Calibre (epub reader) install totally hosed my desktop

[watchpocket]

So I installed Calibre -- the ebook reader -- on my Xenial drive and noticed right away that the icons on my top-panel & my desktop were suddenly all-white with a red "X" on them.

I re-booted, and the login screen was black (background image totally not there), but the username & password boxes still appeared, so at least I could log in.

The second I was logged in, instantly the entire screen on both my monitors did this whole BLINK-BLINK-BLINK-BLINK thing and just kept flickering like that. So I can't use my 16.04 system and am posting this from my 14.04 drive.

I installed Calibre according to the instructions on its download page here (https://calibre-ebook.com/download_linux). The command used was this:

sudo -v && wget -nv -O- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kovidgoyal/calibre/master/setup/linux-installer.py | sudo python -c "import sys; main=lambda:sys.stderr.write('Download failed\n'); exec(sys.stdin.read()); main()"

I later removed Calibre with the recommended "sudo calibre-uninstall" but of course the desktop was, and is, still broken.

On the download page, below the install command, it says:

"You must have xdg-utils, wget and python ≥ 2.6 installed on your system before running the installer."

Since I have python 3.5 installed (and xdg-utils and wget), I didn't anticipate a problem. I made sure I had current versions of all of Calibre's dependencies.

[Brief update: I've discovered I can enter commands in 16.04 at the terminal between the flickering. Reinstalling from scratch just isn't an option, except as an absolutely final final last-ditch effort. I'm going to try everything I can before I get to that point.]

Can anyone suggest what further steps I might take to recover a functioning desktop in this situation? Thanks.

[philhughes]

I can't help much, except to say I have seen the exact same thing (straight Ubuntu, pre 16.04). It was a while ago now, and I tried a bunch of stuff I can't remember to try and get the desktop back, but failed and ended up reinstalling. I tried another Calibre installation on the fresh installation, and the exact same thing happened.

I haven't reported it in the Calibre forums on Mobileread, as I didn't see any other reports there and assumed it was something peculiar to my system, but maybe not. You could try posting there, the developer is very helpful.

[watchpocket]

Thanks, I'll go ahead & post the problem on Mobileread. It's particularly bad that Calibre causes this (for others as well as myself). Still looking for a solution, any suggestions appreciated.

[watchpocket]

@philhughes:
> the developer is very helpful.

I take it this just your observation of the developer's presence on the Mobileread Calibre forum, and not from direct communication with him, yes?

I've posted (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=277803) what happened to on the Mobileread Calibre forum and solicited the developer's help as to what might have caused this fiasco.

I'm still trying to track down the problem.

I installed that program as responsibly as I could, and IMO the developer owes it to Linux users of his program to look into it, if what happened to me and what happened to you -- twice for you, as you say -- is happening to others trying to install Calibre on Ubuntu.

[philhughes]

Responsive might have been a better word ;) To be fair, without further detail and without being able to reproduce it, it is difficult for anyone to help. For what it's worth, I just did a fresh install of Ubuntu 16.04.1 on an old laptop, did all the updates and then installed Calibre as shown on the website, and the problem didn't occur.

In terms of restoring your desktop, I suspect the quickest way will be a reinstall.

[watchpocket]

I am stumped as to how to tackle the problem of a flickering, strobe-light-like desktop.

I did create and log into a 2nd user-account on the same system, to see if the problem persisted there.

Everything is fine on the 2nd desktop except that all icons there are white, with a red "X" inside of them. (This icon problem is also on the main, flickering desktop.)

I am able to enter terminal commands between the flickers on the main desktop.

I can also access the virtual terminal (but I cannot get a network connection from the virtual terminal).

What steps might others take to try to begin to track down such a problem?

