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[cochinada]

I opened this initially when I still had version 29 but after upgrading to MC 30 just a few minutes ago, the issue remains.

After the latest update, no matter what I do, Theater View shows nothing but a blank screen!
Standard View is always OK.

My current Ubuntu version is 22.04.2 LTS
Media Center is 30.0.51

[BryanC]

Can you try launching MC from the CLI using `mediacenter30` and enter Theater View to see if there is any informative output.

[cochinada]

Can you try launching MC from the CLI using `mediacenter30` and enter Theater View to see if there is any informative output.

Same thing. No output at the CLI after I close MC.
Do you want me to check some log?

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,135229.msg936582.html#msg936582

[PLuft]

I have 3 computers running Linux Mint 21.1.  After a recent mesa update, all of them are showing a white screen in theater view.  I have had to hold back mesa on all of them to get theater view to function. 

It appears to be a regression with one of these:

libdrm-nouveau2/jammy-updates 2.4.113-2~ubuntu0.22.04.1 amd64 [upgradable from: 2.4.110-1ubuntu1]
libdrm-nouveau2/jammy-updates 2.4.113-2~ubuntu0.22.04.1 i386 [upgradable from: 2.4.110-1ubuntu1]
libegl-mesa0/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 amd64 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
libgbm1/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 amd64 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
libgbm1/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 i386 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
libgl1-mesa-dri/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 amd64 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
libgl1-mesa-dri/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 i386 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
libgl1-mesa-glx/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 amd64 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
libgl1-mesa-glx/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 i386 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
libglapi-mesa/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 amd64 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
libglapi-mesa/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 i386 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
libglx-mesa0/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 amd64 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
libglx-mesa0/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 i386 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
libxatracker2/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 amd64 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
mesa-va-drivers/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 amd64 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
mesa-vdpau-drivers/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 amd64 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
mesa-vulkan-drivers/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 amd64 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
mesa-vulkan-drivers/jammy-updates 22.2.5-0ubuntu0.1~22.04.1 i386 [upgradable from: 22.0.5-0ubuntu0.3]
xserver-common/jammy-updates,jammy-updates,jammy-security,jammy-security 2:21.1.3-2ubuntu2.7 all [upgradable from: 2:21.1.3-2ubuntu2.5]
xserver-xephyr/jammy-updates,jammy-security 2:21.1.3-2ubuntu2.7 amd64 [upgradable from: 2:21.1.3-2ubuntu2.5]
xserver-xorg-core/jammy-updates,jammy-security 2:21.1.3-2ubuntu2.7 amd64 [upgradable from: 2:21.1.3-2ubuntu2.5]
xserver-xorg-legacy/jammy-updates,jammy-security 2:21.1.3-2ubuntu2.7 amd64 [upgradable from: 2:21.1.3-2ubuntu2.5]

If you need further details, let me know.  Only 1 of the three is running Nouveau.  The other computers have onboard intel graphics, if I recall.  I can install MC on additional computers, if that would be of any value.  Thanks!

[Awesome Donkey]

You're not the only one reporting this issue as of late, e.g. https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,135232.0.html

It is interesting that you did downgrade Mesa (and that 'fixed' it), which does seem to confirm that it was indeed a recent Mesa update that broke it. Hopefully Bob can look into it (and more importantly reproduce it). I wonder if it broke any other apps? There might be Mesa bug reports out there for other apps, and hopefully it's not something that has to be fixed in Mesa itself.

[Awesome Donkey]

It seems a recent Mesa update is what broke it.

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,135250.0.html

[cochinada]

Indeed! I'm another one with the same issue.
I'm running Ubuntu version 22.04.2 LTS.

How can I downgrade this "Mesa" thing in my case?

I read this post here:

"I find this disappointing because a few times a year I do fix bugs in mutter/gnome-shell that are specific to the “classic” Intel drivers and everything still works well in Mesa 21 AFAIK. But also I knew it was coming and am not involved in Mesa development. I have no power to stop Mesa from retiring older Intel GPU support.

