installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

JasonMehmel · 2016-08-08 05:29:36

Hey all,

One of my last posts was complaining about laptop weight, so I decided to go the other way and get a super-light ultrabook. I just picked one up, downloaded the BL ISO, and went to give it a try before installing.

(I've already been lurking, I used some info on here to fix the UEFI booting problem!)

Turns out the touchpad doesn't work, at least with the 3.16 kernel, according to my googling. Everything else seems to work okay. An Ubuntu thread indicates that kernel 3.5 has a fix, and another user on reddit indicates that it's working for them in 4.5rc1.

I'm thinking that if I do the basic BL install, I could just upgrade the kernel from there, right?

Am I on the right track here? How much can I bork my system by using a kernel that far from stable?

And lastly, can I get some directions towards upgrading the kernel once I've got the baseline BL installed?

damo · 2016-08-08 05:38:44

JasonMehmel wrote:

...
And lastly, can I get some directions towards upgrading the kernel once I've got the baseline BL installed?

Well, you could look in the "Getting Started" help section of the forum How to install a newer kernel version in BunsenLabs

If you 'update-grub' after installing a new kernel, then you can choose to boot any of the kernels you have, in the grub boot screen menu. Which means that you can go back to an older one if there are problems.

JasonMehmel · 2016-08-08 05:52:32

*facepalm*

I'd done all my other searching but not for what I actually asked the question for. But thanks for linking to that!

Question, though... will following those directions give me the newest kernel released, or can I choose among them?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-08-08 07:38:33

JasonMehmel wrote:

will following those directions give me the newest kernel released, or can I choose among them?

It's probably best to stick with linux-image-amd64 as this is a metapackage that will keep the kernel updated to the latest available version.

There are other kernel types if you have a specific requirement, for example the realtime and the grsec patched kernels.

You can use this command to show all the versions available:

apt search linux-image

You should use a metapackage (the ones without a specific kernel version number attached) to keep the kernel updated, this is *very* important.

JasonMehmel · 2016-08-08 18:23:16

Okay... so I've followed the directions and now I've got 4.6 downloaded and available. But when I try to boot into it, I get a few messages that disappear before I can read them, and then a blinking cursor at the top right of the screen with no responsiveness.

Maybe I need to go to a different kernel?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-08-08 19:31:54

JasonMehmel wrote:

when I try to boot into it, I get a few messages that disappear before I can read them, and then a blinking cursor at the top right of the screen with no responsiveness.

OK, so your system has booted but there is a problem with the graphics drivers.

Can you switch to a console screen with <Ctrl>+<Alt>+F2?

What is your graphics hardware?

lspci -knn|grep -iA2 'vga\|3d'

If you have an NVIDIA card and you installed your drivers direct from NVIDIA then you may have just discovered why it is best to use the versions from Debian

Or perhaps you need to disable kernel modesetting.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ke … odesetting
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ke … eters#GRUB

JasonMehmel · 2016-08-08 19:55:34

here's what comes back:
(hand typed from the laptop screen, so forgive errors)

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:191e] (rev 07)
     Subsystem: ASUSTek Computer Inc. Device [1043:1cfd]
     Kernel driver in use: i915

Going from the Arch links you sent, maybe I should add:

nomodeset i915.modeset=0

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-08-08 20:00:10

JasonMehmel wrote:

Going from the Arch links you sent, maybe I should add:
nomodeset i915.modeset=0

Just nomodeset should do it but you can try both if that doesn't work.

JasonMehmel · 2016-08-08 20:12:51

Is there a way to see the log of responses that came when trying to boot into 4.6?

Also, I just tried booting off of an Ubuntu stick that's running 4.4, and the trackpad works! As well as sound... Not sure if that means that 4.4 is the better option or if Ubuntu has some extra drivers built in or something?

JasonMehmel · 2016-08-08 20:19:15

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Just nomodeset should do it but you can try both if that doesn't work.

I tried to add nomodeset to the GRUB (following the notes from the links) but it didn't work... can I get some hints about where I would place that in GRUB? Is it wrapped into any of the other commands?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-08-08 20:22:50

JasonMehmel wrote:

Is there a way to see the log of responses that came when trying to boot into 4.6?

Boot into your working kernel and examine the systemd journal for the previous boot.

You will have to edit the file at /etc/systemd/journald.conf and un-comment and edit this line:

Storage=persistent

Usage guide for `journalctl` here:
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/ … stemd-logs

JasonMehmel wrote:

Also, I just tried booting off of an Ubuntu stick that's running 4.4, and the trackpad works! As well as sound... Not sure if that means that 4.4 is the better option or if Ubuntu has some extra drivers built in or something?

