News Update

by ·75 Comments

LMDE:

  • We’re currently addressing the “Black Screen of Death” bug and re-spinning the 32-bit ISO which is likely to be released sometime this week as “201101” to avoid confusion with the current ISO. This bug is preventing many people from running the live CD.

Servers:

  • The forums were moved to a new Cloud Server running Debian in 64-bit. Among other advantages, this allows us to “resize” the server and add or remove RAM to it remotely in less than 10 minutes. We’re currently experimenting for 3 days with different amounts of RAM to decide how much to allocate to the server and to reach the perfect balance between performance and cost. The servers were running successfully with 8GB RAM yesterday. They’re running with only 2GB RAM today and they’ll be using 4GB RAM tomorrow.
  • The Community Website is now running on its own in our Canadian server in Toronto.
  • We lost our development and testing server in London.
  • A second Cloud Server was allocated to host our public archive (which was previously in London).

75 comments

    1. John: Yes. Boo uploaded his first ISO. Because of the issues with the servers and the LMDE release, it’s taking more time for us to test it, but the development is well-started on this edition. Things aren’t going as they should and there are personal problems as well (car accident for one of us, 128Kbps upload speed, water/electricity shortages and all kinds of problems). The biggest issue to overcome for us is the loss of our testing server in London. As soon as the situation on the forums and LMDE is under control we’ll switch our focus to testing KDE and getting a new testing server up and running.

  2. Hi Clem,
    is it known to you,
    that in Isadora there is some problem or bug with pidgin and pidgin-facebookchat?
    The problem comes up after Installing of IsadoraLTS and complete update.
    If pidgin and pidgin-facebookchat is being uninstalled after Installation, and afterwards get all updates, the system is running great, finally.

    Reply

  3. Hi Clem,
    — sry, I forgot to ask this about pidgin —
    This belongs to all Mint-versions:
    Another Question to pidgin & pidgin-facebookchat:
    By updating on Installation any Mint-Version:
    What happens,
    if the old version of pidgin or of pidgin-facebookchat
    is set on “hold” by updating?
    Is this a possibility, whitch doesnt bring any problem with it?
    Thank you for your answer.
    Greetings from Germany!
    Jot

    Reply

  5. Thanks Clem, However it is somewhat surprising such a major bug was not detected before the updated LMDE went out. Let us just hope this has not tarnished Mint’s reputation!

    Reply

  6. Hello, Clem,
    Great news to me! I will quite happily wait and be patient. Will the respin also address the grub installation hang? (Apparently a problem in multiple boot systems including ntfs partitions?)

    Reply

  7. Best distro of 2010 is…?

    Just thought I would drop a quick comment to let you know I came across a post at Dedoimedo.com with the year end post titled:
    “And the best distro of 2010 is …”.

    You’ll never guess which distro got the nod.
    Wait for it…

    Linux Mint 10!!!

    http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/best-distro-2010.html

    Congrats for the continuing accolades. They are well deserved.

    Reply
  8. Pingback: Problemas de boteo en la live CD LMDE 201012 32 bits, nueva iso corregida (201101) posiblemente esta semana « Deb Linux

  9. Hello! First, Thanks for the great works and efforts to make all better. By thee way, I wonder if may be some info about MiNT 10 LXDE?
    Thanks again and best regards!

    Reply

  10. Just for your information, two things about the 64-bit version for me:

    – install with btrfs (/boot on ext2) failed to boot, / could only be mounted read only

    – second try with ext4 was working but the boot logo did not appear – maybe thats wanted, but I thouhgt it was there in LMDE 32-bit

    Thanks for your great work!

    lakerz

    Reply

  14. Running v10 and love it! What great improvements in every area! My wife even loves it and that means alot. I do get an error when coming out of hibernating regarding power saving but nothing to stress over. This is running on an HP DX9420 32bit laptop. Everything just worked first time when installed from the CD after I got the iso. Congratulations on a great edition!

