upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

sexynsmartjenny · 2018-02-02 00:57:15

Hi, I recently install matlab and I was using it, but I immediately ran into a problem. It says

Warning: MATLAB has disabled some advanced graphics rendering features by
switching to software OpenGL. For more information, click here.

And when clicked on the page, well this is what the page says

Resolving Low-Level Graphics Issues
MATLAB® can encounter low-level issues when creating graphics on your system. For example, bar edges might be missing from bar charts, stems might be missing from stem plots, or your graphics hardware might run out of memory. You can encounter these issues while creating 2-D or 3-D charts, using a Simulink® model that contains scopes, or using UIs from a MathWorks® toolbox. These issues are often due to older graphics hardware or outdated graphics drivers. To resolve them, try the options described here.
Upgrade Your Graphics Hardware Drivers
Choose OpenGL Implementation for Your System
Fix Out-of-Memory Issues
Contact Technical Support
Upgrade Your Graphics Hardware Drivers
Graphics hardware vendors frequently provide updated graphics drivers that improve hardware performance. To help ensure that your graphics hardware works with MATLAB, upgrade your graphics drivers to the latest versions available.
On Windows® systems, check for driver updates on the website of your manufacturer, such as Lenovo®, HP®, or Dell®. If no updates are provided, then check the website of your graphics hardware vendor, such as AMD, NVIDIA, or Intel.
On Linux® systems, use proprietary vendor drivers instead of open-source replacements.
On Macintosh systems, the graphics drivers are part of the operating system. Use the latest updates provided.
Use graphics hardware that supports a hardware-accelerated implementation of OpenGL® 2.1 or later. Most graphics hardware released since 2006 has OpenGL 2.1 or later. If you have an earlier version of OpenGL, most graphics features still work, but some advanced graphics features are unavailable. For the best performance, OpenGL 3.3 or later is recommended. For more information on determining your graphics hardware, see opengl.
Choose OpenGL Implementation for Your System
MATLAB renders graphics using either a hardware-accelerated, basic hardware-accelerated, or software implementation of OpenGL. By default, MATLAB tries to use a hardware-accelerated implementation if your graphics hardware supports it. You can work around many graphics issues by switching to either a software implementation or a basic hardware-accelerated implementation. These alternate implementations do not support some advanced graphics features.
In some cases, MATLAB automatically switches to a software OpenGL implementation:
If you do not have graphics hardware or if your graphics hardware does not support hardware OpenGL.
If a previous MATLAB session crashed due to a graphics issue.
If you are using a graphics driver with known issues, an older NVIDIA® graphics driver, or graphics virtualization. Update your graphics drivers to the latest versions available.
The availability of hardware OpenGL when using remote desktop on Windows systems varies. If you try to use hardware OpenGLwhen it is not supported, MATLAB returns a warning message and uses software OpenGL instead. It is possible that updating your graphics drivers to the latest versions will enable support for hardware OpenGL.
To determine which implementation MATLAB is using, type opengl info at the command prompt and check the Software and HardwareSupportLevel fields. For more information, see opengl.
Specify OpenGL Implementation for Current Session
To specify the OpenGL implementation for the current session of MATLAB, use one of these techniques.
Software OpenGL — Start MATLAB from the command prompt on your system using the command matlab -softwareopengl. This command works only Windows and Linux systems. Macintosh systems do not support software OpenGL.
Basic hardware-accelerated OpenGL — Type opengl hardwarebasic at the MATLAB command prompt.
Hardware-accelerated OpenGL — Type opengl hardware at the MATLAB command prompt.
Specify OpenGL Implementation for Future Sessions
To set your preferences so that MATLAB always starts with the specified implementation of OpenGL, use one of these techniques.
Software OpenGL — Type opengl('save','software') at the MATLAB command prompt. Then, restart MATLAB.
Basic hardware-accelerated OpenGL — Type opengl('save','hardwarebasic') at the MATLAB command prompt. Then, restart MATLAB.
Hardware-accelerated OpenGL — Type opengl('save','hardware') at the MATLAB command prompt. Then, restart MATLAB.
Undo preference setting — Execute opengl('save','none') at the MATLAB command line. Then, restart MATLAB.
Fix Out-of-Memory Issues
Graphics hardware with limited graphics memory can cause poor performance or lead to out-of-memory issues. Improve performance and work around memory issues with these changes:
Use smaller figure windows.
Turn off anti-aliasing by setting the GraphicsSmoothing property of the figure to 'off'.
Do not use transparency.
Use software OpenGL.
Contact Technical Support
If you cannot resolve the issues using the options described here, then you might have encountered a bug in MATLAB. Contact MathWorks technical support and provide the following information:
Output of executing opengl info.
Whether your code runs without error when using software OpenGL.
Whether your code runs without error on a different computer. Provide the output of opengl info for all computers you have tested your code on.
Some error messages contain a link to a file with details about the graphics error you encountered. If a link to this file is provided, include this file with your service request.
Create a Service Request at http://www.mathworks.com/support/contact_us.

