Thursday 8 June 2017

Second look at Ubuntu 17.10 or Artful

UpdateThis work is superseded by my 'isorespin.sh' script which can respin an official ISO suitable for use on Intel Atom devices.



I've respun using my 'isorespin.sh' script the latest daily build of Ubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark) from 'http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/daily-live/current' with the Ubuntu build of mainline kernel v4.12-rc4, the UCM files and my local package to add bluetooth (as RTL8723BS wifi is now fully supported). I've also added my 'linuxium-install-bootloader.sh' just for good measure:

Script '/usr/local/bin/isorespin.sh' called with '-i artful-desktop-amd64.iso -u -l rtl8723bt_4.12.0_amd64.deb -f linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh -f wrapper-linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh -c wrapper-linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh -f linuxium-install-bootloader.sh' ...
Work directory '/home/linuxium/artful' used ...
ISO '/home/linuxium/artful/artful-desktop-amd64.iso' respun ...
Bootloader 'GRUB' added ...
Kernel updated with mainline kernel version '4.12.0-041200rc4-generic' ...
Local package '/home/linuxium/artful/rtl8723bt_4.12.0_amd64.deb' added ...
File '/home/linuxium/artful/linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh' added ...
File '/home/linuxium/artful/wrapper-linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh' added ...
File '/home/linuxium/artful/linuxium-install-bootloader.sh' added ...
Command run ...
# wrapper-linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh
./linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh: Extracting UCM files ...
./linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh: Installing UCM files ...
./linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh: Reloading UCM driver ...
./linuxium-install-UCM-files.sh: Installation of UCM finished 
Respun ISO created as 'linuxium-v4.12-rc4-artful-desktop-amd64.iso' in '/home/linuxium/artful'.

Interestingly the new ISO builds have dropped Unity and now boot with the GNOME desktop as apparently Unity will only be available when upgrading from an earlier Ubuntu release.

Anyone interested to try it out can download my interim ISO from 'linuxium-v4.12-rc4-artful-desktop-amd64.iso'.

If you find this useful then please donate using the following link http://goo.gl/nXWSGf as everything helps with development costs.

46 comments:

Goran Sevo said...

Hi Ian,
Tried your Artful ISO (on Teclast Tbook 16 Power).
Everything seems to be working out of the box (WiFi, sound including HDMI output, BT) except for TS (never worked anyway - cannot detect silead chip id in dmesg).
One weird thing happened though. Boot messages and Ubuntu splash screen started normally, and then when desktop booted up, the screen was rotated upside down - 180 degrees:). Unplugged the detachable keyboard, connected another one and continue testing.
Rotation does work to portrait mode when I turn the tablet.
Indicator-multiload (which is one of my essentials) did not show up in the system bar? Xsensors work normally.
Overall, I think I am too used to Unity and will miss it a lot!!!
Otherwise, stable and solid!
Cheers, G

Unknown said...

Hi, thanks for grate work!

Live version work good, but while installation in progress, system logging out and I am not able to login back

The Linux Guy said...

I hope that Linux distros start supporting these 32 bit UEFI tablets properly in the near future.

jsripples said...

You can invert your screen with

xrandr -o inverted

from a terminal

Tonyrh said...

Thanks for your work Linuxium! Everything works very well on my cherry trail laptop, a YEPO 737S (http://www.gearbest.com/laptops/pp_610148.html) apart from audio.
I see two devices in alsamixer, but I can't get no sound from them through the speakers. I pasted my dmesg here: http://paste.ubuntu.com/24831792/
Thanks again!

Linuxium said...

This is likely an issue with the NVRAM boot entries getting out of sync. Try removing them and recreating them using 'efibootmgr'.

Linuxium said...

Unlikely. They are already dropping 32-bit distros and new devices now make use of 64-bit bootloaders which removes lots of the existing support issues.

Linuxium said...

Did you add the UCM files as above?

Unknown said...

