Is my Linux setup unstable?

I know that I've been posting tons of threads in this area of the forum lately, but Kubuntu 6.10 is my new primary OS and, being closely familiar with the inner workings of XP, I am equally curious to learn just as much about the Linux system.

The problem is this; sometimes my GUI freezes. It usually happens when I'm running several programs at once, and it mostly happens in Beryl, although it has happened in KDE before. I can't launch programs, including my performance monitor or konsole to kill any processes. The only thing I can do is restart my computer.

It's not a common occurrence, but I expect more from an OS that I will come to use for hours at a time. Does anyone know whether this is a specific issue, or if there is a place I can start hunting to fix this problem?

Unfortunately re-installation is not considered a viable solution at the moment. It's like nuking a mosquito. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

I had the same problem when I ran Beryl on my T60 in ubuntu 6.10. It would freeze the xserver once in a while. I never did figure it out, and currently am only running windows

Good luck, i'll be keeping an eye on the topic; hopefully someone knows what's up.

 

If it usually happens in Beryl then it stands to reason that it's a problem with AIGLX or the ATi drivers. Neither one would surprise me, but I don't have this problem, so maybe someone with an ATi card (ahem... Lysander) can chime in a bit more. Vespoli's experience on a Thinkpad (also ATi) would support this conclusion. To be honest with you, I don't really run Beryl that often cause I just don't see the need, and it causes more problems than it's worth IMO; I can't suspend or hibernate with Beryl/Compiz enabled (conflict with the nVidia-glx drivers).

 

I'm running Kubuntu's default "ati" drivers, if its worth mentioning.

I do have a Crash plugin enabled for Beryl, and I thought it would fix the problem until my latest freeze; when I checked the plugin settings, I found that the plugin will only only issue a command that YOU specify in the event that Beryl crashes. I've put in the command field "startkde" in the hopes that, when Kubuntu does freeze, it will properly startup KDE.

 

yeah... I'm thinking it's most likely a driver problem, unfortunately. hard lockups like that are almost always related to low-level, hardware stuff.

next time it happens, see if you can get into one of the TTY sessions by hitting ctrl+alt+f2. if you can, then it's X that has somehow locked up totally, if you can't, then the drivers made the kernel take a dump.

I've also had a similar problem happen on my mother's computer. it's some cheap e-machines/gateway thing, and every once in a long while it will just totally lock up, and you have to manually power it down. I've re-installed windows, run memtest86+ for like 12 hours, changed the HSF to a copper-cored p4c one, no dice.

 

Beryl, while pretty, is in no way ready for prime time.

Rather than a full restart, you can "zap" the xserver by hitting Ctrl-Alt-Backspace on most distros... which will should drop you back at the login screen or desktop.

 

If executing 'startkde' with the plugin doesn't work, try 'killall X'
KDM should respawn and bring you back to a login screen. If not, you can write a very simple script that kills X, sleeps for a few seconds, and then starts KDM. Of course, if it is a driver issue it's very likely that your kernel is locking.

 

If you can successfully CTRL + ALT + Backspace when it freezes, this will help us narrow down the problem between Xorg and Beryl. Are you using AIGLX or Xgl? Because that could have a bearing on the solution too.

I only have experience using the FGLRX drivers, as the X1000 series is still not supported by the open sourced drivers. I know that until recently, the Radeon 9000 (which is what you're running, right?) was supported by the FGLRX set. Perhaps you could test their stability.

That probably wont do anything, because KDE is already running. As somebody else mentioned, a killall X sort of command would probably be better, as you can then just startx back into a new instance of KDE. However, the default crash handler for Beryl just defaults back to the standard method of window decoration.

This is absolutely correct. AIGLX and Xgl are also in their infancy stages. So you are running beta software on top of beta software.

 

Yay, I love beta software! When it breaks, I get to keep both pieces!

 

I'm at school right now Lysander, but when I return home I will check whether I am using XGL or AIGLX.

 

When I go to advanced options in the Beryl Manager, I can force XGL or AIGLX. I'm not sure which one I'm using; how can I find out?

Wait, I found this:
"The Radeon 9200 and older video cards are no longer supported as of the 8.28.8 fglrx driver. The installer is still available on ATI's website."

From the bottom of this page: http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Hardware

Does that mean that my GPU doesn't have 3D acceleration?

 

It appears that you should be using AIGLX. I checked both of their wiki pages, and apparently AIGLX will run on the MR9000 with the open source drivers, but not the fglrx drivers ( http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/RenderingProject/aiglx). The Xgl wiki says that Xgl will not work on the MR9000 ( http://en.opensuse.org/Xgl).

It looks like you kinda got the shaft here, and have a card that is really hard to please. Older ATi cards should have some 3D acceleration through the open source driver, though I doubt it's as substantial as it was with the fglrx drivers.

 

Interesting; can I then assume that Beryl has picked AIGLX for me, or do I have to set it to use AIGLX myself? If I have to set it myself, how do I do so?

 

I wouild say that Beryl automatically picked AIGLX. You wouldn't have any effects at all if it were trying to run under Xgl.

 

I've heard that the latest Beryl has some great fixes, but I don't even know if I'm running the latest version. How do I find out?

 

you can open up synaptic and do a search for beryl, it will show your currently installed package version.

 

Or just open a console and type:

Code:

pita@dualie:~$ beryl --version
beryl-core 0.2.0
pita@dualie:~$

 

Thanks for the tip. Looks like I'm running Beryl 0.2.

Btw, does anyone know if there is a program similar to MS Office OneNote out there. I have heard of Basket, but can it open Onenote (.one) files?

 

If the above doesn't work, it may still be possible to ssh into your machine and forcibly kill or restart X, an addition to looking at all of the dmesg goodness. I wouldn't declare the machine 'frozen' until you've tried this, though if you don't have another machine on your network, it may not be possible.

 

I'm trying to install Basket, a note-taking program, however the version in my repos. is only 0.5, and the site has ver1.0.1. Can anyone give me a source for the newest version of Basket in Edgy?

 

I'm gonna say that there isn't anything that opens onenote files other than the microsoft products.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=93742 is a discussion on various note-taking products for Linux.

 

A little off-topic, but I'm trying to install Basket, a note-taking program, however the version in my repos. is only 0.5, and the site has ver1.0.1. Can anyone give me a source for the newest version of Basket in Edgy? I get a dependency error trying to install the package myself.

 

waiting for feisty to be released in like 10 days would probably be easiest...

http://packages.ubuntu.com/feisty/kde/basket