Xorg doesnt work with most linux distributions on this one silly laptop.

[eggbladder]

Hello all.
I have been attempting to live boot Linux on this school laptop of mine for a year or two now. I have always ran into issues. I dont have xorg logs from all of them, but i can tell you the symptoms.

Porteus (a slackware distribution built to be portable on flashdrives): if the screen goes to the full resolution before the terminal is hidden and X11 is launched, everything will run fine. If the screen does not change resolutions, xorg will fail multiple times until not failing, and then proceed to work. It will then crash a few minutes later.
Xorg logs are provided below. "doesntboot.txt" is the xorg.0.log where xorg simply does not start up at all. "crasheseventually.txt" is the xorg.0.log that will boot into x11, but will eventually crash (like when i hover over the panel in LXDE, or open up firefox, or change the xrandr resolution.) works completely is where the resolution works completely before the terminal is hidden, and will never unexpectedly crash.

Debian used to either launch in a very low resolution, or in a normal resolution. If the live USB had Steam installed, it would never fully work in a normal resolution and always boot into a low resolution. Steam would also never work. It would not ever crash.

TailsOS would occasionally never boot at all. When it did boot, it worked fine.
here is the laptop model i have been using. "HP ProBook 645 G4 Notebook PC IDS Base Model".
If any other information is required, please let me know.

 

[osprey]

In "doesntboot", X reports it can't find devices, nor a usable screen configuration, so it gives up.
In "workscompletely" X loads the amdgpu driver, and that appears able to run the GUI system.
In "crasheseventually" X doesn't load the amdgpu driver, which appears to be the crucial factor for running reliably.

On brief glance, it looks like the graphics system needs the amdgpu driver. That being so, it's best to have installed the driver and the firmware. Here's a search for relevant packages on a debian system. Other distros may have different names:

[flip@flop ~]$ apt-cache search amdgpu
libdrm-amdgpu1 - Userspace interface to amdgpu-specific kernel DRM services -- runtime
<snip>
xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu - X.Org X server -- AMDGPU display driver
firmware-amd-graphics - Binary firmware for AMD/ATI graphics chips

If you want 3D rendering and hardware acceleration, you might install the mesa packages. On this system it is thus:

libegl-mesa0/testing,now 23.2.1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libgl1-mesa-dri/testing,now 23.2.1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libglapi-mesa/testing,now 23.2.1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libglu1-mesa/testing,now 9.0.2-1.1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libglx-mesa0/testing,now 23.2.1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
mesa-utils-bin/testing,now 8.5.0-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
mesa-utils/testing,now 8.5.0-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
mesa-va-drivers/testing,now 23.2.1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
mesa-vdpau-drivers/testing,now 23.2.1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
mesa-vulkan-drivers/testing,now 23.2.1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]

 

[eggbladder]

I will attempt to get an amd driver. Would getting an AMD driver from a repository from distro1 and having it work on distro2 be an issue? like if i got a .deb amd driver and installed it in slackware, would that cause any issues? (provided slackware had a normal way of installing it)

 

[wendy-lebaron]

HP ProBook 645 G4 Notebook PC Specifications | HP® Customer Support

Specifications page for HP ProBook 645 G4 Notebook PC.

support.hp.com

It might not matter with AMD video. If this computer doesn't like "X-dot-org" then how about checking out a distro and desktop combination such as Fedora 39 with KDE. Maybe Wayland protocol could work better on that computer. (shrugs)

 

[osprey]

I will attempt to get an amd driver. Would getting an AMD driver from a repository from distro1 and having it work on distro2 be an issue? like if i got a .deb amd driver and installed it in slackware, would that cause any issues? (provided slackware had a normal way of installing it)

It's best to install the drivers from the distribution's own official repository rather than try and "mix and match". Most distros will have the relevant drivers and the firmware in their repos, so I'd be looking there. There can be differing names for the packages, but often enough similarity to be able to identify them, or nearly so. Checking out the discussion lists associated with a distro can help clarify these things either by just searching the discussions or by inquiring. Someone here may be able to clarify the names if you propose the distro. Post #2 is debian, so that one should be clear.

With the amdgpu drivers, the AMD company does provide proprietary drivers for linux, but the company also supplies information on it's software for its hardware to the linux community. Hence, the linux kernel itself includes accurate fundamentals. A linux installation only really needs the freely available drivers such as mentioned in post #2. The proprietary drivers AMD provide are generally considered for more commercial uses, and are discouraged by the distros that I'm aware of, so I would stick with the distro's supplied free and open source packages.

 

[wendy-lebaron]

like if i got a .deb amd driver and installed it in slackware, would that cause any issues?