Even if we stick with Mesa 21 in Ubuntu 22.04, the same issue is going to come up again in Ubuntu 22.04.1, 22.04.2 … So hopefully owners of the older Intel GPUs will still be fine with 22.04(.0) and Mesa 21. They would then have the option of avoiding the HWE updates that might drop support for those GPUs. If on the other hand Ubuntu 22.04 did ship Mesa 22 next month then the only option left will be for those users to stick with Ubuntu 20.04."

This is going to be a nuisance for the next upgrades for sure.
How can one disable permanentely these upgrades from Mesa?

[Awesome Donkey]

Downgrading Mesa would be a temporary solution. Eventually the distro you're using (Ubuntu or Mint) upon a new major version release or new LTS release when it comes to Ubuntu will update their Mesa packages, and trying to permanently force a specific, older version of Mesa might result in a broken system (or might even break during an attempted upgrade to a newer distro release).

If support for the Intel integrated graphics you're using has been indeed dropped by Mesa, there's really not much you can do about it except either getting newer hardware (or if possible adding a GPU) or using an older distro and never updating it (which if you use newer Media Center builds, eventually newer major version of Media Center won't run on older distros that have too out-of-date dependencies). Yes, running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS would also be a temporary solution too, at least until support ends for it (and hope they don't backport newer Mesa updates). Are you sure the Intel integrated graphics you're using is old and has had its support dropped by Mesa?

Hopefully it's just a Mesa bug (which I assume the user above using Nouveau on a machine is experiencing the same white screen issue after updating Mesa), and the next updates of Mesa have some sort of fix.

[cochinada]

I'm not sure of anything at this moment. I'm not even sure I have mesa installed.
I've searched the net and tried many commands like lspci but I never see any mesa showing.
All I know is that I have a blank screen after updating some stupid sh*t and I'm very upset about it because I bought MC30 hoping the bug was with MC29 only and now I cannot use it.
My PC doesn't have a graphic card because I took the decision of keeping it as quiet and minimalist as possible, so for that reason I chose an ASRock B360M Pro4 and am using it's video card instead.
I don't mind going back to a previous Ubuntu version or whatever and disable any updates forever. Actually I would be super glad if I knew how.
That was after all one if not the main reason that made me migrate from windows, that is, hoping I was not getting constantly nagged by upgrades after upgrades.
So, please provide instructions how to proceed. Like I said I don't see evidences that I have mesa installed but I can provide any logs and outputs needed.

If my issue is also related with mesa then what this dude wrote suggests that this will never be fixed:
"But also I knew it was coming and am not involved in Mesa development. I have no power to stop Mesa from retiring older Intel GPU support."

P.S sorry about my mood as I know JRiver is not directly responsible for this but ultimately I'm your customer and not Ubuntu's and I expect a resolution.

[Hendrik]

"Mesa" is basically the graphics driver for many graphics cards or integrated graphics chips on Linux. If you are running an integrated Intel graphics (like you would be on that board), you are using Mesa to run it.

I don't have the most likely package name at hand that would need to be downgraded, hopefully someone else can chime in with that and the direct command.

[cochinada]

"Mesa" is basically the graphics driver for many graphics cards or integrated graphics chips on Linux. If you are running an integrated Intel graphics (like you would be on that board), you are using Mesa to run it.

I don't have the most likely package name at hand that would need to be downgraded, hopefully someone else can chime in with that and the direct command.

I found the definition as much but how can I list what mesa I'm using? This is what is puzzling me because I can't see anything saying I have mesa.   ?

[Awesome Donkey]

You'd likely have to downgrade all of Mesa's packages, or else it'll likely break something having mismatched older+newer packages/dependencies.

Basically, to add to what Hendrik said, unless you're running the proprietary Nvidia GPU driver or AMD's proprietary AMDGPU Pro driver you're using Mesa. Not many use the AMDGPU Pro driver, as the open-source AMDGPU driver part of Mesa will work just fine for most users. Nouveau, the open-source Nvidia driver (for *some* Nvidia GPUs), is also part of Mesa.

