MX-18 beta 1 feedback

[entropyfoe]

Paul,

Yes our systems are very similar. You have the newer chip set and newer board the X470 .
With the Ryzen, an nvme for boot, lots of fast RAM, and an SSD for data these systems are very snappy.
There is really no computing task that really can stress this system, though I love running the MX snapshot and seeing CPU at 1100%.

The kernel bug has been a long journey. I tried the power options, but no luck, with the rcu_nocbs fix I was stable on MX 17 for over 147 days of uptime.
This link indicates that some of the newer BIOS may help. Some are claiming that a new BIOS power supply option (set to typical current) fixes it without the rcu_nocbs line.
https://community.amd.com/thread/225795
You could also try going from noveau to the nvidia driver, in early troubleshooting, that helped minimize some crashes.

Is your system absolutely stable with only the power options off?

The main thing is MX18 beta1 is now stable, my system remained up over night, where without the fix it would not even make it over night at idle. If it is still up (and I expect so) tonight when I get home, I will claim victory.

This MX18 viable for a long time, as the 4.19 kernel is a LTS kernel. So, people can run MX18 for years if needed.

[zukahn1]

... One minor issue that is a bit annoying many of the Conky's that should default to right side are centered including Geeky-tower which is one I really like.

Geeky-tower should be defaulting to the right side.

Did you install the iso on your laptop? And how big is the screen?

After installation, reboot, and if it still doesn't appear on the right, post back with your system info (MX-Tools>>Quick System Info) and the conky configuration (open Conky Manager, click on the Edit button (pencil icon) and copy the config text that appears in your text editor).

I'm running a Dell Latittude D630 Laptop with 14 inch using the ISO on a live USB with persistance. Tried it on two different USB one setup with rufus and just MX18 and one with a a Yumi multi and MX17 same thing on both the Geeky-tower defaults to the center and won't move tried most of the other conky's and they seem to work fine.

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System:
  Host: mx1 Kernel: 4.19.0-1-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 6.3.0 
  Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 Distro: MX-18b1_x64 Continuum December 3  2018 
  base: Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch) 
Machine:
  Type: Portable System: Dell product: Latitude D630 v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Dell model: 0KU184 serial: <filter> BIOS: Dell v: A19 
  date: 06/04/2013 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core2 Duo T7500 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: Core Merom rev: B L2 cache: 4096 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 8775 
  Speed: 798 MHz max: 800 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 798 2: 798 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics driver: i915 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.2 driver: intel resolution: 1280x800~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 965GM v: 2.1 Mesa 18.2.6 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 82801H HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:1b.0 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.0-1-amd64 
Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom Limited NetXtreme BCM5755M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express 
  driver: tg3 v: 3.137 port: 10c0 bus ID: 09:00.0 
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network driver: iwl3945 
  v: in-tree:s port: 10c0 bus ID: 0c:00.0 
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  Device-3: Dell Wireless 360 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb 
  bus ID: 1-2:2 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 80.08 GiB used: 800.0 MiB (1.0%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST980813ASG size: 74.53 GiB 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Verbatim model: STORE N GO size: 5.55 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 2.08 GiB used: 800.0 MiB (37.6%) fs: overlay dev: ERR-102 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 52.0 C mobo: N/A sodimm: 49.0 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Repos:
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/antix.list 
  1: deb http://iso.mxrepo.com/antix/stretch stretch main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
  1: deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch-updates main contrib non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
  1: deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free
  2: deb http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
  1: deb http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ stretch main non-free
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:
  Processes: 186 Uptime: 17m Memory: 2.92 GiB used: 869.4 MiB (29.0%) 
  Init: SysVinit runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 6.3.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.12 
  inxi: 3.0.25

[Jerry3904]

Follow the directions I posted after asqwerth's, there is no problem at all moving it with Conky Manager. If you prefer doing it manually, open the script and change it according to this:

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# Text alignment, other possible values are commented
#alignment top_left
alignment top_right
#alignment bottom_left
#alignment bottom_right

[Stevo]

ok still no help , impossible to run some of my favorite programs , Cliqz browser, etc and a few more, so maybe in a newer version so switch back to my old hard drive.

