[Bug 1368784] Re: Vivid and Utopic Virtualbox guest gets only up to resolution of 640x480

Fri Mar 27 17:52:24 UTC 2015

Colin Watson asked that I discuss this issue in #ubuntu-kernel. A log of
the IRC discussion is below, as requested by Martin Pitt, and I'll
attach a debdiff for 'grub-gfxpayload-lists' in due course:

 Here is what we discussed:

<flexiondotorg> I been discussing https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/virtualbox/+bug/1368784/ with cjwatson in #ubuntu-devel
<ubot5> Ubuntu bug 1368784 in virtualbox (Ubuntu) "Vivid and Utopic Virtualbox guest gets only up to resolution of 640x480" [High,Confirmed]
<flexiondotorg> I've got the following work around - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/virtualbox/+bug/1368784/comments/17
<flexiondotorg> cjwatson is prepared to update grub-gfxpayload-lists if someone here can confirm "fixing" this issue at a kernel level is hopeless.
<flexiondotorg> So, thoughts?
<apw> flexiondotorg, "fixing" at the kernel level, do we know what the issue is ?
<apw> flexiondotorg, the implication of the (admittedly older) comments is that you need virtualbox-guest-x11
<apw> flexiondotorg, and indeed i can confirm that installing the said package does sort things out, who knows what i has in it mind
<apw> seems it has a vbox specific video drivers
<apw> i wonder if they should be being installed by jockey
<flexiondotorg> apw, So the issue is the default resolution when virtualbox-guest-x11 is not installed.
<apw> the default resolution is that offered by the vesa settings i assume ?
<flexiondotorg> apw, The vmware video devices are already blacklisted by grub-gfxpayload-lists
<apw> ok, so then it sounds like whatever this is using now is a candidate for blacklisting ?
<flexiondotorg> apw, Must be. vesa is used by vbox when the guestadditions-x11 is absent.
<apw> so that is a vbox issue really, offering stupid resolutions by default
<flexiondotorg> apw, Since 14.04. Yes.
<flexiondotorg> apw, The 640x480 thing started sometime during 14.10.
<apw> and presumably it does that because they don't care about you if you don't install their video driver
<flexiondotorg> apw, I couldn't possibly comment ;)
<apw> i wonder why i makes a difference to blacklist it in grub though, vesa must be very broken
<apw> and so i would think rather than being a fallback option to blacklist more things in grub, it might
<apw> be the appropriate option instead
<flexiondotorg> apw, It is odd because when booting from the live media, resolution is 1024x768.
<flexiondotorg> But on first install, resolution is 640x480.
<apw> right, that doesn't use grub, nor initialise the display
<apw> it uses syslinux
<flexiondotorg> apw, Indeed.
<apw> grub initialises the display, because you know the vesa modes offered should be the preferred size of your display, so setting it up early makes sense and makes things prettier
<apw> unless your vesa config is spam
<apw> and has "1 1024x768 2 640x480 (default)" in it ... or equiv
<flexiondotorg> So, possibly a regression in what Virtualbox provides.
<apw> but if we are blacklisting for vbox video anyhow, it may well make sense to blacklist everything when vbox is found
<apw> which is what i assume the wildcard you added does
<flexiondotorg> apw, Yes.
<flexiondotorg> Although, AKAIK, vbox have only ever used one device ID for video.
<apw> flexiondotorg, not that i really know why one would use vbox if you had any other choice
<flexiondotorg> The other "work around" is to configure grub to use 'console' for all video output.
<flexiondotorg> apw, It is very popular with people who just want to test. Low barrier of entry.
<apw> flexiondotorg, i don't find virtmgr any more complex to drive, and it idoesn't have these issue at least
<flexiondotorg> apw, Agreed.
<apw> and i don't need 30k lines of random out of tree junk loaded into my kernle to make it work either
<flexiondotorg> But, people do use vbox.
<flexiondotorg> apw, So the question is. Is this fixable by the kernel team? Seems like a big fat "No" based on what we've discussed?
<apw> well they had much more ufn, they were just exploding in the host when they tried
<apw> flexiondotorg, i am not sure what we would fix, grub handed us a configured terminal, and we continued to use it as instructed
<apw> flexiondotorg, and presumably because vesa, it was at a stupid resolution
<apw> i'll try your workaround on that same gnome image in vbox and see how it looks
<flexiondotorg> apw, So I think that blacklisting the vbox video device in grub is the way forward.
<flexiondotorg> apw, OK. Thanks for testing.
<apw> flexiondotorg, and i think the behaviour with the blacklist seems more useful, and i assume if i install the -guest-x11 i'll get go faster stripes
<flexiondotorg> apw, Yes with guest-x11 install you get dynamic resizing and such.
<apw> flexiondotorg, but yes, i htink my prefrered option is this blacklist, and if it fixes the issues you have with locked disks that sounds liek a win
<flexiondotorg> apw, Agreed. Although the inability to enter encryption pass phrases affects actual hardware too. By blacklisting vbox for grub you get a text mode plymouth which always works.
<apw> flexiondotorg, yeah, i assume we have a lot of issues there now we have systemd fun to play with
<apw> i guess i ought to reinstall some of my kit with that to find out
<flexiondotorg> apw, systemd isn't to blame for passphrase entry. That was present in 14.10 also.
<flexiondotorg> apw, My "solution" was not to ship a graphical plymouth theme in 14.10. That way only text mode available and pass phrase entry worked.
<flexiondotorg> apw, Are you still testing this on an Ubuntu GNOME image or have we concluded that blacklisting is the solution?
<apw> i think we concur blacklisting is the way forward for the size issue
<apw> the plymouth not working is separate
<flexiondotorg> apw, Thanks for your time.
<apw> flexiondotorg, thanks for paying attention to it :)
<flexiondotorg> apw, I'll report back to cjwatson and he can make the blacklist change.
<flexiondotorg> apw, Most welcome :)
<apw> ack, thanks