For info on hardware and plus: inxi
sudo apt-get install inxi

inxi -F

System: Host: gerald-SurfTab-twin-11-6 Kernel: 4.12.0-041200rc4-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.10.1 Distro: Ubuntu 17.04
Machine: Device: un-determined System: cube product: SurfTab twin 11.6 v: Hampoo_reserve
Mobo: Hampoo model: Cherry Trail CR v: Hampoo_reserve
UEFI: American Megatrends v: 5.11 date: 02/27/2017
CPU: Quad core Intel Atom x5-Z8350 (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB
clock speeds: max: 1920 MHz 1: 1856 MHz 2: 1797 MHz 3: 812 MHz 4: 1788 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series PCI Configuration Registers
Display Server: X.Org 1.19.3 drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1920x1080@59.93hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (Cherrytrail) GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.0.3
Audio: Card Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Low Power Engine Audio
driver: HdmiLpeAudio
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.12.0-041200rc4-generic
Network: Card: Failed to Detect Network Card!
Drives: HDD Total Size: 2.0GB (Used Error!)
ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: N/A size: 62.5GB
ID-2: USB /dev/sda model: Storage_Device size: 2.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 47G used: 7.8G (17%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/mmcblk0p14
ID-2: /home size: 47G used: 7.8G (17%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/mmcblk0p14
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 59.0C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 215 Uptime: 1:13 Memory: 1008.3/3852.3MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.8

Tonyrh said...

I used the ISO you linked, 'linuxium-v4.12-rc4-artful-desktop-amd64.iso'. It already has the UCM files, right? Do I need to do something else?
Thanks for your reply!

Unknown said...

Hi Goran,
I also had the rotated screen issue so just used the display setting to rotate it 180 which was then saved next time I booted. Although the login screen was still upside down. I have had some interesting trouble with the battery indicator in the system bar, it worked fine, then I installed Solaar for my mouse which then seemed to replace the system battery which I could not get back even with removing Solaar... As far as the SD card, I have some mmc references in dmesg so I think it is finding it but I might have a bad card as I have a -110 error. I will try a new card when I have the chance. Sounds like we are getting there with the Tbook!

ko0n0opi said...

Hey man great work, thanks for your effort. The iso you provided works great in live, I'm installing now to see if the installation goes well. On a side note, I know that some people have gotten used to unity but damn, gnome looks good in ubuntu colors :). Oh and apparently the 4.12-rc4 fixed a battery issue on my machine, where the battery was not recognized, so the indicator would not show. I think I read somewhere that half the 4.12 kernel is drivers, so I guess that was correct. Has any of you had time to test the stability of rc4(?), cause if everything goes well I'm thinking of keeping this as my daily driver for about a month, until I finish my exams and have time to find something more recent by those standards.

Tonyrh said...

As the audio in this laptop seems to be "bytchtnocodec" I added the UCM files from here: https://github.com/plbossart/UCM/tree/master/bytcht-nocodec

Now I have yet another sound output device in the gnome control panel, and also an input sound device but still no audio...

Goran Sevo said...

Thank you jsripples!
Hi Mike, thanks for letting me know. I had battery indicator working only with one 17.04 iso I created with Ian's script (power supply not connected). Otherwise consistently not showing on everything else I tried (haven't had much time to test these days though). TS still not working but I found some useful info & might be making progress (you can PM me @ sevo1984 on Freaktab - sorry I am not good with G+ or other services, and I hope Ian wouldn't mind!). Thank you both, G

Linuxium said...

@Goran: Please post any useful information you find or progress you make for others to benefit from.

Unknown said...

Hi all,
so Ian, if you are happy with it I will keep posting here with my experiences so far?
I will just summmarise that with the new 17.10 iso things have perhaps gone slightly backwards... Wifi is good but the bluetooth although it comes to life wit hthe systemctl command for some strange reason the on/off slider for pairing to a headset refuses to stay on... It worked fine on the 17.04 iso.
Also, any info on the touchscreen would be great, I found a silead kernel module page but no idea if this would be compatible...
Other than that, I did have a slight issue as when I installed 17.10 in exactly the same way as before on the usb stick it seemed to write grub on my mbr! So now I can't boot android, it goes straight to grub... I would quite like to keep the android for now so any suggestions would be great!
Thanks, Mike.

Linuxium said...

It seems that this device (YEPO 737S) isn't using a recognized codec. Do you know or can you find out what the exact audio chip is?

Linuxium said...

