Ubuntu 10.10 on Lenovo G560

Fri Apr 15 02:37:22 UTC 2011

Hi guys,

 Sure I agree all the way with you about what makes a difference
between one distro and another, add to that how the community /
corporation behind the distro handles new packages, updates and
keeping up with the cutting-edge technologies.

Of course I totally understand CentOS / Debian / RHEL are not
particularly intended for day-to-day use on laptops / desktops, nor
they are as appealing as Fedora / Ubuntu to a Linux newcomer. However,
for me when I first installed Fedora and Ubuntu like two years ago,
they didn't make a first good impression. To be honest, I perceived
them at the moment as fragile. To have the system breaking on making
an alias for eth0 or simply not keeping an eye on automatic updates is
unexpected from an open-source OS claiming stability against closed
source one.

But when I spent more time learning about distros and what they are
intended for, I settled for a server-intended distro rather than a
desktop one.

Working with Debian at office and helping fellow colleagues with
Ubuntu, I am not into comparing Debian vs. RHEL nor Fedora against
Ubuntu, It is just that I felt sad my favourite distro is not
supporting my latest hardware and that my week-long efforts to
customize it for such hardware support failed.

At the same time, things and tastes change, my favourite thing today
may never be considered an option tomorrow, no ?

To answer you Kamal, I am not thinking my work can only be done using
RHEL. System administrators work can always be done using a shell ;)
.. What I meant by RHEL-based is that I spent some good time with the
operating system and I am looking forward to professional
certification from Red Hat.

Am I not willing to work on Debian, SUSE, Mandriva, Oracle Linux, you name it ?
Of course not, it is just that at this time of my life I prefer to
focus on RHEL / clones.

And of course you have the complete right to bug me here :P .. I was
nuts enough to mention RHEL on Ubuntu mailing list at the end of the
day! :D

Have a great morning guys and thanks again for taking the time to support me :)

