint-x theme for all the stuff ;)
Monsta
Level 10
Level 10
Posts: 3071
Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:46 am

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by Monsta »

It's good that people are starting to see this difference. It's bad they didn't while all that was still in Incoming... :?
I think I'll try to repeat what has been done earlier and try to fit the patched Ubuntu's libcairo2/fontconfig packages into LMDE. Ubuntu now has newer packages (just look into Quantal repo) so this implantation shouldn't break any software that depends on, say, libfontconfig1 >= 2.9.0.
zerozero

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by zerozero »

ohh please the ubuntu patches again no! i rather lose some font quality (that with some tweaks can be restored) than have a crippled system
Image
and someone whispered me a secret :wink: do you still see the same lost in font rendering if you change to a completely different theme than the mint themes?
jasmineaura

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by jasmineaura »

jasmineaura wrote:Well, perhaps not directly LMDE's fault, or even Linux, but.. it is a critical issue. Western Digital drives and the 8-second "IntelliPark" (or rather "StupiPark") issue. And though initially thought to affect the Scorpio Green drives, I've managed to confirm first hand that my ~1 week old laptop with Scorpio Blue 1TB drive is affected. And after a little research found several other Blues affected (recent, and same firmware version), and at least 1 other WD Scorpio Black affected!

I had to disable the feature on the drive's firmware using "idle3ctl" from "idle3tools" package (reverse-engineered from WD's wdidle3 DOS tool), to stop my drive from parking itself silly (it accumulated 3244 Load Cycle count in a few hours - tens of hours use, which was mostly on AC Power!). When I realized it, I was in LMDE, and after few minutes seeing it continuously rise, I immediately disabled it. Should've probably compared the Load Cycle increase rate to Win7 (since I'm dual-booting), but perhaps to be done later.

So for now, it'd be wise to keep an eye on this (critical) bug report on hdparm, which have yet to be "quirked", at least for these drives and perhaps some Seagates (especially the Momentus drives):
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/969165
Sorry to nag, but this is even more serious, related issue, as it has to do with frequent HDD spin-downs (Start_Stop_Count), which are typically limited to 50,000 for a drive's lifespan, unlike head parking (Load_Cycle_Count) which typically go from 600,000 to 800,000 or a million.

Bug 952556 on Ubuntu Precise & Quantual fixed hdparm frequent spin-down issue in hdparm_9.37-0ubuntu4. Changelog:
hdparm (9.37-0ubuntu4) quantal; urgency=low

* debian/hdparm-functions, debian/95hdparm-apm: set our spindown policy
back to -B128 instead of -B127. Too many drives misbehave too badly
with this setting, possibly leading to drive failure. We should revisit
this once we understand why people's drives are spinning back *up* so
frequently. LP: #952556.

-- Steve Langasek <steve.langasek@ubuntu.com> Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:04:05 -0700
hdparm is contradicting itself in /usr/lib/pm-utils/power.d/95hdparm-apm (Using LMDE+UP5, kernel 3.2+45, hdparm 9.39-1+b1)
The head of the file says:
# This script adjusts hard drive APM settings using hdparm. The hardware
# defaults (usually hdparm -B 127) cause excessive head load/unload cycles
# on many modern hard drives. We therefore set hdparm -B 254 while on AC
# power. On battery we set hdparm -B 127, because the head parking is
# very useful for shock protection.
It is obviously confusing -B 127 (which permits spin-down) with APM (-B 128) permitting PM (including head-parking) but not spin-down.

For instance, on my WD Scorpio Blue WD10JPVT, which had idle3 in its firmware modified from default 8sec to 180sec (3min) using `idle3ctl` (or wdidle3 in DOS!), I'm parking at an acceptable rate with the default PM level of 128, when on battery, without spin-downs, just as I wanted.
# hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep Advanced
Advanced power management level: 128
* Advanced Power Management feature set

# hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep -i standby
Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, with device specific minimum
Shouldn't LMDE follow suit and change back to -B 128? Or should this be reported upstream (debian)?
sobrus

