Ubuntu
xserver-xorg-driver-sis package

Ubuntu Lucid Lynx / Lucid Puppy

Asked by jcglt

I upgraded my Laptop (Sis Mirage 3 graphic using SIS671) from Karmic Koala to Lucid Lynx and faced two problems related to graphic display :
- the drivers which worked with Karmic did not work anymore with Lucid and I got only 800*600 screen. This was rather easily solved by finding new drivers and I have now a nice 1280*800 screen ;
- tty terminals (CTRL+ALT+F1 to 6) do not work (garbled and unreadable) as well as Recovery Mode start (because tty terminals do not work). This last problem remains unsolved and it seems that it had been identified with older Ubuntu distributions.
I want to stick to Lucid Lynx because I like it and it will be supported during three years (my laptop life expectancy). Finding no solution I decided today to give a try to Lucid Puppy 5.0. Why ? Because it is a light Linux system (128Mbits to download) and it is built on Ubuntu Lucid Lynx binaries. I downloaded the .iso file, burnt a CD, booted this CD then made from the working system a bootable USB key. What I could immediately see is that it worked well easily and quickly, it proposed a scrren resolution of 1024*768 (without all the difficulties met with Ubuntu Lucid) and it provides two tty terminals (CTRL+ALT+F2 and 3 - return to graphic interface by CTRL+ALT+F4).

My question is as follows : as this experience proves that the Lucid Lynx binaries can work well on my SIS chips controlled laptop can we expect some upgrades from Ubuntu to solve the problems I met as well as other users, problems related to possible bugs but I am not sure of that or maybe to an installation procedure, which should be improved to have a better recognition of the hardware ?

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

Submit a suggestion on:

http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com

Each distro has its strengths and weaknesses, Puppy clearly excels with SiS chips and ubuntu struggles, In puppy you may be able to run:

sudo Xorg -configure

then backup the /etc/X11/xorg.conf to transfer to Ubuntu. It may just work.

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jcglt (jcjglt) said : 		#2

Thank you for your answer. I did it, it does not totally work as after rebooting Ubuntu Lucid Lynx with the copied from Lucid Puppy xorg.conf file I got a 1024*768 screen, no USB mouse working and no tty terminal. I renamed this file xorg_puppy.conf and restored my original xorg.conf and I shall compare them and more finely tune the xorg.conf.
HOWEVER I can consider this question as partly solved since I have now on my Ubuntu Lucid Lynx :
- a very nice 1280*800 screen ;
- NO tty NOR recovery mode start BUT a bootable Lucid Puppy USB key with amazing power. I explain this USB key boots directly the laptop in "root" session and gives full access to all files (Windows XP, Ubuntu Lucid Lynx and Lucid Puppy), I can edit any one among these files then reboot in either system and reboot to Puppy if it was not satisfactorily to apply corrections. Well I have actually a "recovery mode" and of course when I need to type commands in a terminal I have the graphic mode terminals.
Thank you again, I shall try to find an Ubuntu solution but I am half satisfied which what I already got and the new Lucid Lynx is globally a nice system.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#3

To fix the mouse issues I recommend you delete the mouse and keyboard section from the xorg.conf file as well as take the reference out of the server section. UDEV will pick these up automagically so xorg.conf isn't needed here. UDEV however is NOT picking up your screen right so those sections need to remain

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jcglt (jcjglt) said : 		#4

Le 24/05/2010 08:56, actionparsnip a écrit :
> Your question #111975 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/111975
>
> actionparsnip proposed the following answer:
> To fix the mouse issues I recommend you delete the mouse and keyboard
> section from the xorg.conf file as well as take the reference out of the
> server section. UDEV will pick these up automagically so xorg.conf isn't
> needed here. UDEV however is NOT picking up your screen right so those
> sections need to remain
>
>
 As a new try I gedited the xorg.conf file generated by Lucid Puppy
(which is joined to this mail before being modified), (removed the three
sections named "InputDevice") renamed it xorg.conf in my Ubuntu and
rebooted, the result was a start in degraded graphic conditions. I
reloaded the working backed up xorg.conf.
I shall need to make other tries, by removing or modifying one element
and test it and will come back on this thread to comment the final
result but it should take some time.
Thank you again.

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jcglt (jcjglt) said : 		#5

I made a new test, removing from this "puppy" xorg.conf file all sections specific to Puppy, I mean removing from the beginning #Special base Config file used in Puppy Linux" to "Section Monitor", which I left as well as the following sections.
The laptop boots better, ends in a 1024*768 screen, the mouse is working but I still have no tty, the screen being steady black (opposed to steady garbled in Lucid Lynx Ubuntu), I tried to type blindly in it but got nothing.
Well I stop these tests for the moment, I don't know modern Linux enough to proceed further and as I wrote before, my 1280*800 screen is nice and I am satisfied with the possibility to repair the system if necessary by booting an USB key.
Except if somebody can propose a better idea I consider my question as SOLVED.
Thank you again.