Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
So after doing some searching online, I came up blank on anyone having done this so I'm posting this here in case anyone else is interested. This is purely informational for those wanting to get Linux running on this and possibly similar platforms. It's specific to Sager/Clevo hence why I posted here, but if the mods feel it's more appropriate in the Linux forum, please feel free to move it.
I'll skip all the normal BS about choosing a distro, creating a USB stick and whatnot. And it's important to note that I'm dual-booting this machine as well, so I need to preserve my Windows install and put Linux somewhere else (in this case, it's the other M.2 slot with a 256GB M.2 drive). The main thing here is that when you boot from your USB stick on this machine, you end up at a black screen which is possibly one of the most infuriating situations to be in. Chances are you will, like I did, try the "compatibility mode" option from the boot menu. Which doesn't have a black screen but freezing during bootup with the last message in the log being this:
fb: conflicting fb hw usage nouveaufb vs EFI VGA - removing generic driver
That's helpful, isn't it? The simple explanation for this is that for generic configurations, the kernel can't figure out which one to use. Nouveau is the open-source nVidia driver and the EFI VGA driver is the one that is invoked at startup so you can get console output before the kernel and OS loads. Without making some changes here, you're pretty much stuck.
The first thing you'll want to do is boot back into Windows or stick the USB key in another Windows/Mac/Linux machine where you can get at the contents of the key. It should be formatted in FAT32 so everything in the world can read it (generally). From the root directory of the, open /boot/grub and use a simple text editor to edit grub.cfg. The simple fix is to edit this line:
linux /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/linuxmint.seed boot=casper iso-scan/filename=${iso_path} quiet splash --
and add the word "nomodeset" right in front of the word "quiet" so it looks like this:
linux /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/linuxmint.seed boot=casper iso-scan/filename=${iso_path} nomodeset quiet splash --
There's a couple of configurations in that file that might have a similar line. Use the first one. It'll just save you hassles later. What this does it to tell the kernel to do is not to use its own modesetting code but rely on the UMD (user mode driver) to do it for us later. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just make the above changes, nod and smile and return to ignorant bliss. Be careful when editing on Windows too, since if you change the line ending type it can cause problems (if you want an explanation, ask. Most people don't rightly care).
Now, reboot and press F2 to get into BIOS. Yes there's other ways to bring up the menu, but I don't remember them offhand and this one is guaranteed to work. Go to the "exit" menu and select the USB key from the boot menu. When GRUB loads, select the first option (which should have been the one you edited previously) and it should start normally, ending with you sitting at the Linux desktop running a horribly slow, software renderer. But you're at the desktop and can now install Linux Mint on your system. Make sure you note the drive and partition number of your root directory because it will vitally important to have further down.
Now, don't get all excited because you're not done yet. You need to install the nVidia drivers so you can actually use this beast. If you restart without editing the command line, you'll be back at a black screen for the exact same reason as when you booted from the USB stick. So how do you fix this? By following a similar but more involved process of editing the installed grub.cfg file.
So open a terminal window now and type "sudo su". It may ask for a password, which is the same one you entered during installation. Hopefully you remember where you installed Linux, because it's important now. You need to mount the root directory of your installation under /mnt with the following command:
mount /dev/sdAX -t ext4 /mnt
DO NOT type sdAX! That means to use the drive letter and partition number for your installation. For example, my installation was done on 'sdc' and the root is the first partition so mine is /dev/sdc1. Now cd into /mnt/boot/grub. There should be a file there called 'grub.cfg'. Use nano or vi to edit that file. I use nano. Don't get me started on the vi-vs-all-other-editors debate. Anyways, now things get interesting. You need to edit the configuration in the same manner that you did before. Only this grub.cfg is a hell of a lot more complicated than last time.