/var/log/syslog shows:
Sep 3 19:49:45 rjbox mate-session[4610]: WARNING: Could not launch application 'ubuntu-mate-welcome.desktop': Unable to start application: Failed to execute
child process "ubuntu-mate-welcome" (No such file or directory)

Also:
Sep 3 19:49:48 rjbox org.mate.panel.applet.TrashAppletFactory[4756]: (trashapplet:4875): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format
Sep 3 19:49:48 rjbox org.mate.panel.applet.WnckletFactory[4756]: Failed to load user-desktop: Unrecognized image file format
Sep 3 19:49:48 rjbox org.mate.panel.applet.WnckletFactory[4756]: (wnck-applet:4873): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format
Sep 3 19:49:49 rjbox org.gtk.vfs.Daemon[4756]: ** (gvfsd:4853): WARNING **: dbus_mount_reply: Error from org.gtk.vfs.Mountable.mount(): Failed to retrieve share list from server: Connection refused
Sep 3 19:49:49 rjbox org.gtk.vfs.Daemon[4756]: ** (process:5095): WARNING **: Couldn't create directory monitor on smb://x-gnome-default-workgroup/. Error: The specified location is not mounted
Sep 3 19:50:05 rjbox mate-session[4610]: Gtk-WARNING: Error loading theme icon 'gtk-cancel' for stock: Unrecognized image file format
Sep 3 19:50:05 rjbox mate-session[4610]: Gtk-WARNING: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format
Sep 3 19:50:07 rjbox systemd[1]: Stopping Session c1 of user lightdm.

[Bashing-om]

watchpocket; Hey ...

Have you looked at the DE log file ?


cat .xsession-errors

and verified that the driver is installed and no conflicts ?


dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia
sudo lshw -C display



What now does the package manager think - with a working internet connection ! - ?


sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt -f install
sudo dpkg -C




sometimes I wonder



many times I just do not know

[watchpocket]

.xsession-errors shows the following. (I can access that from my 14.04 drive). I'll try to do the other commands on the problem system itself.


openConnection: connect: No such file or directory
cannot connect to brltty at :0
mate-session[6442]: WARNING: Unable to find provider '' of required component 'dock'

** (mate-panel:6699): WARNING **: couldn't get background pixmap

** (mate-panel:6699): WARNING **: couldn't get background pixmap

Sep 03 23:24 : socket: Failed to bind to '127.0.0.1:6600': Address already in use

** (process:6774): WARNING **: Warning: show_on_monitor_number is no longer a valid config option for the current version of Tilda.

** (process:6774): WARNING **: Warning: scroll_background is no longer a valid config option for the current version of Tilda.

** (process:6774): WARNING **: Warning: use_image is no longer a valid config option for the current version of Tilda.

(update-notifier:6729): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading image 'file:///usr/share/themes/TraditionalOkTest/gtk-3.0/img/border.svg': Unrecognized image file format

(update-notifier:6729): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading image 'file:///usr/share/themes/TraditionalOkTest/gtk-3.0/img/border-insensitive.svg': Unrecognized image file format
grep: /home/rj/.xinputrc: No such file or directory

(nm-applet:6771): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading image 'file:///usr/share/themes/TraditionalOkTest/gtk-3.0/img/border.svg': Unrecognized image file format

(nm-applet:6771): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading image 'file:///usr/share/themes/TraditionalOkTest/gtk-3.0/img/border-insensitive.svg': Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading image 'file:///usr/share/themes/TraditionalOkTest/gtk-3.0/img/border.svg': Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading image 'file:///usr/share/themes/TraditionalOkTest/gtk-3.0/img/border-insensitive.svg': Unrecognized image file format

** (mate-panel:6699): WARNING **: couldn't get background pixmap


(mate-panel:6699): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

** (mate-panel:6699): WARNING **: couldn't get background pixmap

** Gtk:ERROR:/build/gtk+2.0-KsZKkB/gtk+2.0-2.24.30/gtk/gtkrecentmanager.c:2116:get_icon_fallback: assertion failed: (retval != NULL)

(mate-volume-control-applet:6788): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format
/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/variety/__init__.py:105: PyGIWarning: Gtk was imported without specifying a version first. Use gi.require_version('Gtk', '3.0') before import to ensure that the right version $
from gi.repository import Gtk, Gdk, GObject # pylint: disable=E0611

(nm-applet:6771): nm-applet-WARNING **: failed to load icon "nm-device-wired": Unrecognized image file format

(nm-applet:6771): nm-applet-WARNING **: failed to load icon "nm-signal-50": Unrecognized image file format

(nm-applet:6771): nm-applet-WARNING **: failed to load icon "nm-secure-lock": Unrecognized image file format

(nm-applet:6771): nm-applet-WARNING **: failed to load icon "nm-signal-75": Unrecognized image file format

