You could try, probably succesfully, to install the fglrx package using the correct repos. That is the driver package that is set up for the system you are working on.

Thanks widget-

I'm going to have to invest the time to go to the Elementary OS Documentation and find out more information about this distro, look at his sources.list and look for the fglrx pkg.

I think this is the correct driver. I have to know with certainty because this is not my system.
http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/fglrx

The card that was installed on this computer is an MSI/ATI/Radeon Twin Frozer 2GB GDDR5.

I would say that is the right driver but can't say for sure.

Too late again for coherent research.

What exactly is wrong with the video results with the FOSS driver that is in use now?

Ever since ubuntu 9.04 I have had better luck with the FOSS driver than with the proprietary. As you can see in my sig I am using a different card though. The 7000 serries may be different.

I get an elonggated result with the proprietary. A circle becomes a horizontal oval. Very irritating. Of coarse this is completely different hardware too.

What exactly is superimposed on the screen? I don't quite get that. Are things overlapping or is this something else. If overlapping is this text only or graphics only or both?

A screen shot would not help because those only show what the box thinks is on the screen. Usually when you have that sort of problem a screen shot doesn't show it.

You really don't need the xorg.conf file with the FOSS driver so you could install the driver from the repo and see what happens. If it doesn't work remove or, better, rename the xorg.conf file (xorg.conf.def or something) and reboot. Should be alright to run with the FOSS driver then.

The HD7000 series will not work well with the FOSS driver from Ubuntu 12.04. Anyways, since Elementary is an Ubuntu derivative, don't they use the "Additional Drivers" program? That would be the simplest and safst way to install the correct driver.

But as I read this thread you have for now only fixed the graphics issue, but not the issue with the package management system. Unless that is fixed you should not try to install anything.

That is an excellent point. Also shows exactly how with it I am.

Yes, Elementaryos has the additional driver program. I don't think they have all the bugs worked out when it comes to updates. I had fglrx driver installed on a Elementary install that updates had hosed up about 6 months.

The image that the owner has choosen for his desktop back is elonggated and superimposed as well.
There is a Shaolin Monk sitting with his legs crossed meditating in the center of the DE.
The Monk appears excessively taller than normal.
But at least he can get into all of his directory's and files.

I agree whole heartedly--
I do not know how to fix a broken pkg management system--"APT"
What do you propose?


One of the owners students installed Elementary OS on his Lenovo laptop and has had issue's with
Elementary as well. He mentioned it in passing but I didn't hear the details.

As colorpurple21859 said updates/upgrades seem to hose this distributions graphics for what ever the
reason.

I have to move slow and with certainty.

At this point and given that it is known that Elementary OS has issues not only for you but other people, I would recommend to make a backup of all the data and do a fresh installation of a known good OS, maybe Mint or openSuse, preferably an OS that has all the applications your friend needs in the official repositories.

That is exellent advice.

Elementary OS is, while very interesting, not an OS I would recommend to someone with no experience with Linux.

It is a respin of a respin. This always raises warning flags for me. There are some very good ones out there that are simple to use but most are not. Linux Mint, for instance, is one I have never used personally but has a very good reputation.

Never used openSuse either but know several people that do and it seems to be extremely solid.

It uses a different package management system, RPM, but your Enlightenment OS user is not familiar with APT either so that is not a real concern.

This thread started by mentioning mpt to see an android tablet. My wife had the same problem with her new Galaxcy 4 phone. She is running Wheezy and we had no trouble getting it to show up on there even though mpt is not available as it is in Debian testing and Sid.

So it is possible to do in "older" distros. CentOS is very stable but I am not sure what kernel it is running.

I really think the 2 distros recommended would be good ones to check out. They both have live CD/DVD so they can be tried that way.

If you stick with Elementary OS don't add ppa's to the sources.list. They are a main source of version upgrade failure in Ubuntu. This is because people don't read the release notes and follow the instruction to get rid of ppa's, and their installed packages, before doing a version upgrade.

The reason for looking for a distro with the packages you need in the repos is simple. Third party repos are always a cause of possible problems. They are something that should be avoided by anyone that isn't prepared to deal with those problems as they arise.

Elementary looks really pretty. Eyecandy can be added to anything. There are a lot of DEs out there. Mint, for instance, has all the normal ones and Cinnamon, a Gnome Shell fork, and Mate which is a Gnome 2 (old gnome panel DE) fork.

openSuse is primarily a KDE distro but offer all the regular DEs. They may offer Cinnamon and Mate. I am pretty sure they do offer Mate.

Docks are in all the repos of all the distros.

Both openSuse and Mint will have up to date drivers.

Mint will have the "ubuntu-minimal" package that locks in some very strange dependencies just as Elementary does.

My friend/future business partner may need some convincing.

Anything that you have found online that I could link to so he can see for himself?

Like what?

You have Fedora listed as your OS.

Have a lot of problems with it? I have had it on here. Seems pretty good. Didn't blow my skirt up but it worked. Package management was sane which is more than can be claimed for the current state of Elementary on his box.

Fedora is the test platform for RHEL so it does tend to be experimental. I don't see anythng wrong with that but it would be kind of silly to inflict it on him.

openSuse should be a lot easier for you to deal with if he has problems.

Show him the openSuse site. Get a Live CD/DVD (what ever they use) and show that to him on his box.
http://en.opensuse.org/Main_Page

Link to images;
http://software.opensuse.org/131/en

Images seem, at a glance to just be for Gnome and KDE but other DEs will be in the repos. Mate is in the repos.

They also have kiwi with which to build a custom image with a live session.

They are business oriented.

Yes I do. But no, I am talking about Elementary OS.

Did you try to reinstall the fglrx drivers after uninstalling them using the additional driver program? The updates that hosed the system most likely replaced some of the files that were installed by the fglrx in place of default X files with the default files used by X

No I haven't re-installed the driver.
He wants to wait until he learns more before doing that.