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linux-newbee and so many instances to ask

Author Replies
Stargreeter Friday 16 October 2015 at 13:48
StargreeterAnonymous

I am new to linux and installed it on a laptop. Before i did it, there had been windows 8.1 pro enterprise on it and in between a windows 10 preview. i erased the hdd and installed linux ubuntu.

I recognized some strange behavior by now, which i didn't expected.

The laptop doesn't shut down, never. It freezes instead within the process.
This hasn't been an issue before.

When starting or within games i often recognize, that i get the wrong keyboard. I turned on a german keyboard, but well, starting the laptop, opening gedit and *bam* i am writing with an English keyboard, while in the upper right it shows a "DE" for german keyboard to be active. I have to switch to the english keyboard and then back to german, to get it.

In games (not just one, all?) i get a bug with the keys. the software just recognizes "w" to be pressed all the time, which sets my chars to become running all the time and in an old game, where the mouse is less involved, i can do nothing more than changing the direction, unable even to open a menu or save or whatever.
This behavior don't occurs from the beginning, but it seems to start "sometimes". Opening the terminal then shows (well, this works ...), that the hardware is okay - the terminal don't recognizes a durable "w"-input. There is no broken "w"-key. I cannot reproduce this behavior on free will.

Because i have some (really ugly) performance problems in two games -
(neverwinter mmo is discussed elsewhere; and in the very old game "dungeon lords" it
seems, the game is lagging more and more with exploring of the world map - entering
a building and the lag is gone as long as you stay there; but this game is THAT old,
there shouldn't be such an issue at all)

- i looked around a lot. At least i changed something in the bios and enabled something about "virtualization". Now i get a lot of textlines starting the laptop and when trying to shut it down (before it freezes, look above). I dunno, what to think about it. And well, I dunno even, what this feature is doing anyway - it just sounds useful (or necessary?) to me, to get a better performance (just a hope).

Manufacturers Info: HP 15-r022ng Notebook PC Product Specifications

(http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-15-Notebook-PC-series/6875200/model/7234003/)

Product Name: 15-r022ng
Product Number: J3R38EA
Microprocessor: Intel Celeron N2830 with Intel HD Graphics (2.41 GHz, 1 MB cache, 2 cores)
Memory: 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3L SDRAM (1 x 4 GB)
Video Graphics: Intel HD Graphics
Hard Drive: 500 GB 5400 rpm SATA
Multimedia Drive: SuperMulti DVD burner
Display: 39.6 cm (15.6") diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit (1366 x 768)
Network Card: Integrated 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet LAN
Wireless Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n (1x1)
Sound: Dual speakers
Keyboard: Full-size island-style with numeric keypad
Pointing Device: Touchpad with multi-touch gesture support
(I installed a usb-mouse and don't care about the pad)

(they do offer a "ubuntu manual" - but it is of no help - well, i take it as a sign, that it should work)

Phoronix Suite shows this sys-info:
Hardware:

Processor: Intel Celeron N2830 @ 2.42GHz (2 Cores), Motherboard: HP 2213 v57.23, Chipset: Intel ValleyView SSA-CUnit, Memory: 4096MB, Disk: 500GB HGST HTS545050A7, Graphics: Intel ValleyView Gen7 (749MHz), Audio: Intel ValleyView HD Audio, Network: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E + Realtek RTL8188EE Wireless

The system-info in ubuntu tells, that graphics is "intel(R) Bay Trail" -
When I get it right, "Bay Trail" is a kind of socket/architecture and there are valleyview chips on it.

Software:
Linux Ubuntu 14.04(.3) LTS "Trusty Tahr"; Kernel 3.19.0-30-generic (#34~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Fri Oct 2 22:09:39 UTC 2015); GCC version 4.8 (x86_64-linux-gnu); Desktop Unity 7.2.5; Display Server X Server (Xorg version) 1.17.1; Display Driver intel 2.99.917 (by x.org); OpenGL 3.3 Mesa 10.5.9 (exactly: Vendor: Intel Open Source Technology Center; Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Bay Trail; Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.5.9; Max simultaneous textures: 8; Max texture size: 8192); Compiler GCC 4.8.4; Gnome 3.8.4

I rely on ubuntu support and changed nothing on that. (I do not even know, what all these progs do.)

