usplash flickery/distorted on Dell Inspiron 2600 (Intel 830M chipset)

[Gabriel Bauman]

The framebuffer driver used by usplash (vga16fb) does not function correctly on
the Intel 830M chipset. The usplash image appears, but flickers badly. The
image is stretched lengthwise and is off-centre. Also, the scrolling text
continues off the bottom of the screen, then wraps onto the top of the image
above the ubuntu logo.

I should note that this is definitely a framebuffer issue, since the ubuntu
installer (also using vga16fb) appears with the same artifacts if I don't pass
debian-installer/framebuffer=false to the kernel.

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

(In reply to comment #0)
> I should note that this is definitely a framebuffer issue, since the ubuntu
> installer (also using vga16fb) appears with the same artifacts if I don't pass
> debian-installer/framebuffer=false to the kernel.

...in which case, it's a Linux bug, and not a usplash bug. Reassigning.

[Ben Collins (ben-collins)]

Recently, in Dapper 2.6.15-8 kernels, vga16fb was changed to default to a more
compatible 640x400 screen resolution. This should alleviate any problems that
users were experiencing with corrupt video either during install, or when
booting with usplash.

If possible, please upgrade to Dapper's 2.6.15-8 kernel. If you do not want to
upgrade to Dapper, then you can also wait for the Dapper Flight 2 CD's, which
are due out within the next few days.

Let me know if this bug still exists with this kernel.

[Gabriel Bauman (gabrielbauman)]

(In reply to comment #2)
> If possible, please upgrade to Dapper's 2.6.15-8 kernel. If you do not want to
> upgrade to Dapper, then you can also wait for the Dapper Flight 2 CD's, which
> are due out within the next few days.

I don't have time to install an entire Dapper release at this time. Is it
possible/advisable to install just the dapper kernel packages into a Breezy
install? If so, should I just download the packages manually and dpkg -i them?

If this isn't possible, I'll try things out with the Colony CDs in the next
while and will get back to you then.

[Ben Collins (ben-collins)]

(In reply to comment #3)
> I don't have time to install an entire Dapper release at this time. Is it
> possible/advisable to install just the dapper kernel packages into a Breezy
> install? If so, should I just download the packages manually and dpkg -i them?

It is possible to upgrade, if you update /etc/apt/sources.list to point to
dapper instead of breezy, and then do:

apt-get install linux-686 usplash

Replace "686" with whatever kernel you normally use (e.g. 386, 686, k7).
WARNING: You cannot downgrade, nor run your 2.6.12 kernel once doing this. You
will be able to boot back to 2.6.12, but because udev is not compatible, you may
not see all of your devices (USB storage, network, etc).

> If this isn't possible, I'll try things out with the Colony CDs in the next
> while and will get back to you then.

Not Colony, the dapper dev cd's are called Flight, and right now you can
download Flight 2 (fresh off the server!).

[Brad Pitcher (bradpitcher)]

> Let me know if this bug still exists with this kernel.

This fixes it for me on my Asus A6U.

[Ben Collins (ben-collins)]

(In reply to comment #5)
> > Let me know if this bug still exists with this kernel.
>
> This fixes it for me on my Asus A6U.

Thanks for testing.