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[Launchpad Bug Tracker <495901@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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If you try to install ubuntu in any Via based notebook, it won't work. You'll get just a black screen. It would not happen if openchrome drivers were included on the live cd.  Openchrome drivers are free drivers.
You have to work with the alternate cd to install ubuntu. But for people new to linux, that"s a no go.. this is needed to ma
ke it work:
When you try to run the Ubuntu Karmic live cd the graphical login will not work. The screen starts cycling through primary colors, plus white and grey. Wait until it's finished booting, then drop to a console using 'Ctrl+Alt+F1'.

An easy workaround is as to download the the 2 .deb packages here from

https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/drivers-only/+build/1307486

and put them in a USB key. In the terminal of the Ubuntu Karmic live cd
mount the usb stick and install the drivers with the following commands:

sudo mkdir /media/disk
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/disk
sudo dpkg -i /media/disk/xserver-xorg-video-via_0.2.904~svn814-0ubuntu0tormod_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i /media/disk/xserver-xorg-video-openchrome_0.2.904~svn814-0ubuntu0tormod_i386.deb
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

This steps will install the drivers only for the installation process.
You should be able now to use the graphical installer. Once the system
is installed, you will need to go through these steps again to install
the updated drivers on your hard drive. You can also build an updated
driver from SVN.

Build from SVN

Before starting this tutorial, notice that the openchrome implementation
of the driver is far from complete. Check at this website what has been
implemented and what not for the VX800 chipset:

http://www.openchrome.org/trac/wiki/SupportedHardware

In particular, DRI has not been implemented and this will result in a
very slow 2D graphics experience and slow playback of videos on the
screen.

The following instructions are taken from the OpenChrome wiki entry.

* Firstly get the required build tools

sudo apt-get install build-essential subversion autoconf automake1.9
libtool

* Next you need to get the build dependencies

sudo apt-get build-dep xserver-xorg-video-openchrome

* Get the driver's sourcecode

svn checkout http://svn.openchrome.org/svn/trunk openchrome

* Change into the newly created directory

cd openchrome

* Run autogen to set up the driver build

./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr

* Compile openChrome

make

* Install openChrome

sudo make install

* Edit the Xorg configuration

You can use the nano editor or any command line editor that you are
comfortable with to make the changes

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

This is my configuration which is minimal but gives the full 1280*800
resolution with 32-bit colour. The key settings are specifying the
openchrome driver and the activedevice option.

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Configured Video Device"
        Driver          "openchrome"
        Option          "ActiveDevice"  "LCD,CRT"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Monitor         "Configured Monitor"
        Device          "Configured Video Device"
        DefaultDepth    16
EndSection

* Restart GDM and install Ubuntu.

You will need to restart GDM so that you can install Ubuntu. After
installing the driver will need to be installed in the same way again or
else you could try copying the openchrome directory to removable media
and run make install on it after the reboot. [Update: for Karmic Koala
this latter step is now unnecessary - the computer boots perfectly after
installation.]

To restart GDM and begin installation run this command

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

** Affects: hundredpapercuts
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Invalid

** Affects: xserver-xorg-video-openchrome (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

-- 
No openchrome drivers included on live cd (for via processors)
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/495901
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