Ubuntu on Beagle: Blank screen post login

[Radha Krishna Srimanthula]

Hi,

I am trying to boot Ubuntu on Beagle following the steps outlined in http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntu.

The login screen comes up fine. When I enter the username and password, the screen goes absolutely blank. The mouse pointer is visible and the mouse and keyboard are pretty much active.

I tried booting into a terminal session, and this throws up a message box with this statement in there: "/usr/bin/xterm Xt error: Unresolved inheritance operation"

A few more observations from the minicom session:

When I booted into Angstrom, I was able to log into another user session from the minicom session, apart from the login session of the login window on Beagle. However, with Ubuntu, I am not able to login thru the minicom session. Is there anything I am missing?

There were a few messages in the command window as well:

end_request: I/O error, dev mmcblk0, sector 7325106
end_request: I/O error, dev mmcblk0, sector 7325114
end_request: I/O error, dev mmcblk0, sector 7325122
end_request: I/O error, dev mmcblk0, sector 7325130

Does this mean some problem on the SD card?

Will appreciate any help that will help me go any further.

--
Regards,
Radha
http://sradhakrishna.blogspot.com

[Robert Nelson]

Hi Radha,

What window manager did you install? Some do require significant more
memory then others. (such as gnome vs xfce)

Others have seen and reported that error, there is a test fix in
2.6.29, it's really dependent on your SD card (some work just fine,
others need bigger delays):
http://cgit.openembedded.net/cgit.cgi?url=openembedded/commit/&id=d67a64916ea1ff030ebb89dc8e8f9dd207d703fc

Login thru serial port isn't enabled by default:

http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntu#Login_thru_Serial_Port

Regards,

--
Robert Nelson
http://www.rcn-ee.com/

[Radha Krishna Srimanthula]

Robert, 

Thanks a lot for the reply.

I followed the instructions in http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntu to build the ubuntu image. I used Ubuntu Desktop to build the ubuntu image. Have tried Xubuntu as well with the same result. Is it that Gnome/ Xfce cannot be run on Beagle at all?

About the MMC errors - how do I go about using the test fix in 2.6.29? I am not too well versed with the mechanisms of building the kernels - but I gather that I'll have to build both uImage and the ubuntu  image as well. Am I correct?

I noticed that the build-arm-rootfs script - uses 2.6.28. Where do I pick an appropriate kernel for the ubuntu image?

May I request you to please point me to an image with the test fix that I can flash onto the SD card directly, so I could help with testing the fix as well?

Please let me know.

--
Regards,
Radha
http://sradhakrishna.blogspot.com

[Robert Nelson]

On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 11:44 AM, Radha Krishna Srimanthula
<srimanthula....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Robert,
> Thanks a lot for the reply.
> I followed the instructions in http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntu to build
> the ubuntu image. I used Ubuntu Desktop to build the ubuntu image. Have
> tried Xubuntu as well with the same result. Is it that Gnome/ Xfce cannot be
> run on Beagle at all?
> About the MMC errors - how do I go about using the test fix in 2.6.29? I am
> not too well versed with the mechanisms of building the kernels - but I
> gather that I'll have to build both uImage and the ubuntu  image as well. Am
> I correct?
> I noticed that the build-arm-rootfs script - uses 2.6.28. Where do I pick an
> appropriate kernel for the ubuntu image?
> May I request you to please point me to an image with the test fix that I
> can flash onto the SD card directly, so I could help with testing the fix as
> well?
> Please let me know.
> --
> Regards,
> Radha
> http://sradhakrishna.blogspot.com
>

Hi Radha,

xfce (xubuntu) has run well in the past (mojo/debian) but it's pretty
slow in ubuntu. I did install it at work last week when i was running
some tests. Otherwise give the lxde option a try, it's what we used
for this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj19Bi5NYeU

You'd have to apply a similar patch to the kernel your currently
using, 2.6.29 isn't really stable enough for omap.

This one has that patch you can test:
http://www.rcn-ee.com/deb/kernel/beagle/jaunty/v2.6.29-90e758a-oer4/

Note, you'll have to extract the uImage out of the *.deb file, just
follow these directions with that version in mind.
http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntu#Manual_Method
the mount's will be different since you'll do it on your x86 pc, and
you won't have networking till you actually install the *.deb on the
beagle..

