The first problem is enabling the GPU driver as, by default on install, the driver enabled is noveau, which is functional but prone to overheating and as such the internal fan being very loud. If the nvidia proprietary driver is enabled after a clean install (with of without fully running Software Updater), then the screen goes black on next boot and stays that way after that.
This problem is solved relatively easily, with a script like this:
Code: Select all
sudo bash -c "cat > /etc/grub.d/01_enable_vga.conf" << END
cat << EOF
setpci -s "00:17.0" 3e.b=8
setpci -s "02:00.0" 04.b=7
EOF
END
sudo chmod 755 /etc/grub.d/01_enable_vga.conf
sudo update-grub
reboot
The second problem is the brightness hotkeys. Screen brightness is easily changed with the F1 and F2 keys when noveau is the enabled driver, but with the nvidia one the hotkeys no longer work. This second issue, in theory, is solved with a script like this, run only after the nvidia driver is enabled and running:
Code: Select all
sudo bash -c "cat >> /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/nvidia-drm-outputclass-ubuntu.conf" << END
Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 320M"
Option "RegistryDwords" "EnableBrightnessControl=1"
EndSection
END
reboot
So, following many a reinstall and test, I have this:
- The LAST version of Linux Mint that this works for is 19.3 MATE
- With ANY version of Mint 19.x or 20.x (aside from 19.x MATE), the first problem can be successfully solved. The second part, the brightness controls, does not work at all however.
On the other hand I did find something that seems suspicious. When running the following commands after a clean install, and before doing anything else, I get:
Code: Select all
##On Mint 19.x##
setpci -s "00:17.0" 3e.b
00
setpci -s "02:00.0" 04.b
07
##On Mint 20.x##
setpci -s "00:17.0" 3e.b
02
setpci -s "02:00.0" 04.b
07
Code: Select all
##On Mint 19.x##
setpci -s "00:17.0" 3e.b
08
setpci -s "02:00.0" 04.b
07
##On Mint 20.x##
setpci -s "00:17.0" 3e.b
0a
setpci -s "02:00.0" 04.b
07
Code: Select all
##On both 19.x & 20.x##
setpci -s "00:17.0" 3e.b
0a
setpci -s "02:00.0" 04.b
07
Most of the information I used for the test I got from these sources:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/264247/ ... 573#613573
https://askubuntu.com/questions/76081/b ... dia-driver
https://askubuntu.com/questions/878548/ ... -driver-bl
https://blog.virtualwolf.org/installing ... cbook-air/
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxmint/comm ... late_2010/