(nm-applet:6771): nm-applet-WARNING **: failed to load icon "nm-signal-25": Unrecognized image file format
/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gi/overrides/Gtk.py:50: RuntimeWarning: You have imported the Gtk 2.0 module. Because Gtk 2.0 was not designed for use with introspection some of the interfaces and API will $
warnings.warn(warn_msg, RuntimeWarning)

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(tilda:6774): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(tilda:6774): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format
/usr/lib/mate-optimus/mate-optimus-applet:7: PyGIWarning: Gtk was imported without specifying a version first. Use gi.require_version('Gtk', '3.0') before import to ensure that the right version gets loaded.
from gi.repository import Gtk, Gdk

(tilda:6774): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading theme icon 'image-missing' for stock: Unrecognized image file format

(tilda:6774): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

(tilda:6774): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
** (caja:6723): WARNING **: Can not calculate _NET_NUMBER_OF_DESKTOPS

** (caja:6723): WARNING **: Can not get _NET_WORKAREA

** (caja:6723): WARNING **: Can not determine workarea, guessing at layout
**
Gtk:ERROR:/build/gtk+2.0-KsZKkB/gtk+2.0-2.24.30/gtk/gtkrecentmanager.c:2116:get_icon_fallback: assertion failed: (retval != NULL)
/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/variety/VarietyWindow.py:25: PyGIWarning: Notify was imported without specifying a version first. Use gi.require_version('Notify', '0.7') before import to ensure that the righ$
from gi.repository import Gtk, Gdk, GdkPixbuf, GObject, Gio, Notify # pylint: disable=E0611
/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/variety/AddPanoramioDialog.py:19: PyGIWarning: WebKit was imported without specifying a version first. Use gi.require_version('WebKit', '3.0') before import to ensure that the$
from gi.repository import Gtk, WebKit, GObject # pylint: disable=E0611
/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/variety/QuoteWriter.py:19: PyGIWarning: PangoCairo was imported without specifying a version first. Use gi.require_version('PangoCairo', '1.0') before import to ensure that th$
from gi.repository import Gdk, Pango, PangoCairo, GdkPixbuf, GObject
/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/variety/indicator.py:30: PyGIWarning: AppIndicator3 was imported without specifying a version first. Use gi.require_version('AppIndicator3', '0.1') before import to ensure tha$
from gi.repository import AppIndicator3 # pylint: disable=E0611
INFO: 2016-09-03 23:24:20,387: perform_upgrade() 'Last run version was 0.6.2 or earlier, current version is 0.6.2'
INFO: 2016-09-03 23:24:20,388: process_command() 'Received command: []'
INFO: 2016-09-03 23:24:20,391: load_banned() 'Missing or invalid banned URLs list, no URLs will be banned'
/home/rj/.config/variety/scripts/get_wallpaper: line 32: mateconftool-2: command not found
ERROR: 2016-09-03 23:24:20,430: get_desktop_wallpaper() 'Exception when calling get_wallpaper script'

[watchpocket]

~$ dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia
ii libcublas7.5:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA cuBLAS Library
ii libcuda1-367 367.44-0ubuntu0~gpu16.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA runtime library
ii libcudart7.5:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA Runtime Library
ii libcufft7.5:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA cuFFT Library
ii libcufftw7.5:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA cuFFTW Library
ii libcuinj64-7.5:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA CUINJ Library (64-bit)
ii libcurand7.5:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA cuRAND Library
ii libcusolver7.5:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA cuSOLVER Library
ii libcusparse7.5:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA cuSPARSE Library
ii libnppc7.5:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives core runtime library
ii libnppi7.5:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives for image processing runtime library
ii libnpps7.5:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA Performance Primitives for signal processing runtime library
ii libnvrtc7.5:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 CUDA Runtime Compilation (NVIDIA NVRTC Library)
ii libnvtoolsext1:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA Tools Extension Library
ii libnvvm3:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA NVVM Library
ii mate-optimus 1.0.0-1 all MATE Desktop applet for controlling NVIDIA Optimus graphics cards
rc nvidia-304 304.131-0ubuntu3 amd64 NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.131
rc nvidia-304-updates 304.131-0ubuntu3 amd64 NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.131
rc nvidia-340 340.96-0ubuntu3 amd64 NVIDIA binary driver - version 340.96
rc nvidia-361 361.45.11-0ubuntu0~gpu16.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA binary driver - version 361.45.11
ii nvidia-367 367.44-0ubuntu0~gpu16.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA binary driver - version 367.44
ii nvidia-cuda-dev 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA development files
ii nvidia-cuda-doc 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 all NVIDIA CUDA and OpenCL documentation
ii nvidia-cuda-gdb 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA Debugger (GDB)
ii nvidia-cuda-toolkit 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA development toolkit
ii nvidia-opencl-dev:amd64 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL development files
rc nvidia-opencl-icd-304 304.131-0ubuntu3 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL ICD
rc nvidia-opencl-icd-304-updates 304.131-0ubuntu3 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL ICD
rc nvidia-opencl-icd-340 340.96-0ubuntu3 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL ICD
rc nvidia-opencl-icd-361 361.45.11-0ubuntu0~gpu16.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL ICD
ii nvidia-opencl-icd-367 367.44-0ubuntu0~gpu16.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL ICD
rc nvidia-prime 0.8.2 amd64 Tools to enable NVIDIA's Prime
ii nvidia-profiler 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA Profiler for CUDA and OpenCL
ii nvidia-settings 370.23-0ubuntu0~gpu16.04.1 amd64 Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
ii nvidia-visual-profiler 7.5.18-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA Visual Profiler for CUDA and OpenCL
ii system76-driver-nvidia 16.04.8 all Latest nvidia driver for System76 computers