This a sample that I pulled off the web, so it will likely not match your configuration:
menuentry "Linux Mint 12 32-bit, 3.0.0-12-generic (/dev/sda8) (on /dev/sda8)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos8)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 8d535868-a72d-4b53-93da-9e83e1d8b7f3
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=8d535868-a72d-4b53-93da-9e83e1d8b7f3 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
}
Find the first one of those entries in the file. It should be titled similarly to one above. On the line starting with 'linux' you can see the 'ro quiet splash vt_handoff=7' there. You want to put the 'nomodeset' word on that line too in front of the 'quiet'. Save the file, exit the terminal and reboot. When you get to the grub menu, select the default option. If it results in a black screen, chances are you edited the wrong configuration entry.
You'll want to boot of your live key, remount the root file system until /mnt and check to see that everything is correct. If you really screw things up, you can always start back at the beginning and try it again.
Now, if everything worked, you should be at your login prompt for your fresh new installation of Linux. Yay! But you're still running the software renderer which is slow and horrible. Boo! Next post is how to install the nVidia drivers so your system will not suck.
*NOTE: I'm doing this from memory as I just completed this operation an hour ago. So if I missed something, let me know and I'll update the post.
-CA
-
-
-
-
-
Certainly. Glad this was of use to someone.
With respect to your questions though, there really aren't a lot of options or answers. I did some research on these and came up with the following:
1) Screen Brightness:
The only option I found here is gbacklight. It's a GTK front end for xbacklight. Not a great solution, but it does eliminate the issue of having to go to the command line to change the screen brightness. I haven't had a chance to try this one out myself yet though, so if you decide to try it out, please let me know how it goes. If I have some time in the near future, I'll investigate this one as well and report back here.
2) Sound driver
The on-board audio chipset is one of the RealTek parts, but I couldn't find much information on the exact model/part installed. RealTek does produce Linux drivers for some of their audio components so it's possible that they have drivers that will work. However, on a cursory search of their website I found that their drivers are for the 3.0 kernel and are over a year old. They also don't release the source code (not a surprise really) so you can't build and configure it for your system specifically. All in all, it might be worth testing this out but it's definitely in the realm of "proceed with caution". Personally, this is one where the benefits really don't outweigh the risks.
3) Keyboard brightness/backlight
This one is specific to Clevo/Sager I think. There's not much information I could find on it, so my guess is that it's something you'd have to take up with Clevo directly. While it might be worth opening a dialog with their support people, you probably don't want to get your hopes up. The likelihood that they'll do a Linux port is low and they're certainly not going to release the source code. They might provide data sheets or at least tell you who the vendor/mfg is for the keyboard controller and its associated HW. That would be useful information to have since from there, a community project could get started to get that functionality for Linux. Without that info it becomes a brute-force reverse engineering effort. Not for the faint of heart, to be sure.
4) Fingerprint reader
I *think* this one is the ES603 part from Egistec. If that's the case, all the info I found points to the driver being integrated into libfprint now. So that's where I'd go look first. I don't know what the package will be on Mint but it should be relatively easy to find. You'll want to subscribe to the fprint mailing list ( [email protected]) and report problems or ask questions there. They may also have an IRC channel where you can track down users and devs and talk to them.
Hope that helps. If you have any other questions or comments, please don't hesitate to ask.
-CA
-
Actually this one wasn't too bad. I'm used to working with Linux on early silicon, so working on a fully functional platform is nice respite.
-CA -
-
Preach it, brothah! No arguments from me on any of those points. Linux has come a LONG way since I got started with it in the early 90s (Slackware was the first distro I installed) but it's nowhere near where it could or should be. The major distros have done a lot of great things for it for sure, but that hasn't stopped it from continuing to splinter off and fragment into little niches all over hell and creation. Like yourself, I got tired of having to update and/or install every package under the sun just to satisfy dependencies, or download source packages and compile them because the distro version was a couple revisions out of date.
That's odd that the mobile driver doesn't support SLI at all. Have they talked about why they don't support it? I'd be curious to know what their position is on that one. I've never been a fan of alternate frame rendering though. Split frame was always the way to go, even though it require more interaction between the two GPUs. There's just too many things that can go wrong when operating in AFR mode that makes having two GPUs almost useless.
-CAEthrem likes this. -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Linux Mint 17.1 installed on Sager NP9752/Clevo P750ZM
Discussion in 'Sager and Clevo' started by Commander Angry, Apr 25, 2015.