Yes, keep posting as others may also have ideas or solutions to contribute. I'll have to look bluetooth on 17.10 in more detail. In terms of dual booting with Android if you are running on a device with the dual 32-bit/64-bit BIOS used for the Windows/Android combo devices then in the past installing Ubuntu depended on which bootloader you ran from. My latest 'isorespin.sh' script fixes this however it will mean that Ubuntu will always install and GRUB written to the default EFI partition. From memory I don't think Android uses GRUB so you would need to find an alternative way to boot both OS.

Linuxium said...

There will still be a few more 'rc' kernels before v4.12 is released in a few weeks so the timing looks good as it will probably be ready for use after your exams.

Tonyrh said...

Windows reports it as "Nuvoton SST Nau88L24". I've found a thread in the alsa devel mailing list (https://www.spinics.net/lists/alsa-devel/msg57505.html) and a github repo (https://github.com/joequant/nau8824/) that seem relevant, but I don't know how to proceed.
Thanks again!

Linuxium said...

As the relevant people seem to be involved I'd watch the message thread you posted to see when a patch is proposed.

ko0n0opi said...

Ok I'll wait for the stable 4.12 and keep this release candidate for testing, the installation didn't succeed either way, so I'll just chill until after the exams to experiment more, I guess I'm stuck with windows for now. Again, great work and thanks a lot.

Goran Sevo said...

Thanks Ian!
O.k. Regarding TS support (in my case Teclast Tbook 16 Power) I did manage to produce one silead_ts.fw file without errors using Win10 extracted SileadTouch.sys following instructions on this link:
https://github.com/philipn1996/gsl-firmware/blob/master/firmware/trekstor/surftab-twin-10.1-ST10432-8/README.md#command-to-find-the-offsets-used-for-extraction
Then I used default parameters for "fwtool" conversion (provided at the very end stage “Convert the firmware.fw_4”, bottom of this page), as I have no idea of "-w" and "-h" for my device (native reolution is 1920x1080).
If my understanding is correct, it should work in combination with gslx680-acpi provided at: https://github.com/onitake/gslx680-acpi
but I haven’t had time for proper testing yet.
The reason for my optimism is that produced file is of very similar size and hex structure to the fw files provided @ onitake firmware repo and for the first time everything worked with no errors.

Goran Sevo said...

I can report that TS is working. Well, "w" and "h" are notably off the limits, needs more playing to find closer values. But xinput_calibrator makes it already perfectly usable. Tried on 16.04.2 isorespun with newest kernel. 16.04 is distro I normally use on all my devices as it is LTC, so I thought to give it a go. It's FAST, honestly!!!:)

Unknown said...

Hi All,

great work on the TS Goran, looks like progress! Any ideas on the BT issue, have you tested it Goran? Thanks,
Mike.

Goran Sevo said...

Hi Mike,
I don’t think that BT issue is necessarily all Linux related E.g. in Windows, I cannot connect to wireless display if Bluetooth mouse is connected. Similarly, occasional WiFi connection problems occur on new SSIDs in Windows. It usually takes a full power cycle or booting to Android to reset.
Anyway, I think that playing with live iso is coming to an end, and it requires real installation for further testing and hopefully good use. In my case, sadly it won’t be 16.04.2 (no sound issue and a few more), I think I’ll stick to 17.04 instead as it does the job for me. Have you installed?
True, SD card would be a best choice but it also requires BIOS tweaking and has a potential risk. They probably made it that way for a reason.. well, sort of:). Do we need to disable eMMC write protected option in BIOS to install? Further, on my device (M5F8) EFI shell is not working which is quite inconvenient..... etc etc. It definitely takes lots of time and patience to avoid bricking. Curently looking for a good step by step installation guide and backup options for the existing configuration (most recent Clonzilla as "disk to image"?). Keep us posted of your experience please.
Goran

Unknown said...

thanks again for the great work and this fine version.

all working but internal audio and sometimes touchscreen.

