[xubuntu-users] xubuntu-users Digest, Vol 120, Issue 29

Sat Jan 21 13:39:55 UTC 2017

Thanks all for your advice.
I ran swapon -s and got the following message:
Filename /dev/sda5    Type partition  Size 2079470  Used 0  Priority -1
Does that suggest that the swap space is adequate?
I'm confused about the RAM issue. Askubuntu.com says that Xubuntu requires 512 MB RAM... but you're saying it actually requires eight times that much RAM in order to run bug-free?
 Thanks again.
Joanna

    On Saturday, January 21, 2017 7:03 AM, "xubuntu-users-request at lists.ubuntu.com" <xubuntu-users-request at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:

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Today's Topics:

  1.  Seeking help: computer wakes to dark screen (Joanna Hoyt)
  2. Re:  Seeking help: computer wakes to dark screen (Peter Flynn)
  3. Re:  Seeking help: computer wakes to dark screen (JMZ)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2017 13:44:15 +0000 (UTC)
From: Joanna Hoyt <joannahoyt at yahoo.com>
To: "xubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com" <xubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
Subject: [xubuntu-users] Seeking help: computer wakes to dark screen
Message-ID: <743328230.405928.1484919855598 at mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

I just installed 32-bit Xubuntu LTS 16.04 Xenial Xerus on a partition of my MacBook Pro 1,2 with a 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo processor and 2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. The brightness is fine at startup and during use, but after sleep the screen is very dark; I could barely see the screen asking me to enter my password, couldn't read anything else, had to use the power button to shut down. How can I set my computer so that it wakes up with reasonable screen brightness? I don't think it's a hardware issue; the computer wakes up brightly when running Mac OS X on the other partition. I've also seen online posts from Xubuntu users with different hardware reporting the same problem.?

Here are the fixes I've tried so far:
I thought it might be a brightness problem, since the F1 and F2 keys did not control screen brightness.I did the following:

1:
Code: sudo leafpad /etc/default/grub
Changed: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
...to read: Code: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="acpi_backlight=vendor"?Saved file.
?Code: sudo update-grub

...After this the brightness control worked from the keyboard while the computer was staying awake after startup, but waking from sleep continued to be very dark and the keyboard commands did not increase brightness.

2.I tried changing settings in Power Manager under Settings, switching the 'sleep' and 'hibernate' actions from Lock Screen to Suspend; I saw no difference.

3:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xfce4-power-manager light-locker-settings
Light Locker appeared in my Settings, but when I click on the icon it didn't actually open a control panel--the icon just sat there.?

4:rm?~/.config/autostart/light-locker.desktopI did that and got a message saying?
rm: cannot remove '/home/lorraine/.config/autostart/light-locker.desktop': No such file or directory.
How do you decide whether to keep trying fixes, reinstall what you had before, or try another distro?

If keeping trying seems indicated: Some fixes start with going into 'system settings' and changing settings in a window I've not yet found. I can go into Settings, and thence into Power Manager, but that doesn't offer the exact options shown in the fixes. How should I access system settings, if they're separate from Settings?

Also, so far as I kow I don't have a swap partition configured. My Mac now has 3 partitions: 100 GB running Mac OS X (only using 20 GB at present), 50 GB running Xubuntu (very little of that used), 10 GB free space. I thought the swap partition was probably not important because I am not running near capacity on either of the established partitions, but I could be wrong; if so, how should I set up a swap partition on a Mac?
Any advice greatly appreciated. As you can see, I'm a raw newbie and realize I may be missing something obvious. Thanks for taking time to read this.
Joanna
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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2017 21:44:34 +0000
From: Peter Flynn <peter at silmaril.ie>
To: xubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
Subject: Re: [xubuntu-users] Seeking help: computer wakes to dark
    screen
Message-ID: <ecbbb44a-9f87-85f9-636b-abf449c60e6c at silmaril.ie>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252

On 01/20/2017 01:44 PM, Joanna Hoyt wrote:
> I just installed 32-bit Xubuntu LTS 16.04 Xenial Xerus on a
> partition of my MacBook Pro 1,2 with a 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo
> processor and 2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. The brightness is fine at
> startup and during use, but after sleep the screen is very dark;
> [...] I've also seen online posts from Xubuntu users with different
> hardware reporting the same problem.

Linux support for hardware-dependent features like backlight,
brightness, sound, video, etc is always going to be less reliable than
under commercial operating systems who can afford to pay manufacturers
to develop drivers to their specifications. It's one of those things you
have to put up with for the other benefits of Linux.

> How do you decide whether to keep trying fixes, reinstall what you
> had before, or try another distro?

I don't think another distro will help any, because they all share the
same codebase. Once you've exhausted all the options, and it still
doesn't work, that's it unless you have the skills to start rewriting
the driver yourself.

> If keeping trying seems indicated: Some fixes start with going into 
> 'system settings' and changing settings in a window I've not yet
> found. I can go into Settings, and thence into Power Manager, but
> that doesn't offer the exact options shown in the fixes. How should I
> access system settings, if they're separate from Settings?

There are many different files in which settings get stored, and
competing display managers use different files, directories and formats.
I'm afraid I can't offer help here, but someone else surely can.

> Also, so far as I kow I don't have a swap partition configured. 

AFAIK Linux cannot operate without a swap partition, and one gets
created for you automatically when you install Linux. In a terminal, type
swapon -s
to show what the partition and size is.

///Peter

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2017 00:58:15 -0500
From: JMZ <florentior at gmail.com>
To: Xubuntu Support and User Discussions
    <xubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
Subject: Re: [xubuntu-users] Seeking help: computer wakes to dark
    screen
Message-ID: <5788ddd4-3ae7-40fd-9fe0-f89f2093020e at gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed

Peter's tips on swap reminds me of another point.  2GB RAM is a bit 
small, even for xubuntu.  Swap isn't really the same as RAM memory. 
Generally speaking, it's a hard disk partition which emulates RAM memory 
when the RAM is maxed out.  It's slow, and not as reliable as RAM memory.

I've never owned any Mac, but the new Macs are very similar to PC's 
under the hood.  I'd get another 2GB of memory at least just to make 
sure that you aren't relying on swap to keep your system running. RAM is 
really cheap now compared to, say, 23 years ago ($20, $30?). I remember 
buying _2 MB_ of PC RAM for $200 ($325 today) in the early 1990s!

Jordan
> On 01/20/2017 01:44 PM, Joanna Hoyt wrote:
>> I just installed 32-bit Xubuntu LTS 16.04 Xenial Xerus on a
>> partition of my MacBook Pro 1,2 with a 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo
>> processor and 2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. The brightness is fine at
>> startup and during use, but after sleep the screen is very dark;
>> [...] I've also seen online posts from Xubuntu users with different
>> hardware reporting the same problem.
>

------------------------------

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End of xubuntu-users Digest, Vol 120, Issue 29
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