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1368784

Title:
  Vivid and Utopic Virtualbox guest gets only up to resolution of
  640x480

Status in grub-gfxpayload-lists package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Committed

Bug description:
  Utopic Virtualbox guest gets only up to resolution of 640x480

  This happened with the recent xorg update (2014-09-12).

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10
  Package: xorg 1:7.7+7ubuntu1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-14.20-generic 3.16.2
  Uname: Linux 3.16.0-14-generic i686
  .tmp.unity.support.test.1:

  ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu2
  Architecture: i386
  CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
  CompositorRunning: compiz
  CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
  CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
  CurrentDesktop: Unity
  Date: Fri Sep 12 16:02:55 2014
  DistUpgraded: Fresh install
  DistroCodename: utopic
  DistroVariant: ubuntu
  ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
  GraphicsCard: InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH VirtualBox Graphics Adapter [80ee:beef] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-09-11 (1 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.10 "Utopic Unicorn" - Alpha i386 (20140905)
  Lsusb:
   Bus 001 Device 002: ID 80ee:0021 VirtualBox USB Tablet
   Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
  MachineType: innotek GmbH VirtualBox
  ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-14-generic root=UUID=d36d2942-0e30-43aa-a306-e8a2bba7985b ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
  Renderer: Software
  SourcePackage: xorg
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
  dmi.bios.date: 12/01/2006
  dmi.bios.vendor: innotek GmbH
  dmi.bios.version: VirtualBox
  dmi.board.name: VirtualBox
  dmi.board.vendor: Oracle Corporation
  dmi.board.version: 1.2
  dmi.chassis.type: 1
  dmi.chassis.vendor: Oracle Corporation
  dmi.modalias: dmi:bvninnotekGmbH:bvrVirtualBox:bd12/01/2006:svninnotekGmbH:pnVirtualBox:pvr1.2:rvnOracleCorporation:rnVirtualBox:rvr1.2:cvnOracleCorporation:ct1:cvr:
  dmi.product.name: VirtualBox
  dmi.product.version: 1.2
  dmi.sys.vendor: innotek GmbH
  version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.12+14.10.20140812-0ubuntu1
  version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.56-1
  version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.2.6-1ubuntu3
  version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
  version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.2.6-1ubuntu3
  version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.16.0-1ubuntu1
  version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.9.0-1ubuntu2
  version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.4.0-2ubuntu2
  version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.914-1~exp1ubuntu2
  version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.11-1ubuntu2
  xserver.bootTime: Fri Sep 12 16:01:26 2014
  xserver.configfile: default
  xserver.devices:
   input        Power Button         KEYBOARD, id 6
   input        Sleep Button         KEYBOARD, id 7
   input        VirtualBox USB Tablet TOUCHSCREEN, id 8
   input        AT Translated Set 2 keyboard KEYBOARD, id 9
   input        ImExPS/2 Generic Explorer Mouse MOUSE, id 10
  xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
  xserver.outputs:

  xserver.version: 2:1.16.0-1ubuntu1

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