Unless you know exactly what you're doing, I wouldn't recommend trying to downgrade or change Mesa packages, it's very easy to break your system doing so. You might just have to wait for a Mesa update (assuming it's a Mesa bug) but if you're certain that Mesa has dropped support for your Intel integrated graphics you might have to use a different, older distro like Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. You can also try the workarounds for Mesa 22 that was listed in the Ubuntu forums post you linked to above, but if it's the wrong Intel graphics, it *may* cause your system to not boot with any graphics. mesa-amber might also be an option, not sure if that's available in Ubuntu though. If you're going to try going in any of these routes, I highly recommend backing up everything you want to save just in case something goes wrong. You have to be very careful here...

[cochinada]

From all those options, the simplest to me seems to be to downgrade to Ubuntu 20.04.
So, exactly how do I do that?
I don't like navigating around the net and ramdomly picking what someone is saying without knowing what I'm doing.

[cochinada]

This is what I think I have installed saying mesa:



and this news:
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Mesa-Classic-Retired

[mwillems]

You're not the only one reporting this issue as of late, e.g. https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,135232.0.html

It is interesting that you did downgrade Mesa (and that 'fixed' it), which does seem to confirm that it was indeed a recent Mesa update that broke it. Hopefully Bob can look into it (and more importantly reproduce it). I wonder if it broke any other apps? There might be Mesa bug reports out there for other apps, and hopefully it's not something that has to be fixed in Mesa itself.

What's most interesting to me about this bug is that it seems to only be affecting ubuntu and mint users (which makes sense as mint is downstream of ubuntu).  I'm running mesa 22.3 on arch right now and have no issues with theater view even with relatively old intel graphics (Haswell-era).  So I wonder if it's either an ubuntu-specific or mint-specific patch causing the issue, or possibly an early regression in the mesa 22 line that got patched out later (arch is a few minor versions ahead of what ubuntu is shipping)? 

Also of note, another user reporting this issue on Mint found that switching his desktop environment from cinnamon to xfce fixed his white screen issue: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,135214.msg936343.html#msg936343 .  That also strongly suggests that something mint or ubuntu specific going on.   Is anyone who isn't using ubuntu or mint seeing this issue? 

and this news:
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Mesa-Classic-Retired

I guess it's possible that the removal of older drivers is causing it, but the intel drivers that were removed were mostly for intel systems pre-Sandy Bridge, so the systems affected were mostly made before 2007(!).  I'd be surprised if everyone affected is running a 15+ year old graphics card?  But it might be helpful if the folks who are experiencing the issue can specify the model number of their graphics card (or the CPU if using integrated graphics), as if folks are using one of the graphics cards that are no longer supported by mesa then there's not going to be anything JRiver can do to help.

[cochinada]

I guess it's possible that the removal of older drivers is causing it, but the intel drivers that were removed were mostly for intel systems pre-Sandy Bridge, so the systems affected were mostly made before 2007(!).  I'd be surprised if everyone affected is running a 15+ year old graphics card?  But it might be helpful if the folks who are experiencing the issue can specify the model number of their graphics card (or the CPU if using integrated graphics), as if folks are using one of the graphics cards that are no longer supported by mesa then there's not going to be anything JRiver can do to help.

I can specify. Just tell me which commands should I run to provide more information.
Motherboard: ASRock B360M Pro4
CPU: Pentium Gold G5500T @3.2GHz





BTW, I'm using GNOME Desktop.

[Awesome Donkey]

It's using Intel UHD Graphics 630 which is Coffee Lake era, which isn't actually that old and isn't part of the old Intel GPUs that Mesa dropped support for in their drivers, it *should* still be supported fine in Mesa 22 (and Mesa 23).

Which leads me to think this may be a Mesa bug indeed.

From all those options, the simplest to me seems to be to downgrade to Ubuntu 20.04.
So, exactly how do I do that?

You'd have to clean reinstall the OS, there's no way to downgrade an existing Ubuntu 22.04 LTS install to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS unfortunately. But since it's potentially a Mesa bug, maybe they'll issue a fix, especially if mwillems is having no issues on Arch Linux (which is using a newer Mesa). Has anyone looked at the Ubuntu or Linux Mint forums/bug trackers for any new Mesa issues since the updates were released? Maybe there's a known bug reported already.