    Reply

  15. Hi, I would like to ask if LMDE will be compatible with INTEL GMA500
    Graphic Card.
    Οr is there any proposal for easy installation of poylsbo drivers?
    Thanks and keep up the good work !!!

    Reply

  16. Just downloaded the new 2011-01 iso 32 bit, still no go…
    Same problems as before with endless beeps and black screen on nvidia VGA

    Reply

  17. Sergio Says:
    December 30th, 2010 at 5:41 am

    Just downloaded the new 2011-01 iso 32 bit, still no go…

    Hi Sergio 🙂
    .. where is the download Link for 2011-01 iso 32 bit ???
    Can you post them, please.

    Thx!

    Reply

  19. Clem,

    Just downloaded the 2011 32bit and installed (on a live usb stick) and am very sorry to report that the black screen of death has not been fixed.

    Reply

  21. Hi malligt & Sergio

    there is no 201101-Version .. anyway.

    It comes out in 2011.

    From which mirror did you download “”201101″”-LMDE??

    Reply

  23. I think 32bit won’t succeed 🙁
    You’d better remove the 32bit ISOs from servers, it will hurt Mint’s reputation really bad…

    Reply

  24. but why 32bit release of 201012 and 201101 had that many problem in the first place? i’m using 201009 release and had no problem whatsoever, even with regular apt-get upgrade and ap-get dist-upgrade. technically my system is up to date, same as current respin.

    Reply

  25. @jot

    Yes, there is a 2011 01 32 bit version on the mirror sites.

    I invite you to check it out at the “MIRRORS”…on the linux mint homepage.

    I used the HEAnet mirror site (Ireland) when I wrote earlier.

    http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/linuxmint.com/debian/

    My use of the distro is generally off a live usb drive, and the ability to have an “updated” version loaded on my pendrive…without having to start with the 2010 09 version, and then add ~600 updates to a pendrive….(that process takes quite a long time) is desireable..

    @axxer

    I’m with you on the fact that my 2010 09 version presently installed on my Dell 8400 desktop and with all the updates/upgrades installed, is the same as the(2010 12)current version…

    Reply

    1. 201101 is coming with the following changes:

      – xserver-xorg-video-geode removed (caused problems with some Intel chipsets)
      – “nouveau.modeset=0” kernel arg added to both normal and compatibility boot modes (prevents the BSOD on some Nvidia chipsets)
      – “radeon.modeset=0” kernel arg added to both normal and compatibility boot modes (prevents the BSOD on some ATI chipsets)

      Thanks to these changes, most people should be able to boot LMDE 32-bit in either normal or compatibility modes without googling around for kernel arguments and they won’t need to change their grub configuration post-installation. A Linux kernel can be configured in many ways and there are many manufacturers out there who do not provide open source drivers. If you can’t boot in normal mode, try the compatibility mode. If it still doesn’t work, don’t give up. Chances are your hardware simply requires a kernel argument.

      There’s a bug report for this at: https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/694177 Don’t hesitate to comment on it and don’t forget to tell us what hardware you’re running (the graphic card/chipset in particular).

  29. Clem Says:
    December 30th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
    Sergio: Add “nomodeset” to the boot parameters..

    The only way to boot it, is in compatibility mode AND nomodeset, otherwise I only get black screen and endless beeps from the speaker, as reported by some people with 201012 release.
    Don’t know if I install after booting in compatibility mode I will have a good result…? I mean, same as booting normally and installing thereafter?

    My box: ASUS MB AMD Phenon X4, AMD Chipset and Nvidia VGA

    Reply

    1. Sergio: The compatibility mode is basically a wild-guess at kernel args that work for most people. You can try and isolate the kernel argument that you need from compatibility mode and add it to the normal boot mode, or you can simply use the compatibility mode itself and install from there. A lot of people use the compatibility mode, the important thing is that it allows you to boot. Of course it turns off a few other things that could work on your hardware, but we’re talking about hardware optimisations here, not functionality, and hardware optimisations are the reason you can’t boot in normal mode in the first place 🙂

    2. By the way, we’re adding i915.modeset=0 and nomodeset to both boot modes as well. So we’re currently re-spinning the 201101 ISO. This is the only difference with the ISO currently on Heanet and it should delay its release a further 2 days.

