I have a new bug with peppermint 3 : the bottom panel disappears suddenly.. I reported that bug in detail on launchpad :

https://bugs.launchpad.net/peppermint/+bug/1278053

thanks for any idea,
cri

When the panel disappears, does it come back if you open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run:

?

Did the disappearing act start after you edited the panel file ?

Are you saying the panel is obviously still there (clicking where the menu button *should* be opens the menu) but it's just not being displayed ?

I'll try out and tell you when it happens again, for instance it didn't....



not directly, but editing the panel file was the last operation I made, and yes, it started after, but some days later... difficult to say if there's a link since it doesn't happen all the time anyway.....



yes it is, everything works (if I remember where everything was..),
that's weird...

could not try because this time almost nothing worked but logout-login (forgot to copy your command before the internet window didn't react anymore..)

--

ok sorry for posting 3 times : now it happened again, and lxpanelctl restart fixed the problem ! but for how long ?

This sounds like some *extremely weird* graphics driver issue.

I don't suppose you noticed an update to them just prior to this happening ?

What's the output from:

(and remember Linux commands ARE case sensitive .. so that's a capital C )

*-display UNCLAIMED
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Atom Processor D2xxx/N2xxx Integrated Graphics Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
version: 09
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:46000000-460fffff ioport:50d0(size=8)

OK, can we have the make/model of your PC (if it's a laptop), and the output from:

System: Host: cri-AOD270 Kernel: 3.2.0-23-generic x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: LXDE (Openbox 3.5.0) Distro: Peppermint Three
Machine: System: Acer (portable) product: AOD270 version: V1.07
Mobo: Acer model: JE01_CT Bios: Insyde version: V1.07 date: 06/26/2012
CPU: Dual core Intel Atom CPU N2600 (-HT-MCP-) cache: 512 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 ssse3)
Clock Speeds: 1: 600.00 MHz 2: 600.00 MHz 3: 600.00 MHz 4: 1600.00 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel Atom Processor D2xxx/N2xxx Integrated Graphics Controller
X.Org: 1.11.3 drivers: vesa (unloaded: intel,fbdev) Resolution: 1024x600@0.0hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 0x300) GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 8.0.4
Audio: Card: Intel NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel Sound: ALSA ver: 1.0.24
Network: Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath9k
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 84:4b:f5:69:8f:13
Card-2: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller driver: r8169
IF: eth0 state: down mac: 04:7d:7b:e6:c4:cd
Drives: HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (39.2% used) 1: /dev/sda ST320LT020 320.1GB
Partition: ID: / size: 148G used: 117G (84%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 1.06GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 131 Uptime: 5 min Memory: 465.4/984.0MB Client: Shell inxi: 1.7.33

Hmm, cedarview .. you're currently running no graphics drivers .. so it's defaulted back to vesa

The bad news... you have a GMA 3600 graphics chip .. Intel can't open-source the drivers because the intellectual property rights are owned by Imagination Technologies (PowerVR).

Imagination Tech just point you back at Intel saying drivers are their responsibility, who point you back at Imagination Tech saying we can't release their IP .. helpful eh

It seems some proprietary drivers *were* released for the 3.2 kernel series (and therefore Peppermint 3) but they were for the 32bit non-PAE kernel ONLY

As you're using the 64bit version of Peppermint 3, you'd have no option but to do a FULL reinstallation.

See here:
http://ef.gy/ubuntu-cedarview-drivers

I *gather* there is an (backwards engineered ?) open-sourced driver (gma500) in the recent mainline kernel 3.12 .. but I think you'd need Peppermint 4 to be able to compile/install that kernel.

wow, thanks man, but there is alot of stuff I don't really understand,
I won't have internet for a while, I'll come back to the problem later, thanks alot for now.
I didn't upgrade to PM4 yet because you can't actually "upgrade" from 3 to 4, and now I think I'll maybe wait for PM5 with completely reinstalling...

I don't know if that's the place for this kind of stuff, but if you don't mind, I have some stupid beginner questions..
Is it really better to completely reinstall PM4 or 5 wiping out PM3, or is it OK to just install it aside (putting all my files stuff on a separate partition I guess) ?
I just installed PM4 on my mothers computer who had that ultra complicated windows 8 before and who doesn't understand anything about computers at all, and I can only look about her computer from time to time.. the question is : does PM4 become obsolete when PM5 is released so that I'll have to upgrade it, or can she stay with PM4 for a while ? what about updates ?
thanks