There's isn't any ubuntu beagle kernel available, there were too many
difference between mainline 2.6.28 and our omap kernel, so they
decided not to build one, maybe 9.10 will have beagle support..

[Ian R]

I'm really impressed with Ubuntu - it is great to see such a large
selection of packages available prebuilt for ARM. Thanks for your
efforts, Robert, Ogra & all at Canonical.

Things feel a tad slow but that should improve with more v7
optimizations, and with newer processors like 36xx and OMAP4 dual-
core.

On the subject of blank screens, my RevC running 2.6.28 oer17 kernel &
full Ubuntu often crashes when coming out of screenblank. It happens
when you first move the mouse. Has anyone else seen this?

On Apr 5, 9:58 am, Robert Nelson <robertcnel...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 11:44 AM, Radha Krishna Srimanthula
>
>
>
>
>
> <srimanthula.radhakris...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Robert,
> > Thanks a lot for the reply.
> > I followed the instructions inhttp://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntuto build

> > theubuntuimage. I usedUbuntuDesktop to build theubuntuimage. Have

> > tried Xubuntu as well with the same result. Is it that Gnome/ Xfce cannot be
> > run on Beagle at all?
> > About the MMC errors - how do I go about using the test fix in 2.6.29? I am
> > not too well versed with the mechanisms of building the kernels - but I

> > gather that I'll have to build both uImage and theubuntu image as well. Am

> > I correct?
> > I noticed that the build-arm-rootfs script - uses 2.6.28. Where do I pick an
> > appropriate kernel for theubuntuimage?
> > May I request you to please point me to an image with the test fix that I
> > can flash onto the SD card directly, so I could help with testing the fix as
> > well?
> > Please let me know.
> > --
> > Regards,
> > Radha
> >http://sradhakrishna.blogspot.com
>
> Hi Radha,
>
> xfce (xubuntu) has run well in the past (mojo/debian) but it's pretty

> slow inubuntu. I did install it at work last week when i was running

> some tests.  Otherwise give the lxde option a try, it's what we used
> for this video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj19Bi5NYeU
>
> You'd have to apply a similar patch to the kernel your currently
> using, 2.6.29 isn't really stable enough for omap.
>
> This one has that patch you can test:http://www.rcn-ee.com/deb/kernel/beagle/jaunty/v2.6.29-90e758a-oer4/
>
> Note, you'll have to extract the uImage out of the *.deb file, just

> follow these directions with that version in mind.http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntu#Manual_Method

> the mount's will be different since you'll do it on your x86 pc, and
> you won't have networking till you actually install the *.deb on the
> beagle..
>

> There's isn't anyubuntubeagle kernel available, there were too many

> difference between mainline 2.6.28 and our omap kernel, so they
> decided not to build one, maybe 9.10 will have beagle support..
>
> Regards,
> --

> Robert Nelsonhttp://www.rcn-ee.com/- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Radha Krishna Srimanthula]

Ian,

Did you have to do anything specific to get the display blanking resolved? I've tried Xfce and lxde as well - can't get past that display blanking. 

Please let me know.

--
Regards,
Radha
http://sradhakrishna.blogspot.com

[Robert Nelson]

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 1:01 AM, Ian R <ian.ri...@btinternet.com> wrote:
>
> I'm really impressed with Ubuntu - it is great to see such a large
> selection of packages available prebuilt for ARM.  Thanks for your
> efforts, Robert, Ogra & all at Canonical.
>
> Things feel a tad slow but that should improve with more v7
> optimizations, and with newer processors like 36xx and OMAP4 dual-
> core.
>
> On the subject of blank screens, my RevC running 2.6.28 oer17 kernel &
> full Ubuntu often crashes when coming out of screenblank.  It happens
> when you first move the mouse.  Has anyone else seen this?
>
>

Hi Ian,

What desktop environment does this occur in? (lxd, xfce, etc) All
packages up to date? (i'll try to replicate it in the lab)

From experience lxd's screen saver was working for me about 2-3 weeks
ago, but it may have regressed.

