Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Xeon Skylake Users May Run Into Display Problems With Current Distributions

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #11
    This Skylake issue also pertains to new Dell Inspiron 7559 laptops with dual gpu's- Intel 530 and NVidia GTX960. Several settings are required for make this laptop marginally functional under Linux:
    • nomodeset required as a boot parameter for the installation of Kubuntu
    • Once the 4.4 kernel is installed, nomodeset can be removed from grub.conf
    • However, to use the NVidia GPU, xorg.conf must be configured. Ubuntu graphics manager detects the Intel CPU on boot and stomps on the xorg.conf file. To prevent this, nogpumanager must be added as a boot parameter in grub.conf.
    • Using prime-select to switch between the GPU's works, but the xorg.conf must be manually set for the respective gpu and sddm restarted.
    • Even with the above measures, the laptop will not reliably wake from suspend for either GPU.
    • Battery life does not improve when using the Intel gpu which implies the NVidia GPU is not properly disabled.
    So the driver situation for Skylake and NVidia GPUs combinations has lots of room for improvement.

    Comment


    • #12
      Originally posted by GreatEmerald View Post

      I'd expect workstations to use something like Quadro/FirePro if they're graphics workstations. If they're just regular work PCs, then they won't be using Xeon. And whether you could say that people "build" workstations is debatable; of them, I doubt many read Phoronix.

      Not to say that the article isn't worthwhile, mind you. It just makes it sound like it's the most common thing in the world to have Xeon based PCs
      If you want to use Intel CPUs and ECC RAM then you need a Xeon. So yes, it makes sense even for "regular work PCs."

      Comment


      • #13
        Well, nothing like trouble you have with an NVidia 970 or 980.

        A patch update to the 340 drivers that was in many rolling releases (including Debian unstable) recently started blocking it, and older kernels can't load due to lacking nouveau support. That got a bit complicated, it is has been a long time since Linux dumped me in console-login and had me install my own kernel modules and fiddle with configurations.

        Comment


        • #14
          Originally posted by ferry View Post
          Even Windows 2000 servers had a GUI, and these days I would say you would expect to run KDE or Gnome smoothly on your server. But hey, if you're such a CLI jockey go ahead and vi your way through the conf files on your headless server. Good for you!
          I think most (non Windows) servers are headless most of the time, at least those that I have encountered. Seeing a GUI installed on a server usually points to an administrator who's in over his head.

          Comment


          • #15
            As another forum has stated, Xeon + C236 motherboards are the only way to have ECC ram with Skylake. So, if you want a development machine with ZFS, you'll want a xeon. Given the current state of intel graphics drivers, no additional stuff is needed.

            But I wonder which motherboard Michael is using. Does it support 4k @30Hz or 60Hz?

            Comment


            • #16
              Originally posted by ferry View Post
              Even Windows 2000 servers had a GUI, and these days I would say you would expect to run KDE or Gnome smoothly on your server. But hey, if you're such a CLI jockey go ahead and vi your way through the conf files on your headless server. Good for you!
              That's exactly what I'm doing! It's running Gentoo, and I'm using nano instead of vi.

              Comment


              • #17
                Originally posted by Zan Lynx View Post
                If you want to use Intel CPUs and ECC RAM then you need a Xeon. So yes, it makes sense even for "regular work PCs."
                Interesting, I didn't know that. Is there a technical reason for that, or is Intel just being mean?

                Comment


                • #18
                  Originally posted by GreatEmerald View Post

                  Interesting, I didn't know that. Is there a technical reason for that, or is Intel just being mean?
                  Intel being mean. Although ECC RAM seems to be overrated.

                  Comment


                  • #19
                    This is very interesting and useful. In my new job I am waiting for Skylake workstations to become available, with the intention of running linux on one. I've found Intel HD to be perfectly adequate for 1080p monitors for most purposes, so would have stuck with that rather than fit a dedicated GPU card.

                    Comment


                    • #20
                      Took a while for haswell graphics to become stable, too.

                      I have a laptop with a HD4400 GPU, Linux 3.13 needed nomodeset, 3.16 wasn't stable, 3.17 and 3.19 still had some bugs and stability issues...
                      A few days back I updated the kernel to 4.3, and now everything finally seems to be working fine.

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      X