startx and AMD ATI m98L [Mobility Radeon HD 4850 imac] issues

[Andrew PAxson]

On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 5:00 PM, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:

> [Offlist reply moved back onlist, with consent]
>
> On 24 August 2012 00:25, Andrew PAxson <paxsonsa at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hey Liam Sorry I typed the last email on my phone and it didn't it
> > automatically types the process above. Sorry about that.
>
> Ah, right. In that case, don't worry. I am cursed to have an iPhone, too.
> :¬(
>
> (Hint: if you download the official Gmail app, it can bottom-quote -
> but I find it really slow.)
>
> > But I guess I did miss understand. So What I have done is this I read
> > through the bug report and your email. I have erased my partition of
> 12.04
> > and decided to step back. I am currently installing 10.04 LTS from the
> > alternate CD using the text based installer.
>
> Er, well, OK, you can if you want, but I don't think that a 2010 OS is
> going to cope well with a newer iMac.
>
> > After it finishes I am going to
> > reboot and at the Grub menu choose recovery mode and hit 'e' and replace
> '
> > quiet splash' with 'radeon-modeset=0 nomodeset' From what I am
> understanding
> > about the bug is that Apple labels their ports differently and because
> apple
> > does't release configuration plans of their hardware its hard to
> determine
> > what needs to be changed in the kernel. Here's what I am going to try and
> > do. First get into the desktop enviroment via the recovery mode and using
> > nomodeset in grub. Then install the proprietary drivers. Reboot and boot
> > normally and see if it doesn't work still. If it does great goog night if
> > not I am going to try and update the kernel.
>
> OK. So far so good. That's also what I'd try with 12.04, basically.
>
> If it doesn't work, you can also start X using its "bulletproof"
> failsafe mode. Instructions here:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BulletProofX
>
> This is getting the GUI to start in VESA mode, with no driver at all
> installed. I have used this method successfully to get Ubuntu 11.04
> working on a machine with an AMD Fusion APU, which was not
> well-supported at all on Linux at that time.
>
> You can also switch to a text console using Ctrl-Alt-F1 if the GUI is
> not visible and install stuff from the command line - Google should
> provide more details. I am not sure if the Catalyst drivers can be
> installed this way, though.
>
> However, the main point is that if you are using the Alternate CD (and
> *not* the server CD) then you don't need to install the desktop, nor
> build-essen. They should already be there.
>
> Another option might be to try to install the server version, update
> it /first/ and /then/ install ubuntu-desktop.
>
> > I don't believe this is a
> > driver issue as much as a kernel issue
>
> Sounds like a graphics driver issue to me, but I can't say for sure; I
> don't own an Intel Mac and have never run Linux on my Macs except in
> order to install Morphos. TBH with an OS as pleasing as Mac OS X, I've
> never felt any need for Linux.
>
> > but I am also very new to the linux
> > monolithic kernel and linux in general. Point is i need my graphics card
> and
> > more importantly desktop to work at top knotch and there has to be a way.
> > There is always a way in Linux. Lemme know if you have any ideas!
>
> Well, TBH, Ubuntu probably isn't the best OS for a Mac and a Mac isn't
> the best machine to run Ubuntu.
>
> Also, it might be worth seeing if you can borrow an external monitor
> for a short time, just to get it installed and working.
>
> But you shouldn't need the dev tools or to compile anything just to
> get the desktop installed. Possibly to build bits of Catalyst but I
> don't remember seeing that... Can anyone comment on this?
>
> --
> Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
> Email: lproven at cix.co.uk • GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
> MSN: lproven at hotmail.com • Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven
> Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 • Cell: +44 7939-087884
>
Well I just installed 10.04 with decent success (this link is exactly what
I did within the last 6 hours
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/542660/comments/109)

Main reason for a Linux move is simplly because my industry (Visual Effect
for Film) is moving toward linux and so I am exploring the possibilities
plus the programs we (I) mostly use were developed and built on linux
systems for linux so they tend to be more stable plus I dont care for the
way apple and windows are going with there OS. They are both beautiful but
they are just screwing themselves over on the framework. As for the monitor
if I can find one I will use it but really my ideal goal. But do you have a
preference for a stable linux OS on mac?

Thanks for the help!
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