Re: Debian Stable Updates Announcement SUA 197-1
On Tue, Mar 23, 2021 at 04:04:29PM -0700, David Christensen wrote:
> On 3/23/21 12:31 PM, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
> > On Tue, Mar 23, 2021 at 10:40:01AM -0700, David Christensen wrote:
>
> > > I use Stretch for my daily driver laptop (Dell Latitude E6520) and UniFi
> > > Controller VPS. ...
> > > I need to migrate the daily
> > > driver to Buster, but Buster does not like the Optimus graphics in the
> > > E6520.
>
> > Have you tried installing the optimus under Buster
>
> Looking in my notes, it looks like I tried installing
> nvidia-legacy-390xx-driver in January. I do not see any URL for
> instructions. The Debian wiki page for Optimus does not look familiar:
>
> https://wiki.debian.org/NVIDIA%20Optimus
>
>
> In any case, my fumbling around only made things worse. So, I wiped the SSD
> and did a fresh install KISS OOTB:
>
> Insert debian-10.8.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1 USB flash drive.
>
> Debian GNU/Linux installer boot menu (BIOS mode)
> Install
> Language C
> Continent or Region North America
> Country, territory or area United States
> Keymap to use American English
>
> Pop-up dialog:
>
> Detect network hardware
>
> Some of your hardware needs non-free firmware files to operate.
> The firwmare can be loaded from removable media, such as a USB
> stick or floppy.
>
> The missing firmware files are: iwlwifi-60000g2a-6.ucode
> iwlwifi-60000g2a-5.ucode
>
> If you have such media available now, insert it, and continue.
>
> Load missing fimrware from removable media?
>
> Insert USB flash drive "usb64a" with "firmware" subdirectory
> containing Debian 10.8.0 firmware. Choose "Yes".
>
> Continue with install:
>
> Primary network interface enp0s25
> Hostname dipsy
> Domain name tracy.holgerdanske.com
> Root password *******
> Full name for the new user debian
> Username for your account debian
> Choose a password for the new user ********
> Select your time zone Pacific
> Partitioning method manual
> Encrypted volume (sda2_crypt) - 1.0 GB Linux device-mapper (crypt)
> #1 1.0 GB f swap swap
> Encrypted volume (sda3_crypt) - 13.0 GB Linux device-mapper (crypt)
> #1 13.0 GB f ext4 /
> SCSI5 (0,0,0) (sda) - 60.0 GB ATA INTEL SSDSC2CW06
> #1 primary 999.3 MB B F ext4 /boot
> #2 primary 1.0 GB K crypto (sda2_crypt)
> #3 primary 13.0 GB K crypto (sda3_crypt)
> 45.0 GB FREESPACE
> Finish partitioning and write changes to disk
> Use a network mirror Yes
> Mirror country United States
> Archive mirror deb.debian.org
> HTTP proxy <blank>
> Participate in the package usage survey No
> Choose software to install
> Debian desktop environment
> Xfce
> print server
> SSH server
> standard system utilities
> Install the GRUB boot loader to th emaster boot record
> Yes
> Device for boot loader installation /dev/sda
> (ata-INTEL_SSDSC2SW060A3_***redacted***)
> Installation complete Continue
>
> Power down at POST.
>
> Remove installation media and firmware USB flash drive.
>
>
> The bug is back -- the desktop crashes within an hour when playing YouTube
> videos -- and the Dell Latitude E6520 laptop is on Craig's List. So far,
> one scammer and two low-ballers.
>
>
> > - it's not as
> > straightforward as the standard install but there's a couple of steps
> > that will make it work. The main trick is to make sure that nvidia drivers
> > are never loaded until the point at which you've got everythng else
> > configured.
>
>
> If you have a URL with detailed instructions of how to install Buster on a
> laptop with Optimus, you have a laptop with Optimus, you followed the
> instructions, and the laptop can play YouTube videos for 24 hours without
> crashing, please post the URL.
>
>
> David
>
OK - the trick is that for this to work out of the box, in my experience:
you must NOT install any Nvidia drivers of any description or a desktop
environment until after the prerequisites are in place - otherwise you end
up with instability. On the laptop I was using, the only way to get this
was to use bumblebee https://wiki.debian.org/Bumblebee. The strategy outlined
below will probably also work if you start with the Optimus page you listed
above.
1. Boot the CD/DVD - if you need WiFi firmware to continue with the
installation, use the unofficial installer including firmware
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/
My wifi preference is to use network manager - nmcli works well enough.
2. Select expert install, text mode. Work through the installer until you
get to the task selection step. Uncheck any desktop environment.
3. Continue to reboot stage. Boot to the new, minimal, text-only install.
4. At that point, install the prerequisites for bumblebee using apt-get/
aptitude.
5. Reboot - you should still be in text only mode. At that point, use tasksel
to install a desktop environment - which will find the underlying drivers to
make best use of your Optimus.
6. In my (limited) experience: if you install the free nouveau driver from the
start, or just install a desktop which will pull it in, you may get
instability or things just not working.
7. If you have once installed nouveau,it is then extremely hard to get the
Nvidia proprietary drivers to install correctly - purging nouveau and then
trying to install proprietary drivers at that point is almost impossible.
The only winning strategy is not to play: at least not to install anything
graphical until the prerequisites are in place hence the strict instructions
for text mode throughout.
Finding this out was incredibly frustrating and took me the best part of three
days and several re-installs to track down. I promptly forgot it all and had
to relearn a year or so later.
All the very best,
Andy Cater
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