  30. I hope the 201101 iso. works as Mints reputation is in danger of being damaged. I am thankful its not the mainstream Ubuntu based edition as if it were many more would be aware. For the moment the dissatifaction is kept ‘in house’ LET US HOPE !

    Reply

    1. Guy: I understand. The need for people to mess with kernel arguments has been around for a while, it’s not specific to this release.. but here it’s affecting a lot of people. The fact that LMDE is rolling (no RCs) and that we lost our testing server before Christmas just made it worse and we didn’t realise the extent of this problem until the ISO was released. We’ve got a fix, a workaround and a respin in progress and I also plan to investigate what went wrong for it not to happen again. Process-wise, we’re in real trouble without that server, but we’re getting it replaced with a new one. Technology-wise, I’m not sure I understand why nouveau modesetting is being introduced upstream in Debian Testing as it’s not supposed to work with 2.6.32… and also, I’m not sure why this problem isn’t affecting the 64-bit release. We’ll do more testing and more investigation. We’ll have a test server up and running again and we’ll plan a date for the next LMDE release so we can continue to tackle bugs and improve functionality.

  31. The 201101 iso. is just the same booting from the LiveDVD. NOTHING ‘UTTER RUBBISH’ and a waste of bandwith and DVD

    What the hell is wrong with you guys ?????

    Reply

    1. Guy: I’m used to constructive feedback myself. I do understand your frustration though. If I knew what chipset you’re using I could probably guess the argument you need to add (nomodeset for nvidia for instance).

    2. Btw, the 201101 ISO wasn’t released yet. As it happens, it’s being changed and we’re adding two new kernel arguments (nomodeset and i915.modeset=0).

  33. Ok, I finally found a solution for two mobos I have here:

    ISO 201101, in default mode I just added “xforcevesa” switch to the end of line, it boots fine, in low resolution, of course…

    Just to clarify, both mobos are from ASUS (M4A89GTD PRO and M4A785TD-M EVO), chipset AMD/ATI and Nvidia PCI-e Graphic card

    Hope it helps

    Reply

  35. Thank you Clem for your response/s……trying to speak to the masses here….

    As I ‘see” things, one of the biggest problems is that WHY, WHY, WHY, if the original release of =2010-09 32 bit, that worked so successfully for you and the Mint Team…….What the **** heck could have possibly made the 2010 12 , and/or 2011 01 BIT be such a huge disappointment over the holidays?…and NO, I do not expect an answer here on this blog…..up to you to right the ship here…with all dues respect!

    I personally know your DEV team is the best in the business….but maybe some internal auditing of MINT processing and procedures is warranted…..again just my 2 cents and respectfully submitted as Mint is My # 1 linux in ALL “flavors” you distribute.

    TG
    Michigan, USA

    Happy New Year 2011 to you all all your team!

