Need a little help getting Linux Mint up and running

[Philbo King]

I took the leap and installed Linux Mint on my system today.

So, I'm at my first hurdle. I have an ATI Radeon HD 5000 series dual-head card, plus an Nvidia adapter built into the motherboard.
I went in and arranged the displays, and got them all to enable.

But the two 1920x1080 monitors on the ATI have a garbled display. It's strange, because I can move the mouse pointer to those screens and it shows properly on top of the garbled background.

Any ideas or tips?

Thanks.

[s wave]

What is the mother board model # ? That would help a lot. Do you have on-board graphics card? Could be the GPU driver... try switching them in "Driver Manager {the mint generic manager}? Do you have Invidia driver manager loaded? (One other possible idea is the 'monitor driver')

Can you open up terminal: Black box console and post you system here by
typing in:

inxi -F

hit enter...

this will post basic over all info on your system.

Should not be too tough... sometimes there are lil conflicts such as the monitor being HP or something tc

[Philbo King]

Thanks Swave!

Mobo is an ASUS M4N68T-M V2

The motherboard has an Nvidia GeForce 7025/ nForce 630a graphics adapter built in. It works, except I think it's using software rendering (video playback in VLC looks pretty bad).

The other (dual head) adapter is an ATI Radeon 5450

[Philbo King]

The output from inxi:

System: Host: studio-System-Product-Name Kernel: 4.15.0-42-generic x86_64
bits: 64
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.8.9 Distro: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Machine: Device: desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: M4N68T-M-V2 v: Rev X.0x serial: N/A
BIOS: American Megatrends v: 0501 date: 08/03/2010
Battery hidpp__0: charge: 95% condition: NA/NA Wh
hidpp__1: charge: N/A condition: NA/NA Wh
CPU: Quad core AMD Phenom II X4 B45 (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB
clock speeds: max: 3114 MHz 1: 3114 MHz 2: 3114 MHz 3: 3114 MHz
4: 3114 MHz
Graphics: Card-1: NVIDIA C61 [GeForce 7025 / nForce 630a]
Card-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Cedar [Radeon HD 5000/6000/7350/8350 Series]
Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 )
drivers: ati,radeon,nouveau (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1280x1024@60.02hz, 1920x1080@60.00hz, 1920x1080@59.93hz
OpenGL: renderer: NV4C version: 2.1 Mesa 18.0.5
Audio: Card-1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Cedar HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5400/6300/7300 Series]
driver: snd_hda_intel
Card-2 VIA ICE1712 [Envy24] PCI Multi-Channel I/O Controller
driver: snd_ice1712
Card-3 NVIDIA MCP61 High Def. Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
Card-4 Midiplus driver: USB Audio
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-42-generic
Network: Card: NVIDIA MCP61 Ethernet driver: forcedeth
IF: enp0s7 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full
mac: 20:cf:30:e8:24:ee
Drives: HDD Total Size: 6000.5GB (16.7% used)
ID-1: /dev/sda model: CT500MX500SSD1 size: 500.1GB
ID-2: /dev/sdb model: WDC_WD2000FYYZ size: 2000.4GB
ID-3: /dev/sdc model: WDC_WD5000AAKX size: 500.1GB
ID-4: USB /dev/sdd model: My_Passport_0820 size: 2000.4GB
ID-5: USB /dev/sde model: My_Book_1110 size: 999.5GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 193G used: 16G (9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb5
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 46.0C mobo: 30.0C gpu: 50.5
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 2272 sys-1: 2288
Info: Processes: 212 Uptime: 1 min Memory: 710.4/3692.7MB
Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.56

[Philbo King]

Seems I'm back to listening to crickets in a reverb room here. Oh, well, it was a fun experiment...

My take on Linux: it won't become widespread until efforts to provide flawless driver support exceeds the urge to provide 4 or 5 different DE's in every distro. Sort of like a restaurant waiter asking you "what color would you like for your sh*t on a shingle?" Too harsh? Maybe. To be fair, Win driver support is still fairly primitive and buggy.

But in the end, I can't devote days or weeks to making stuff work; I have music to make.

[4duhwinnn]

The thing with video cards in linux, is if the card is too new,
it might not have kernel support yet. If the card is too old,
it might not have ever gotten solid support.
I recommend an nvidia card that was released circa 2013-2015.
Mine is much older, yet works well in Mint 18

Motherboard video chipsets can be limiting for some vsts
with fabulous and complex gui's.

The nature of the linux hardware scene, has always required
a willingness to aquire what is known to work.
The freedom that working in linux offers, comes at a price.
Learning curves are free bonuses, when freedom is the goal.
And despite our urges to rush in, there is no race or ticking clock.