Basically it tells me that I need to use proprietary vendor drivers instead of open-source replacements or use openGL, if I understood it correctly. So anyone has any idea how I can do it in linux?

tknomanzr · 2018-02-02 01:41:39

For Nvidia cards:
https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers
For AMD cards:
https://wiki.debian.org/ATIProprietary

sexynsmartjenny · 2018-02-02 02:54:35

okay let me try those and I will report back in a jiffy.
p.s. I just want to make sure the lastest version of bunsenlabs is debian jesse correct?

okay this is what I did so far. I entered the code

lspci -nn | grep '\[03'

and detected my graphic driver to be

00:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kabini [Radeon HD 8210] [1002:9834]

Then I updated my sourcelist with the extra codes and installed

install linux-headers-$(uname -r|sed 's,[^-]*-[^-]*-,,') fglrx-driver

But now I need to "Create an Xorg server configuration file"

This part gives me nightmare because I remember back in the crunchbang days, when I did it, I entered some wrong codes and was completely locked out of my laptop and had to go through hell to get it up working.

Is it possible if you could give me step by step instruction on how to create an Xorg server configuration file?

Anyway, okay, so I am going to follow the instruction as on the website, and now I am going to enter the codes

# mkdir /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
# echo -e 'Section "Device"\n\tIdentifier "My GPU"\n\tDriver "fglrx"\nEndSection' > /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-fglrx.conf

And if I restart my pc and can't login to my operating system anymore, then i guess ... I will need more advice.

Last edited by sexynsmartjenny (2018-02-02 03:17:36)

sexynsmartjenny · 2018-02-02 03:38:10

okay I just nocticed, when I typed in

sudo echo -e 'Section "Device"\n\tIdentifier "My GPU"\n\tDriver "fglrx"\nEndSection' > /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-fglrx.conf

it became back saying permission denied, but I am root!

Last edited by sexynsmartjenny (2018-02-02 03:38:30)

stevep · 2018-02-02 03:41:46

Usually the open radeon driver is pretty good, and does not require an xorg.conf file. However it does need non-free firmware, so I'd try that first.

Free drivers: https://wiki.debian.org/AtiHowTo

sexynsmartjenny · 2018-02-02 04:04:33

stevep wrote:

Usually the open radeon driver is pretty good, and does not require an xorg.conf file. However it does need non-free firmware, so I'd try that first.
Free drivers: https://wiki.debian.org/AtiHowTo

hi I am going to run the code

apt-get install firmware-linux-nonfree libgl1-mesa-dri xserver-xorg-video-ati

In addition to what I already did.

This will not crash my computer right? I still haven't restarted my laptop because back in the crunchbang days once you restart your computer, you might never be able to recover again!

tynman · 2018-02-02 04:08:31

The AMD Kabini video chip is based on AMD's GCN/Sea Islands architecture, and (in my admittedly limited experience) do not work properly with the open source Radeon driver (specifically, resolution limited to 1024x768). For me, the closed source fglrx driver works better for these chips. On my system though, I did not need to create an Xorg server configuration file. Maybe try the fglrx driver but skip the config file?

tknomanzr · 2018-02-02 04:14:56

It is probably better to do:

aticonfig --initial

This will create a default xorg.conf file for you. You may need to run it with sudo permissions.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2018-02-02 07:17:44

^ The xorg configuration file posted in the Debian wiki (and by the OP earlier in the thread) is enough, I have used it with my AMD laptop.

sexynsmartjenny wrote:

it became back saying permission denied, but I am root!

That's because the `sudo` command stopped working after that ">" symbol.