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by sobrus »

zerozero wrote:ohh please the ubuntu patches again no! i rather lose some font quality (that with some tweaks can be restored) than have a crippled system
Image
and someone whispered me a secret :wink: do you still see the same lost in font rendering if you change to a completely different theme than the mint themes?
Yes, I think It can be tuned using hinting and/or subpixel order. But I don't know if it would be the same quality as with UP4.
I can see that you've lost volume control too.
Monsta
Level 10
Level 10
Posts: 3071
Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:46 am

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by Monsta »

zerozero wrote:ohh please the ubuntu patches again no!
Well, Clem did it once and there were no breakages, why someone else wouldn't do it again? :)
zerozero wrote:and someone whispered me a secret :wink: do you still see the same lost in font rendering if you change to a completely different theme than the mint themes?
Hmm, that's an interesting secret. :) I'll try to experiment with the themes, but I honestly don't understand how this could be connected...
Trapper
Level 4
Level 4
Posts: 357
Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2011 12:21 pm
Location: North Port, Florida USA

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by Trapper »

zerozero wrote:and someone whispered me a secret :wink: do you still see the same lost in font rendering if you change to a completely different theme than the mint themes?
Hmm, that's an interesting secret. :) I'll try to experiment with the themes, but I honestly don't understand how this could be connected...
I've yet to find one that renders fonts well in UP5 Mate. But then again .... trying a bunch of themes you'd never even consider using isn't much of a resolve even if you by chance find one that actually renders properly.
zerozero

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by zerozero »

sobrus wrote: I can see that you've lost volume control too.
just noticed that when you pointed out :mrgreen:
Image
it's not missing in this clone pre-mate1.4 update and it's already fixed in the other: somehow the notification area was missing; going to apply the updates there to see if is replicable :P
edit: the notification area is there but the volume icon is not (after applying the mate1.4 updates
edit2: installing mint-meta-debian-mate (as advised in the UP notes solved this issue)

Code: Select all

Start-Date: 2012-09-19  21:36:21
Commandline: /usr/sbin/synaptic
Install: xdg-user-dirs-gtk:amd64 (0.9-1, automatic), mate-settings-daemon-pulse:amd64 (1.4.0-2+wheezy, automatic), mint-artwork-debian:amd64 (2012.09.11, automatic), fonts-liberation:amd64 (1.07.2-5), mate-media-pulse:amd64 (1.4.0-1+wheezy, automatic), smbclient:amd64 (3.6.6-2, automatic), ttf-liberation:amd64 (1.07.2-5, automatic), mate-conf-editor:amd64 (1.4.0-1+wheezy, automatic), mint-meta-debian-core:amd64 (2012.09.14, automatic), mint-themes:amd64 (1.0.8, automatic), mint-meta-debian-mate:amd64 (2012.09.14), mint-artwork-mate:amd64 (1.0.8, automatic), mintmenu-keybinder:amd64 (1.2, automatic)
Remove: mate-settings-daemon-gstreamer:amd64 (1.4.0-2+wheezy), mint-meta-common:amd64 (2012.04.20), mint-x-theme:amd64 (1.0.7), mate-media-gstreamer:amd64 (1.4.0-1+wheezy)
End-Date: 2012-09-19  21:37:54
Image
killer de bug

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by killer de bug »

zerozero wrote: just noticed that when you pointed out :mrgreen:

Héyyyyy that's my wall paper.


Stupid question ! Is it possible that font rendering is better with nemo than with nautilus ? Fonts look better to my eyes since I started nemo...
mark1mint

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by mark1mint »

I've read in the web feed a couple of days ago that UP5 was not yet safe if using the ATI fglrx proprietary driver,now looking at the current page the warning is gone,does this mean that the latest ATI driver is in UP5 now?
If so,would it be safe to upgrade now or there are known bugs for this driver?
mockturtl

Re: UPDATE PACK 5 FEEDBACK THREAD

Post by mockturtl »

pidgin-facebookchat was yanked from wheezy, but mint-meta-debian-cinnamon needs it.

Code: Select all

$ apt-cache depends mint-meta-debian-cinnamon | grep facebook
  Depends: pidgin-facebookchat
Locked

Return to “LMDE Archive”