seamless BUT in LXDE (without opengl)

[brett]

Hi, I did read Chapter 14 - Known Limitations, and understand that certain window managers like Unity, or others, that rely on OpenGL 3D won't work with the seamless mode of VB. However, I have set my Ubuntu 12.04 to default to LXDE in the bootloader and I still see "seamless" mode greyed out. I really don't want to uninstall Unity because this is a triple boot and I am using VB to go back and forth to the Mac partition - I guess the point being that I like Unity when I boot into Ubuntu.

Any suggestions?

Thank you!

[Perryg]

Did you install the guest additions ( in the guest )?

[brett]

Yes, I did do that - in the guest. I removed and ran the .iso from the file manager, tried it and it didn't work. I ran it from the terminal (sudo) too and same result. I did NOT install them by booting into the ubuntu partition and using apt-get. (Thanks for replying!)

[Perryg]

Well you should have OpenGL installed if you want accelerated graphics. Are you saying you don't have OpenGL installed or simply that you believe it would be better if you didn't use it. I can tell you for sure that the DT experience without it is going to be slow especially with Unity because that will force software acceleration.

Run the following in a terminal and post the results.

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glxinfo | grep OpenGL

[brett]

Hi, what is DT experience?

Here are the results:

sbh@sbh-MacBookPro:/media/VBOXADDITIONS_4.3.10_93012$ glxinfo | grep OpenGL
The program 'glxinfo' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install mesa-utils

which after running apt-get -s install mesa-utils says I don't have it... Install?

My mentioning of OpenGL was only after reading the "Known Issues" in chapter 14 of the manual.

All I want to do is be able to run seamless when I use VB to run linux programs from the Mac OSX host...

[brett]

So I installed mesa-utils, reinstalled the guest additions, rebooted, and logged into LXDE but the unchecked "seamless" is still gray and the checked "auto resize guest display" is also still grey...

[Perryg]

DT = DeskTop

Let's get back to the beginning. You say you want to use Unity.

Make sure 3D acceleration is enabled in the guest settings
Select Unity at logon ( unless you downloaded Lubuntu )
Open a terminal and run the following and post the results.

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ps -Alf | grep VB

Then run the following and post the results

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glxinfo | grep OpenGL

[loukingjr]

thought I would look at my Ubuntu based guests. Unity doesn't work for beans in seamless mode. it doesn't draw the launcher or the menubar, with or without 3D enabled. Lubuntu works with or without 3D enabled. My seamless option is never grayed out for any guest however.

edit: Xubuntu also works in seamless mode. However, it doesn't draw very smoothly. It's almost as if 3D was disabled.

[brett]

Hi, so I like using Unity only when I boot into the Ubuntu partition with nothing to do with the Mac partition.

These are the outputs (after booting into Lubuntu which I did install - I was in LXDE):

sbh@sbh-MacBookPro:~$ ps -Alf | grep VB
1 S root 1089 1 0 80 0 - 56249 sigtim 18:25 ? 00:00:04 /usr/sbin/VBoxService
1 S sbh 2356 1 0 80 0 - 28426 rtR0Se 19:33 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/VBoxClient --clipboard
1 S sbh 2365 1 0 80 0 - 28947 rtR0Se 19:33 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/VBoxClient --display
1 S sbh 2370 1 0 80 0 - 11497 poll_s 19:33 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/VBoxClient --seamless
1 S sbh 2375 1 0 80 0 - 28076 futex_ 19:33 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/VBoxClient --draganddrop
0 R sbh 2636 2573 0 80 0 - 3398 - 19:34 pts/1 00:00:00 grep --color=auto VB
sbh@sbh-MacBookPro:~$ glxinfo | grep OpenGL
Xlib: extension "NV-GLX" missing on display ":0".
OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 0x300)
OpenGL version string: 1.4 (2.1 Mesa 8.0.4)
OpenGL extensions:
Xlib: extension "NV-GLX" missing on display ":0".
OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 0x300)
OpenGL version string: 1.4 (2.1 Mesa 8.0.4)
OpenGL extensions:

I also have the 3D acceleration checked.