[cochinada]

It's using Intel UHD Graphics 630 which is Coffee Lake era, which isn't actually that old and isn't part of the old Intel GPUs that Mesa dropped support for in their drivers, it *should* still be supported fine in Mesa 22 (and Mesa 23).

Which leads me to think this may be a Mesa bug indeed.

You'd have to clean reinstall the OS, there's no way to downgrade an existing Ubuntu 22.04 LTS install to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS unfortunately. But since it's potentially a Mesa bug, maybe they'll issue a fix, especially if mwillems is having no issues on Arch Linux (which is using a newer Mesa). Has anyone looked at the Ubuntu or Linux Mint forums/bug trackers for any new Mesa issues since the updates were released? Maybe there's a known bug reported already.

I certainly don't want to go through the nightmare of reinstalling Ubuntu.

I'm trying other things but what does this mean?


And if there is indeed a bug with mesa who is going to inform them?

[Awesome Donkey]

You likely wouldn't need mesa-utils, that's really only useful for glxinfo, which if I had to guess wouldn't really be any help here.

[cochinada]

You likely wouldn't need mesa-utils, that's really only useful for glxinfo, which if I had to guess wouldn't really be any help here.

OK. In the meanwhile I tried putting MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=crocus in /etc/environment to no avail.
Is it worth it to try to install XFCE or just a waste of time?

Something like this perhaps or is there a better way if any?
https://linuxconfig.org/install-xfce-xubuntu-desktop-on-ubuntu-22-04-jammy-jellyfish-linux

[Awesome Donkey]

Considering you have a Intel UHD Graphics 630, that MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=crocus workaround wouldn't work. All those workarounds only apply to old Intel integrated graphics that were dropped by Mesa. Your Intel UHD Graphics 630 isn't one of them and is still supported by Mesa 22 and 23.

If all you want to do is install Xfce, the easiest way is sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies via the terminal.

[cochinada]

?

[Awesome Donkey]

Is your repositories disabled or something? Because I see xfce4 and xfce4-goodies in the package manager (and terminal) here.

[cochinada]

Is your repositories disabled or something? Because I see xfce4 and xfce4-goodies in the package manager (and terminal) here.

Damn... so it seems it works.
I was playing with these settings trying to deactivate anything except JRiver and Edge

Which one should I enable for now?




So, I enabled the 1st 4 options on the 2nd picture and installed xfce.
All for nothing. Still have the blank screen.
I'm done.

[cochinada]

Now I uninstalled that but cannot get rid of this stupid desktop where I see a mouse and on top of that Firefox icon shows even after I also uninstalled. How can I get back to GNOME desktop?
I'm getting crazy now and really considering reinstalling Ubuntu from scratch.

[cochinada]

This is the situation I have now. I see this screen when powering the PC with a window on the left that is cut in half.




When I enter the password I now get a black screen. Yes, you read it correctly. 

I've tried all this already:

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ sudo apt-get purge xfce4
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  exfalso fonts-font-awesome fonts-lato fonts-symbola gir1.2-gst-plugins-base-1.0 gir1.2-gtksource-3.0 gir1.2-keybinder-3.0 gstreamer1.0-gtk3 hyphen-en-us
  libgtksourceview-3.0-1 libgtksourceview-3.0-common libkeybinder-3.0-0 libreoffice-gtk3 libreoffice-help-common libreoffice-help-en-us libxfce4ui-utils mythes-en-us
  python3-feedparser python3-musicbrainzngs python3-mutagen python3-pyinotify python3-sgmllib3k quodlibet sphinx-rtd-theme-common tango-icon-theme task-desktop
  xfce4-appfinder xfce4-panel xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  task-xfce-desktop* xfce4*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 25,6 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
(Reading database ... 235459 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing task-xfce-desktop (3.68ubuntu2) ...
Removing xfce4 (4.16) ...

