MX-19.2 KDE Beta 1 feedback thread

[rrhobbs]

I dont immediately see how to upload a pic here in the meantime here is a link to a pic of the boot up message. It comes right after the grub inset box ... and VERY quickly

I changed the link https://t.ly/iPQ3 (Google Photos)

Specifically the boot msg sez, "[ 0.093315] x86/cpu VMX (outside TXT) disabled by BIOS"

The display issue is intermittent / cannot reproduce at the moment

[sunrat]

Just installed this, generally quite functional but a couple of issues:
This is a multiboot system with several other Debian type distros and I use Buster for GRUB. So I unticked "Install GRUB" but it still showed a message it was installing near the end of installation routine. Left me with Buster's GRUB wiped and booted to a GRUB prompt. Not happy. I used a live USB to boot Buster and reinstall its GRUB and all was fixed, MX subsequently booted up fine.
Another thing I may have mentioned before is there needs to be an option to include swap but not format it! So annoying in multiboot. I work around by not setting swap at all during install and add it later.

After booting it mostly seems to be behaving but I struck a minor warning message when using apt from terminal:

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# apt install zim
...
Fetched 1,167 kB in 1s (1,355 kB/s)
Unable to init server: Could not connect: Connection refused

(dpkg-preconfigure:6518): Gtk-WARNING **: 01:06:37.455: cannot open display: 
debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Gnome
debconf: (DISPLAY problem?)
debconf: falling back to frontend: Dialog

It then proceeded to complete the task successfully. I don't think it really should be looking for a Gnome frontend.

[asqwerth]

Just installed this, generally quite functional but a couple of issues:
...
Another thing I may have mentioned before is there needs to be an option to include swap but not format it! So annoying in multiboot. I work around by not setting swap at all during install and add it later.

If you choose an existing swap partition, it recognises it as swap and does not reformat it.

I just installed beta 1 last night and chose to select my existing swap partition during installation. THe blkid command today shows that the swap partition's UUID is the same as in records I made in Mar 2019 (yes, I keep such records, because I have a multiboot machine as well).

What I did however, was choose NOT to add a label name during installation, since my swap partition has never had a label.

[uncle mark]

Threw this on this old slow Acer this evening. Good work, guys. All the oddities I had with the live run I did last night went away. Did a few of my usual settings tweaks and here I am. I'll play with this some more and see about importing my Firefox and Thunderbird profiles, but so far so good. I'd like to come home if you'll have me. This might do it.

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System:
  Host: MX19KDE Kernel: 5.6.0-2-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.6.0-2-amd64 
  root=UUID=c2d4348d-5ab8-4276-ad41-3951a81ed979 ro quiet splash 
  Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.14.5 wm: kwin_x11 dm: SDDM 
  Distro: MX-19.2_KDE-beta1_x64 patito feo July 5  2020 
  base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire 5250 v: V1.01 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Acer model: Aspire 5250 v: V1.01 serial: <filter> BIOS: Acer v: 1.01 
  date: 04/21/2011 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 48.1 Wh condition: 48.1/47.5 Wh (101%) volts: 12.4/10.8 
  model: Panasonic AS10D51 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Full 
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech M215 serial: <filter> 
  charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: AMD C-50 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Bobcat 
  family: 14 (20) model-id: 1 stepping: N/A microcode: 5000029 L2 cache: 512 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 3990 
  Speed: 940 MHz min/max: 800/1000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 940 2: 948 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
  Type: mds status: Not affected 
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
  Type: spec_store_bypass status: Vulnerable 
  Type: spectre_v1 
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full AMD retpoline, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
  Type: srbds status: Not affected 
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Wrestler [Radeon HD 6250] vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI 
  driver: radeon v: kernel bus ID: 00:01.0 chip ID: 1002:9804 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: radeon FAILED: ati 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa compositor: kwin_x11 resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD PALM (DRM 2.50.0 / 5.6.0-2-amd64 LLVM 10.0.0) 
  v: 3.3 Mesa 20.0.7 compat-v: 3.1 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD SBx00 Azalia vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:14.2 chip ID: 1002:4383 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.6.0-2-amd64 
Network:
  Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR8152 v2.0 Fast Ethernet vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI 
  driver: atl1c v: 1.0.1.1-NAPI port: 2000 bus ID: 06:00.0 chip ID: 1969:2062 
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Lite-On 
  driver: ath9k v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 07:00.0 chip ID: 168c:002b 
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 111.79 GiB used: 6.58 GiB (5.9%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Kingston model: SV300S37A120G size: 111.79 GiB block size: 
  physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: BBF0 
  scheme: MBR 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw size: 105.81 GiB size: 103.65 GiB (97.96%) used: 6.58 GiB (6.3%) 
  fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
  ID-2: swap-1 size: 5.98 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap 
  swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache pressure: 100 (default) dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 69.5 C mobo: N/A gpu: radeon temp: 69 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
  1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main contrib non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
  1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main contrib non-free
  2: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
  1: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ buster main non-free
  2: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/mx/repo/ buster ahs
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:
  Processes: 169 Uptime: 44m Memory: 3.58 GiB used: 1.08 GiB (30.2%) Init: SysVinit 
  v: 2.93 runlevel: 5 default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 Shell: bash v: 5.0.3 
  running in: quick-system-in inxi: 3.0.36 

