Installing Unity desktop after upgrade to accelerated graphics

Can you give the output of:

lsb_release -a

Thanks

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 11.04
Release: 11.04
Codename: natty

Sorry, forgot to mention the version.

if you run:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current

then reboot, you should be ok

Thank you but no joy.

I wonder if reinstalling the nvidia-current package may have broken something. In the Additional Drivers app the entry for the nouveau driver is no longer in the list. The current version NVIDIA driver is lit green but says "This driver is activated but not currently in use." The output of compiz-test suggests that the nouveau driver is still being used:

Gathering information about your system...

 Distribution: Ubuntu 11.04
 Desktop environment: GNOME
 Graphics chip: nVidia Corporation NV44A [GeForce 6200] (rev a1)
 Driver in use: nouveau
 Rendering method: Nvidia

Checking if it's possible to run Compiz on your system...

 Checking for texture_from_pixmap... [SKIP]
 Checking for non power of two support... [SKIP]
 Checking for composite extension... [ OK ]
 Checking for FBConfig... [SKIP]
 Checking for hardware/setup problems... [WARN]

Something potential problematic has been detected with your setup:
 Warning: Detected driver is not on the whitelist.

The fact that the nouveau driver was back when I ran that particular check might have been my own fault. The actual issue is that when I select the NVIDIA drivers the system still boots using the generic vesa driver. While I await any ideas you may have about that, I will assume that the onboard graphics hardware is the probable cause and see if I can disable it via the BIOS. This is the real problem at the moment:

Gathering information about your system...

 Distribution: Ubuntu 11.04
 Desktop environment: GNOME
 Graphics chip: nVidia Corporation NV44A [GeForce 6200] (rev a1)
 Driver in use: vesa
 Rendering method: Nvidia

Checking if it's possible to run Compiz on your system... [SKIP]

 Checking for hardware/setup problems... [SKIP]

At least one check had to be skipped:
 Error: vesa driver in use

Try removing nvidia-current and install nvidia-173

may work

On my own I reached the point where the latest driver seemed to be installed properly. I can try switching to nvidia-173, but the current state of affairs according to compiz-check is that my GPU is blacklisted. That doesn't seem plausible for a GeForce 6200 card. I'm still logging into Ubuntu Classic and here is some relevant output:

$ /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce 6200/PCI/SSE2
OpenGL version string: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 270.41.06

Not software rendered: yes
Not blacklisted: no
GLX fbconfig: yes
GLX texture from pixmap: yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes
GL vertex program: yes
GL fragment program: yes
GL vertex buffer object: yes
GL framebuffer object: yes
GL version is 1.4+: yes

Unity supported: no

hmm, interesting. What is the output of:

cd /etc/modprobe.d; grep nv *

Thanks

$ cd /etc/modprobe.d; grep nv *
blacklist-framebuffer.conf:blacklist nvidiafb
nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf:blacklist nvidia-173
nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf:blacklist nvidia-96

ok run:

gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer.conf

delete the line:
blacklist nvidia-173

Save the new file, close gedit and reboot

Can I ask for clarification?

The entry you're asking me to delete is in nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf rather than blacklist-framebuffer.conf. The latter contains the "nvidiafb" entry. Please confirm that you want me to unblacklist the 173 driver and also switch over to it. You should note that I'm using nvidia-current right now and getting the blacklist issue in unity_support_test, so presumably it's not the driver causing that.

Or is it the nvidiafb entry you wanted me to remove?

BTW I assume that commenting entries in these files is equivalent to deleting them.

If you read the output of your command it shows that nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf has the entry in, if yuo delete the line the driver will not be blacklisted anymore

The output I posted shouldn't be caused by the blacklisted driver because I was using the nvidia-current package rather than nvidia-173. To be certain, I removed the blacklist entry for nvidia-173 and rebooted. No change. I then installed nvidia-173 and rebooted. Still no change.

compiz-check indicates blacklisted hardware. The code is PCI ID 8086:2562. Further information is at http://pci-ids.ucw.cz/read/PC/8086/2562. It seems that this may refer the the integrated Intel graphics hardware on the system board, which I am not using.

Output from unity_support_test is still the same except "OpenGL version string:" is now 2.1.2 NVIDIA 173.14.30.

I am going to switch back to the current nvidia driver. Would be grateful for any additional ideas or insight.

My resolution was to add UNITY_FORCE_START=1 to /etc/environment. This workaround allows me to try out the Unity desktop, which was the objective of the support query. Regardless whether the blacklist issue was related to my video card or to the presence of the integrated Intel graphics, it was probably spurious. With the compatibility test circumvented, everything seems to be running fine.