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ sudo apt install ubuntu-gnome-desktop
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  gnome-session
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gnome-session ubuntu-gnome-desktop
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 17,9 kB of archives.
After this operation, 153 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/universe amd64 gnome-session all 42.0-1ubuntu2 [15,2 kB]
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/universe amd64 ubuntu-gnome-desktop amd64 0.92 [2758 B]
Fetched 17,9 kB in 0s (43,1 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package gnome-session.
(Reading database ... 219017 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../gnome-session_42.0-1ubuntu2_all.deb ...
Unpacking gnome-session (42.0-1ubuntu2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package ubuntu-gnome-desktop.
Preparing to unpack .../ubuntu-gnome-desktop_0.92_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking ubuntu-gnome-desktop (0.92) ...
Setting up gnome-session (42.0-1ubuntu2) ...
Setting up ubuntu-gnome-desktop (0.92) ...

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ sudo apt install tasksel
[sudo] password for joaquim:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
tasksel is already the newest version (3.68ubuntu2).
tasksel set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ sudo apt-get remove --auto-remove tasksel
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  tasksel tasksel-data
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 2 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 365 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
(Reading database ... 219037 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing tasksel-data (3.68ubuntu2) ...
Removing tasksel (3.68ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.10.2-1) ...
joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ sudo apt-get purge --auto-remove tasksel
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  tasksel*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
(Reading database ... 219011 files and directories currently installed.)
Purging configuration files for tasksel (3.68ubuntu2) ...

and it looks as if I don't have any desktop...

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$

[BryanC]

You might need to reinstall gdm and/or re-enable the gdm service. Also remove lightdm and whatever else XFCE installed.

[cochinada]

You might need to reinstall gdm and/or re-enable the gdm service. Also remove lightdm and whatever else XFCE installed.

Easier said than done, at least to me.
This is what I tried:

$ sudo apt-get remove tasksel
$ sudo apt-get purge tasksel
$ sudo apt-get purge --auto-remove lightdm

but then I did this:

628  sudo apt update
  629  sudo apt install gnome-session gdm3
  630  sudo apt install -f gnome-session gdm3
  631  sudo apt update
  632  sudo apt install tasksel
  633  sudo tasksel install ubuntu-desktop
  634  sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target
  635  reboot

...as for XFCE all I know is this:

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ history | grep -i xfce
  567  sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies
  568  sudo apt install xfce4  xfce4-goodies -y
  569  sudo apt install task-xfce-desktop -y
  575  sudo apt-get purge xfce4
  579  sudo apt-get purge task-xfce-desktop
  582  sudo apt-get purge xfce4-goodies
  603  sudo apt-get remove xfce4 xfce4goodies -y
  604  sudo apt-get remove xfce4 xfce4-goodies -y
  615  rm -r xfce4/
  640  history | grep -i xfce
joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$
 
As you can see, I pretty much uninstall all I saw but still I think there is some garbage left...

Now the situation has changed for the worse as after rebooting I get this:


After login in I see I don't have any desktop gui at all!

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$

[BryanC]

sudo apt-get reinstall ubuntu-desktop gdm3
sudo systemctl enable --now gdm3

[cochinada]

sudo apt-get reinstall ubuntu-desktop gdm3
sudo systemctl enable --now gdm3

So I did it and got this result...

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ sudo apt-get reinstall ubuntu-desktop gdm3
[sudo] password for joaquim:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Reinstallation of gdm3 is not possible, it cannot be downloaded.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 2592 B of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 ubuntu-desktop amd64 1.481 [2592 B]
Fetched 2592 B in 0s (7834 B/s)
(Reading database ... 205897 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../ubuntu-desktop_1.481_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking ubuntu-desktop (1.481) over (1.481) ...
Setting up ubuntu-desktop (1.481) ...
joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ sudo systemctl enable --now gdm3
Synchronizing state of gdm3.service with SysV service script with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install.
Executing: /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable gdm3
The unit files have no installation config (WantedBy=, RequiredBy=, Also=,
Alias= settings in the [Install] section, and DefaultInstance= for template
units). This means they are not meant to be enabled using systemctl.