Cliqz is built on Ubuntu, so should only be expected to be compatible with that. There's ways for the developers to make it more compatible, I believe, but it looks like the packagers aren't that interested in that. Maybe they'll make a flatpak or AppImage.

[Paul..]

Paul,

Yes our systems are very similar. You have the newer chip set and newer board the X470 .
With the Ryzen, an nvme for boot, lots of fast RAM, and an SSD for data these systems are very snappy.
There is really no computing task that really can stress this system, though I love running the MX snapshot and seeing CPU at 1100%.

The kernel bug has been a long journey. I tried the power options, but no luck, with the rcu_nocbs fix I was stable on MX 17 for over 147 days of uptime.
This link indicates that some of the newer BIOS may help. Some are claiming that a new BIOS power supply option (set to typical current) fixes it without the rcu_nocbs line.
https://community.amd.com/thread/225795
You could also try going from noveau to the nvidia driver, in early troubleshooting, that helped minimize some crashes.

Is your system absolutely stable with only the power options off?

The main thing is MX18 beta1 is now stable, my system remained up over night, where without the fix it would not even make it over night at idle. If it is still up (and I expect so) tonight when I get home, I will claim victory.

This MX18 viable for a long time, as the 4.19 kernel is a LTS kernel. So, people can run MX18 for years if needed.

The story has changed...Turns out my new rig needed a new brain, that the instability was from the motherboard UEFI firmware!!!...I flashed the UEFI/BIOS with a new version and my instability went away. So the cause was not kernel/CPU-related as far as I can tell.

On the Asus Prime X470-Pro there is a feature to download and install directly over the net via the UEFI setup. It worked perfectly (I was very surprised) and now I can let the MX-18 Power manager handle the screen (tick the box, "Handle display power management") without crashing and use the Power button on the Whisker menu to manually "Suspend" and have it come back w/o crashing, too.

The biggest clue staring me in the face was erratic USB behavior. I was having mucho problems with USB2&3 compatibility...simple stuff like my favorite Goldtouch USB2 keyboard (I am a writer) disconnecting and Evoluent wireless mouse with USB2 RF transmitter becoming randomly sporadic, freezing and then flying all over the screen, then not being able to read certain known-to-be-reliable Sandisk USB3 flashdrives suddenly not found when plugged in, etc. That's what drove me to reflash the UEFI. EDIT: I re-flashed to the newest version

Don't know if you've tried re-flashing UEFI firmware but it really helped my machine's instability.

[entropyfoe]

Paul, I was hoping the 4.19 would no longer require the rcu_nocbs boot parameter.
But alas, MX 18 is stable now one day (without the boot parameter, one day experienced 2 crashes at idle).

Yes I have flashed the BIOS on this board at least 3 times in the early days seeking stability.

Now let me know if you can run stable without the rcu_nocbs grub line.
If the new BIOS fixes it, then we no longer need to mess with this on each install.
I might consider another flash then. My rule, dont't flash if everything works. This is a gray area, it works with some messing about.

[freefreeno]

Command section in whisker properties where you can remove the comands like logout and mugshots isnt working for some commands. Unchecking the box doesn't remove some commands like mugshot.

[KoO]

I have updated to MX-18-b1 on both my main desktop & T430 Lappy
Both machines are running i3 & xfce. and sgfxi=415.18

This is from my desktop..

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 System:    Host: mx-17.1 Kernel: 4.15.0-1-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: i3 4.16 
           Distro: MX-18_x64 Continuum March 14  2018

Congratulations Lady's and Gentlemen Not one problem..

[asqwerth]

I'm thinking we need more feedback from people actually trying the new Beta iso instead of just upgrading their MX17 install.

Because:
1) the new installer needs some testing. It has more encryption options now, plus the layout of the window for selecting device, root, swap and boot (this is new and optional) partitions has changed. Does it work?
2) people who upgrade from MX17 may not change to the new kernel on the Beta. But does that new kernel work?

[chrispop99]

Command section in whisker properties where you can remove the comands like logout and mugshots isnt working for some commands. Unchecking the box doesn't remove some commands like mugshot.

It works the same as on MX-17. You can turn all the functions on or off, but the 'Edit Profile' checkbox function may not be doing what you expect. It doesn't remove the 'Mugshot' icon, it toggles the ability to edit profile information by clicking that icon.

It's something that puzzled me when I first came across it!

Chris