On 4/14/11, Ahmed Kamal <email.ahmedkamal at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Glad it worked for you, though I'd love to hear why you think your work can
> only be done on RHEL. It's an Ubuntu list after all, so we have to bug you a
> little :)
> Either way, before committing to fedora (low quality, rapidly changing) and
> if you still don't decide for Ubuntu, RHEL6 might be a good option with long
> term support. Since centos6 is taking too long in the oven, you can get
> Scientific Linux 6 (basically == centos) from
> http://www.scientificlinux.org/
>  <http://www.scientificlinux.org/>
>
> On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 7:13 AM, Angie T. Muhammad
> <angie.tawfik at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Dear List,
>>  Thank you so much for your instant responses and apologies for late mine.
>>
>> In the past few days I have tried an Ubuntu 10.10 live CD and the screen
>> came to a colorful 1366 x 768, so I made sure it is not a faulty hardware.
>> I
>> followed Amr's solution of decompiling DSDT, but I didn't know how to fix
>> the warnings. From that point I moved on to trying different kernels on
>> CentOS. I used ready-made packages, different versions (2.6.32, 2.6.35,
>> 2.6.38) but to no avail. I built my own kernel from kernel.org sources
>> also using different versions and applyied patches but reaching no result.
>> Eventually I built using source RPM packages but still failing. I updated
>> my
>> CentOS installation from 5.3 to 5.6 but that was useless either. I posted
>> on
>> CentOS forums but no one could help. So, I gave CentOS a last chance and
>> downloaded a Live CD, still same old resolution of 1024 x 768. So I made a
>> major decision and downloaded Fedora 14 Live CD, expectedly its drivers
>> ran
>> a beautiful 1366 x 768 resolution like Ubuntu. So, I waved a good bye to
>> CentOS on this machine and here I am writing you from my new Fedora
>> installation.
>>
>> PS. My work and experience are mostly RHEL based, that's why I can not
>> afford moving to a Debian based distro like Ubuntu, but who can't confess,
>> nafa3 wa2t zan2a :D ..
>>
>> Thanks again guys for your time.
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 2:46 AM, Amr Ali <amr.ali.cc at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Angie,
>>>
>>> I strongly belief that this is an ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power
>>> Interface) issue, some laptops have faulty DSDT (Differentiated System
>>> Description Table), I've fixed a few warnings in mine, didn't really
>>> affect
>>> anything "tangible" on my Lenovo N500 (Check out
>>> http://amrali.se/247/lenovo-value-line-n500-42336qg-acpi-dsdt-fix/), but
>>> some
>>> faulty DSDTs do cause major problems. What really alerted me for your
>>> problem is
>>> not that you can't get X at certain resolutions but the brightness issue,
>>> which
>>> really says it has to do with something at this level of abstraction
>>> (i.e.
>>> ACPI).
>>> </rant>
>>>
>>> I have details on how to fix it on the website link I gave you, but, if
>>> you are
>>> not familiar ASL/AML, I can always help with that, you just have to
>>> extract the
>>> DSDT table from your kernel's memory (the details are on the site too).
>>>
>>> PS: Good choice, I'm sorry for your problems, but I never had "real"
>>> problems
>>> with my N500, but anyways, we hope that we'll get your problem fixed. :-)
>>>
>>> ~// AA
>>>
>>> On 04/10/2011 01:51 AM, Angie T. Muhammad wrote:
>>> > Hello Guys,
>>> >
>>> >  I hope you are all doing well.
>>> >
>>> > I have recently bought a Lenovo G560
>>> > <http://egyptlaptop.com/lenovo-g560-clone-2.html> and installed CentOS
>>> 5.3 (Free
>>> > RHEL) and every thing is working now pretty fine except screen
>>> resolution. I
>>> > have tried three drivers so far with different color depth in xorg.conf
>>> but I
>>> > never used a `modeline`
>>> >
>>> > a- i810 :: X fails to start in 16 or 24 color depth
>>> > b- i915 :: a.k.a intel :: X starts with either 16 or 24 color depth at
>>> 1152 x
>>> > 768 as maximum resolution, but the screen is really really really dark
>>> that I
>>> > have to be 10 to 15 cm from screen to figure out what is displayed. Of
>>> course
>>> > under this scenario, I have tried to increase brightness but at no
>>> avail. I
>>> > would really appreciate help if any one has any idea about this.
>>> > c- vesa :: This is the default :unfortunately. X starts with either 16
>>> or 24
>>> > color depth, colors are bright but only at 1024 x 768 as maximum
>>> resolution. Of
>>> > course this resolution is unbearable on a 15.6 inch wide screen.
>>> >
>>> > So I was wondering if any of you had used Ubuntu 10.10 on similar
>>> hardware, I
>>> > would be very grateful if you can report on success / failure, kernel,
>>> xorg and
>>> > driver info, screen resolution and brightness.
>>> >
>>> > * Here are a few HW / SW info and logs:
>>> >
>>> > *# lspci*
>>> > 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller
>>> (rev 02)
>>> > 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor
>>> Integrated
>>> > Graphics Controller (rev 02)
>>> > 00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400
>>> > Series
>>> Chipset
>>> > HECI Controller (rev 06)
>>> > 00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset
>>> USB2
>>> > Enhanced Host Controller (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset
>>> High
>>> > Definition Audio (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI
>>> Express
>>> > Root Port 1 (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI
>>> Express
>>> > Root Port 2 (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI
>>> Express
>>> > Root Port 3 (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI
>>> Express
>>> > Root Port 5 (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset
>>> USB2
>>> > Enhanced Host Controller (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a5)
>>> > 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC
>>> Interface
>>> > Controller (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset
>>> 4 port
>>> > SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus
>>> Controller
>>> > (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400
>>> Series
>>> > Chipset Thermal Subsystem (rev 05)
>>> > 05:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless
>>> Network
>>> > Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
>>> > 06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
>>> RTL8101E/RTL8102E
>>> > PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)
>>> > ff:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath
>>> Architecture
>>> > Generic Non-core Registers (rev 02)
>>> > ff:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath
>>> Architecture
>>> > System Address Decoder (rev 02)
>>> > ff:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev
>>> 02)
>>> > ff:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0
>>> (rev 02)
>>> > ff:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)
>>> > ff:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)
>>> >
>>> > *# lspci -n*
>>> > 00:00.0 0600: 8086:0044 (rev 02)
>>> > 00:02.0 0300: 8086:0046 (rev 02)
>>> > 00:16.0 0780: 8086:3b64 (rev 06)
>>> > 00:1a.0 0c03: 8086:3b3c (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1b.0 0403: 8086:3b56 (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1c.0 0604: 8086:3b42 (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1c.1 0604: 8086:3b44 (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1c.2 0604: 8086:3b46 (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1c.4 0604: 8086:3b4a (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1d.0 0c03: 8086:3b34 (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1e.0 0604: 8086:2448 (rev a5)
>>> > 00:1f.0 0601: 8086:3b09 (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1f.2 0106: 8086:3b29 (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1f.3 0c05: 8086:3b30 (rev 05)
>>> > 00:1f.6 1180: 8086:3b32 (rev 05)
>>> > 05:00.0 0280: 168c:002b (rev 01)
>>> > 06:00.0 0200: 10ec:8136 (rev 02)
>>> > ff:00.0 0600: 8086:2c62 (rev 02)
>>> > ff:00.1 0600: 8086:2d01 (rev 02)
>>> > ff:02.0 0600: 8086:2d10 (rev 02)
>>> > ff:02.1 0600: 8086:2d11 (rev 02)
>>> > ff:02.2 0600: 8086:2d12 (rev 02)
>>> > ff:02.3 0600: 8086:2d13 (rev 02)
>>> >
>>> > *# uname -r*
>>> > 2.6.18-194.32.1.el5
>>> >
>>> > *# grep -i "Monitor name" /var/log/Xorg.**
>>> > /var/log/Xorg.0.log:(II) VESA(0): Monitor name: LP156WH2-TLAA
>>> > /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old:(II) intel(0): Monitor name: LP156WH2-TLAA
>>> >
>>> > N.B. Monitor is autoconfigured. I couldn't find Lenovo monitors and
>>> experienced
>>> > failure as well with other models as user-specified.
>>> >
>>> > If you need any further info, please let me know. Your help is really
>>> appreciated.
>>> > Thanks
>>> >
>>> > --
>>> > All the best,
>>> > Angie T. Muhammad
>>> > http://angie-tawfik.blogspot.com
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> All the best,
>> Angie T. Muhammad
>> http://angie-tawfik.blogspot.com
>>
>>
>> --
>> Ubuntu-eg mailing list
>> Ubuntu-eg at lists.ubuntu.com
>> Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
>> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-eg
>>
>>
>

-- 
All the best,
Angie T. Muhammad
http://angie-tawfik.blogspot.com