    Reply

    1. malligt: I think there’s two things in cause here. First, we lost our test server.. it’s a server we were getting for free up until now and it just disappeared without any explanation from the host. It means our testing process went belly up, with no ISO sharing among the testers and we had to leak it and coordinate the testing with 4 testers on the IRC. All test cases were successful on 201012 but as you can see, the hardware we tested on wasn’t representative enough and we just didn’t spot what mattered here. Second, and that’s the real problem here.. we’re confronted to a new challenge, something we weren’t familiar with until now.. the fact that the live part of our system is evolving on top of a rolling base. It might sound silly, but keeping the same kernel in live mode didn’t represent an issue on a frozen base… and it does now, when the mismatch between the OS itself and the kernel loaded in live mode consists of some 4 months of rolling updates. The way we build ISO images is fine. The way we upgrade ISO images (for LMDE) is fine too, but we never designed mintconstructor to actually update its live kernel, and that’s where the problem seems to reside. There’s a lot of other things at play.. the Xmas break, water/electricity shortage here, the absence of Ikey, an upload speed maxed at 128kps… many little things that created problems within the team… and with an experience of building ISOs since 2006 and an image which successfully passed 100% of our test cases, we just didn’t see it coming. Debian, as a base, comes with its own challenges, and some of them are new to us. We had a fair deal of challenges to overcome the first time we built our live CDs on top of Debian, and as you can see, there was a new challenge here that we had to learn from when the time came to update that live technology. We built a new ISO with an up to date kernel today. I had to do this manually as mintconstructor just isn’t designed for this (we’ll be addressing this shortly of course). We’ll be testing it on 3 nvidia, 1 ATI and 1 Intel systems tomorrow to make sure everything is absolutely fine, but I’m pretty confident we put the finger on what was wrong and that this ISO will address the issue. Of course there’s a label of experience and quality put on LMDE and it’s wearing the name Linux Mint, the fact that we’re still learning on this new base is no excuse… but that’s what happened here. We didn’t see it coming, if it wasn’t for all the problems we’re going through in terms of infrastructure, we probably would have, but there’s an element of novelty and learning at play and we’re dealing with a base that still presents challenges that are new to us. The 64-bit ISO didn’t have these problems because its base was built recently and didn’t need to be updated. These last 3 days have been extremely stressful for the team and I, but I’m confident we’ll get a successful respin in the days to come and soon provide the same quality release in 32-bit that people have enjoyed in 64-bit so far.

    2. I forgot to mention three important things:

      – Please do not download the ISO until it is officially announced (We’ll be releasing 201101 shortly but it’s not available yet. If you managed to download it already, you’re just running the wrong ISO.)
      – If you downloaded 201012 and you’re getting a black screen you can try the following kernel arguments: “nomodeset” for nvidia, “nouveau.modeset=0” for nforce/gforce and generic, “radeon.modeset=0” for ATI cards. This should let you boot the live session and install LMDE. Post-install you’ll be running an up-to-date kernel, so you won’t need to modify your grub settings for things to work.
      – The upcoming 201101 ISO should work fine for most chipsets in normal or compatibility modes without using any modesetting kernel arguments. I could personally observe that on two nvidia and one intel systems. We’ll be testing the ISO on more systems, including ATI chipsets, before releasing it.

  36. Will the new kernel arguments (nomodeset and i915.modeset=0) apply to the 64-bit version too? I need to use the nomodeset one every time I boot 64-bit Linux (several popular distributions) on my Dell Inspiron 1501 (e.g. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1477668&page=2). Very tedious! The problem began after a kernel upgrade early last year.
    GRUB: I had the problem of the install hanging at the “configuring grub” step – but only when trying to install alongside other things (Windows, in my case). No such problems on a “clean” HDD. Of course, these were different PC’s as well but specs were almost identical: there might be a clue in my experience.

    Reply

  38. Hi Clem,

    thank you for your “open Words” in answer-post-45.

    I Think, now evervthing is said.

    So, we will be waiting till the Release-Version of 201101 !

    GoodLuck for working on the new release!!

    And — >> have a great Party tonight!

    Best wishes for 2011!!

    Reply

  39. Hi Clem and team, you have cleared these things for the very first moment. LMDE is a bit of testing for all of us and a nice challenge too. You are doing a great job, so, take your time and the new 32-iso will be perfect.
    And then, the trip will continue: wheezy, different desktop managers and so on.

    Happy new year to everyone!!!

