Trusty Tahr 6.0.5 does not work on Lenovo Thinkpad X250

[thomas_de]

Hallo to everybody!

I'm Thomas from Germany.


I have a problem with Puppy Linux and need a little bit help.

I tried to use Puppy Linux (Trusty Thar 6.0.5) on a Lenovo Thinkpad x250 booting from a usb-flash-device.
It doesn't work.

What happend:
- the welcome-screen appears
- some text with boot code appears
- the desktop environment starts => I can see the two puppys in the background and I have the mouse cursor, but ... nothing more happens. There's no menu, no icons, nothing to click on.

The same usb device works fine on a Lenovo Thinkpad X200 and also on my office computer, but it won't work on my new Thinkpad X250.

I'm using Puppy Linux for my online banking and some privacy issues. So I like to do for the future.

An other Linux, named g-parted, also booting from a flash device, works without any problems on the Thinkpad X250, so the problem should be linked up to puppy.


Has anybody an idea how to fix this problem?

(I'm not a linux-geek, sorry for that, and my english may be not really perfect, I'm also sorry for that ).

Greetings,

Thomas

[bigpup]

Welcome to Puppy land!

Your English is way better than my German

Have you made a save when you used the USB flash drive on other computers?
If yes.
Something in the save could be causing this.

Try booting not using the save.
At Puppy boot screen hit F-2
Use boot option: puppy pfix=ram

[Illutorium]

If be will at newest,Try with My build. (X.org will be half-resolve because it's does included newest X.org port')
Because now someone does has a 4GB+ RAM let's try at My Build'
Check it out -> http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=108681

[thomas_de]

@bigpup

Hallo,

thanks to you.

It seemed, that the problem is not the save-file. I tried yesterday before I wrote the first post a clean install of puppy (from the iso-file to a new flash device). This also crashed exactly like I wrote above.

Now I tried, what you suggested. But puppy crashes in the same way.

There must be a problem with the desktop environment. But I don't know, where to start with this issue. I can boot to the command line. Are there any options for running the desktop?

I've a standard screen with 1366x768 and nothing special in this notebook: 256 SSD, 8 GB RAM, Intel graphics, and so on.


Any other suggestions?


Greetings from Germany,

Thomas

[mikeslr]

The problem seems like Tahrpup's xorg isn't properly handling the graphics card your computer has.

It may be possible to work around this by adding some argument to the boot menu.lst or config (don't know which bootloader you're using). Can you find out the X250's Graphic Card?

On the other hand, Tahrpup is based on Ubuntu Trusty Tahr 15.04. So, you may never be able to boot from a USB-Stick. See http://askubuntu.com/questions/674642/i ... -by-lenovo

You might want to try XenialPup or Xenialdog. Ubuntu Xenial which doesn't run perfectly on the X250, see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/xenia ... ug/1634325, but the bug reported there isn't significant and implies that Xenial's 16,04 Kernel can at least get you to desktop.

Other possibilities are pupjibaro-jessie, http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=106334, xenialdog or perhaps Slacko.

mikesLr

[Laie]

Have you tried a different Puppy yet?
Hast du schon mal ein anderes Puppy getestet?

[thomas_de]

Hi,

user "Illutorium" linked up to a thread, where I found a command 'xorgwizard' for checking options with the xorg-desktop. So I booted to command line and did some little experiments with screen resolution and VESA driver. The results were ... funny, looking like smoking LSD. The xorgwizard starts, says while choosing the right resolution that everything is fine. With next return-click I got a black screen with dancing code lines in blue and white.
Pressing return twice, I got a blinking blue square on a white ground and about 5 seconds later not readable text flimmering from the right to left. Quite funny, but not really helpful. Control-alt-back won't work so I did a hard reset. I tried three times with different options, the output is more or less the same as above.
x.org seems not to work correct.


