Whilst we are still waiting for VIA to give us a decent version of their binary only driver for the current kernel that works with the webbook LCD they have just released an Open Source 2D only graphics driver. I will try this out and see if I can get it working. If it does then I think it should fix all the XV issues with video playback and the occasional screen corruption issue.
Incidentally I just found out that there is an XV issue with Gcompris, the educational package, which causes it to launch to a corrupted screen. I am certain we tested this extensively before release (my kids spent hours testing it in fact) so I am not sure what went wrong. If you want to run Gcompris then for now press alt+F2 and in the run program dialog type
gcompris -x
and hopefully we will have a graphics update for you soon which will fix this properly.
After buying one of these and having a little play I needed to reinstall ubuntu – here lies the problem. Graphics drivers just don’t work. I’m now stuck with an X desktop that is th wrong size and I can’t view it all at once. Am I left with the resort of installing XP over a flash drive or is there some way to rectify the problem?
Hardware support is really letting this down at the moment because before I tried to reinstall it was working great
you need to edit the xorg.conf file or copy over a working one to tell it the screen is 1024×600. Hang on a sec and I will post an xorg.conf file . . .
I’m still confused how you got compiz your machine? Doesn’t it require 3D?
It does require 3D and the webbook has got a perfectly good 3D capable graphics card. I have got a patched binary of the VIA unichrome drivers which include 3D OpenGL capability and I have whitelisted the via driver so Compiz will use it. The problem is that it isn’t compiled for the kernel you have got, and if it was, a future kernel update could kill it. I don’t want thousands of webbooks to boot to a black screen on the same day (neither does the call centre) so until VIA provide a deployable driver that we can update in sync with the kernel we are stuck with 2D.
My testing results show that the 2d driver does not drive the 1024×600 panel, but it does drive the external montitor port. If we can get this patched to drive the panel we might start using it, even without 3d
I got a webbook just recently, however, I’ve broken it already. I swapped the desktops around using apt-get install kubuntu-desktop and then swapped back. Now unfortunately whilst I get a Kubuntu flash screen for a hort while the webbook just hangs there after switching back on. I can still get a command shell so is there anything I can do to get the kubuntu or ubuntu GUI back?
PS this is a great site.
Regards Mike
Alan is there any news on a graphics driver/patch? The only issue I haven’t been able to resolve is the inability to play penguinracer, small I know, but it’s my son’s favourite game of late, and the only thing now spoiling his enjoyment of the webbook.
thanks
iain
just checked, if you follow the sequence of articles on installing Compiz you will be able to install planetpenguin-racer from Synaptic and race away. I am not very good. I only got 12 herring on my first go and 17 on the second.
Brilliant, thanks, that’s gotten it working, (sorts the gcompris issue too), probably means I’ll never see him for the rest of the week! He’s gotten a little obsessed with penguin racer since he saw it on an Acer, when checking out netbooks. That’s all the issues finally sorted, maybe I’ll get some peace now. thanks again.
Hi Alan,
some applications just don’t see to run as expected, try Celestia and gpsdrive, I don’t know if this is a graphics driver
problem or these apps just don’t like running at 1024 x 600 (try accessing the menus of these programs)
On the subject of the compiz blogs 1,2 and 3 when I download the Elonex Via drivers I don’t get a webbookdrivers.tar.gz file ?
Great wee laptop, very pleased so far although I don’t know how long I can stand Ubuntu before I switch to Gentoo Linux!
Also booted off a external USB hard drive with Puppy Linux, which booted OK and detected most of the hardware.
Many Thanks.
Eddie.
I will check the download. There certainly are problems with 1024×600 and some applications. With the via drivers you can put it in a compressed 1024×768 which helps. Gentoo would be cool, but I don’t think we would pre-install that, wouldn’t it be the exact opposite of the point? I would be very interested to hear how you get on with Gentoo, and how long it takes to install etc.
Hi Alan,
I’m going to build a Gentoo system on a 8GB memory stick via my quad core Q6600 PC which runs Gentoo
the most important thing at the moment is getting good 3d drivers for the via chipset to take the load off the CPU.
On another subject is it the Elonex hardware or Ubuntu kernel controlling the power usage ? on AC the webbook is running at 79W when I switch to battery
it drops to 1W ! very impressive !
Hi Alan,
can you post or email the .config file for the Ubuntu kernel, the one on the webbook is a 0 byte file
Many thanks
Eddie.
yep, the 3d drivers are good, shame they are binary only. Not sure I believe the power figures, impressive though they sound. The PSU is rated for 2200ma at 18V which by my maths gives a max rated output of 39.6W. Of course it will probably deliver more than the rating, but I would be surprised if the webbook was really drawing 79W from it.
Hi Alan,
I’m just going on the values the power history is telling me, ie: right click on the power manager appet.
No on the 3d drivers read my previous post.
Many Thanks.