    Reply

  40. Clem and the team –
    I’ve been very happy with Linux Mint since the 8th edition, and recently I have been able to use it full-time at home. It handles all my needs perfectly (including games), while being very pretty.
    I’m sure you are working to fix whatever issues remain on the LMDE edition. As you have said, there were a few differences that were unanticipated and created problems. I trust your commitment to quality.
    I wish you all a Happy New Year and I am sure only good things are ahead for Mint. I know that your KDE and LXDE editions will be out when you get the time so don’t rush. Focus on whatever you think is the priority.
    Thank you so much for such a great distribution of Linux !

    Reply

  41. Hi all.
    Clem, nouveau always worked fine with 2.6.32 in Debian (just to clarify).
    Regarding LMDE releases, I think you will have to release a RC before any new release. At least until the Mint team get the hand on it.
    There are a lot of people that would test it with pleasure. Just make it very clear that it’s a test version so the parcel of Mint/LMDE users that are accustomed and expect the traditional “just works” can refrain from downloading it.

    Reply

  42. Just tested the latest non-official 32bit ISO, boots blazing fast in default mode, no errors so far!
    I will install “next year” and post results
    Clem and developers, Thanks a lot!
    Happy New Year!(still 3:30 hs to go here…)

    Reply

  43. It looks like my DVD 64 bit is also crashing while booting. I get to the 1st menu. Run Mint, Compatibility check. Check for disk errors but soon after screen goes out. I hope this is the same problem as those who use 32 bit versions are having and will be solved soon.

    I am running an asus motherboard with a nvidia card as well. I do not know the specs but if you need them please send an email.

    Happy New Year Everyone.

    Karl

    Thank you so much for all your hard work.

    Reply

  44. Here are my specs for the 64 bit DVD black screen.

    AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+

    nouveau nVidia Riva/TNT/GeForce

    VGA compatible controller nVidia Corporation C51PV [GeForce 6150] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])

    Board
    Name A8N-VM CSM
    Vendor ASUSTeK Computer INC. (SEAGATE, http://www.seagate.com)

    I hope this helps. I also hope I am not the only 64 bit person having this problem. That will make me feel real stupid.

    Thank you again.

    No need for speed. Take some time. Enjoy the new year. Thank you everyone for your hard work.

    Karl

    Reply

  45. Happy new year!!!!!

    I would like to ask if LMDE will be compatible with INTEL GMA500
    Graphic Card.
    Οr is there any proposal for easy installation of poylsbo drivers?
    Thanks and keep up the good work !!!

    Reply

  46. Added the radeon.modeset=0 and I was able to boot 201012 iso. Installing now. I couldn’t wait. It looked so good on another system I had to do it. Thanks for all the work that goes into this and all the Mint projects.

    Reply

  50. Hi and Happy New Year !
    Great work and i understand better why i was not able to install the 32 bits. I should prefer this version but i installed the 64 bits and it is great. I don’t know if Linux Mint will switch in the future totally in Debian but it is awesone.
    C’est du grand art et Merci pour votre travail.
    Hum et ces 200 lignes de code, une merveille.
    Thanks.

    Reply

  51. Thank you very much for all work on LMDE, but please stop forking (KDE, XFCE, and alike) until LMDE itself will be stable. For me so far the biggest problem is installer (cryptsetup is missing, and encrypted partitions are not detected).
    And the installer is the central point, KDE, non-KDE it does not matter if you cannot install system.

    I wish all the best, I am sure your work (LMDE) will be major event of 2011!

