• From: Strasbourg, France
  • Registered: 2010-07-31
  • Posts: 10

Topic: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

Hello everyone,

I just discovered Crunchbang after using Xubuntu for some time. Today, I bought an Acer Aspire One 751, with the "famous" Intel GMA500 "Poulsbo".

Installing Crunchbang 9.04 worked just fine. But the AAO751 is designed for a 1366x768 resolution, and this doesn't seem to be working for me. If I try to change the display settings, I just get a 1024x768 which gives me a distorted screen.

After a search in the forum, I found this :

http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … esolution/

None of the solutions seemed to work, until the last one given made my screen freeze big_smile (Of course, there's the possibility that I did something wrong)

I also found this :

http://thatlinuxbox.com/blog/article.ph … 4220940151

It also seems like I got something wrong. Does anyone have any clue how do I enable PPA repository ? Because that's where I'm stuck.

If anyone has any clue about how to make my AAO751 accept the 1366x768 resolution with Crunchbang, I would love to hear it smile

Frederic

  • Registered: 2008-11-24
  • Posts: 2,088

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

Welcome to the forums, Frederic! I am not personally a proud owner of the GMA500 Poulsbo, but I have read a lot about it.

I would recommend doing some reading first, before you do anything. Here are some links on GMA500 I have collected:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA#GMA_500_on_Linux
http://gma500.wiki-site.com/
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport … dsPoulsbo/
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1229345
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Aspir … Resolution

To answer your specific question, you can enable a PPA by adding a line of code to the /etc/apt/sources.list file. Open a terminal (Super+T) and type:

sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.31July2010
gksu leafpad /etc/apt/sources.list

This will create a backup copy of the file with today's date, then open the file in the Leafpad editor with root priviledges (so be careful!). Scroll to the bottom of the file and copy and paste the code for the PPA. If you want to add a comment for future reference add a line with a # symbol at the beginning. For example:

# I added this PPA to get my GMA500 graphics working
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mobile/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Please do report back, I am curious to know if it will work!

  • From: Strasbourg, France
  • Registered: 2010-07-31
  • Posts: 10

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

Thanks for this very fast reply snowpine !

I'll check everything you wrote and will come back asap smile

  • From: Strasbourg, France
  • Registered: 2010-07-31
  • Posts: 10

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

Thanks again for the literature, snowpine. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to make it work.

I followed every step in this link : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Aspir … Resolution

Everything went as written, but nothing changed.

I tried the line : sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gma500/ppa && sudo apt-get update

as in this link : https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport … rdsPoulsbo  (Does it say on top of this page that support is no longer available or recommended for Jaunty ? Isn't Crunchbang actually based on Jaunty ? You'll have to excuse the lame question, but I'm pretty much a #! virgin...)

and I get this message : add-apt-repository: command not found

I have also tried to follow these instructions : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1229345

No luck so far.

I have even tried to install all the packages and dependencies separately but all I got was #! that couldn't load anymore and I was stuck in tty1, being asked for my login.

I tried to make it work with Ubuntu Netbook Edition, and it did - in its not perfect way, God it's still very slow... which is why I would love to make it work with #! smile

After reinstalling Crunchbang, I have tried to modify xrandr ( http://forum.mandriva.com/viewtopic.php?t=126910 ), but still no luck.

God, I didn't think I would be stuck on such a simple thing for such a long time big_smile

  • Registered: 2008-11-24
  • Posts: 2,088

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

Don't get frustrated... you are wrestling with arguably the least Linux-friendly graphics card on the planet; it is not an easy task.

I think the confusion may be that you're trying to follow instructions for a later release (Karmic or Lucid). Make sure any instructions you follow are for Jaunty 9.04.

I thought the one in your original post seemed the most promising: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Aspir … Resolution

This covers how to add the repository by editing /etc/apt/sources.list, rather than add-apt-repository (which I don't think works with Jaunty).