You can boot Mint from an external drive,
and takes things in as time allows.
Cheers

[JamesPeters]

Please don't consider the lack of replies here to be an indicator of an unwillingness to help. There are very few of us running Reaper for Linux compared to Windows and Mac users. Since you are describing a video setup which is unusual, it's unlikely any of us will have relevant experience. However I have read on some forums that Linux can be a bit tricky when it comes to multiple graphics cards running simultaneously. You will probably have to post on some Linux forums or search through them, for that specific help.

[Philbo King]

Thanks for replying. I thought I try Linux as an experiment since my PC is fairly old. It does strike me as odd that Win can use a single generic VGA driver to run basically any monitor. In fact, both monitors show the Mint icon just fine while booting; they just scramble up when the desktop opens. I'm sure the devil's in the details.

And I do appreciate the willingness to help from everyone, as their personal bandwidth permits. A sharp contrast to some Linux forums...

I'll just chalk it up to '2nd attempt at Linux'; I tried once before when Ardour first came out.

Maybe I'll give it another shot in 5 years and see what happens.

I realize Linux requires some effort from the user, but 99% of my effort has been searching the web for answers that don't appear to be there.

I'm kind of past the days when I was willing to write my own BIOS and word processor app in machine and assembly language for my homemade Z80 computer like I did 38 years ago...

[JamesPeters]

I was looking up info for a very new mainboard (which a friend is buying, assuming he can use Linux with it), and I'd found out that particular mainboard had someone reviewing it on Youtube. The reviewer mentioned that in Linux the onboard GPU would share an IRQ with any additional GPU card, therefore for dual monitors it's better to use a card that supports dual monitors. Also he mentioned that this is "kind of a thing" with Linux (in his experience anyway).

If you need 2 monitors, try disabling the onboard GPU in the bios and only use the card to support your 2 monitors. If however you need 3 monitors...well, do you mind the idea of finding another graphics card which can support 3 monitors? Just a thought.

When it comes to getting help online with specific computer configurations, I understand the frustration. Finding information about a previous audio device I'd owned and had a problem with (years ago), for use in Windows, was difficult. (There are so many audio cards, finding someone that has experienced the same problem as you can be difficult, let alone if they've found a solution. Manufacturers can be of little help, too.) The only thing I could suggest is to have a bit of patience and be specific about the nature of your particular configuration issue (and try to not act angry/demanding/spiteful in your posts about it, or you'll be ignored).

[s wave]

That mobo was released in 2010 I believe. I have mint and Reaper tested and running plug n play on asus boards going back to 2000. amd64 athlon core phenom all the way up to now basically.

If you have Cinnamon running good; Reaper should be no problem. The only real problem I had was with one board,,, was not really the Mobo. It was the monitor 2 times... one was a HP (make sure it has right driver) I used an open source one and it cleared up/ the other was a dell monitor/ and the monitor driver.

I like to look at the system log for troubleshooting. Is it just garbled while Reaper runs? There is one system tested with a geforce nvidia 610 ... 2 monitors 1 virtual monitor.

I would definitely make sure you have right cabling routing monitor driver first. If you have onboard GPU make sure its disabled or External GPU is disabled correctly. You check uefi/legacy boot correctly too? If you ran Windows on the hard drive... did you get rid of all its artifacts?

***My first test would be load Cinnamon on a live boot disk/flash drive and run that on your system... then live boot with Reaper. keep in touch.

[Philbo King]

- I haven't gotten as far as installimg Reaper yet. The two monitors on the Radeon adapter scramble as soon as Linux lauchea the desktop.

- All 3 monitors work perfectly in Windows (I set it up as dual-boot so studio work could continue in Windows while I tried to iron out all the various Linux problems.). I would guess this indicates cabling and hardware isn't an issue. I'm assuming that's what you were referring to with "cabling routing monitor driver".
-I haven't yet tried disabling the on-board Nvidia card. I'll try that next to see if the ATI dual-head card starts working.

-I did try the Live Boot, but it worked no differently than the install does now. I did the install in the hopes I'd be able to sort out (and save) configuration setup. The "save" part works in the install, it's the 'configuration' part

[s wave]

I assume you set up dual boot correctly:

https://www.howtogeek.com/214571/how...ux-on-your-pc/

Windows first then check the boot for Linux.

There can be possible conflict of Windows resetting boot or uefi/bios or firmware. THIS is the exact reason why I do not dual boot. I try to avoid all potential problems. (I usually just have 2 hard drives; Win on one Linux on other) OR use a a compatible uefi bios setting and Cold swap the 2 different OS's; or leave them both connected via a sata switch.

