MX-19 Beta 3 Feedback

[JayM]

Please post quick system info, thank you.

Please run MX Tools/Quick System Info, then edit your post above with its pencil icon and paste. (Quick System Info automatically copies the information to your clipboard, already formatted properly for pasting into the forum so all you have to do is a right-click/ paste, not a copy/paste.) Thanks.

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System:    Host: zen Kernel: 4.19.0-5-686-pae i686 bits: 32 compiler: gcc v: 6.3.0 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 Distro: MX-18.3_386 Continuum May 26  2019 

Question: why are you posting an MX-18.3 issue in the MX-19 beta 3 feedback topic?

[dolphin_oracle]

You know what the problem is? Most users install mx19b3 on a VM - just to try it out. I guess very few ppl would risk installing a beta on their "main" PC/Laptop.
I've had a few glitches installing 19 b2.1 on 2 bare-metal Thinkpads, 1 NUC and 1 Latitude - both frech installs and snapshot cloning.
Lenovo's BIOS is the worst - totally geared towards Windows UFI and "scure boot".
With 19b2.1 I managed to ignore the "incorrect settings in minstall.conf" error and finish the install.
Now with 19b3 the installation process is completely broken. Even with "custom install" (after manually creating xt4 and fat32 partitions with Gparted) - I can only progress as far as Grub where it fails.
I'm a professional tester, I know this is a major bug Sev-1 which needs to be fixed urgently. Who cares about the transparency/color of the panel if the install doesn't work?
May I suggest the MX Devs grab a spare Lenovo and try to install on an empty NVMe - hope they get as frustrated as dozens of potential MX users this stupid bug is turning away from otherwise excellent distro!

have you posted the /var/log/minstall.log please for any failed installs.

the installer on b2.1 and b3 is pretty much the same as I recall.

[Jerry3904]

We have tested on Lenovo machines. I had absolutely no trouble with the X1 Carbon, for instance, in fact it was probably the smoothest install alongside an existing Windows (10) I have ever had.

[bpr323]

You know what the problem is? Most users install mx19b3 on a VM - just to try it out. I guess very few ppl would risk installing a beta on their "main" PC/Laptop.
I've had a few glitches installing 19 b2.1 on 2 bare-metal Thinkpads, 1 NUC and 1 Latitude - both frech installs and snapshot cloning.
Lenovo's BIOS is the worst - totally geared towards Windows UFI and "scure boot".
With 19b2.1 I managed to ignore the "incorrect settings in minstall.conf" error and finish the install.
Now with 19b3 the installation process is completely broken. Even with "custom install" (after manually creating xt4 and fat32 partitions with Gparted) - I can only progress as far as Grub where it fails.
I'm a professional tester, I know this is a major bug Sev-1 which needs to be fixed urgently. Who cares about the transparency/color of the panel if the install doesn't work?
May I suggest the MX Devs grab a spare Lenovo and try to install on an empty NVMe - hope they get as frustrated as dozens of potential MX users this stupid bug is turning away from otherwise excellent distro!

have you posted the /var/log/minstall.log please for any failed installs.

the installer on b2.1 and b3 is pretty much the same as I recall.

Here you go - I started off with trying to install from a 19b3 snapshot mx usb and etcher copies) then switched to "clean" 19b3 install, then tried to install from 19b2.1 snapshot

[bpr323]

We have tested on Lenovo machines. I had absolutely no trouble with the X1 Carbon, for instance, in fact it was probably the smoothest install alongside an existing Windows (10) I have ever had.

Try that again with a snapshot from a different machine, or a new version install - i.e. MX19 on top of MX18
On my X1 after F12 it shows 3 options - 1) MX18 (??) 2) NVMe 3) USB
I deleted factory keys from BIOS, changed to Setup Mode, disabled secure boot, disabled "optimised settings", load defaults and permutations of these.
Only after one of these combinations magically removed "MX18" boot option, I was able to install in legacy mode
UFI doesn't boot AT ALL

[Jerry3904]

Weird. All I did was to turn off Secure Boot; then the Live worked normally, and the installed version (into a partition created within W10) runs flawlessly, including GRUB.

[dolphin_oracle]

there are a few lenovos (my wife's yoga among them) that will not boot any linux I install to the drive. Being that the only one I have like that is my wife's yoga, I really can't go around messing with her secure key settings, but in that machine's case, it apparently will only boot a particular linux (I forget which one at the moment, its not one of the usuals, linpus lite maybe). And same thing on that machine, only a legacy USB boot will work, which is actually what she uses when doing videos, the live USB.

[Jerry3904]

BTW: I tested the Wacom tablet and all works normally. Put all my research into a Wiki article for future reference:

https://mxlinux.org/wiki/hardware/wacom/

[Jerry3904]

Forgot to mention: there are some Lenovo how-tos in the Wiki

[bpr323]

there are a few lenovos (my wife's yoga among them) that will not boot any linux I install to the drive. Being that the only one I have like that is my wife's yoga, I really can't go around messing with her secure key settings, but in that machine's case, it apparently will only boot a particular linux (I forget which one at the moment, its not one of the usuals, linpus lite maybe). And same thing on that machine, only a legacy USB boot will work, which is actually what she uses when doing videos, the live USB.

On my X1 gen4 the "virgin" install always goes smoothly, the next always fails unless I gut the BIOS. Never had this s*** with Arch
What pisses me off upsets me the most is the "minstall.conf" issue that breaks the GUI (and CLI) install on step 2 doesn't seem to have been given a Sev-1 priority (apparently)