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I followed the guide on itsfoss to install mesa on my dell optiplex 9020. The reason is because I want to use hardware acceleration in Jellyfin, which apparently required mesa.

I added the kisak repo using sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kisak/kisak-mesa Then I used sudo apt update However, when I use sudo apt install mesa(like the guide suggests), I just get an unable to locate package mesa message.

using apt policy the kisak repo seems to be enabled. I also enabled multiverse, main, restricted, and universe repositories.

using glxinfo | grep Mesa; lscpi -k; lspci -k | grep -Ei "video|vga|3d" -A2; apt-cache policy mesa-utils; dpkg -l | grep -i mesa gives me this output:

Error: unable to open display

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 06)
        Subsystem: Dell 4th Gen Core Processor DRAM Controller
        Kernel driver in use: hsw_uncore
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor PCI Express x16 Controller (rev 06)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI (rev 04)
        Subsystem: Dell 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI
        Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
        Subsystem: Dell 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller
        Kernel driver in use: mei_me
        Kernel modules: mei_me
00:16.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family KT Controller (rev 04)
        Subsystem: Dell 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family KT Controller
        Kernel driver in use: serial
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection I217-LM (rev 04)
        DeviceName:  Onboard LAN
        Subsystem: Dell Ethernet Connection I217-LM
        Kernel driver in use: e1000e
        Kernel modules: e1000e
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #2 (rev 04)
        Subsystem: Dell 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
        Subsystem: Dell 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #1 (rev 04)
        Subsystem: Dell 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Q87 Express LPC Controller (rev 04)
        Subsystem: Dell Q87 Express LPC Controller
        Kernel driver in use: lpc_ich
        Kernel modules: lpc_ich
00:1f.2 RAID bus controller: Intel Corporation SATA Controller [RAID mode] (rev 04)
        DeviceName:  Onboard SATA controller #1
        Subsystem: Dell SATA Controller [RAID mode]
        Kernel driver in use: ahci
        Kernel modules: ahci
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
        Subsystem: Dell 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller
        Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
        Kernel modules: i2c_i801
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Oland [Radeon HD 8570 / R7 240/340 / Radeon 520 OEM]
        Subsystem: Dell Oland [Radeon HD 8570 / R7 240/340 / Radeon 520 OEM]
        Kernel driver in use: radeon
        Kernel modules: radeon, amdgpu
01:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Oland/Hainan/Cape Verde/Pitcairn HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 7000 Series]
        Subsystem: Dell Oland/Hainan/Cape Verde/Pitcairn HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 7000 Series]
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Oland [Radeon HD 8570 / R7 240/340 / Radeon 520 OEM]
        Subsystem: Dell Oland [Radeon HD 8570 / R7 240/340 / Radeon 520 OEM]
        Kernel driver in use: radeon

>mesa-utils:
  Installed: 8.4.0-1build1
  Candidate: 8.4.0-1build1
  Version table:
 *** 8.4.0-1build1 500
        500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
ii  libegl-mesa0:amd64                   20.2.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1               amd64        free implementation of the EGL API -- Mesa vendor library
ii  libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64                20.2.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1               amd64        free implementation of the OpenGL API -- DRI modules
ii  libglapi-mesa:amd64                  20.2.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1               amd64        free implementation of the GL API -- shared library
ii  libglx-mesa0:amd64                   20.2.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1               amd64        free implementation of the OpenGL API -- GLX vendor library
ii  mesa-utils                           8.4.0-1build1                         amd64        Miscellaneous Mesa GL utilities
ii  mesa-va-drivers:amd64                20.2.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1               amd64        Mesa VA-API video acceleration drivers
ii  mesa-vdpau-drivers:amd64             20.2.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1               amd64        Mesa VDPAU video acceleration drivers
ii  mesa-vulkan-drivers:amd64            20.2.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1               amd64        Mesa Vulkan graphics drivers
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    What is Jellyfin? How did you installed it? How exactly is says about Mesa need on launch? Why do you think you need to add kisak PPA to have mesa installed? All mesa components are already packaged for Ubuntu, part of them is already installed on the system.
    – N0rbert
    May 29, 2021 at 10:26
  • jellyfin is a home theater software similar to plex or emby. I installed jellyfin through adding a custom repo and using sudo apt install jellyfin Refer to the documentation on hardware acceleration here: jellyfin.org/docs/general/administration/… As for ubuntu, whereis mesa delivers a blank response so it clearly isn't on the system. And again, it cannot locate the package kisak PPA or no kisak PPA, so I am in the position of it not being on my system, and my being unable to do so. Kisak PPA tends to be well maintained, which is one reason why I chose it May 29, 2021 at 10:30
  • Mesa is essential library, it is already installed to the system with version >20.2. So you have to test in on the Jellyfin side. Use PPAs only if it is not detected, or says about outdated version. What is your video card model? Please add the output of glxinfo | grep Mesa; lscpi -k; lspci -k | grep -Ei "video|vga|3d" -A2; apt-cache policy mesa-utils; dpkg -l | grep -i mesa to the question by editing it.
    – N0rbert
    May 29, 2021 at 10:41
  • Have you tried to use jellyfin? If so what errors occur. Ubuntu comes with all the Mesa libraries so you don’t need to install it. The guide you followed is to get the latest version of mesa which is probably unnecessary.
    – PonJar
    May 29, 2021 at 10:52
  • Yup I have used jellyfin. Fortunately I have a CPU to run things generally, but using hardware acceleration immediately returns an error that the media is being delivered in the incorrect format When hw acceleration is toggled off everything is peachy May 29, 2021 at 10:56

1 Answer 1

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  • I only see Error: unable to open display after glxinfo commands when I am ssh'd in. Try using that command in a terminal window when you are logged in normally

  • You cannot install mesa because there is no package called that.

  • The 'guide' you are using cannot work as written, because there is no package called mesa.

  • When you add one of those ppas to your system, all packages which exist both on your system and in the ppa are replaced by the ppa versions. To get this to happen, you do sudo apt update followed by sudo apt upgrade after adding the ppa. You don't have to specifically install a package to get this to happen. That is one of the risks of using a ppa.

  • I added the kisak ppa to a virtual machine that runs mesa.
    -- Prior to adding it, glxinfo | grep Mesa reported OpenGL version string: 3.1 Mesa 21.0.1

    --After adding it and doing an update&upgrade the same command reported OpenGL version string: 3.1 Mesa 21.1.1 - kisak-mesa PPA I did not do any sudo apt install mesa command.

    --The following packages were updated and / or added.

enter image description here

tl;dr you do not need to "install mesa" to get an upgraded version of Mesa from that ppa. Adding the ppa, doing update and upgrade does it.

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    Thanks, that explains a lot. May 29, 2021 at 12:36

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