 

There are so many instances involved: Hardware, Bios, OS (ubuntu), drivers (x.org, intel open source, ...), wine, pol, games themself - as a newbee i hardly know, where to ask - and sometimes an overview, about what doesn't seem to be ok, may be a better way to find causes than to take every symptom or single cough as a single error. Troubleshooting is something in between a science on its own right and a game of pure luck. OO =( :D

Edited by Stargreeter


I am an old veteran gamer from times of C=64 on - used to ms-dos and basic - but i prefer linux ubuntu trusty tahr and dislike windy win-doh!-s and nasty nsa and webwielding whackers and spying spiders - face me in a dungeon and i'll show you (you mobs)!
petch Friday 16 October 2015 at 19:54
petch

Hi,

The laptop doesn't shut down, never. It freezes instead within the process.

This hasn't been an issue before.

Most likely the developers that customized the BIOS for the laptop tested their work with Windows, and when it worked called it a day.

Of course BIOS interface must follow specifications, but in the end all what matters to laptop manufacturers is compatibility with the OS they ship it with, which means that any hole in the specifications, any bogus Windows behavior not following the standards but that the BIOS must nevertheless be compatible with, is an occasion for variance and a potential issue for other OSes.

The fact that laptop BIOSes are more tweaked makes it more likely to have problems.

- i looked around a lot. At least i changed something in the bios and enabled something about "virtualization". Now i get a lot of textlines starting the laptop and when trying to shut it down (before it freezes, look above). I dunno, what to think about it. And well, I dunno even, what this feature is doing anyway - it just sounds useful (or necessary?) to me, to get a better performance (just a hope).

Can't tell without the exact name, VT-x maybe?
If so it should only matter when running virtual machines (which Wine isn't). 

Because i have some (really ugly) performance problems in two games -

I'd avoid Intel video chips under Linux.

Secondly, as long as emulation is involved, overhead (hence lower "performance") is to be expected.

When starting or within games i often recognize, that i get the wrong keyboard. I turned on a german keyboard, but well, starting the laptop, opening gedit and *bam* i am writing with an English keyboard, while in the upper right it shows a "DE" for german keyboard to be active. I have to switch to the english keyboard and then back to german, to get it.

In games (not just one, all?) i get a bug with the keys. the software just recognizes "w" to be pressed all the time, which sets my chars to become running all the time and in an old game, where the mouse is less involved, i can do nothing more than changing the direction, unable even to open a menu or save or whatever.
This behavior don't occurs from the beginning, but it seems to start "sometimes". Opening the terminal then shows (well, this works ...), that the hardware is okay - the terminal don't recognizes a durable "w"-input. There is no broken "w"-key. I cannot reproduce this behavior on free will.

Looks like Wine issues with keyboard translation, including probably some keyboard events that must be lost along the chain...

There are so many instances involved: Hardware, Bios, OS (ubuntu), drivers (x.org, intel open source, ...), wine, pol, games themself - as a newbee i hardly know, where to ask - and sometimes an overview, about what doesn't seem to be ok, may be a better way to find causes than to take every symptom or single cough as a single error. Troubleshooting is something in between a science on its own right and a game of pure luck. OO =( :D

Emulation adds complexity indeed. And software combinaisons that have not been tested/are not supported by game developers.

I'm always amazed by what Wine can achieve.

Edited by petch

Stargreeter Sunday 18 October 2015 at 19:59
StargreeterAnonymous

If so it should only matter when running virtual machines (which Wine isn't).

Quote

Ah, thanks, well yes, in the description it is  related to "virtual machines". Disabled it again.

And damn, the text-lines are still there and while booting i get from those text directly to the login. before i changed anything there had been a "ubuntu"-screen instead of all those messages.

 

well, i learned long ago computers just would do, what the user commands them to do ... harrharrharr!


I am an old veteran gamer from times of C=64 on - used to ms-dos and basic - but i prefer linux ubuntu trusty tahr and dislike windy win-doh!-s and nasty nsa and webwielding whackers and spying spiders - face me in a dungeon and i'll show you (you mobs)!

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