X server issues with an i910GM

I seem to be posting here a lot with regards to this laptop

Anyways, it has an Intel 915GM (or so dmesg says) in it. I have, right now, a fresh install of Slackware 10.2 with the test kernel, 2.6.13. Full install, minus KDE and the 2.4.31 kernel source.

Now, I have everything working from ACPI to my wireless card, so I wanted to get my graphics up to date etc. I have been using Dropline Gnome with the vesa driver and it has run well, but not wonderfully.

Looking in my kernel config, I have i910 as a module, and all the options set as cwwilson's guide says to in his sig. I downloaded some drivers for my card from dri.sourceforge.net and the common ones. I downloaded a newer X server as propted to do so by that page.

When I try to use Driver "i910" or "i810" I get a no screens found error. Both before and after the drivers were installed. I modprobed i910 and tried again (lsmod showed it there then) and still nothing.

I went to x.org and downloaded the latest X11R6.9 source (RC4) and used make World on that. It sat there for about an hour doing "something". This still didnt work, gave some error, so I thought why not reinstall the driver? I did that and rebooted, now I have a complete system hang, with a black screen at startx.

Please help me, I don't like jerky DVD play back . I am considering doing another format/reinstall to get X working again, but I would like to get the drivers working, so I will hold off that and hope (pray) that someone here can help me.

Are you trying to get the 1400x1050 resolution provided by this video card? If so, here is what you need to do:

You have two choices ...

1) Stay with Xorg 6.8.2 (which installs by default with 10.2) and then install the latest drivers from http://dri.freedesktop.org/snapshots
2) Upgrade to Xorg 6.9.0 using the packages in the -current directory on the Slackware FTP site (ftp.slackware.com)

Regardless of which method you choose, you will STILL need to do install the i915resolution application located http://www.geocities.com/stomljen

Once you have the correct X/drivers installed, and the 915resolution installed, you will need to insert a line into your /etc/rc.d/rc.local to start 915resolution BEFORE the X server starts up ...

/usr/sbin/915resolution 3c 1400 1050

Once you've done all that, you'll need to make sure your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file has the appropriate values in it ...

For my video card, I have this ...

Section "Device"
Identifier "Intel i915GM"
Driver "i810"
VideoRam 131070
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

For my laptop monitor (1400x1050), I have this ...

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Dell LCD"
HorizSynz 31.5 - 48.5
VertRefresh 40.0 - 70.0
Option "DPMS"
UseModes "Modes1"
EndSection

Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes1"
Modeline "1280x1024" 75.13 1280 1336 1472 1664 1024 1025 1028 1050 -hsync +vsync
Modeline "1400x1050" 84.76 1400 1472 1616 1832 1050 1051 1054 1076 -hsync +vsync
EndSection

This was definitely a tricky bugger to get working correctly. Hope this helps.

Forgot to mention, to address the jerky DVD playback, it could be one of two (or both) things ...

First, you need to enable direct rendering in X by adding this to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file ...

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

The other thing it could be is the speed that data is being read off of your CD/DVD drive. If you can, enable DMA on your optical drive through the use of the "hdparm" command.

I think that someone else mentioned this recently in the Dropline forums:

http://dropline-gnome.sourceforge.ne...pic.php?t=4845

OK. Just woke up after a restless nights sleep. Its weird how Linux affects me in this way.

I will get right on that, guys, and let you know how I go.

I don't want that high resolution, my laptop has a 11.1" screen and prefers 1366x768. I usually get it running by adding a Modeline to the monitor section. In fact any resolution would be nice if it just would work with the actual i810 driver.

I used swaret to upgrade Xorg 6.9.0. Changed my xorg.conf file to i810, added: Modeline "1360x768@60" 84.50 1360 1392 1712 1744 768 783 791 807

And started X. Works with 1366x768 I didnt get that 915 resolution tool, I will see if it works well without that. I added the DRI componant, and glxgears is giving me 900fps. Sounds good to me!

Thank you both so much for helping me, this was a horrid thing to try and fix.

I am writing up an entry for Linux-laptops.net on everything people have helped me with, so maybe it can help someone else

I just installed Dropline Gnome, and it seemed to have set Xorg back to 6.8.2. So I upgraded it again. And ran glxgears and it gave me an error, something about DRM and reverting to a slower renderer. I logged into Gnome with Root and ran it and it was back up at 400fps.

I installed the 915resolution and ran it, but the problem is still here. The error given is: libGL error: open DRM failed (operation not permitted)

Any ideas as to what this problem is?

Dropline Gnome actually DOWNGRADED your X?

Originally Posted by Tino27 Dropline Gnome actually DOWNGRADED your X?

Dropline GNOME includes X11 6.8.2. If you wish to use another X11, it can be blacklisted in /etc/dropline/blacklist. This will, however, break many applications if you intend to use X11 6.9 or higher (they are not compatible).

Slackware's upgradepkg (invoked by the dropline-installer) doesn't care which version you have. If it's a different version, it will replace the package (even if it's newer).

Well, upgradepkg may be oblivious to the version numbers, but should Dropline GNOME be as well? I certainly don't want to start any religious wars over which update methodology is better, but that scares me a little.

Eh, more of me thinking out loud than an actual question requiring an actual answer.

BTW, Kde from Slackware Current won't work with 6.8.2, because it was compiled for 6.9, so you must choose which you like more.
EDIT: Strange thing from upgradepkg manual

Upgradepkg upgrades a Slackware .tgz package from an older version to a
newer one.

There isn't said that the newer packages can be upgraded with the older ones.

Originally Posted by Tino27 Well, upgradepkg may be oblivious to the version numbers, but should Dropline GNOME be as well? I certainly don't want to start any religious wars over which update methodology is better, but that scares me a little. Eh, more of me thinking out loud than an actual question requiring an actual answer.

Again. The dropline-installer is only a front-end to upgradepkg. Additionally, we only support stock Slackware 10.2 installs and X11 6.8.2, and expect that this configuration will be used if a user wants everything to "just work". Anyone wishing to use something different must manually blacklist it.

I ran the Dropline installer again, and it did it again, so yeah, it does downgrade X11, some packages anyway. Most of the font's and other packages are left alone, but it doesnt work.

So if I removed all the 6.9 packages and reinstalled 6.8.2, and installed the 915 drivers from the DRI site, I might get rid of the error I am receiving?

Edit: Right now, when I log onto Gnome as a user I can play DVD's and watch videos etc fine, so it isnt a big deal, however it does seem that the contrast is up rather high. Are there contrast settings in Gnome? Again, not a huge deal

You can still be current with Dropline. Firstly upgrade with Dropline and then with Slackware Current packages.

Yeah, I have done that, its just when I log in as a user I get an error stating that I do not have permission to use DRM, and that it will use the (slower) indirect rendering.