What if the resolution settings or driver is not compatible with both set ups and it reverts to the Win settings? There is a reason why Win has to be installed first. just a few ideas...

[Philbo King]

Thanks for the reply.

My PC is too old for UFEI. It uses a regular old BIOS.

But the dual-boot setup works just fine.
Win7 was installed first.
I set up a new 200GB partition on an internal drive and installed Linux there.


I'm not sure how Windows could affect or overwrite firmware, or even what firmware you are referring to. BIOS? The settings there are stable; neither Win nor Linux appears to change them.

Since the video works flawlessly in Windows, I would be overjoyed to have Linux copy and use those settings. But I don't see how Linux would be capable of that; AFAICT it is only dimly aware that there is a 2nd OS on the system.

I appreciate your efforts to help me out, and I'm not trying to be argumentative. But much of what you say in this post 'does not compute'.

[Philbo King]

So. After trying a couple more distros, I have thrown in the towel on this, deleted my Linux partition, and removed Grub from my system.

As much as I'd love to ditch Windows, Linux isn't,quite there yet for me. I'm sure the day is coming but it isn't today...

Thanks to all who replied and tried to be helpful.

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by Philbo King

So. After trying a couple more distros, I have thrown in the towel on this, deleted my Linux partition, and removed Grub from my system.

As much as I'd love to ditch Windows, Linux isn't,quite there yet for me. I'm sure the day is coming but it isn't today...

Thanks to all who replied and tried to be helpful.

Linux can be a pain. I've setup Xubuntu now on four of the eight machines in my house, all which used to run Windows 7.

Video cards can definitely be a chore. I setup a new "Linux Only" machine for my wife three days ago and originally had a high power nVidia gaming video card in it, but then noticed Google Earth crashing, so I put a lower powered, but still nVidia card in it.

While the system worked, I could no longer make any changes to what driver it used for video, as it claimed I had manually installed a driver. After failing to get that normalized, I finally just did a clean install with the lower power video card installed and now it's all happy.

The thing with Linux for me at this point, and I have only been using it full time now for about three or four months, is that it takes more work at first, but once you get things setup and working, it feels just fine, and you don't even notice that there is some other OS doing the work behind the scenes.

[JamesPeters]

I just borked my MX Linux dependencies so much that I gave up and reinstalled it. Actually I could've fixed it (I was probably close, after figuring a bunch of stuff out already) but I had a new SSD to install (as my OS drive) plus I had to get all the dust out of my computer case. And coincidentally there was a fresh release of MX Linux anyway which I'd want to install, so no big deal.

Yes Linux can be a pain especially if you do something to "break it". Something "to break it" can be as simple as installing software that's going to add libraries which aren't going to get along with the other software you install. If you're mindful though it's usually fine (sticking to official repos, you'd never experience what I just did). I knew what risk I was taking, installing a .deb of an application which was available in the repos (a newer version, with features I wanted "now!"). I could've chosen to install a flatpack, but "well how much could this mess things up!" lol. Famous last words. At least reinstalling the OS is very fast.

Linux is very similar to Windows and OSX in so many ways. In some other ways it's not.

Getting hardware that you know works for Linux is important, kind of like if you're building a Hackintosh (or buying a Mac because that's the hardware you buy with the OS). So in that way it's a bit more limited than Windows. The hardware's drivers in Linux may not have all the features/options as in Windows or OSX too. Lots of hardware is very well supported, though. Research in advance and/or trying a "live" distro, booting/running it from a USB stick can help your choice of hardware. You may have to swap some hardware.

Then even if you're using a more Windows-like distro (meant to be as GUI-oriented as possible) there's some command-line stuff to do, sometimes, especially when things go wrong. You have to be prepared to do that, even if seldom.

Sorry it didn't work out, Philbo. If you're willing to work with 2 monitors (using only a single video adapter), you could probably be up and running very quickly. You can use screensets in Reaper to help with that. Also there are "workspaces" (imagine "virtual monitors" you can switch between...although you can't take windows from Reaper and add them to another workspace). Or you can find a video adapter which can run the number of monitors you want to use.

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by JamesPeters

If you're willing to work with 2 monitors (using only a single video adapter), you could probably be up and running very quickly.

My kid runs Arch with 3 monitors and 2 video devices. He uses a high end nVidia gaming card for two of the monitors, and the on-board Intel video for the third one.

I remember when he set it up him having issues keeping the assignments of which one was left, center, and right, but he's had that worked out now for two or three years.

[4duhwinnn]

When it ain't broke, don't fix it.
When it is broke, replace it with linux.