Possible reasons for having this kind of units are:
• A unit may be statically enabled by being symlinked from another unit's
  .wants/ or .requires/ directory.
• A unit's purpose may be to act as a helper for some other unit which has
  a requirement dependency on it.
• A unit may be started when needed via activation (socket, path, timer,
  D-Bus, udev, scripted systemctl call, ...).
• In case of template units, the unit is meant to be enabled with some
  instance name specified.
joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$



Please help me get rid of this mouse!
Still nothing shows up on the 'echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP' output. Why?

[JimH]

Why don't you take a nap and have installJRMC install linux again for you?

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,134152.0.html

[cochinada]

Why don't you take a nap and have install MC install linux again for you?

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,134152.0.html

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ curl -O https://git.bryanroessler.com/bryan/installJRMC/raw/master/installJRMC && chmod +x ./installJRMC
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100 55987    0 55987    0     0  56955      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 56955
joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ installJRMC
installJRMC: command not found
joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ ls
Desktop  Documents  Downloads  installJRMC  Music  Pictures  Public  snap  Templates  Videos
joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ ./installJRMC
Starting installJRMC
To enable debugging output, use --debug or -d
Using MC version 30.0.51 determined by containerized package manager
To override, use --mcversion
Installing JRiver Media Center from remote repository
[sudo] password for joaquim:
JRiver Media Center installed successfully from repo
./installJRMC: eval: line 121: syntax error near unexpected token `('
./installJRMC: eval: line 121: `mediacenter30 /RestoreFromFile /home/joaquim/Downloads/Media Center30 Master-573001 (1).mjr &>/dev/null'
joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$

[BryanC]

If you are back into a graphical environment and MC is properly installed then that is probably the best you can do without bisecting your graphics stack until you hit the update that borks Theater View. I tested Ubuntu 22.04.1 without updates and it displays Theater View OK so it is definitely due to a bad package update.

That final error in installJRMC is a bug in my master branch when encountering a parenthesis in the mjr license file, I will fix that, thanks.

[cochinada]

If you are back into a graphical environment and MC is properly installed then that is probably the best you can do without bisecting your graphics stack until you hit the update that borks Theater View. I tested Ubuntu 22.04.1 without updates and it displays Theater View OK so it is definitely due to a bad package update.

That final error in installJRMC is a bug in my master branch when encountering a parenthesis in the mjr license file, I will fix that, thanks.

OK but I got to the same point again after executing those steps.
This (no GUI again):


and...

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$

I also cannot get rid of these 'xfce' packages:

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ apt list --installed |grep -i xfce

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

libxfce4ui-2-0/jammy,now 4.16.1-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libxfce4ui-common/jammy,jammy,now 4.16.1-1 all [installed,automatic]
libxfce4util-bin/jammy,now 4.16.0-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
libxfce4util-common/jammy,jammy,now 4.16.0-1 all [installed,automatic]
libxfce4util7/jammy,now 4.16.0-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$

[cochinada]

I found out that in order to get the Gnome GUI environment I need to enter this command which I do via ssh:

sudo systemctl restart gdm

Then I don't need to login as the desktop opens automatically.
BTW, I've installed the Gnome minimal as this was the one I had before.

The problem is that after I reboot I get again the same issue. The black screen without GUI and again I need to enter the command above.

How can I fix this permanentely?

I'm done for today. When trying to fix this now I cannot install it again...

joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ sudo apt install -f ubuntu-desktop-minimal
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 gdm3 : Depends: gir1.2-gdm-1.0 (= 42.0-1ubuntu6) but 42.0-1ubuntu7 is to be installed
        Depends: libgdm1 (= 42.0-1ubuntu6) but 42.0-1ubuntu7 is to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$



joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$ sudo apt-get install -y gdm3
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 gdm3 : Depends: gir1.2-gdm-1.0 (= 42.0-1ubuntu6) but 42.0-1ubuntu7 is to be installed
        Depends: libgdm1 (= 42.0-1ubuntu6) but 42.0-1ubuntu7 is to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:~$


joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:/etc/apt/sources.list.d$ apt list --installed |grep 42.0-1ubuntu