[fehlix]

On boot there is a notice ... in Grub I guess? "(VMX) outside text not allowed per bios"

Such warning can be ignored. OTOH, have you disable VM-bits (VT-x in intel) in bios. You might try to anable VT / Vm in bios.
Here some patch discussion on kerenel.org:
https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/11250771/
So probably nothing to worry about ...

[bbfuller]

I'd be hard pressed to realise this was a beta release.

On this machine:

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System:    Host: acer4 Kernel: 5.6.0-2-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.14.5 
           Distro: MX-19.2_KDE-beta1_x64 patito feo July 5  2020 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Acer product: TravelMate B113 v: V2.17 serial: <root required> 
           Mobo: Acer model: BA10_HX v: Type2 - Board Version serial: <root required> UEFI: Acer v: 2.17 
           date: 03/22/2013 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT1 charge: 27.2 Wh condition: 30.6/37.3 Wh (82%) 
CPU:       Dual Core: Intel Core i3-2375M type: MT MCP speed: 1440 MHz min/max: 800/1500 MHz 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics driver: i915 v: kernel 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 3000 (SNB GT2) v: 3.3 Mesa 20.0.7 
Network:   Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath9k 
           Device-2: Broadcom Limited NetLink BCM57785 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe driver: tg3 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 447.13 GiB used: 9.17 GiB (2.1%) 
Info:      Processes: 192 Uptime: 5m Memory: 3.67 GiB used: 1.02 GiB (27.8%) Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.36 

It's working very well.

I noted the reference to retention of wireless network information and with the adjustment it works fine.

I agree "Quick System Info" doesn't copy to the clipboard.

This machine dual boots with Windows 10 and on this installation it appears not to be set to "Boot Last Selected".

I've sorted that before, but it's worth a mention.

This one is for keeping installed.

[sunrat]

...
Another thing I may have mentioned before is there needs to be an option to include swap but not format it! So annoying in multiboot. I work around by not setting swap at all during install and add it later.

If you choose an existing swap partition, it recognises it as swap and does not reformat it.

That's good to know but the installer doesn't inform about this. I try to be extra cautious as I've been bitten by other distro installers reformatting swap so I have to correct the UUID afterwards.

That's a trivial point compared with the GRUB issue though. I unticked "Install GRUB" as I wanted to continue using Buster's GRUB. But it proceeded to wipe the existing GRUB and replace it with a non-working one which booted to a GRUB prompt. It's a serious bug IMHO.

[fehlix]

...
Another thing I may have mentioned before is there needs to be an option to include swap but not format it! So annoying in multiboot. I work around by not setting swap at all during install and add it later.

If you choose an existing swap partition, it recognises it as swap and does not reformat it.