Desktop: Cinnamon 3.4.1 (Gtk 3.22.15-0ubuntu2)
Distro: Ubuntu Artful Aardvark (development branch)
Machine: Device: desktop System: Hampoo product: E4D6_HI-122LP v: Hampoo_reserve
Mobo: Hampoo model: Cherry Trail CR v: Hampoo_reserve
UEFI: American Megatrends v: 5.11 date: 09/22/2016
CPU: Quad core Intel Atom x5-Z8350 (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB
flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 11520
clock speeds: max: 1920 MHz 1: 1456 MHz 2: 1753 MHz 3: 1037 MHz
4: 1059 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series PCI Configuration Registers
bus-ID: 00:02.0
Display Server: X.Org 1.19.3 drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1600x1024@60.17hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (Cherrytrail)
GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.1.2 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio: Card-1 Intel HDMI/DP LPE Audio driver: HdmiLpeAudio
Card-2 bytcht-nocodec driver: bytcht-nocodec
Sound: ALSA v: k4.12.0-041200rc6-generic
Network: Card: Failed to Detect Network Card!
Drives: HDD Total Size: 64.1GB (59.2% used)
ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 model: N/A size: 62.5GB
ID-2: USB /dev/sda model: Storage_Device size: 64.1GB temp: 0C
Partition: ID-1: / size: 9.6G used: 5.7G (63%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
RAID: No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 53.0C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 255 Uptime: 24 min Memory: 1388.6/3870.1MB
Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 6.3.0
Client: Shell (bash 4.4.121) inxi: 2.3.11


[ 2613.501475] usb 1-4: Product: USB2.0 Hub
[ 2613.503280] hub 1-4:1.0: USB hub found
[ 2613.503650] hub 1-4:1.0: 4 ports detected
[ 2613.801348] usb 1-4.1: new low-speed USB device number 10 using xhci_hcd
[ 2613.914628] usb 1-4.1: New USB device found, idVendor=258a, idProduct=6a88
[ 2613.914646] usb 1-4.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 2613.914658] usb 1-4.1: Product: USB KEYBOARD
[ 2613.914667] usb 1-4.1: Manufacturer: SINO WEALTH
[ 2613.923665] input: SINO WEALTH USB KEYBOARD as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-4/1-4.1/1-4.1:1.0/0003:258A:6A88.0007/input/input14
[ 2613.983702] hid-generic 0003:258A:6A88.0007: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Keyboard [SINO WEALTH USB KEYBOARD] on usb-0000:00:14.0-4.1/input0
[ 2614.002155] input: SINO WEALTH USB KEYBOARD as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-4/1-4.1/1-4.1:1.1/0003:258A:6A88.0008/input/input15
[ 2614.068470] hid-generic 0003:258A:6A88.0008: input,hiddev0,hidraw1: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [SINO WEALTH USB KEYBOARD] on usb-0000:00:14.0-4.1/input1
[ 2701.638490] RTL8723BS: send eapol packet
[ 2701.642002] RTL8723BS: set group key camid:6, addr:a4:b1:e9:d9:83:e5, kid:1, type:AES
[ 3301.659620] RTL8723BS: send eapol packet
[ 3301.661176] RTL8723BS: set group key camid:5, addr:a4:b1:e9:d9:83:e5, kid:2, type:AES
(END)


thanks

Linuxium said...

I think audio requires a patch for the ES8316 Audio Codec which is in linux-next at the moment and hopefully will make it to v4.13.

Goran Sevo said...

Hi all,
Although this post (and the previous few) might not in fact technically belong here, I guess I could finish with this one.
Yesterday I finally installed 17.04 isorespin rc4 and all went really well!
Originally it was my intention to continue testing and not to install, but following 3 subsequent frustrating Windows updates in a day I just had enough and decided to kill the beast at any cost. And it went surprisingly well.
With SD card removed, Install option "Erase the whole disk and install ubuntu", download updates while installing checked.
At the end I had a fully functional Ubuntu installation which runs 2 times faster than Windows 10 (no exaggeration, more accurate might in fact be 3 times faster).
So far, the only two things I noticed not working are "suspend" (it logs off instead), and camera. Haven't checked the rotation and I already commented on functionality of TS several times.
Long story short, I finally have a device on which I can actually do some useful work instead of endlessly figuring out how to get rid of alien OSs:). And I am sure that new kernels will only make this installation only better.
MANY MANY THANKS IAN, YOU ARE MY HERO!
And I owe you a drink when I get Down under in August:)!
Cheers, G

Linuxium said...

Thanks. There are some patches which will hit v4.13-rc1 in a couple of weeks time that look promising for addressing the 'suspend' issue.

raxy said...

hi,i also tried isorespin xubuntu 16.04 and 17.10 for my teclast t16 power with various not 100% success results,i d like to share experience to you t16 users out there,bye theway, great tks to linuxium!

raxy said...

i used latest and atom options,so i get kerneln 4.14 rc5, if i am not mistaken, most annoying issue is tablet not charging once linux is booted,anyone has a clue on w here to search ?

raxy said...

please find here https://pastebin.com/Ju3rpPY0 my dmesg extract, If someone could have a look and give some advice, thanks and happy new year !