Right, as I understand it any windows manager that relies on OpenGL will not work with the Seamless option, hence the reason for LXDE (and Lubuntu as you say). Anyways, in Lubuntu I still have the two options greyed out....

[loukingjr]

if they are greyed out there is most likely something wrong with your install of VirtualBox. Try using the uninstall tool then reinstall VirtualBox. You might want to check permissions in Disk Utility before you reinstall to make sure part of VirtualBox wasn't installed because of a permissions problem.

[brett]

So I used the uninstall tool and then reinstalled. I noticed that root:admin are all over the /Applications/VirtualBox.app/*

I wonder if this could have anything to do with it...(this is how I created the rawdisks);

sudo VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename VM.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/disk0 -partitions 4
chown 777 VM*
chown sbh:admin VM*
sudo chmod 777 /dev/disk0s4 (the ubuntu partition)

I also unmount the ubuntu partition from the Mac each time....

[Perryg]

OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 0x300)

This means that you are not running on the VBox drivers. If you were it would say chromium and humper. I would see why this is failing as you are now running on software acceleration mode and none of the guest addition video will be available.

You can see if the install worked properly by looking at the vboxadd-install.log. You will need to ask loukingjr where to find it though or use finder to locate it, I don't have a Mac.

[brett]

Okay, is loukingjr a person on this forum?

Also, how do I ensure that the VBox drivers are being used? Are they located in the guest additions iso, the extension pack, or ....

Right now I am trying to use the guest additions iso I downloaded from the virtualbox site separately - still no change.

By the way, vboxadd is also a user account on ubuntu (499 I think?) - I'm not supposed to log in to that account, right?! Furthermore, I could not find the log file you mentioned - either with Console, locate, ls ./ -name *vbox* -print, etc...

[brett]

So I found the log file and it says everything was successful:

...
...
Mar 28 21:25:46 math-148 installd[1416]: Installed "Oracle VM VirtualBox" ()
Mar 28 21:25:46 math-148 installd[1416]: PackageKit: ----- End install -----
Mar 28 21:25:47 math-148 Installer[1387]: Running install actions
Mar 28 21:25:47 math-148 Installer[1387]: Removing temporary directory "/var/folders/by/byQP9pbzE04Y+vY+M-sF+U+++TI/-Tmp-//Install.1387q0CATJ"
Mar 28 21:25:47 math-148 Installer[1387]: Finalize disk "Mac"
Mar 28 21:25:47 math-148 Installer[1387]: Notifying system of updated components
Mar 28 21:25:48 math-148 Installer[1387]:
Mar 28 21:25:48 math-148 Installer[1387]: **** Summary Information ****
Mar 28 21:25:48 math-148 Installer[1387]: Operation Elapsed time
Mar 28 21:25:48 math-148 Installer[1387]: -----------------------------
Mar 28 21:25:48 math-148 Installer[1387]: disk 0.02 seconds
Mar 28 21:25:48 math-148 Installer[1387]: script 0.01 seconds
Mar 28 21:25:48 math-148 Installer[1387]: zero 0.03 seconds
Mar 28 21:25:48 math-148 Installer[1387]: install 13.09 seconds
Mar 28 21:25:48 math-148 Installer[1387]: -total- 13.15 seconds
Mar 28 21:25:48 math-148 Installer[1387]:
Mar 28 21:25:48 math-148 Installer[1387]: IFDInstallController 24CC70 state = 5
Mar 28 21:25:48 math-148 Installer[1387]: Displaying 'Install Succeeded' UI.

I, of course, know I'm not supposed to log into vboxadd as a user, but said that in a moment of despair ha ha... Anyway, this log was after a proper uninstall, a computer reboot, an install, and then install of the guest additions. The two options are still grey and the Vendor string from glxinfo, etc. is still wrong. As I am using the guest additions iso inside the VB package I don't know how it could not be using the right drivers.... So I guess I need to know how to fix this driver issue...? Thanks!

[loukingjr]

I know one thing, you need to delete any VMWare files.