@mikeslr
While using google-search I also found the Internet site with the problems on X250 and Ubuntu after using Windows 10. I don't think, that this problem will persist, when you use the legacy-Bios instead of UEFI.
My Thinkpad X250 had preinstalled Windows 7. I deleted the preinstall about four weeks ago and made a complete new installation of Win7 with using the legacy-bios. It works fine all the time.

The graphic card on my X250 is Intel 5500 onboard.


@mikeslr & Laie

I didn't try another version of puppy, but I will do later this evening. I will report, what happens then.



Thank you for your support!

Greetings,

Thomas

[thomas_de]

Hi,

so I'm back again after a long night.

Following your suggestions, I tried to use another version of puppy.

So I installed Slacko Puppy 6.3.0, but it won't work. About 10 -30 seconds after seeing the x-desktop it freezes completely. Only hard reset will help. I tried two times, then I get rid of it.

The next I tried, was Debian Dog jessie-jwm-icewm-2015-09-02-pae. This starts without complications and seems to be stable, but it doesn't support the trackpoint on Lenovo X250. Only the touch-clickpad works (and this not very good). I was not able to fix this within a few minutes, so I deleted it again.

Very frustrated I startet to the most used Linux-Edition around my friends, which is Knoppix (look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoppix ) I used the 4 GB isofile with unetbootin and it worked out of the box. Everything seems stable and well working. So Linux-Debian IS working on Lenovo Thinkpad X250! But I really like to use a smaller edition like Puppy, because I just need Internet-Browsing and E-Mail, Libre Office and a small Mediaplayer for MP3 and movies. So Knoppix ist an overkill to my needs.

So I read a while through the puppy forum and found at last the xenial puppy 7.0.4.iso. THIS WORKED! The x-desktop starts without problems and I could configure my language and some other stuff. Also the trackpoint is working fine.

But there is still a tricky problem. Ethernet works but WLAN doesn't. Searching the net, I found the right drivers for the Intel N7265 Card on board, but can't get them working. Here is, where I'm looking for the instructions:
https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/use ... rs/iwlwifi


I could download the package "wlwifi-7265-ucode-16.242414.0.tgz" and unpack it into a new directory. Then I did on commandline, what's written: "# cp iwlwifi-*.ucode /lib/firmware"
It seems to work, no error message.
But what is the next step???

In the network configuration utility from Puppy the Intel N7265 does not appear.

I think, I have to do something else, but I don't know what it is. Please help!

Best regards
Thomas

[mikeslr]

Hi again thomas_de:

So, as I suspected the hangup was finding a Distro using a Kernel which has firmware and drivers required by the graphics card built into the Thinkpad X250. And we now know that the latest debian-stable=Jessie (Knoppix and Debiandog-Jessie are based on it) and Ubuntu Xenial, thus Xenialpup, IIRC, are similarly based on it.

But now you need the firmware and drivers in order utilize wifi.

A cynic once said, "Give a guy a hand and he'll then want a foot."

OK, then.

As you are actually more technically advanced than I, perhaps the following threads may be helpful. They all concern creating a DebianFrugal install starting with a DebianLive ISO. The idea was inspired by saintless, accomplished by rufwoof with a lot of help from fredx181, My minor contribution was to locate the unofficial builds which already contain firmware and drivers for wifi, and perhaps other hardware. You'll find that here: http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unoff ... e+nonfree/. Note, your computer can run both 32 and 64-bit operating systems.

These are the threads:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=107753 – Note the link to rufwoof's package –the second on the first post-- discussed on this thread no longer takes you to a downloadable package. However, Ally archived it here: https://archive.org/details/Puppy_Linux_Debian_64_KDE. This thread was rufwoof's initial work, and as the edit of his first post reveals, what is now available is a “kit

[spandey]

I would suggest FATDOG64 since it has much newer Kernel and packages. It works on Thinkpad Carbon X1. So X250 should not be big deal.

[bigpup]

Xenialpup 7.0.4 has the iwlwifi-7265 driver already in firmware.