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

gir1.2-gdesktopenums-3.0/jammy,now 42.0-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gir1.2-gdm-1.0/now 42.0-1ubuntu7 amd64 [installed,local]
gir1.2-totem-1.0/jammy,now 42.0-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gnome-disk-utility/jammy,now 42.0-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed]
gnome-session-bin/jammy,now 42.0-1ubuntu2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gnome-session-common/jammy,jammy,now 42.0-1ubuntu2 all [installed,automatic]
gnome-startup-applications/jammy,now 42.0-1ubuntu2 amd64 [installed,automatic]
gsettings-desktop-schemas/jammy,jammy,now 42.0-1ubuntu1 all [installed,automatic]
libgdm1/now 42.0-1ubuntu7 amd64 [installed,local]
libtotem0/jammy,now 42.0-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
orca/now 42.0-1ubuntu2 all [installed,local]
totem-common/jammy,jammy,now 42.0-1ubuntu1 all [installed,automatic]
totem-plugins/jammy,now 42.0-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
totem/jammy,now 42.0-1ubuntu1 amd64 [installed,automatic]
ubuntu-session/jammy,jammy,now 42.0-1ubuntu2 all [installed]
joaquim@joaquim-HTPC:/etc/apt/sources.list.d$

[PLuft]

OP here....

Thanks everyone for feedback and info... Much appreciated!

Looks like I'm bumping up against EOL.  ==> Can anyone recommend a fairly *inexpensive* PCIE card suitable for HD video playback?   

Here are my specs, in case anyone is interested.  4 computers tested here so far. The first 3  are running Mesa 22.05 (held back) without issues, but theater view breaks when upgrading Mesa.

PC #4 is running an older version of Mint (20.3), and is a Sandy Bridge system.  Theater View works fine, of course.

1. NVIDIA GT218 [GeForce 210] vendor: eVga.com. driver: nouveau v: kernel pcie:
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: HDMI-A-1 empty: DVI-I-1,VGA-1 bus-ID: 01:00.0  chip-ID: 10de:0a65

2. Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell
    driver: i915 v: kernel ports: active: VGA-1 empty: HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0412

3. Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: i915 v: kernel ports: active: VGA-1 empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0
    chip-ID: 8086:0102

4. Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics
    vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:0102
    OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 2000 (SNB GT1) v: 3.3 Mesa 21.2.6

[PLuft]

As a test, I installed MythTV on my main entertainment pc.  It is using an old NVIDIA GT218 (GeForce 210) card..  MC30 theater view is broken with Mesa 22.2.5.  HOWEVER, MythTV 32 works just fine.  HD content displays fine - there are no hiccups or other artifacts, so I'm assuming MythTV is using "hardware acceleration.".  MythTV info lists Mesa in the video specs section. 

Not sure if that's of any value, but I wonder if there is a specific issue with MC30 and mesa?  I have not seen any other recent complaints about video / mesa with Ubuntu / Linux Mint - but I didn't look very hard ;-)

[cochinada]

Let's continue with the update.

After struggling to fix a broken gdm I gave up and installed my initial Ubuntu version for which I had the iso file -> 21.10

Now I have issues with repositories as it seems as I cannot install many things like even openssh.

So, I tried to install MC anyway and could not as well.
This is the error I have:

[BryanC]

It looks like you have a pretty serious error with your package manager configuration, which is causing installJRMC to fail. You need to get your system/OS in working shape before trying to install MC.

At this point I would revert any modifications that you've made to /etc/apt/sources.list and any files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ and make sure that you can perform a full system update `sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade` without any errors before continuing.

Edit: I now see that you are trying to install Ubuntu 21.10, that distribution is EOL and will not work. If you want to use an older release you must use an LTS version like 20.04.

[cochinada]

It looks like you have a pretty serious error with your package manager configuration, which is causing installJRMC to fail. You need to get your system/OS in working shape before trying to install MC.