Sorry I can't give you better advice from my own personal experience, just trying to help you sift through a lot of confusing information and hopefully find the answer. smile

  • From: Strasbourg, France
  • Registered: 2010-07-31
  • Posts: 10

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

Wrestling seems like an appropriate word ! big_smile

I sure misunderstood some things yesterday. I'll try to do it again today by following only instructions for Jaunty, and who knows I might win this time.

Oh yeah, one more thing. When I reinstalled #! yesterday and modified xrandr, by 'forcing' it to add 1366x768 resolution, it appeared in the display settings, but if I selected it, nothing happened. If selected, Crucnhbang would run in low graphics mode after reboot. Seems like I'm missing something there.

But hey, you gotta learn somewhere, uh ? wink

Thank you again for your help snowpine, even if I'm still working on my problem, at least it gave me the opportunity to learn some things !

  • From: Strasbourg, France
  • Registered: 2010-07-31
  • Posts: 10

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

Here is some update :

I've followed step by step what is written in this link : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Aspir … Resolution

Here is what I get after writing : sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-psb
psb-kernel-source
"
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies.
  xserver-xorg-video-psb: Depends: libdrm-poulsbo1 but it is not going
to be installed
E: Broken packages
"

If I try to install the package libdrm-poulsbo1, I get a message saying there's a conflict : Conflicts : libdrm2 but 2.4.5-Oubuntu4 is to be installed

And then nothing smile

Last edited by Frederich (2010-08-01 09:01:48)

  • Registered: 2008-11-24
  • Posts: 2,088

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

Hmmm okay, well let's try to gather more information about the broken package. Can you copy & paste the output of the following command; don't blindly hit Y but look at the list of what it wants to add/remove and hit N if you're not sure what's about to happen.

sudo apt-get -f install

Also (if you have not done so already) it's a good idea to bring your system up to date (not sure it is relevant to your problem but it can't hurt):

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Also I see you posted over at UbuntuForums, that was a good idea. smile

  • From: Strasbourg, France
  • Registered: 2010-07-31
  • Posts: 10

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

Hi Snowpine,

snowpine wrote:

Also I see you posted over at UbuntuForums, that was a good idea. smile

Yes, it can't hurt smile Seeing how many people have encountered problems...

I knew before - of course, I googled the AAO 751 BEFORE buying it - that it would take time and some work to make a Linux distribution work - almost - properly. So far, I tested Ubuntu Netbook Edition, everything was working well, but it seemed really, really slow to me - been warned before, though. Then, I tried Crunchbang, which I had been using before thanks to Live USB. Loved it, but there's this video card issue.

So far, Jolicloud has been the best distro for this specific computer. Everything - except a wifi led, but I think I can live without one damn led - is working very decently out of the box. Xubuntu is being installed right now, and I'll try it before I try Linux Mint LXDE - I really want to compare and make up my mind about these "lightweight" distros.

snowpine wrote:

Hmmm okay, well let's try to gather more information about the broken package. Can you copy & paste the output of the following command; don't blindly hit Y but look at the list of what it wants to add/remove and hit N if you're not sure what's about to happen.

sudo apt-get -f install

I'll try this in a few minutes, and will come back right after ! Thanks again for your time on this problem smile

  • Registered: 2008-11-24
  • Posts: 2,088

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

I have not used Jolicloud personally. I have heard it is specifically designed to work on as many netbooks as possible, for example they are using an older Xorg (1.6) that does not cause problems with GMA500. So in that sense it is actually a step back from the current Ubuntu, for the sake of hardware compatibility.

Xubuntu and Mint are both Ubuntu-based so I would imagine any solution you find for one will work equally well for the others.

The problem with 9.04 of course is that even if you get it working perfectly, support ends in October and you'll be back to square one. sad

  • From: Strasbourg, France
  • Registered: 2010-07-31
  • Posts: 10

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

Soooo...

This is what I get right after I type : sudo apt-get -f install


Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libindicate1 firefox-3.0-branding python-indicate
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Does it seem relevant ?