It is highly unlikely that trackpad support in 4.4 has been hit by a regression in 4.6 so it could be that Ubuntu have added a patch for support; they tend to do that and then not feed the patches back upstream to Debian

However, it could also be a simple configuration issue -- are there any trackpad-related messages in ~/.xsession-errors or /var/log/Xorg.0.log or in the systemd journal?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-08-08 20:25:05

JasonMehmel wrote:

I tried to add nomodeset to the GRUB (following the notes from the links)

I'm not psychic Jason -- you need to post exactly what you tried, in as much detail as possible.

The second ArchWiki link is quite clear, IMO.

JasonMehmel · 2016-08-08 20:32:08

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

I'm not psychic Jason -- you need to post exactly what you tried, in as much detail as possible.

Fair enough. Sorry for being obtuse: normally I do try to copy-and-paste the responses to my attempts but I'm getting lazy since this is on a laptop that I can't get the GUI working in, if that makes sense. But I promise I'll get clearer in what I've tried.

JasonMehmel · 2016-08-08 20:49:15

All I'm getting from the journal are messages like this:

Starting Paths.
Reached target Paths.
Starting Timers.
Reached target Timers.
Starting Sockets.
Reached target Sockets.
Starting Basic System.
Reached target Basic System.
Starting Default.
Reached target Default.
Startup finished in 6ms.

I'm going to retry adding nomodeset to the grub...

JasonMehmel · 2016-08-08 20:54:09

Got nomodeset to work! I'm into the GUI and the trackpad is working, as well as sound.

Hooray!

Of course, now I've discovered the networking doesn't appear to be working; it's not autodiscovering the wifi. Working on getting some logs from that now.

Last edited by JasonMehmel (2016-08-08 21:07:11)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-08-08 20:59:57

JasonMehmel wrote:

networking doesn't appear to be working

Intel wireless card, perhaps?

sudo apt install firmware-iwlwifi/jessie-backports

https://packages.debian.org/jessie-back … re-iwlwifi

JasonMehmel · 2016-08-08 21:10:19

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Intel wireless card, perhaps?
sudo apt install firmware-iwlwifi/jessie-backports
https://packages.debian.org/jessie-back … re-iwlwifi

I'll give that a try! Dumb question time:

If I install that in the 3.16 kernel version of BL, will it be available to the 4.4 version when I boot back into it?

Thank you so much for your help.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-08-08 21:13:02

JasonMehmel wrote:

If I install that in the 3.16 kernel version of BL, will it be available to the 4.4 version when I boot back into it?

Yes, it will.

The firmware is installed to /lib/firmware and will remain there regardless of the booted kernel version.

Thank you so much for your help.

You're welcome

JasonMehmel · 2016-08-08 21:28:36

Okay! That seemed to do it!

nomodeset has me into the GUI and it seems like the intel wireless card install has the wireless working! The sound works, too. (That wasn't working for a little while.)

This bodes well for me keeping the laptop! I have a week to play around on it before I have to return it...

Now that I've done all this, I've been wondering about being on this higher kernel. Am I basically running the risk of some of the programs not working correctly because they haven't been tested at this level of the kernel? Or is more about security issues?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-08-08 21:32:04

JasonMehmel wrote:

Or is more about security issues?

^ This.

As long as your kernel is kept updated (via the metapackage) then the risk is minimised but the testing kernel version can never be as secure as the stable version because any new features introduce the risk of more vulnerabilities.

EDIT: this does not apply to the grsec kernel which is orders of magnitude more secure than the vanilla kernel albeit with a performance and functionality penalty.

There could also be regressions but you can be a good egg and bisect them for the Linux community:
https://wiki.debian.org/DebianKernel/GitBisect
O:)

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2016-08-08 21:34:06)

#1 2016-08-08 05:29:36

installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#2 2016-08-08 05:38:44

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#3 2016-08-08 05:52:32

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#4 2016-08-08 07:38:33

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#5 2016-08-08 18:23:16

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#6 2016-08-08 19:31:54

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#7 2016-08-08 19:55:34

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#8 2016-08-08 20:00:10

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#9 2016-08-08 20:12:51

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#10 2016-08-08 20:19:15

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#11 2016-08-08 20:22:50

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#12 2016-08-08 20:25:05

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#13 2016-08-08 20:32:08

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#14 2016-08-08 20:49:15

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#15 2016-08-08 20:54:09

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#16 2016-08-08 20:59:57

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#17 2016-08-08 21:10:19

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#18 2016-08-08 21:13:02

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#19 2016-08-08 21:28:36

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

#20 2016-08-08 21:32:04

Re: installing on asus zenbook UX305, with an upgraded Kernel?

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