    Reply

  52. Nvidia Good news but if i were you i would wait for official voice(s)

    I downloaded Linux Mint Debian Iso 201101 32 bit stored on HeaNet
    server (Ireland), burned it to DVD and now i can load the Live
    DVD 32 bit with Nvidia Graphics cards ge Force 7300GS/8400GS/9400GT
    (mine) The Live Dvd was tested on 3 computers with a help from
    friends’ PCs. In normal mode without choosing any boot options
    The Mint Update (updater manager) icon does not load on panel
    running the Live DVD. It can be launched from the start menu –
    administration, wait for refreshing, then so it stays on panel

    I will not install the system yet because i am afraid of that
    configuring boot loader. I want the Grub on SDA which means my
    only one hard drive and i wanna Know if the Grub once installed
    can catch other operating system along side

    regards

    Jacob Alessandro

    There is no Official Announcements about the new LMDE iso then,
    do – try for your own will or risk

    Reply
  53. Pingback: Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) 10

  54. It seems that the discussion regarding the 32 bit iso so far might have missed 1 other point. I have no problem in booting the 201012 32 bit iso liveCD, but when I tried to install, the problem hanged on “setting up grub”. After I aborted the installation, I cannot boot up the system as the grub was messed up already. I saw similar experience reported in the forum. But so far the attention seems to be only focused on the failure-to-boot. Just a reminder here to ensure that we won’t run into another disappointment when we have the 2011 iso released.

    Actually I now used the 2010 Sep iso to install and run thru all the update (only upto level 3) to get my LMDE running.

    Reply

  57. Clem: Great that it is being attended and resolved. I can anticipate a great relaunch of the 201101. Success.

    Reply

  58. Clem:
    “- xserver-xorg-video-geode removed (caused problems with some Intel chipsets)”

    I think we are loosing support for running Skype (wife’s favorite)on some machines by removing x vid. Can it be manually put in?

    One day after New Year’s and I am asking for something – sorry, Mint 10 is the greatest flavour by far! Take your time. Better to be right than to be first. I introduced a tech from the cape-can to Mint. He has had redh.. shoved at him from work. Another convert!

    363 more days

    Reply

  59. Clem: I also e-mailed you directly about this request, but please try to add the following features to the installer: (for LMDE)

    1) automatic option to have it replace your current system on your hard drive

    2) automatic option to have it place it side by side with the other operating systems on your hard drive…

    Those two options of course appear on main edition mint…please bring them into LMDE so those of us that aren’t inclined to do manual partitioning can take advantage of installing LMDE…

    Would appreciate it and meanwhile i am using Mint 10 (main) and love it..especially the new look of mint menu, home folders and the wonderful “Mint-X” metal theme (it’s makes gnome look great!)…

    Reply

  60. J’ai installé Linux…..Mint (10) il y a peu sur trois ordi après avoir effectué essais réguliers déçus depuis des années pour échapper au monopole microsoft. Je vais aller plus loin c’est sur avec vous, avec LMDE et apprendre votre monde linux. Je vous trouve beaucoup de courage. Vous n’êtes qu’en début d’année. Comme d’autres je vous dit calme ce que vous mettez en place est, je l’entrevoie, super…..Bonne année à tous !!!!

    Reply

  61. @Clem

    is it possible to implement the new Ubuntu Installer that is present on LinuxMint10 main edition on the Mint-Debian edition in the Future? It is far superior, nicer looking and Alot easier for newbies to be able to Install Mint-debian…….

    Reply

  62. Nice work,LMDE 201101 is Great!!!!!!!!!!!

    I would like to ask if LMDE will be compatible with INTEL GMA500
    Graphic Card.
    Οr is there any proposal for easy installation of poylsbo drivers?
    Thanks and keep up the good work !!!

    I asked many times,please give me an answer,I want to install LMDE to my Acer A0 751h and it has this Graphic Card….

    Reply

  63. George Says:
    January 3rd, 2011 at 7:40 am
    I would like to ask if LMDE will be compatible with INTEL GMA500
    Graphic Card.
    –

    Hi George,
    you have burned a 201101-32bit-re-spin-LiveDVD slowly?
    Check it out, whether the LiveDVD boots or not.
    If it is booting till Desktop is standing, your system (and your GraphicCard) should be able to install.
    Try it perhaps at first, by an extern HDD on your PC!!
    Bootloader set on extern.
    If this is working, your sda on your PC would like LMDE, too.
    –

    Reply

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