[watchpocket]

When I enter
sudo lshw

the screen turns black with a blinking white cursor in the upper left. (And this is on the drive I'm posting from now which has UbuntuMate 14.04. The problem system is 16.04 and is on another drive (SSD).

[Bashing-om]

watchpocket; Well ...

I am torn as to which way to look at this .
Do we have a driver conflict between:


ii nvidia-367
ii system76-driver-nvidia

and or maybe .. the DE wall paper configs are hosed ??

We got any info for the system76 driver ?


apt show system76-driver-nvidia

same same function as the PPA driver 367 ?

And what alternative DE's are installed - of any others ?


echo $DESKTOP_SESSION " " $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP
ls -al /usr/share/xsessions
apt-cache policy ubuntu-desktop
cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager


Mind ya I have never seen the Mate DE. do not know what to expect here .



poke poke poke


'til something gives

[watchpocket]

We got any info for the system76 driver ?


apt show system76-driver-nvidia

Here is a more fundamental question about entering commands between drives:

I obviously am logged into my drive that has a working 14.04 system and net connection. But we're trying to discover things about the malfunctioning 16.04 system, which is on a separate (SSD) drive. For a command like cat .xsession-errors, as long as I have the 16.04 drive mounted on my 14.04 desktop, I can easily enter a command (from a 14.04 terminal) like:

cat /media/rj/UbuntuMATE-16.04/home/rj/.xsession-errors

and have immediate access to the output of that 16.04 homedir file, right there at the 14.04 terminal.

But for a command like apt show system76-driver-nvidia, I'm not sure if there is a way to do that from the 14.04 drive & terminal, or if the only way to do it is to log out of drive/system 14.04, log into drive/system 16.04, and do it from there. Is there a way to do it from the 14.04 drive?

(In other words accessing a 16.04-drive file from a 14.04-drive terminal is easy, accessing 16.04-drive command-output may require actually being logged into 16.04.)

If there is a way to do it from 14.04, it would greatly help speed things up. If not, I'll just go ahead and switch between the systems, and access command-outputs by sending them to a file when I'm in 16.04, and then accessing that file from 14.04. Thanks for any clarification on this point.

[Bashing-om]

watchpocket; Well ...

How about we take the graphic's driver out of the equation ?
Then see what we have.
Boot the 16.04 hard drive to the grub boot menu, and let's boot to a terminal:
at the grub menu 'e' key for edit mode -> boot parameters screen;
arrow down to the line " linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=217ed9a7-e11a-4e32-8c05-992e8c8932b6 ro quiet splash $vt_handoff " and replace quiet splash and all after with " systemd.unit=multi-user.target" - with out the quotes .
Key combo ctl+x to continue the boot process to TTY1.
log in here with user name and password.
we may want networking, and will have to tell the system so:


systemctl enable NetworkManager.service
systemctl start NetworkManager.service


Do we have a working interface ?


ping -c3 ubuntu.com


now what returns:


apt show system76-driver-nvidia


as a place to see what is .



