Cinnamon in software rendering mode LMDE, Intel i7-7560U

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petewt

Cinnamon in software rendering mode LMDE, Intel i7-7560U

Post by petewt »

Hi,

Working on a Dell XPS13 Developer Edition which came with Ubuntu 16.04LTS installed. Made some tweaks to secure boot in bios and I have a functioning LMDE install except for that Cinnamon runs in software rendering mode. I reviewed some other posts with similar issues but not on Debian version. Any assistance would be much appreciated.

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inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: taxus Kernel: 4.9.0-0.bpo.3-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 4.9.2) 
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.2.7 (Gtk 3.14.5+4) Distro: LinuxMint 2 betsy 
Machine:   System: Dell product: XPS 13 9360
           Mobo: Dell model: 0115N5 v: A00
           Bios: Dell v: 1.3.2 date: 01/18/2017
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i7-7560U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 4096 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 9600 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 1099 MHz 2: 1099 MHz 3: 1099 MHz 4: 1099 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Device 5926 bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.16.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@59.93hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.8, 256 bits)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 13.0.6 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel Device 9d71 driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.9.0-0.bpo.3-amd64
Network:   Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros Device 003e
           driver: ath10k_pci bus-ID: 3a:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Atheros usb-ID: 001-002
           IF: N/A state: N/A speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Partition: ID-1: / size: 469G used: 220G (50%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 0.18GB used: 0.06GB (34%) fs: swap dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 57.0C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 208 Uptime: 3 days Memory: 4854.2/7872.6MB 
           Init: SysVinit runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.9.2 
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.301) inxi: 2.1.28
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xenopeek
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Re: Cinnamon in software rendering mode LMDE, Intel i7-7560U

Post by xenopeek »

You probably need a newer kernel. Linux kernel 4.10 or 4.11 is best for systems with Kaby Lake. I don't know what the recommended way is to get it on Debian 8 (the current LMDE 2 package base; though mind that even Debian 9 currently only has 4.9). Hopefully somebody else can help with that.
Image
petewt

Re: Cinnamon in software rendering mode LMDE, Intel i7-7560U

Post by petewt »

Thanks!
Linux kernel 4.10 or 4.11 is best for systems with Kaby Lake.
I suspected as much and spent some time trying to figure out how to upgrade the kernel without any luck. Would appreciate any additional guidance upgrading Debian 8 kernel to 4.10 or 4.11 if that even possible...
youstupiddarkness

Re: Cinnamon in software rendering mode LMDE, Intel i7-7560U

Post by youstupiddarkness »

I think that it's possible to get Kaby Lake working correctly even on a 4.9 kernel. Have you updated the firmware-misc-nonfree package from the jessie-backports repo? Kabylake graphics need some non-free firmware to work correctly in Debian or derivatives. You probably also want the latest intel-microcode you can find in jessie-backports or upstream Debian.

I have an OBS repo with up to 4.11 Liquorix kernels backported to Debian, but the 4.11 kernel is acting unstable on my Skylake laptop, so I'd go for the 4.10 one in there.

https://software.opensuse.org//download ... e=codelite

Run all the install commands as root, except you should run the wget command to download the repo key as a standard user. I believe that you can also use sudo instead of root. Make sure to keep your 4.9 kernel as a backup boot option until you are convinced that the 4.10 is working well enough. I also have some proprietary drivers in that repo patched to build with newer kernels, plus an even newer non-free firmware set of packages lifted from SteamOS:

https://build.opensuse.org/project/show ... r:codelite

However, just installing a newer kernel and driver is not enough to get full hardware acceleration: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=131611
petewt

Re: Cinnamon in software rendering mode LMDE, Intel i7-7560U

Post by petewt »

Thanks for the hints
I think that it's possible to get Kaby Lake working correctly even on a 4.9 kernel. Have you updated the firmware-misc-nonfree package from the jessie-backports repo? Kabylake graphics need some non-free firmware to work correctly in Debian or derivatives. You probably also want the latest intel-microcode you can find in jessie-backports or upstream Debian.
I've set up jessie backports and installed the recommended packages with no luck. It seems that 4.10 is not available:

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pete@taxus ~ $ aptitude search linux-image | grep linux-image-4.
p   linux-image-4.6.0-1-grsec-686-p - Linux 4.6 for modern PCs, Grsecurity prote
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-686:i - Linux 4.9 for older PCs (signed)          
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-686-p - Linux 4.9 for modern PCs (signed)         
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-686-p - Debugging symbols for Linux 4.9.0-0.bpo.2-
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-686-p - Linux 4.9 for modern PCs                  
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-686-u - Linux 4.9 for older PCs                   
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-amd64 - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs (signed)         
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-amd64 - Debugging symbols for Linux 4.9.0-0.bpo.2-
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-amd64 - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs                  
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-rt-68 - Linux 4.9 for modern PCs, PREEMPT_RT (sign
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-rt-68 - Debugging symbols for Linux 4.9.0-0.bpo.2-
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-rt-68 - Linux 4.9 for modern PCs, PREEMPT_RT      
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-rt-am - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs, PREEMPT_RT (sign
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-rt-am - Debugging symbols for Linux 4.9.0-0.bpo.2-
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-rt-am - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs, PREEMPT_RT      
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.3-686:i - Linux 4.9 for older PCs                   
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.3-686-d - Debug symbols for linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.3-686-p - Linux 4.9 for modern PCs                  
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.3-686-p - Debug symbols for linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.
i A linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.3-amd64 - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs                  
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.3-amd64 - Debug symbols for linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.3-rt-68 - Linux 4.9 for modern PCs, PREEMPT_RT      
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.3-rt-68 - Debug symbols for linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.3-rt-am - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs, PREEMPT_RT      
p   linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.3-rt-am - Debug symbols for linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.
p   linux-image-4.9.0-2-grsec-686-p - Linux 4.9 for modern PCs, Grsecurity prote
p   linux-image-4.9.0-2-grsec-amd64 - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs, Grsecurity prote
p   linux-image-486:i386            - Linux for older PCs (dummy package)  
I'm not sure I understand how the OBS repo works. It looks like its setup to install codelite? Does that come with 4.1X kernel?
petewt

Re: Cinnamon in software rendering mode LMDE, Intel i7-7560U

Post by petewt »

OK, I've now successfully installed the 4.11.6 kernel and still having the 'Running in software rendering mode` error. I love Mint Debian. I don't want to use Ubuntu....But I am getting to the end of my known universe. Any other suggestions welcome. Is there something I need to do with BIOS? Secure boot is disabled...

Thanks in advance.
youstupiddarkness

Re: Cinnamon in software rendering mode LMDE, Intel i7-7560U

Post by youstupiddarkness »

Did you also apply the other updates from jessie-backports in that HowTo? What does

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inxi -G 
and

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apt-cache policy firmware-misc-nonfree
and make sure you are running the new kernel with

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uname -a
About codelite: the OBS has some odd quirks that I have to work around. One is that it generates the automatic install instructions for a repo based on the name of one of the finished packages in it, and the Liquorix kernel packages are all architecture dependent, having names with "amd64" or "i386" in them. I needed one that was the same no matter what platform, so I added the kernel to a codelite repo I already had set up. As long as I have one package I can use to get the instructions, all others in that repo can use those instructions. Codelite won't be installed automatically, but it will be seen as an upgrade if you have the Jessie version installed.
petewt

Re: Cinnamon in software rendering mode LMDE, Intel i7-7560U

Post by petewt »

Hi!

Thanks very much for this. I've upgraded to the most recent kernel and still having the software rendering issue. Would the codelite repo add anything that I would not have gotten with the 4.11 kernel?
youstupiddarkness wrote:Did you also apply the other updates from jessie-backports in that HowTo? What does

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inxi -G 
Graphics:  Card: Intel Device 5926
           Display Server: X.Org 1.16.4 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@59.93hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.8, 256 bits)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 13.0.6
and

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apt-cache policy firmware-misc-nonfree
firmware-misc-nonfree:
  Installed: 20161130-2~bpo8+1
  Candidate: 20161130-3~bpo8+1
  Version table:
     20161130-3~bpo8+1 0
        100 http://deb.debian.org/debian/ jessie-backports/non-free amd64 Packages
 *** 20161130-2~bpo8+1 0
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
and make sure you are running the new kernel with

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uname -a
Linux taxus 4.11.6-falcot #1 SMP Thu Jun 22 00:40:09 PDT 2017 x86_64 GNU/Linux
About codelite: the OBS has some odd quirks that I have to work around. One is that it generates the automatic install instructions for a repo based on the name of one of the finished packages in it, and the Liquorix kernel packages are all architecture dependent, having names with "amd64" or "i386" in them. I needed one that was the same no matter what platform, so I added the kernel to a codelite repo I already had set up. As long as I have one package I can use to get the instructions, all others in that repo can use those instructions. Codelite won't be installed automatically, but it will be seen as an upgrade if you have the Jessie version installed.
youstupiddarkness

Re: Cinnamon in software rendering mode LMDE, Intel i7-7560U

Post by youstupiddarkness »

One poster in that Debian thread said he also had to upgrade libdrm-intel1 and libgbm1 from jessie-backports to get full acceleration, so check what version of those you have, and then try the upgrade if you don't have them. I'm assuming you are rebooting after the upgrades, also...
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