[Robert Nelson]

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 4:14 AM, Radha Krishna Srimanthula
<srimanthula....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ian,
> Did you have to do anything specific to get the display blanking resolved?
> I've tried Xfce and lxde as well - can't get past that display blanking.
> Please let me know.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Radha
> http://sradhakrishna.blogspot.com

Hi Radha,

Have you tried different display settings in the
"omapfb.video_mode=1280x720MR-24@60" line for uboot? Some lcd
monitors like my acer, it's a 50/50 chance with 2.6.28's the video
would stay active on bootup (2.6.27 was perfect), whereas my dell lcd
(at work) works no matter what.

[Radha Krishna Srimanthula]

The digital flat panel that I am using is Viewsonic va1912wb. The best resolution suggested for the display is 1440x900. Is there something specific to this resolution that I could try??

And yes, I haven't got past that blank screen on any of distros - Xfce/ ubuntu/ lxde. :-(

--
Regards,
Radha
http://sradhakrishna.blogspot.com

[John (USP)]

I've seen the same problem. Running "top" I see free memory decreasing
before and after screen blanking. With more memory on the RevC2 board, it
doesn't crash straight away, but with my RevB6 board, the board dies very
quickly.

Regards,

[Ian R]

Thanks John - very interesting.

I'm using full (gnome) ubuntu here. Stock Beagle RevC2 u-boot, 2.6.28-
oer17 kernel

My problem isn't memory running out. It happened just now, I had a
'top' running on the serial port for a couple of hours (screenblank
active). Moved the mouse then it died immediately - the leds stop
flashing. This was what was last reported by top about 1s earlier:

top - 21:05:11 up 5:05, 2 users, load average: 0.01, 0.13, 0.10
Tasks: 93 total, 1 running, 92 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 0.7%us, 0.3%sy, 0.0%ni, 99.0%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi,
0.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 239060k total, 204724k used, 34336k free, 12216k
buffers
Swap: 0k total, 0k used, 0k free, 81252k
cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
2727 ubuntu 20 0 2488 1192 936 R 1.0 0.5 2:44.98 top
1 root 20 0 2860 1888 564 S 0.0 0.8 0:01.49 init
2 root 15 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kthreadd
3 root 15 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.07 ksoftirqd/
0
4 root RT -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 watchdog/
0
5 root 15 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.03 events/0
6 root 15 -5 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01 khelper

[John (USP)]

Hi Ian,

Two things to try. Change the screensaver mode to "Blank Screen Only" and
copy your "/usr/share/background" from your Ubuntu Host to the beagleboard.
For some reason Ubuntu for ARM does not include this folder and the
screensaver dialog complains that this folder is missing. I'm currently
running LXDE and for the last two days it hasn't crashed. I've just built
the Xubuntu-Desktop version and will try that today. BTW, XFCE4 has the same
problem.

[Ian R]

On Apr 17, 9:29 am, "John \(USP\)" <jsyne...@us-power.com> wrote:
> Hi Ian,
>

> Two things to try. Change the screensaver mode to "BlankScreenOnly" and

> copy your "/usr/share/background" from your Ubuntu Host to the beagleboard.
> For some reason Ubuntu for ARM does not include this folder and the
> screensaver dialog complains that this folder is missing. I'm currently
> running LXDE and for the last two days it hasn't crashed. I've just built
> the Xubuntu-Desktop version and will try that today. BTW, XFCE4 has the same
> problem.

OK, my issue is coming out of display power down. Black screen or
screensaver is fine; the problem is coming out of powersave when that
kicks in. It must be the kernel (2.6.28-oer17) ? Easily disabled
under screensaver power management, but Earth Day is next week and the
screen uses much more than the Beagle!

Ian

[John (USP)]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: beagl...@googlegroups.com
> [mailto:beagl...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Ian R
> Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 12:15 PM
> To: Beagle Board
> Subject: [beagleboard] Re: Ubuntu on Beagle: Blank screen post login
>
>
>
>

Yep, I can confirm that screensaver power management is causing beagleboard
to die. I am using 2.6.28-oer10 kernel. Disabling power management does work
for now.

Regards

> Ian
>
>