You should not do this. DEB is only for Debian, and Slackware has enough differences such as the names of libraries. Trying to introduce a DEB into a Slackware installation is one of the easiest ways to foul up that installation. Might not do anything but add to the file count, and there is a limit on the number of files allowed in a file system. I have done a similar thing in my desperation to get a programming system working on Slackware, but instead ran into an "internal" issue where the compiler refused to work. I would have to accept that the Slackbuild would have to be updated or the maintainers of the programming system would have to get off their arse away from Windows. :/

 

[eggbladder]

It's best to install the drivers from the distribution's own official repository rather than try and "mix and match". Most distros will have the relevant drivers and the firmware in their repos, so I'd be looking there. There can be differing names for the packages, but often enough similarity to be able to identify them, or nearly so. Checking out the discussion lists associated with a distro can help clarify these things either by just searching the discussions or by inquiring. Someone here may be able to clarify the names if you propose the distro. Post #2 is debian, so that one should be clear.

With the amdgpu drivers, the AMD company does provide proprietary drivers for linux, but the company also supplies information on it's software for its hardware to the linux community. Hence, the linux kernel itself includes accurate fundamentals. A linux installation only really needs the freely available drivers such as mentioned in post #2. The proprietary drivers AMD provide are generally considered for more commercial uses, and are discouraged by the distros that I'm aware of, so I would stick with the distro's supplied free and open source packages.

I have been unable to find the AMD drivers specifically made for Porteus.

You should not do this. DEB is only for Debian, and Slackware has enough differences such as the names of libraries. Trying to introduce a DEB into a Slackware installation is one of the easiest ways to foul up that installation. Might not do anything but add to the file count, and there is a limit on the number of files allowed in a file system. I have done a similar thing in my desperation to get a programming system working on Slackware, but instead ran into an "internal" issue where the compiler refused to work. I would have to accept that the Slackbuild would have to be updated or the maintainers of the programming system would have to get off their arse away from Windows. :/

Porteus comes with a method of converting .deb files to "modules" (things that can be inserted and removed from the live file system) which is why i recommended the idea.

Do you think it would be wise to find a way to get drivers for Slackware, since Porteus itself doesnt provide them? (Porteus is a distro based on Slackware)

 

[wendy-lebaron]

Porteus comes with a method of converting .deb files to "modules" (things that can be inserted and removed from the live file system) which is why i recommended the idea.

The problem is that the utility that converts to XZM only does what is necessary to copy programs and libraries in specific places expected by the system (Porteus). The libraries from non-Slackware Linux might conflict with the ones specifically for Slackware. With something like "glibc" this becomes critical.

The utilities to manage XZM were provided for the power user. In fact Porteus isn't really meant to be a daily driver for somebody less familiar with Linux than with a different operating system. It could work every day for somebody who hates upgrading, doesn't go online and is satisfied with the tools. It's supposed to be a quick fix on a portable computer using a strange Internet connection, or some other situation on the go.

In the least you should grab an ISO for a distro such as Fedora which vowed to support Wayland and leave behind "X-dot-org". Check it out in live mode to see if it could be used on your fussy computer. If you don't want "systemd" then use Devuan or Void Linux. The latter has a learning curve, especially for installing a desktop environment. I might have recommended Nutyx but this has a rather small repository. At least GNOME or KDE should offer only Wayland session. This is going according to the topic title.

 

[dos2unix]

In the least you should grab an ISO for a distro such as Fedora which vowed to support Wayland and leave behind "X-dot-org".

Mostly true, but some of their spins, such as MATE Desktop still run under X11.

 

[eggbladder]

The problem is that the utility that converts to XZM only does what is necessary to copy programs and libraries in specific places expected by the system (Porteus). The libraries from non-Slackware Linux might conflict with the ones specifically for Slackware. With something like "glibc" this becomes critical.

The utilities to manage XZM were provided for the power user. In fact Porteus isn't really meant to be a daily driver for somebody less familiar with Linux than with a different operating system. It could work every day for somebody who hates upgrading, doesn't go online and is satisfied with the tools. It's supposed to be a quick fix on a portable computer using a strange Internet connection, or some other situation on the go.

In the least you should grab an ISO for a distro such as Fedora which vowed to support Wayland and leave behind "X-dot-org". Check it out in live mode to see if it could be used on your fussy computer. If you don't want "systemd" then use Devuan or Void Linux. The latter has a learning curve, especially for installing a desktop environment. I might have recommended Nutyx but this has a rather small repository. At least GNOME or KDE should offer only Wayland session. This is going according to the topic title.

im slightly familiar with linux, as ive been using it for a few months on my home computer daily. Im not familiar with slackware in of itself, but im planning on switching from Arch to Slackware the next time i reinstall linux.
I didnt know Deb packages for modules would be bad to install, so thank you for telling me about that. Do you think its good to get a slackware module and use it? Im insistent on using Porteus due to the reason i need it; the reason being i need something thats fast to boot and light to copy to RAM is due to the laptop im using it on. I can't install a new OS on it due to it being school issued.

Do you think its possible to just get a driver for Slackware and use it on Porteus?