Kubuntu 19.10

[hstoellinger]

Hello,
A short time ago I upgraded my laptop to

System: Host: hslaptop Kernel: 5.3.0-42-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.18.3
Distro: Ubuntu 19.10 (Eoan Ermine)
...
Graphics: Device-1: NVIDIA G98M [GeForce 9300M GS] driver: nvidia v: 340.107
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.5 driver: nvidia unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa resolution: 1680x945~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: GeForce 9300M GS/PCIe/SSE2 v: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 340.107
...

from...

System: Host: hslaptop Kernel: 5.0.0-23-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.15.4
Distro: Ubuntu 19.04 (Disco Dingo)
...
Graphics: Device-1: NVIDIA G98M [GeForce 9300M GS] driver: nouveau v: kernel
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1680x945~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: NV98 v: 3.3 Mesa 19.0.8
...

Working on 19.04, everything works just fine. Under the new situation I have problems, which I suspect might have
to do with rendering fonts or other objects.
Unless somebody can point me in the right direction towards changing some config definitions (X11 or Nvidia-related),
I would consider changing the driver back to Nouveau. Could somebody also tell me the necessary steps for doing so?

In the image included below, the language icons/text (ie. Deutsch/English/Italiano) are incorrectly rendered as two lines -
the remaining space on the right being to little - in 19.10/Nvidia. They are correctly rendered as just ONE line in
19.04/Nouveau.
Also, the large text "Rainer Regimentsmuseum..." is positioned correctly to the right of the "logo" image just
underneath the menu at the top of the page in the 19.04/Nouveau case, and NOT further down the page - obviously
also because of too large a font in 19.10/Nvidia.
I would be very grateful for any help
Regards
H. Stoellinger

[claydoh]

Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1680x945~60Hz

Is that the correct resolution for your monitor? This seems like an odd setting



Not that it will fix things, but after Kubuntu 20.04, your video card won't have any proprietary driver available, as Nvidia have dropped support for older cards, and the 340 driver is said to not work past the 5.4 kernel, so Nouveau will be the only choice.

https://linuxreviews.org/Nvidia_Drop...graphics_cards

[hstoellinger]

Yes, 1680x945 IS correct. For one thing, it works fine in Kubuntu 19.04. Also, as far as I know, it was chosen by the install process - unaltered by myself. Since I don't use the laptop for gaming and the like, I think the Nouveau driver would be quite efficient enough for me. So, can anybody help me with the procedure to change back to the Nouveau driver?
Thanks
H. S.

[claydoh]

to go back, use the Driver Manager to switch to it, them you will have to remove any stray nvidia packages left behind.

then
sudo apt purge nvidia.

(note the dot after 'nvidia')
sudo apt autoremove


then reboot


This can potentially still break xorg, though I have been successful doing this in the past, some years back.

[hstoellinger]

Hello,
When I start the driver-manager, it hangs with the message "Gathering information for your system" (translated from German text). Is there a commandline way of doing the switch?
Thanks for your help

[hstoellinger]

Hello again,
I got rid of the nvidia driver alright - at least it seems so! Now, when I re-boot 19.10, the system starts and proceeds all the way to displaying the background image of the workspace plus one app's start page (Vivaldi browser). But, unfortunately, everything freezes then. I.e., no Konsole, now Thunderbird, no system/applications tray at the bottom. Neither can the one window displayed be moved, enlarged/minimised, etc., etc. Not even the "miracle" key ctrl-alt-del functions. Only possibility: power-switch.
I wonder whether there is anything I can do - besides re-installing everything. In my case this would mean a LOT of work spent on re-installing the myriads of apps, tools, etc., etc.
Is there a way to install the open source nouveau software? Should I re-install and configure X11?
Thanks for ANY hints and regards from Salzburg, Austria
H. Stoellinger

[claydoh]

I have forgotten a step that should help. Nvidia proprietary drivers create an xorg.conf file, which is not usually needed.

sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If you had an xorg.conf file before installing, you can restore the backup copy, if it exists.

sudo  mv[COLOR=#242729][FONT=Arial] [/FONT][/COLOR]/etc/X11/xorg.conf.nvidia-xconfig-original /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If one does not exist, it will complain, but that is OK

it probably will be good to (re)install nouveau, just to be safe:

sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-nouveau

And forcing xorg to re-configure won't hurt, though it should do this automatically:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

very likely just deleting the xorg.conf should be enough

[hstoellinger]

Nouveau woes

Eurika! At least the system starts now.
Unfortunately the resolution is always 640x480, whatever I specify in the grub cmdline: I have tried all of the following:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
# GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"
# GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset nouveau.modeset=0"
# GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nouveau.modeset=0"
# GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nouveau.modeset=1"
# GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset nouveau.modeset=1"

Any idea how I can get a higher resolution to work? System Settings only offers the above resolution as well as a refresh-rate of 72.
Kubuntu with 19.04 and nouveau driver DOES support my monitor resolution of 1680x945 without problems.

Thanks for any ideas...
Regards

I have forgotten a step that should help. Nvidia proprietary drivers create an xorg.conf file, which is not usually needed.

sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If you had an xorg.conf file before installing, you can restore the backup copy, if it exists.

sudo  mv/etc/X11/xorg.conf.nvidia-xconfig-original /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If one does not exist, it will complain, but that is OK

it probably will be good to (re)install nouveau, just to be safe:

sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-nouveau

And forcing xorg to re-configure won't hurt, though it should do this automatically:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

very likely just deleting the xorg.conf should be enough

[claydoh]

Did you purge and autoremove as in my previous post?

The low resolution is iirc often caused by leftover Nvidia packages not removed and causing it to use a low level generic driver

sudo apt purge nvidia*
And another autoremove

Look to see if you have a file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nvidia-nouveau.conf

If you do, delete it. This file is sometimes used to prevent nouveau from loading so it does not conflict with the nonfree driver.


Sent from my LG-H931 using Tapatalk

[hstoellinger]

Hello,
I tried everything suggested by you and lots of "googling". Nothing seemed to help. So, in order to be able to work with the newest Kubuntu-Release (i.e. 19.10), re-installed the correct Nvidia driver (340-108) for my GeForce graphics card. The system starts up again now. But, even though I updated xorg.conf with a correct Modeline entry and resolution 1680x945, the horizontal resolution still seems to only be only 1024 - better than 640, but not good enough! KDE System Settings DOES also show 1680x945. Nevertheless, the ACTUAL resolution I experience is definitely 1024... I wonder why!
I might just go to the trouble of re-installing 19.10. The question then becomes whether I can select the Nouveau driver at install time.
In any case - once again - MANY thanks for your valuable help.

For now...
Regards from Salzburg
H. Stoellinger

[claydoh]

if you do have to go the reinstall route The installer will use the default Nouveau, so do not check to option for the proprietary driver when asked.