Try this instead:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
sudo tee /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-fglrx.conf <<!
Section "Device"
    Identifier "My GPU"
    Driver "fglrx"
EndSection
!

As you can see, it's only a four-line file

BunsenLabs already has the firmware btw.

sexynsmartjenny · 2018-02-02 13:30:11

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

^ The xorg configuration file posted in the Debian wiki (and by the OP earlier in the thread) is enough, I have used it with my AMD laptop.
sexynsmartjenny wrote:
it became back saying permission denied, but I am root!
That's because the `sudo` command stopped working after that ">" symbol.
Try this instead:
sudo mkdir -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
sudo tee /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-fglrx.conf <<!
Section "Device"
    Identifier "My GPU"
    Driver "fglrx"
EndSection
!
As you can see, it's only a four-line file
BunsenLabs already has the firmware btw.

Hi head on a stick, I went to sleep last night with the pc on and did not execute the last four lines of code and when I woke up this morning my pc is blanked out. I can no longer go to my os and when I restarted it only shows a blank screen with a single blinking dash. Please help.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2018-02-02 18:11:40

sexynsmartjenny wrote:

I went to sleep last night with the pc on and did not execute the last four lines of code

I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand you properly

What exactly did you do before falling asleep?

If you entered everything up to the "<<!" bit then the configuration file was not created.

That you now have graphical issues is somewhat at odds with this so you really need to tell us what you did last and what was left out of my instructions.

If the configuration file was created but the "fglrx" driver not present on your system then that would explain your situation — the file is forcing a video driver that does not exist.

Anyway, not to worry, I'm sure we can fix this

Can you swap to a console (TTY) screen by using <Ctrl>+<Alt>+F3?

If you can then log in at the console screen and try removing the configuration file:

sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-fglrx.conf

If you can't get a TTY screen to appear then you will have to load our "live" ISO image and delete the file using that instead.

We should also check if the fglrx driver has been built on your system (you say that you ran the commands but you didn't mention if the driver was actually built and that doesn't always happen even if the correct commands are used).

apt-cache policy fglrx-driver

stevep · 2018-02-02 19:24:11

You can also tell the fglrx drivers to rebuild, hopefully this time while you are more awake. Watch the output for any glaring error or fail messages.

sudo dpkg-reconfigure fglrx-modules-dkms

Or it just might be that MatLab wants some particular openGL feature that the free driver doesn't have, but that fglrx has, or a certain minimum version of openGL, like obs-studio requires 3.2 It also works the other way around...when I had a laptop with a AMD APU on a Jessie base, Google Earth would only work with the free drivers, not fglrx (widely known on the Net).

Or MatLab might just magically start working if you upgraded to Helium!

Last edited by stevep (2018-02-02 19:36:46)

sexynsmartjenny · 2018-02-02 21:08:15

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

sexynsmartjenny wrote:
I went to sleep last night with the pc on and did not execute the last four lines of code
I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand you properly
What exactly did you do before falling asleep?
If you entered everything up to the "<<!" bit then the configuration file was not created.
That you now have graphical issues is somewhat at odds with this so you really need to tell us what you did last and what was left out of my instructions.
If the configuration file was created but the "fglrx" driver not present on your system then that would explain your situation — the file is forcing a video driver that does not exist.
Anyway, not to worry, I'm sure we can fix this
Can you swap to a console (TTY) screen by using <Ctrl>+<Alt>+F3?
If you can then log in at the console screen and try removing the configuration file:
sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-fglrx.conf
If you can't get a TTY screen to appear then you will have to load our "live" ISO image and delete the file using that instead.
We should also check if the fglrx driver has been built on your system (you say that you ran the commands but you didn't mention if the driver was actually built and that doesn't always happen even if the correct commands
are used).
apt-cache policy fglrx-driver

Hi stick, when I tried to remove it says no such file exists and yet I still cannot log back to my normal operating desktop. I’m browsing this forum with my iPhone right now sorry for quoting your entire post it’s hard to type with my thumb

sexynsmartjenny · 2018-02-02 21:17:29

stevep wrote:

You can also tell the fglrx drivers to rebuild, hopefully this time while you are more awake. Watch the output for any glaring error or fail messages.
sudo dpkg-reconfigure fglrx-modules-dkms
Or it just might be that MatLab wants some particular openGL feature that the free driver doesn't have, but that fglrx has, or a certain minimum version of openGL, like obs-studio requires 3.2 It also works the other way around...when I had a laptop with a AMD APU on a Jessie base, Google Earth would only work with the free drivers, not fglrx (widely known on the Net).
Or MatLab might just magically start working if you upgraded to Helium!