At this point I would revert any modifications that you've made to /etc/apt/sources.list and any files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ and make sure that you can perform a full system update `sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade` without any errors before continuing.

Edit: I now see that you are trying to install Ubuntu 21.10, that distribution is EOL and will not work. If you want to use an older release you must use an LTS version like 20.04.

Yes, I also read somewhere that there are no more repositories maintained for 21.10 which made me... install 22.04 from scratch.
I was able to install MC but guess what?
I was certain that my library backups were NOT on the boot device but it turned out they were so, in this process I have no Library backups and have to build my library from scratch.
This whole thing is costing me an arm and a leg. I'm not even sure if I'm able to rebuild my Library as it was before. 

[JimH]

MC makes automatic backups.  Search for zip files.  You can restore an MC29 backup in MC30.

[cochinada]

MC makes automatic backups.  Search for zip files.  You can restore an MC29 backup in MC30.

It's a tragedy...

joaquim@HTPC:/$ sudo find / -name *.zip
find: ‘/run/user/1000/doc’: Permission denied
find: ‘/run/user/1000/gvfs’: Permission denied
/usr/lib/jriver/Media Center 30/Data/Panel/WebPlay/Default/scripts/glow.zip
joaquim@HTPC:/$

I have uninstalled MC29 after installing MC30 and during the Ubuntu installation I choose option "Erase..." as I didn't want to keep any leftovers from the older system.

My only hope is that I have still something on my $RECYCLE.BIN but how can I check it?

joaquim@HTPC:/media/joaquim/Multimedia$ ls
'$RECYCLE.BIN'   AudioArchitect_v2.25.0   BandManager2.00.0.0-R1   Flirc   Musica  'System Volume Information'
joaquim@HTPC:/media/joaquim/Multimedia$ cd RECYCLE.BIN
-bash: cd: RECYCLE.BIN: No such file or directory
joaquim@HTPC:/media/joaquim/Multimedia$

Nopt even that. Trash folder is empty 

[BryanC]

You may be able to "restore" using your "~/.jriver/Media Center 29" user directory if it is still present. If you are using MC30 you will need to mv the 'Media Center 29' directory to 'Media Center 30'.

[Awesome Donkey]

Well, if you didn't backup any of your library backups on a different drive or USB/flash drive/SD card and clean reinstalled Ubuntu, then unfortunately you lost them since you reformatted the drive. Always make backups and keep those backups safe in a place (that's not on the OS drive) where if you have to reinstall the OS, you do not lose them. Same applies to your media files (music, videos, images, etc.) because if you store them on the same drive as the OS and something happens and you have to reinstall the OS, you lose everything.

I would really, really not recommend doing all the stuff you've been doing, because all you're doing is kinda being careless with your approach which in turn has been breaking the OS which then forces you to reinstall the OS multiple times. I would grab the ISO to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and install that and install Media Center 30 on that. If you want to try using Xfce, install and use Xubuntu 20.04 instead or whichever you want. Beware, there is a chance that Mesa updates could have been backported to the older Ubuntu LTS (and I would certainly not recommend disabling repositories which prevents security updates, that's a bad idea), and if so you'll end up in this same situation with broken theater view once again. If that's the case and the broken Mesa has been backported, you might have to wait until they push a fix or honestly install Windows.

[JimH]

Split Reinstalling Older Version of Ubuntu

[MartinM]

Hi all,
I too experienced the white/black screen in Theater view, and thought it is a bug in JRiver MC 30... After reading this thread, and getting to know it might be an issue with mesa drivers I tried and followed this guide:

https://www.linuxcapable.com/how-to-upgrade-mesa-drivers-on-ubuntu-linux/

And it did the trick for me, everything is working as it should now
I am on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Intel Xeon e3 from Haswell gen with igpu (can look it up more in more detail if there is need, currently typing this on my laptop, and am not sure the exact model).

Posting this in hope that it might help someone.

Martin

[JimH]

Martin,
Thanks very much for posting what you learned.  It will be appreciated.