'buntu



where there is a will there is a way

[watchpocket]

Before I respond to your most recent post, I do have the output of all the commands you asked for previously. Here it is:

--> apt show system76-driver-nvidia
Package: system76-driver-nvidia
Version: 16.04.9
Priority: extra
Section: utils
Source: system76-driver
Maintainer: System76, Inc. <dev@system76.com>
Installed-Size: 21.5 kB
Depends: system76-driver (>= 16.04.9), ubuntu-drivers-common, nvidia-367
Download-Size: 8,834 B
APT-Manual-Installed: yes
APT-Sources: http://ppa.launchpad.net/system76-dev/stable/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages
Description: Latest nvidia driver for System76 computers
This dummy package depends on the latest driver tested with and recommended for
System76 products with an nvidia GPU.
.
When this package is installed, you will automatically be upgraded to newer
nvidia driver versions after System76 has thouroughly tested them.
.
This driver will generally depend on a newer nvidia driver than the official
nvidia-current-updates Ubuntu package.
.
If you don't want to be automatically upgraded to newer nvidia drivers, simply
remove this package.



\--> sudo lshw -C display
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: GF106 [GeForce GTS 450]
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: a1
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0
resources: irq:35 memory:ec000000-ecffffff memory:e0000000-e7ffffff memory:e8000000-e9ffffff ioport:e000(size=128) memory:ee000000-ee07ffff



--> echo $DESKTOP_SESSION " " $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP
mate MATE



--> ls -al /usr/share/xsessions
total 32
4 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Aug 17 14:52 ./
20 drwxr-xr-x 492 root root 20480 Aug 29 02:01 ../
8 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6756 Aug 17 10:51 mate.desktop



--> apt-cache policy ubuntu-desktop
ubuntu-desktop:
Installed: (none)
Candidate: (none)
Version table:



--> cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager
/usr/sbin/lightdm

[Bashing-om]

watchpocket; Welp;

Read what the apt show output ? shows :


If you don't want to be automatically upgraded to newer nvidia drivers, simply
remove this package.


I read it that If one installs the nVidia driver, then we have a driver conflict .
What do you reckon ?



maybe yes


could be not so yes

[watchpocket]

So I should remove either the one or the other -- I should remove either the system76-driver-nvidea 16.04.8, or remove the nvidia-367.44 driver.

If I remove the system76 driver, and also remove it from synaptic (so that I don't continue to get auto-updates for the system76 drivers), and leave the 367.44 nvidia driver, (as well as leave the line deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/graphics-drivers/ppa/ubuntu xenial main
in /etc/apt/sources, so that I can continue to get updates from it -- right now I'm getting driver updates from both, which probably isn't good), I shouldn't have a conflict.

And if I don't have that conflict between the 2 drivers, I shouldn't have a flickering screen.

I just wonder why they never conflicted with each other before. Maybe it was an accident waiting to be triggered by something. (like the installation of Calibre).

If there's anything I might need to know before I remove the system76 driver, let me know. Otherwise I'll go ahead and uninstall it.

[CantankRus]

system76-driver-nvidia installs the the latest nvidia driver tested by system76, which I believe is nvidia-367.

system76-driver-nvidia
This dummy package depends on the latest driver tested with and recommended for
System76 products with an nvidia GPU.

When this package is installed, you will automatically be upgraded to newer
nvidia driver versions after System76 has thouroughly tested them.

This driver will generally depend on a newer nvidia driver than the official
nvidia-current-updates Ubuntu package.

The graphics-drivers/ppa contains the nvidia-370 driver which has not been tested by system76 so you should purge that ppa.

PS: For calibre I would be looking at python version issues.

[Bashing-om]

watchpocket; Yeahl

I am with you in that I would prefer the PPA 367 version driver , so yeah uninstall the system76-driver-nvidia package.
However, we do not know how system76-driver-nvidia calls home . Might check sources and see what references exist ?
This might turn into a learning experience for the both of us ! I have yet to lay my hands on a system76 so we may have to fumble our way around a bit .



just what I wud do

[watchpocket]

system76-driver-nvidia installs the the latest nvidia driver tested by system76, which I believe is nvidia-367.

As long as I've got the right version for my graphics card, according to the GeForce site, I should be allright, is my thinking.

