[NEWS] Debian

[MauryG5]

guys then this Debian is a nightmare for me. Not only does it work terrible after installation, it jerks and is unusable but it doesn't even let me log in as root. When I try to authenticate with SU and after entering the password, it tells me that the authentication has failed and it always does even if I try to change the password. For me this Debian is totally unusable ...

[Borley]

Navi 10 is newer than the latest Debian stable, right? It is possible that the firmware is not yet present in firmware-amd-graphics.

You might need to also install the backport for it until you move to Bullseye

Code: [Select]

firmware-amd-graphics/buster-backports 20200918-1~bpo10+1

[MauryG5]

No Borley the problem is not Navi 10 but with the Blackbird video output ... As soon as you finish installing and restart the operating system you just installed, initially you have not put anything yet and therefore it works by default with the video output of the card mother and the problem is right at the beginning then. Fedora or Ubuntu never gave me this problem as soon as they were installed, only Debian is giving all these problems and the Navi GPU I haven't even used yet. The problem is fundamental and I do not honestly understand what could be wrong, I downloaded the 10.7 version which has recently come out so the most updated ... Also another absurd thing is that I do not authenticate the root for the super user and this is incredible honestly because during the installation I have reported username and password as requested ... I don't understand honestly why this distro is so problematic, I just don't understand ... I'm very disappointed!

[MPC7500]

The problem affects every other distribution as well
https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/Troubleshooting/GPU#Xorg_crashes_or_is_laggy_with_the_AST_VGA_GPU & Display stuck at default low resolution with AST HDMI GPU

[MauryG5]

I didn't know they were doing this kind of settings for operating system 3D management now, thanks for the MPC info.  In any case I managed to get it to work normally with a trick.  If you quit with ctrl alt F2 and then re-enter with startx, disable 3D handling and go back to 2D and you can use it.  But my problem is that the command that Pocock gave me doesn't work.  When I give it it gives me an error telling me that it is not valid for APT :: Default-Release since this release is not available in the sources ... I tried to look for a site where I could directly download Kernel and Kernel modules to install it manually but I cannot  find it ... How can I solve?

[MauryG5]

Guys then update, I was able to understand the problem of the failure to download the kernel 5.9, pocock forgot to tell me that first you had to run another command to be able to prepare the download of the package, I do not know the steps unfortunately, not being familiar with Debian. In any case I found a site that gave a mini-guide for the commands to do, including what I posted pocock, after as the last command also performs the installation of firmware for this new Kernel. At reboot I also put the file on usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d, to enable the amd gpu but at reboot unfortunately gives me an error and tells me that it can not load the gpu... I send you the photos of both the error for the gpu and the error that has always given me at boot Debian but this time I speak of Debian itself and its Kernel. In fact I've noticed that I always get error loading Kernel modules, both with the old one that is installed by default, and with this new one. I don't know if it's related to the problem but it's a fact that it always gives it and it's very strange considering that it does it right after the installation and then without me touching or modifying anything, I've noticed since the first boot, that this error does it always. In fact I noticed that in normal operation with kernel 4.19, sometimes the video disappears and returns to server mode for example. This Debian seems to have its own underlying problems, regardless of the 5.9 kernel in my opinion ...I attach pictures of what gives me as errors both kernel and gpu...

[xilinder]

If you do lsmod does it show any modules being loaded ?
If you look in /lib/modules are they in there for the kernel you are using ?

Some times all the modules are built into the kernel so there may not be any modules

[pocock]

I'm going to publish more of my own Debian packages over the next few weeks, along with documentation, that will make it a lot easier.  The packages I've described this week, Domoticz, an optimized ffmpeg and OBS Studio 26.1.0 are an example of how things can be backported to get the latest fixes on POWER9.

It is really useful if people can help to test these things and provide feedback, for example, by opening Debian bug reports or trying different smart home products with Domoticz and sharing feedback about which products work and which products don't work.  Developers can then focus our energy on other aspects of development while the community is testing things.

Another good place to ask for help: subscribe to the debian-user mailing list.

[MauryG5]

Xlinder no I didn't give that command, I should try to do it and see what you say but apart from that, in my opinion the underlying problem is in the Kernel after version 5.6. I also tried to install Ubuntu, up to version 5.4 of the Kernel, with Ubuntu 20.0.4, the internal gpu mode works and with AMD Navi 10, I tried to enable the card by inserting the usual file in xorg.conf, as reported in the guide on wiki and that made me enable Navi 10 on Fedora, but the operating system at that point doesn't start anymore. In any case, before inserting this file on Xorg, I updated Ubuntu to the latest version or the 20.10 which has in Kernel 5.8 and coincidentally, even in AST mode and without enabling the Navi 10, the computer just after it loads the system, yes it crashes irreversibly and must be shut down manually, just like with kernels from 5.7 onwards on Fedora. So in my opinion there is an underlying problem of the Kernel from version 5.7 onwards on Power that goes into constant conflict with the Navi 10 and that no one has yet unearthed for our misfortune. It is not possible that all distros that exceed version 5.6 of the Kernel suddenly stop working! You have to work on this first thing, you have to eliminate this damn bug that causes conflict between the drivers of Navi 10 and the new files contained by the Kernel 5.7 onwards on Power! Now I want to try to disassemble the graphics card and start Ubuntu version 20.10, do you want to see that if I remove the graphics card it starts? We'll see...

[pocock]

I will publish a 5.9 kernel built with the 4k page size, I think it is a really good idea to try that.

It will be available as a Debian package so you can install it very easily along with any other Debian kernels and choose between them when you boot.

I'm really interested to know if this fixes the problem for you.

It may be some time next week, I'll post an update here when it is available.

[MauryG5]

Okay, then I'm waiting for your publication, let me know how to install it, the command you need or where to download it and tell me if I have to delete at this point, the current kernel 5.9.6 that does not work even if I think say yes at this point. I know the procedure on Fedora for deleting kernels, I always delete the kernel entry and the Kernel modules entry and he deletes the kernel in question. In case it's different let me know this too ... Thanks.
So you think it's just a page size problem, it would be amazing that a simple thing like this would affect the Kernel so badly that it crashes. This perhaps would also mean that the other distros could settle down the same way at this point ... Hopefully, I trust you Pocock, you're all of us ...

[MauryG5]

Guys one thing I didn't understand about the installation of this Debian Buster is that when I prepared the 4 partitions to install it, it touched the swap partitions of the other 2 hard drives where I installed Fedora and I don't understand why. I have regularly selected the empty hard disk where I had to install Debian, why I have to touch the swap partitions of both one and the other hard disk that have nothing to do with it! Now both hard disks with Fedora boot with a 2o seconds delay and this is very annoying honestly and I didn't think that doing this touch on the swap partition of those, would create this problem... I've tried reformatting the swap partitions on both and but the problem persists, they keep starting with delay...

[xilinder]

A question first. Did you use the graphical installer?

When installing Debian you have to set the other disks or partitions to "Do Not Use", and Debian will ignore them. That is in the section where you format the disks.

[MauryG5]

yes I used the graphical installer but honestly I have not seen this option, strange ... now do you think I can do something to avoid this small inconvenience?

[xilinder]

Not sure. Perhaps by adding a # in front of the lines for the disks/partitions you do not want to use in /etc/fstab (?)