Intel video - Da Switch-Over

linusr@flanders · 09-05-2009, 06:53 AM

Hi,

I have an F10, and the video is sluggish. Of course, my xorg.conf has "vesa" as driver - the installer would'nt take anything else. So, I'm stuck now.

This morning, I changed the line to "intel" and got - a grey screen. Possibly due to the missing drivers.

Intel's site says that all/most Linux distro's have a pre-compiled driver. So, where do I find the F10's Intel driver?

I run a Compaq D51s EVO by the way.

Tnx 4 a reply

Thor

alan_ri · 09-05-2009, 07:14 AM

Of course that you'll have problems if you use "Intel" and you don't have Intel drivers installed.

I don't use Fedora but I think that you should follow this guide if you want to make things work the right way. Comments are useful to read too.

You can find the latest Intel driver for Linux here.

linusr@flanders · 09-05-2009, 07:23 AM

Hi,

Big tnx - and indeed : all-round trouble, though having re-set the xorg.conf to "vesa" at least gave me the old desktop back...

Tnx!

Thor

linusr@flanders · 09-05-2009, 12:09 PM

Ok,

I found xorg-x11-drv-i810-2.5.0-3.fc10.i386.rpm on the DVD I installed F10 from, my chipset however is 845G, will this driver (assuming it IS a driver

of course) will it work?

Tnx in advance...

Thor

alan_ri · 09-05-2009, 04:02 PM

Yes, that is a driver, but it's old driver, version 2.5.0. Latest Intel driver is 2.8.1. Newest drivers have many bug fixes. Even the driver before 2.8.0 version had so many problems that it made some distros look bad, like Ubuntu for example. Maybe this qoute from one of the Ubuntu users describes that problem in the best way;

Quote:

There is hope for Ubuntu users with Intel graphics.

You can try to install that driver (2.5.0), if it's made for Fedora it should work, just be sure that you have all dependencies installed too.

But as I said, I recommend installing the newest driver.

linusr@flanders · 09-05-2009, 04:10 PM

Indeed, as I suspected...of course, teh DVD I got it from is about eight months old.

Eh, if I read your quote, and the recommendationd ( found something to be compiled...) maybe it's not (yet) worth the headache...

Of course, the newer driver is called for. But it's only to be able to play games...so, indeed maybe not worth the hassle?

Tnx for your help, I learned something, and that(s what life's about!

Thor

alan_ri · 09-05-2009, 05:15 PM

If you follow the guide that I've linked, you should have no problems and there are lots of us here who will help you if needed. Don't give up, you can do it and it's not a headache, it's about how do you approach to the problem.

linusr@flanders · 09-06-2009, 04:04 AM

Now, THAT is coaching! Thanks, let me give it a whack then!

Thor

linusr@flanders · 09-06-2009, 01:30 PM

I checked my install and ... I already seem to have the driver installed, a 2.5 to be exact, though never actively used, thus never updated. Let me change the "vesa" in my xorg.conf in "i810" - I tried "intel" and got a grey blank screen...

Thor

linusr@flanders · 09-07-2009, 09:46 AM

Forget it...with "i810" as device, the X complains it cannot find the folder...

With "intel" as driver, I did get the intro tune (the guitar) so I assume the X server did statrt up at least...

I do have a background, is that a problem?

Thor

alan_ri · 09-07-2009, 12:36 PM

You need to check what modules are loaded on your system. You can do this with lsmod command. Now if you see vesa there you should remove it with modprobe -r vesa or modprobe -r vesa.ko, then you need to blacklist that module. In Debian I would go to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist to do that. Then you need to load "intel" driver into the kernel if it's not already. You would do this with modprobe command too. If I'd want to know some specifics about certain module I'd use modinfo nvidia for example, if I'd like to check nvidia module specifics. If I would want to load certain module on boot I would add an entry in /etc/modules.

There is one more guide here directly from Intel.

Background is not the problem.

linusr@flanders · 09-09-2009, 11:43 AM

Ok, lsmod does not show vesa, possibly not surprising, it seems to be the default mode...

I "dry-ran" modprobe, vebosely,

Quote:

modprobe -n -v i810

it showed two line - possibly to be added. Question, what is the consequence of adding kernel modules this way? How will that affect my system?

Thor

BTW things move like mud here, sorry - barely have time for my PC anymore...

alan_ri · 09-10-2009, 07:04 AM

Please take into the consideration that I'm pretty drunk at the moment, but adding modules like that won't do nothing wrong to your system, just do it.

linusr@flanders · 09-10-2009, 10:03 AM

Ok, so here goes...

Thor

linusr@flanders · 09-13-2009, 06:09 AM

Ok,

I found out that I already have the driver:

Quote:

modinfo i810
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.27.30-170.2.82.fc10.i686/kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/i810/i810.ko
license: GPL and additional rights
description: Intel i810
author: VA Linux Systems Inc.
srcversion: CEBE0996DF8BE26B3363FCB
depends: drm
vermagic: 2.6.27.30-170.2.82.fc10.i686 SMP mod_unload 686 4KSTACKS

I make a symlink in /etc/X11 so the xorg.conf can find it, full rwx rights are in place.

The X11 still cannot find the driver.

Compiling may be a little beyond my current capacities...though I am willing to give it a whack...

The instructions on http://intellinuxgraphics.org/install.html are clear...but @ the first one (./autogen) I already get stuck, I have to use

/usr/bin/autogen

And I'm not sure just WHAT that does...

I just did a

./configure

to read @ the end that the server was'nt found...I suspect that the develfiles ar'nt installed either...

The saga continues...

Thor