I realize that by not sticking with the system76-tested I'm "walking on the wild side" just a bit, but at the moment I'm inclined to not worry about the testing and go with the graphics PPA. I'll keep the sys76 PPA (so I get other system76 stuff, though even that is mostly minor stuff like wallpaper) but I'll un-install the sys76 driver in synaptic. If I get a problem from a new driver from graphics-driver PPA I'll swap it out for the sys76 tested driver.

(Re: Calibre, I uninstalled it the minute it (or something associated with it -- I have the right python version) corrupted the desktop.)

Which command would be better for this --

sudo apt install --uninstall system76-driver-nvidia

or

sudo apt purge system76-driver-nvidia

(To answer my own question, the apt command doesn't have the word "purge" in its manpage, but the apt-get manpage says that "purge is identical to remove except that packages are removed and purged (any configuration files are deleted too)."

By the way, is it OK to uncheck the deb-src line below a deb line, in etc/apt/sources.list? Are there any consequences to that? I don't generally need source code.

[Bashing-om]

watchpocket; Hey;

Hold onto your horses.
I would not think that the launchpad PPA for system76 has anything directly to do with the driver.

As to src codes sources, In my work install I have no need of source code and all sources for src are commented out . Makes for a much faster update process too .

sudo apt purge system76-driver-nvidia should workie great for this use case .




keep'n it clean

[CantankRus]

By the way, is it OK to uncheck the deb-src line below a deb line, in etc/apt/sources.list? Are there any consequences to that? I don't generally need source code.
Yes.
After adding a ppa I open the software and updates gui (software-properties-gtk --open-tab=1) and remove the source line and then edit the ppa to show what it contains.
The "Comment" field will replace the ppa URI.

[watchpocket]

Right I was planning on keeping the system76 launchpad ppa, and just uninstalling the system76-driver-nvidia package. I'm going to do that right now. If the flickering persists, I'll have to continue troubleshooting.

[watchpocket]

> The "Comment" field will replace the ppa URI.

Oh, that's a great idea -- I have all these PPAs & look at them and don't know why I installed any particular PPA. Now I can identify them. Thanks for the tip!

[watchpocket]

So I've purged both system76-driver-nvidia and autoremoved system76-driver, rebooted, no change. Next step is to look further through the .xsession-errors file.

In fact my 16.04 .xsession-errors file is a bit of a train-wreck. Looking at its first several lines alone leaves me not knowing where to start:


openConnection: connect: No such file or directory
cannot connect to brltty at :0
mate-session[4376]: WARNING: Unable to find provider '' of required component 'dock'
Sep 04 23:46 : socket: Failed to bind to '127.0.0.1:6600': Address already in use

(update-notifier:4650): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading image 'file:///usr/share/themes/TraditionalOkTest/gtk-3.0/img/border.svg': Unrecognized image file format

(update-notifier:4650): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading image 'file:///usr/share/themes/TraditionalOkTest/gtk-3.0/img/border-insensitive.svg': Unrecognized image file format

Update: the first 2 lines aren't errors. They're just debugging messages. They come from xbrlapi which is trying to connect to a braille display, but I, we generally have none, so it can't. Nothing to worry about, apparently.

But, I'm still back at square one, with a flickering desktop, looking for any possible attack vector.

[Bashing-om]

watchpocket; Welp;

How about we take a look and see what X has to say about the driver build ?


cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log
and what might be taking place within the X layer.



when all else fails;



read the instructions ?

[watchpocket]

See https://paste.ubuntu.com/23140022/ for the Xorg.0.log file. Thanks for sticking with this.

[Bashing-om]

watchpocket; Well ...

I am at a loss,

I do not understand why or what



->Device "System76 nVidia Card"

this means .

Nor do I recognize why
numerous :


[m*.......[

should appear or what they signify . Never ever seen such before.



just not a thing I can add at this point

[watchpocket]

->Device "System76 nVidia Card"

That may be a leftover from yesterday. The date there is yesterday at any rate.

Ok thanks, I'm going to pick this up tomorrow when I'm a bit fresher, thanks for looking at that.

[watchpocket]

This issue was solved today with a simple upgrade using the Software Updater. I think a new version of the MATE desktop was updated, and I think this was as a result of my having added a key ubuntu-mate repository that I did not previoulsy have in my software sources.