Usually the only reason an included driver does not get loaded is because the hardware is not detected in the boot process.

A lot of laptops have a switch that will turn wifi off/on.
Are you sure this is turned on when it boots?

Also Puppy is a little picky about having more than one network setup active at a time.
So make sure Ethernet is not active.

[bigpup]

Just to make sure you understand how to setup wifi.

menu->Setup->Internet Connection Wizard->Wired or wireless LAN->Network Wizard

Network Wizard wireless connection steps.

1. Select Network Wizard
2. Select wlan0 (your network card may have a different description)
3. Select Wireless in the Configure wireless network box.
4. Select Scan and your ESSID should come up. If you want more information on it you can hover your pointer over it and it will tell you; channel number, signal strength, MAC
5. Select your ESSID and OK
6. Give a name to your profile
7. Most people use WPA/TKIP - select it.
8. A box will open for you to write the WPA password. It is called a Shared Key. Enter the password.
9. Leave the other boxes as they are. Rarely do these need adjustment.
9. Select Save
10. Select Use This Profile
11. A box will appear showing Puppy trying to connect
12. A box will come up “REPORT ON TEST 0f wlan0CONNECTION

[thomas_de]

@ spandey:

Thanks a lot, I will try Fatdog in the next days and then see, if it can handle my WLAN-Adapter.


@mikeslr:

You wrote: "As you are actually more technically advanced than I..."

This is very kind, but I'm sure your knowledge in Linux ist much better than mine.
So your suggestions seem to be good for professionell users, but not for me. Maybe I'm able to build a new Linux-Package exactly for my needs ... sometime in the future. I can't do this at now, because it's much too complex to me. I'm sorry for that.


@all:

Do I understand it right, that there is no chance to get drivers for my Intel N7265 WLAN-Card working in Xenialpup, because it's a kernel issue?

I tried Knoppix 7.7.1 (using Kernel 4.7.9) and also Kubuntu 16.10 "Yakkety Yak" (using Kernel 4.8 ). Both could handle my WLAN out of the box.

Maybe this problem will be fixed with the next version Puppy, coming in a few months? So I have just to be a little patient?!?
This could be an option to me.

Thanx to all for help!

Regards
Thomas_de

[thomas_de]

@bigpup:

Sorry, I didn't see your last post.

I understand, how to setup Wlan, because on my old Lenovo X200 there was no problem. Puppy Thrusty Thar works very fine with WLAN.

My Problem is in your step number 2. In Xenial Xerus there is no WLAN-Adapter in the network assistant. There is an ethernet adapter (Intel L218LM, which I did not connect) and a WWAN-Adapter (Sierra Wireless EM 7345, which I don't want use with Linux). Absolutly no wlan0.
This is my problem.

So maybe you're right: The WLAN ist not detected while boot process. What can I do?

On Windows 7 all adapters work fine, so there's surely no hardware issue.

Any idea?

Best regards
Thomas_de

[bigpup]

and a WWAN-Adapter (Sierra Wireless EM 7345, which I don't want use with Linux).

So you have a built in wireless adapter that is being seen?
The Intel N7265 add on adapter is not?

Try this:
Boot into the computers bios and deactivate the Sierra Wireless EM 7345.

[thomas_de]

@all

Finally I got it!

What I did this evening:

I did a download from http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/test/xenialpup/

This file: xenialpup64-7.0.7.iso

From this iso-file I build up a new bootable USB-Flashdrive. And it worked out of the box. The X-desktop runs fine and all network adapters were detected I made the configuration for my WIFI at home and now I can use my new Lenovo X250 with Puppy and WLAN.
FANTASTIC!

But: the only thing I changed was the version of puppy. Two days ago I used Puppy Xenial in version 7.0.4, today I used version 7.0.7. This was just done by accident because i killed a directory with some .iso-files.

Life can be mind bogging.

Special thanks to all, who tried to help me. Very good community here!

Best regards
Thomas_de