  • Registered: 2008-11-24
  • Posts: 2,088

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

That looks OK to me. Can you try bringing your system fully up to date using 

sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

and then try installing the "broken" package again?

  • From: Strasbourg, France
  • Registered: 2010-07-31
  • Posts: 10

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

Ok, I did everything as you said, but I get the same message :

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies.
poulsbo-driver-2d: Depends: xserver-xorg-video-psb but it is not
going to be installed
E: Broken packages

  • Registered: 2008-11-24
  • Posts: 2,088

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

How about:

sudo apt-get remove libdrm2

What does that say it is going to remove? (don't actually say Yes, we're just curious at this point)

(going back to your post #7)

  • From: Strasbourg, France
  • Registered: 2010-07-31
  • Posts: 10

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

And here we go :

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libindicate1 firefox-3.0-branding python-indicate
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED
  audacity fontypython gnome-screensaver libdrm-intel1 libdrm2 libgl1-mesa-dri
  libgl1-mesa-glx libglew1.5 libglu1-mesa libqt4-gui libqt4-opengl
  libvisual-0.4-plugins libwxgtk2.6-0 libwxgtk2.8-0 python-wxgtk2.6
  python-wxversion qgtkstyle rss-glx vlc x11-utils xchm xorg xscreensaver-gl
  xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core xserver-xorg-input-all
  xserver-xorg-input-evdev xserver-xorg-input-kbd xserver-xorg-input-mouse
  xserver-xorg-input-synaptics xserver-xorg-input-wacom xserver-xorg-video-all
  xserver-xorg-video-apm xserver-xorg-video-ark xserver-xorg-video-ati
  xserver-xorg-video-chips xserver-xorg-video-cirrus xserver-xorg-video-fbdev
  xserver-xorg-video-geode xserver-xorg-video-i128 xserver-xorg-video-i740
  xserver-xorg-video-intel xserver-xorg-video-mach64 xserver-xorg-video-mga
  xserver-xorg-video-neomagic xserver-xorg-video-nv
  xserver-xorg-video-openchrome xserver-xorg-video-r128
  xserver-xorg-video-radeon xserver-xorg-video-rendition xserver-xorg-video-s3
  xserver-xorg-video-s3virge xserver-xorg-video-savage
  xserver-xorg-video-siliconmotion xserver-xorg-video-sis
  xserver-xorg-video-sisusb xserver-xorg-video-tdfx xserver-xorg-video-trident
  xserver-xorg-video-tseng xserver-xorg-video-v4l xserver-xorg-video-vesa
  xserver-xorg-video-vmware xserver-xorg-video-voodoo
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 63 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 117MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?

I did try this yesterday actually, as a way to resolve the conflict, so I could install libdrm-poulsbo1 and xserver-xorg-video-psb, as well as the poulsbo-driver-2d, but all I got on reboot was either a black screen with parts of the mouse cursor only, or no desktop at all - stuck in tty1.

  • Registered: 2008-11-24
  • Posts: 2,088

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

That is not good... all the stuff it wants to remove is pretty important! "broken package" basically means the package from the 3rd party PPA does not play nice with the official packages already on your system... looking at the home page for PPA is discouraging, last update was over a year ago. sad

https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-mobile/+a … ter=jaunty

On the plus side, the UbuntuForums thread has a lot of traffic, maybe there will be an answer soon from someone who's actually had success. smile

  • From: Strasbourg, France
  • Registered: 2010-07-31
  • Posts: 10

Re: Resolution trouble on Acer Aspire One 751

Seems like a dead end for now. I was expecting this even though I kept my fingers crossed smile Well, at least we tried ! And who knows, something might come up one day. For the time being, I'll stick to Jolicloud, even if it wasn't my first choice, it is still the best choice I have. Until something new will come along smile

Really, thank you for your time and your help Snowpine, even if it didn't work out, I really appreciate it !

(The forum is making fun of me, there's some random advertising about updating my Intel drivers RIGHT AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS THREAD big_smile )