Re: Squeeze System "Bricked" after Software Upgrades 09/04
On Sat, 2010-09-04 at 13:31 -0400, Gilbert Sullivan wrote:
> On 09/04/2010 12:40 PM, Sven Joachim wrote:
> > You could also try wicd-curses if that's installed, or use X with the
> > vesa driver. Here's an /etc/X11/xorg.conf for that:
> >
> > --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> > Section "Device"
> > Identifier "n"
> > Driver "vesa"
> > EndSection
> > --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
> >
>
> Thanks, Sven! I got the Panasonic system connected using ifup, grabbed
> the 2.6.32-20 linux-image from the snapshot server, and transferred it
> from the Dell notebook to the Panasonic notebook over the network.
>
> However, just as I was about to roll up my sleeves and really start
> messing the system up I got your response. I hadn't even thought about
> reverting to vesa using /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
>
> I decided to experiment. The system seems to make an abortive attempt at
> loading gdm with a different login background from the one I have
> designated, and then it succeeds! I'm able to boot using the new kernel!
> Is there any reason why I shouldn't just continue this way (using vesa)?
>
> I can see that the system is slightly slower than it was, but it
> honestly isn't enough to bother me. I use these systems strictly for
> office applications, e-mail, remote access to other systems, and Web
> browsing. Obviously with no proprietary stuff installed I don't use them
> for watching movies or playing games online or anything like that.
>
> > It gets a bit more complicated if the package to be downgraded has tight
> > versioned dependencies forcing you to downgrade other packages, but that
> > is the basic recipe, and it should work in this case.
>
> I'll remember that if I decide to proceed with the kernel downgrade.
>
> > I run "aptitude autoclean" every once in a while, but only when I'm
> > reasonably sure there are no major problems with the currently installed
> > packages.
>
> Maybe I'll be a little more circumspect about going all the way with
> upgrades from now on.
Install apt-listbugs. That way before the packages installs, you will
get a list of reported bugs against that package and you can decide if
you want to continue or not.
>
> ;-)
>
> >> But having my display subsystem blacklisted doesn't seem to be
> >> something I can work around.
> >>
> >> Do you have any specific suggestions as to how I could go about this?
> >> Is it time to retire this subnotebook (at least from use with Debian)?
> >
> > It is a bit early to say this, but users of Intel 8xx graphics have been
> > hosed for a while due to frequent GPU lockups, and no satisfactory
> > solution has been found so far.
>
> Yes. This is where I've really been pretty boneheaded. You see, I've
> seen Intel 8xx graphics users complaining bitterly for quite a while
> now, but I've never had the least bit of trouble with this system, and
> it gets used for many hours every day. I imagine I just don't use
> applications that tend to give rise to GPU lockups, but I'm running Xfce
> with all of the desktop compositing bells and whistles enabled.
>
> Anyway, I've just been shrugging my shoulders and figuring that maybe
> there was something special about this Panasonic's particular
> implementation of the graphics hardware that wasn't subject to the
> problems people were seeing. It didn't occur to me that my display
> subsystem might get blacklisted at some point.
>
> > The downgraded kernel has a big security hole already (CVE-2010-2240),
> > but as long as you don't have malicious local users there is not too
> > much to worry about.
>
> This is a single-user system, and I'm usually not malicious -- well, not
> intentionally anyway. As we've seen, sometimes stupidity can accomplish
> what one might ordinarily be tempted to attribute to malice.
>
> :-D
>
> I'm thinking I should just forge ahead using the vesa driver and keeping
> up with the updates. Do you think that's a tenable approach?
>
> I really appreciate your help, Sven.
>
>
--
Damon
damon@damtek.com
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