I tried to rebuild but it still didn’t work

sexynsmartjenny · 2018-02-02 21:33:02

Okay finally! I came back to my normal screen. What I did was, I went to TTY and run the follow code

sudo mkdir -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
sudo tee /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-fglrx.conf <<!
Section "Device"
    Identifier "My GPU"
    Driver "fglrx"
EndSection
!

So I do have whatever driver that I was supposed to upgrade to correct?

p.s. dear head on a stick, this is what I have when I ran

apt-cache policy fglrx-driver

fglrx-driver:
  Installed: 1:15.9-4~deb8u2
  Candidate: 1:15.9-4~deb8u2
  Version table:
     1:15.12-2~bpo8+4 0
        100 http://deb.debian.org/debian/ jessie-backports/non-free amd64 Packages
 *** 1:15.9-4~deb8u2 0
        500 http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/ jessie/non-free amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Last edited by sexynsmartjenny (2018-02-02 21:35:20)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2018-02-03 09:52:07

sexynsmartjenny wrote:

So I do have whatever driver that I was supposed to upgrade to correct?

Looks like it, yes

You can check the file with

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-fglrx.conf

It should contain the four lines between the exclamation marks in the commands you typed from the TTY.

We can also check the drivers:

lspci -knn | grep -A2 vga

The "kernel driver is use" line should say fglrx (I think).

I am surprised that you got a black screen after building the proprietary drivers though, I though that X would auto-load the radeon drivers unless instructed otherwise

EDIT: it's because the fglrx-driver package installs a radeon blacklist so the configuration file _must_ be created _before_ a reboot, as we have discovered...

Anyway, your desktop all works fine now?

Is MATLAB satisfied with the GL version?

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2018-02-03 09:58:16)

sexynsmartjenny · 2018-02-03 16:24:39

hi, when I enetered

lspci -knn | grep -A2 vga

nothing is showing up.

p.s. when I start my pc, there was a line of code that says reject orphaned inode or something.

And when my computer goes blank for a few minutes, it's impossible to get back to my desktop anymore. There is something problematic with the resolution I think.

Last edited by sexynsmartjenny (2018-02-03 17:15:33)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2018-02-03 17:46:49

sexynsmartjenny wrote:

hi, when I enetered
lspci -knn | grep -A2 vga
nothing is showing up.

Ooops, typo!

lspci -k | grep -iA2 vga

Or just scan the `lspci -k` output manually

Head_on_a_Stick · 2018-02-03 17:56:25

sexynsmartjenny wrote:

when I start my pc, there was a line of code that says reject orphaned inode or something

That's a hard drive problem, might be worth another thread.

Is the drive old?

sexynsmartjenny wrote:

when my computer goes blank for a few minutes, it's impossible to get back to my desktop anymore

Unfortunately, while the proprietary driver can offer better performance than the open version, it can be more buggy and less integrated and this may be an example of that.

It's hardly ideal but you could disable screen blanking (in the power manager).

tknomanzr · 2018-02-03 18:46:28

^ If its a laptop, it could be a backlight issue as well.

#1 2018-02-02 00:57:15

upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#2 2018-02-02 01:41:39

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#3 2018-02-02 02:54:35

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#4 2018-02-02 03:38:10

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#5 2018-02-02 03:41:46

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#6 2018-02-02 04:04:33

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#7 2018-02-02 04:08:31

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#8 2018-02-02 04:14:56

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#9 2018-02-02 07:17:44

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#10 2018-02-02 13:30:11

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#11 2018-02-02 18:11:40

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#12 2018-02-02 19:24:11

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#13 2018-02-02 21:08:15

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#14 2018-02-02 21:17:29

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#15 2018-02-02 21:33:02

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#16 2018-02-03 09:52:07

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#17 2018-02-03 16:24:39

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#18 2018-02-03 17:46:49

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#19 2018-02-03 17:56:25

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

#20 2018-02-03 18:46:28

Re: upgrade graphic drivers in linux?

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