Eddie.
but you should get an elonexviadrivers.tar.gz (some of the instructions were wrong- the file got renamed) http://webbookblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/elonexviadrivers.tar.gz here is the config file http://webbookblog.com/config-2.6.24-19-generic , not sure why you have a zero byte file, you are looking in /boot for it?
the Kernel is as provided by Ubuntu, we didn’t mess with it ourselves.
Hi Alan.
thanks I will download the drivers from the link provided, OK on the .config file I was looking in
/usr/src/linux-2.6.24-19-generic
Eddie.
I get a 78W load indicated when charging, when on battery it plumets to 1W. However looking at /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/state it is discharging at 1119mA at a voltage of 11123mV which is 12.4W which is quite believable. When I plug the power back in the current goes up to 64732mA which in itself is impossible. No way is there 64A of current at 11V, that would start a car! It works out at 748W. Totally impossible.
Hi Alan,
maybe someone got there decimal point in the wrong place (Richard Hughes) Power Manager 2.22.1
Thanks for the replys.
Best Regards
Eddie.
yes, something is not right, and since my webbook and power supply has not melted I would say that it consumes somewhere near 30W +- 10W when charging, 20W +-10W when fully charged and about 15W +-10W when running on battery. I think the power management is decent, but it isn’t doing anything spectacular like the OLPC.
Hi Alan,
I am wondering if there is likely to be any progress made with the video drivers for the Webbook that will allow video to run on it properly.
Obviously at the moment video is really jerky. Is this something that can be fixed with new drivers or is it a hardware limitation?
Cheers
With the Intrepid OpenChrome drivers XV works reasonably well, that should accelerate 2d moving video a bit. I was more concerned about 3d stuff and even with the via drivers I turned off XV. What kind of video are you watching? what codec/resolution?
Sorry forgot to check up on my comment for a while!
… anyway, I am afraid I am getting a little out of my depth!
How do I know what driver I am currently running and which one should I install?
I have previously followed your compiz instructions… but does that mean that I am running a 3D driver, and if so then if I change to the OpenChrome 2D driver will compiz no longer work?
I followed your link “Open Source 2D only” above, which allows me to download a tar.gz file but I have no idea what to do with it!
I am trying to watch avi files, I think using DivX codec.
PS Penguin racer seems to work fine!!!
Re: screen corruption
I have not been following the graphics drivers saga very closely, preferring to make more modest use of my webbook for the time being.
However, I notice that in this post you also refer to “the occasional screen corruption issue”, Alan.
Right from the start I noticed coloured screens (orange or bluey-green) flashing up now and then when I shut down my webbook. I thought this was a bit odd, but did not worry about it as I was more concerned with other issues.
However, on Saturday I noticed vertical stripes had appeared at the bottom of the login screen and when my Ubuntu desktop loaded there were three vertical stripes running from top to bottom of the screen.
I rang Elonex yesterday and am awaiting a call from “Third Line Support” later today or tomorrow.
The Geek Squad agent I spoke to on Saturday evening said he thought the graphics card must be defective.
Rereading the above post, I just wondered if the drivers might be the problem…..
yes, the vertical strips is exactly the screen corruption that happens from time to time. A reboot fixes it. I never saw that happen when I was using the VIA drivers and I have only seen it a couple of times with the newer OpenChrome drivers in Intrepid. I think I might not be third line support any more, they haven’t passed anything to me for ages.
Thanks, Alan. The stripes have gone, as you said. Hope I don’t see them again any time soon!
Hi Alan,
I think you may of missed my comment above. I’m thinking that if I can play Penguin Racer then I am running the 3D drivers so will not ne able to watch videos very well???
Can you please provide instructions on how to install the OpenChrome 2D drivers?
Also I am using Totem 2.22.1 as the media player. Is this the best to use?
Totem is fine, and yes, it sounds like you have the 3d drivers. I don’t think the new 2d ones are any faster, XV does work on the VIA drivers but I never noticed much difference in terms of performance.
ok after all this reading I havnt gotten annywhere.
my questen is.
Are there graphics drivers that makes everything work
Same problem I am getting with my webbook and when I think it will run out of warranty pretty soon now..I still have a problem with my display after a fresh installation of ubuntu..I updated to 9.04 and still no luck..To make matters worse now the battery is dying within less than a ?year of usage,I think the warranty does not cover the battery, am i WRONG?
Please Alan mail me back,thank you.
Also none of the desktop effects can be enabled.Alan please mail me back
Hi,
I’m already confused, I’m a Linux newbie and have no idea how to find what devices are on this webbook, before I even think about downloading updates.
Thought Linux was easy OS, I have the same problem as above, trying to watch avi files off digi camera, get sound but no video.
Regards
Martin
I am afraid desktop effects are not going to work for a while (possibly never) VIA don’t seem to want to release drivers for recent kernels or put in place a sensible way to have 3d drivers. The new openchrome drivers in Jaunty are pretty stable, but no 3d acceleration.