That's good to know but the installer doesn't inform about this. I try to be extra cautious as I've been bitten by other distro installers reformatting swap so I have to correct the UUID afterwards.

That's a trivial point compared with the GRUB issue though. I unticked "Install GRUB" as I wanted to continue using Buster's GRUB. But it proceeded to wipe the existing GRUB and replace it with a non-working one which booted to a GRUB prompt. It's a serious bug IMHO.

Please give more details: A minimum would be is it UEFI or a BIOS install. And what partitons did you have chosen to install.
GRUB installation differs significantly on UEFI and BIOS. So just stating GRUB wiped out or is not working, is just not enough.
FWIW, the installer creates a mxpi.log , which would give some indication about what have been choosen and whre it was installed.

[sunrat]

Sorry, I meant to include QSI.

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System:    Host: mxbrain-plasma Kernel: 5.6.0-2-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.6.0-2-amd64 root=/dev/sda7 
           Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.14.5 wm: kwin_x11 dm: SDDM 
           Distro: MX-19.2_KDE-beta1_x64 patito feo July 5  2020 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:   Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: N/A v: N/A serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Gigabyte model: H170-HD3-CF v: x.x serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends 
           v: F4 date: 10/16/2015 
Battery:   Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Keyboard serial: <filter> 
           charge: 50% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes status: N/A 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-6500 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Skylake-S 
           family: 6 model-id: 5E (94) stepping: 3 microcode: DC L2 cache: 6144 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 25599 
           Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/3600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Split huge pages 
           Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT disabled 
           Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled 
           Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
           Type: spec_store_bypass 
           mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
           Type: spectre_v1 
           mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, 
           STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode 
           Type: tsx_async_abort mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled 
Graphics:  Device-1: NVIDIA GM204 [GeForce GTX 970] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nvidia v: 440.82 
           bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:13c2 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: nvidia 
           unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa alternate: nv compositor: kwin_x11 
           resolution: 3840x2160~30Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GTX 970/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 440.82 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: NVIDIA GM204 High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel 
           v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 chip ID: 10de:0fbb 
           Device-2: VIA ICE1712 [Envy24] PCI Multi-Channel I/O driver: snd_ice1712 v: kernel 
           bus ID: 03:00.0 chip ID: 1412:1712 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.6.0-2-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Gigabyte 
           driver: r8169 v: kernel port: c000 bus ID: 04:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168 
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 3.18 TiB used: 6.82 GiB (0.2%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WDS100T2B0B size: 931.51 GiB 
           block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> 
           rev: 90WD scheme: GPT 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WD2002FAEX-007BA0 size: 1.82 TiB 
           block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> 
           rev: 1D05 scheme: MBR 
           ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO 500GB size: 465.76 GiB 
           block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> 
           rev: 2B6Q scheme: MBR 
Partition: ID-1: / raw size: 51.81 GiB size: 50.74 GiB (97.95%) used: 6.82 GiB (13.4%) 
           fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda7 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 37.0 C mobo: 29.8 C gpu: nvidia temp: 38 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 0% 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://mx.mirror.ausnetservers.net.au/packages/mx/repo/ buster main non-free
           2: deb http://mx.mirror.ausnetservers.net.au/packages/mx/repo/ buster ahs
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:      Processes: 186 Uptime: 7m Memory: 15.60 GiB used: 1.13 GiB (7.3%) Init: SysVinit 
           v: 2.93 runlevel: 5 default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 Shell: bash v: 5.0.3 
           running in: quick-system-in inxi: 3.0.36 

^^ This copied automatically to the clipboard fine as it's supposed to.
It's a UEFI install using existing partitions with / on sda7 and ESP on sda1, no other partitions used for MX.

Here's minstall.log , I couldn't make sense of it as I don't quite know what to look for: http://paste.debian.net/1155421/

[asqwerth]

I left my locale during installation as default. After installation, I decided to try changing locale using the kde settings (where your currency and date format {don't like the USA date format} can be changed).

When I tried to install packages after that, I got error messages about locale and C library. Didn't affect the working of the package, but can look alarming.

I didn't change my locale in testing the alphas so had not encountered the issue until now.