Linuxium said...

Your 'dmesg' shows you are using the Ubuntu 4.13.0-21 kernel. Try respinning with the '-u' option as well as the '--atom' option to see how the v4.15-rc7 kernel works.

raxy said...

thanks linuxium :
I did want to try to not redo from scratch (I mean rerun isorespin), so I've found these commands :

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ukuu
sudo ukuu --download v4.15-rc7
sudo ukuu --install v4.15-rc7

reboot, choose this kernel in grub menu,
no issue during boot time,

and now I can see a more normal battery gauge ico, with some plausible status and percentage

raxy said...

And now, the new dmesg is visible here https://pastebin.com/g4XJwZvL
is there any hidden issue in there ?

Linuxium said...

An alternative to using 'ukuu' is to download the (amd64) kernel image (generic) directly from 'http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.15-rc7' using 'wget' and install using 'sudo dpkg -i linux-image...deb'.

Your 'dmesg' shows you are missing firmware for your touchscreen (silead/mssl1680.fw). You can probably find it on 'https://github.com/onitake/gsl-firmware' or ask on support pages dedicated to your device. Otherwise everything looks okay based on a quick glance.

raxy said...

thanks for the tip, i ve learnt a new thing.
the worst remaining unsolved issue is the status never switching to"charging" (i use the native power adapter and cable ,they do charge this device when linux is off);thanks to a meter ,i can see the current never going beyond .5 amp, confirming the icon status and values behind it

raxy said...

new info after tests:
tablet charges at 2+ amps, but only if charger has been plugged before switching on the tablet and booting linux

raxy said...

other things not working on this Teclast X16 power :
- headphones never get any sound, while internal speaker work ok.
- touchscreen : I've git clone and built the firmware like this...
git clone https://github.com/onitake/gslx680-acpi.git
cd gslx680-acpi/
make
sudo insmod ./gslx680_ts_acpi.ko
lsmod sees the driver,

BUT...
dmesg shows big issue :

[ 659.934698] gslx680_ts_acpi: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel.
[ 659.934882] gslx680_ts_acpi: module verification failed: signature and/or required key missing - tainting kernel
[ 659.946662] gslx680 i2c-MSSL1680:00: gsl_ts_probe: got a device named MSSL1680:00 at address 0x40, IRQ 124, flags 0x0
[ 659.948752] gslx680 i2c-MSSL1680:00: Direct firmware load for silead_ts.fw failed with error -2
[ 659.948761] gslx680 i2c-MSSL1680:00: gsl_ts_probe: failed to load firmware: -2
[ 659.949029] gslx680: probe of i2c-MSSL1680:00 failed with error -2

raxy said...

maybe two solutions here: https://askubuntu.com/questions/773734/how-to-install-module-ko-module-without-kernel-signature-or-kernel-rebuild-in-ub
as I cannot easily rebuild the kernel, I all try the other option to build a signed module

Linuxium said...

Your earlier 'dmesg' showed you were just missing the firmware file 'silead/mssl1680.fw'. Why not just get this file from 'https://github.com/onitake/gsl-firmware' and try it first?

raxy said...

hi, I got the .fw and applied the instructions from here: https://github.com/edward-p/mssl1680-firmware
(could not find any mssl1680.fw in https://github.com/onitake/gsl-firmware)

rebooted
can get TS kinda work, but not as expected (inverted y movements, and cursor does not get out of a small area

Linuxium said...

Did you try 'https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Calibrating_Touchscreen#Your_screen'?

raxy said...

yes, but sadly I did not manage to get any better result. I give up on touch screen, bu the way, I kept on using ukuu, and kernel 4.15.10 is running OK here!

raxy said...

Hi guys, on my 17.10 xubuntu teclast x16 power, the charging system does not work as expected :
- if I plug the charging cable while the tablet is off, it charges at ~2.5A
- if I plug the charging cable while the tablet is already ON, it charges at 0.45A!
anyone has a clue on where to try to find a fix to this issue please ? tks, regards.

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