Mailing List Archive: Intel NUC + Voidlinux + Xen

Intel NUC + Voidlinux + Xen

Oct 3, 2023, 2:41 PM

Post #1 of 3 (82 views)

Hi all.

I try to install Xen + Voidlinux onto a small Intel NUC.

After installing the packages xen and grub-xen

https://voidlinux.org/packages/?arch=x86_64&q=xen

A.
I booted straight into Xen. The first problem I came across was a blank
screen with a short error message:

Current graphics mode is unsupported

This error message only sometimes appeared. Mostly another error
occurred:

8254 timer not connected to IO-APIC

B.
The first error I handled with "vga=ask". I never got asked but
anyways, the graphics mode error went away.

The other error I handled with "x2apic=false noapic". Again the
error/kernel panic went away.

C.
A new error emerged:

Xen is relinquishing vga console

After that the screen get blanked out (from top to bottom) and after
some seconds the computer restarts.

D.
What can I do to get Xen boot with Voidlinux and Consumer-hardware like
that Intel NUC? I installed latest UEFI but still unable to boot Xen.

Thanks
Goran

Re: Intel NUC + Voidlinux + Xen [ In reply to ]

brchuckz at netscape

Oct 6, 2023, 10:52 AM

Post #2 of 3 (80 views)

Permalink

On 10/3/2023 5:41 PM, Goran wrote:
> Hi all.
>
> I try to install Xen + Voidlinux onto a small Intel NUC.
>
> After installing the packages xen and grub-xen
>
> https://voidlinux.org/packages/?arch=x86_64&q=xen
>
> A.
> I booted straight into Xen. The first problem I came across was a blank
> screen with a short error message:
>
> Current graphics mode is unsupported
>
> This error message only sometimes appeared. Mostly another error
> occurred:
>
> 8254 timer not connected to IO-APIC
>
> B.
> The first error I handled with "vga=ask". I never got asked but
> anyways, the graphics mode error went away.
>
> The other error I handled with "x2apic=false noapic". Again the
> error/kernel panic went away.
>
> C.
> A new error emerged:
>
> Xen is relinquishing vga console
>
> After that the screen get blanked out (from top to bottom) and after
> some seconds the computer restarts.
>
> D.
> What can I do to get Xen boot with Voidlinux and Consumer-hardware like
> that Intel NUC? I installed latest UEFI but still unable to boot Xen.
>
> Thanks
> Goran
>
>

I think you probably need to open an issue on the void-linux/void-packages
issues page:

https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/issues

Void uses GitHub, so you will need to have at least a free GitHub user
account to open an issue with Void Linux about it's xen package.

I suspect since they have not updated the xen version since the Xen 4.14.1
release almost three years ago, they have not been regularly testing the xen
package and some other Void updates since then may have broken xen on Void:

https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/blob/master/srcpkgs/xen/template

Re: Intel NUC + Voidlinux + Xen [ In reply to ]

brchuckz at netscape

Oct 7, 2023, 10:43 AM

Post #3 of 3 (78 views)

Permalink

On 10/6/2023 1:52 PM, Chuck Zmudzinski wrote:
> On 10/3/2023 5:41 PM, Goran wrote:
>> Hi all.
>>
>> I try to install Xen + Voidlinux onto a small Intel NUC.
>>
>> After installing the packages xen and grub-xen
>>
>> https://voidlinux.org/packages/?arch=x86_64&q=xen
>>
>> A.
>> I booted straight into Xen. The first problem I came across was a blank
>> screen with a short error message:
>>
>> Current graphics mode is unsupported
>>
>> This error message only sometimes appeared. Mostly another error
>> occurred:
>>
>> 8254 timer not connected to IO-APIC
>>
>> B.
>> The first error I handled with "vga=ask". I never got asked but
>> anyways, the graphics mode error went away.
>>
>> The other error I handled with "x2apic=false noapic". Again the
>> error/kernel panic went away.
>>
>> C.
>> A new error emerged:
>>
>> Xen is relinquishing vga console
>>
>> After that the screen get blanked out (from top to bottom) and after
>> some seconds the computer restarts.
>>
>> D.
>> What can I do to get Xen boot with Voidlinux and Consumer-hardware like
>> that Intel NUC? I installed latest UEFI but still unable to boot Xen.
>>
>> Thanks
>> Goran
>>
>>
>
> I think you probably need to open an issue on the void-linux/void-packages
> issues page:
>
> https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/issues
>
> Void uses GitHub, so you will need to have at least a free GitHub user
> account to open an issue with Void Linux about it's xen package.
>
> I suspect since they have not updated the xen version since the Xen 4.14.1
> release almost three years ago, they have not been regularly testing the xen
> package and some other Void updates since then may have broken xen on Void:
>
> https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/blob/master/srcpkgs/xen/template

Also, have you tried another distribution to see if you have the same problem
with a distribution other than Void? You could try Debian, Fedora, Alpine,
Suse, etc. and see if the problem persists. For example, I have seen cases where a
particular generation of Intel hardware + Xen + Linux kernel has a bug that is
not seen on all Intel hardware.