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On 29/10/18 16:27, Ian Dickinson wrote: > Thanks both, some useful suggestions in there. In the end, I went for > an install based on 18.04.01, which got far enough that I could get a > tty up and install the nvidia-driver as Mr Meowski advised. I'm happy > with that solution, as 18.10 has some other, er, beneficial features > like: launching the Slack desktop app will crash Gnome back to the > login prompt (**) > > But for now, I have a working laptop, so onwards and upwards! > > Parenthetically, every time I set up a new machine I have a manual > check-list of things that I install, tweak or symlink to. I keep > thinking "this ought to be automatable", but have never got around to > doing anything about it. Does anyone have a good solution for this? (I > know I could do it with Chef/Puppet/Ansible etc, but that feels like > using a JCB to crack a nut) > > Cheers, > Ian > > (**) I'm aware that some people will view being unable to run Slack as > a feature, not a bug :) Git repo/gist with a shell script?! You can use a python tool called 'fabric' (fabfile.org) which I've found useful for automating a bunch of things in a pythonic way (also wrapped in SSH if that helps). I'm teetering towards the chef/puppet/ansible solution, although at present I'm working on a custom 'installer' image of my preferred distro, and a templating system to govern its configuration. These days, plenty of different ways to crack the proverbial nut or skin the proverbial cat .. ;) Good luck! Michael. > On Mon, 29 Oct 2018 at 15:38, mr meowski <mr.meowski@xxxxxxxx> wrote: >> On 29/10/2018 12:12, Ian Dickinson wrote: >>> I've just ordered myself a new Cosmos VII laptop from PcSpecialist. >>> I've done a number of Ubuntu installs in the past, and generally >>> speaking they Just Work. Alas, not this time. >>> >>> The machine is an I7 CPU with the NVidia GTX 1050 graphics card, and >>> no other OS. >>> >>> * The first problem was that booting from the USB startup disk hangs >>> while either trying to "Try Ubuntu" or "Install Ubuntu". Googling >>> suggests that this is due to graphics driver issues, and to add >>> "nomodeset" to the grub boot command. This does indeed stop it >>> hanging, but: >>> >>> * the second problem is that with nomodeset on grub, the aspect ratio >>> of the installer is out-of-whack, and some of the dialog boxes are off >>> screen. It's kind-of OK because I can tab to the "ok" button to >>> proceed through the installation, even when it's off screen, but then: >>> >>> * having completed the installer, and booted to the Ubuntu login menu, >>> when I log in I get the "black screen of death" - a mouse pointer, but >>> then everything freezes up. Again, googling suggests maybe graphics >>> driver issues, but the suggested work around is to install the nvidia >>> drivers and I can't get a console up with ctl-alt-F2, even from the >>> boot screen >>> >>> * I also can't get the Grub boot menu to appear. The suggested route, >>> hitting shift after the BIOS boot, doens't work. Hitting ESC *does* >>> get the grub command line interface, but I'm not sure what I need to >>> do from there to get a text-mode boot. >>> >>> I haven't yet tried: disabling BIOS options, like secure boot, or >>> installing an older Ubuntu distro. I also feel that there are more >>> intelligent grub options I can other than just 'nomodeset' (I don't >>> really understand what that does, I just copied it from a forum >>> posting I found!), but I've reached the limit of my understanding of >>> the lower levels of Ubuntu. >>> >>> Very happy to receive any suggestions! >>> Thanks, >>> Ian >>> >> Amazing that stuff like this is _still_ happening in 2018, good work >> Nvidia :| >> >> A few things to try: check the EFI settings and see if anything strange >> is going on in there. I believe your laptop is an Optimus one with both >> Intel graphics built in to the CPU and the discrete 1050. Disabling the >> intelligent switching or temporarily completely disabling the Nvidia >> graphics entirely should at least let you boot cleanly into the new OS >> on Intel graphics alone and then you can install the Nvidia drivers, >> enable SSH, reboot and re-enable the 1050. It should then be ok. >> >> That's a bit dirty so I'd do this first: >> >> The grub menu only shows by default if you hold the LEFT shift down >> during boot in the very early stages. That being said this appears to be >> more of a guideline than anything else, some of my Ubuntu systems also >> only respond to Esc instead of left Shift like they should. Either way, >> once you can see the standard grub menu you'll see a list of options >> like so: >> >> https://cdn.instructables.com/F52/JUNA/HET0RS1T/F52JUNAHET0RS1T.LARGE.jpg >> >> If you choose the "Advanced options for Ubuntu" you'll get more options >> in pairs, 2 per installed kernel (so you might only have two options so >> far with just the default installation kernel). Selecting them will >> either start the system normally or start the same kernel in "rescue >> mode" which probably still isn't what you want. Rescue mode is now a >> systemd target rather than the crappy old runlevels so to take advantage >> of this properly select the very top non-rescue kernel and hit "e" to >> temporarily edit it for the current boot. >> >> You'll see the grub boot stanza so navigate down to the bottom where you >> see the line starting "linux" - edit this as follows. >> >> Move to the end of the line and delete "quiet splash $vt_handoff" and >> add this to the end: >> >> systemd.unit=multi-user.target >> >> My finished line in an Ubuntu VM looks like this: >> >> linux /vmlinuz-4.19.0-pf2-meowski+ root=/dev/mapper/wyrmwood--vg-root ro >> systemd.unit=multi-user.target >> >> Hit F10 or Ctrl+X to boot the system with your modified parameters and >> wait for the tty to pop up so you can login. >> >> "systemd.unit=multi-user.target" is the modern equivalent of the old >> boot to runlevel 3 trick and is going to be a lot more use to you than >> rescue mode (in modern terms: "systemd.unit=emergency.target") which >> doesn't start most of your services including the network.target. >> >> Once you're in make sure that before you go any further you install some >> remote access tools and make a note to yourself to disable them later if >> you want to (or better yet, firewall them off correctly). >> >> sudo apt install openssh* cockpit >> >> Even if you can't get into the system thanks to a non-responsive >> physical tty (I've got loads of Nvidia systems and have seen your exact >> problem more times than I care to remember) then you can either SSH to >> your laptop or if you'd prefer, point a browser on another system at >> https://1.2.3.4:9050 for graphical management. >> >> Report back with any issues and good luck :] >> >> I also hugely recommend you enable an Ubuntu repo with the latest >> graphics packages available - your 1050 is going to need it. >> >> sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa >> >> Should look something like this once you've installed the proper ones: >> >> ghost@failbot:~$ apt-cache policy nvidia-driver-410 | head -n 3 >> nvidia-driver-410: >> Installed: 410.73-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1 >> Candidate: 410.73-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1 >> >> Cheers >> -- >> The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG >> https://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list >> FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq
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