Intel 82865G and Slackware 13.0. Practicable?
 

Hello :)

Is it practicable to run Slackware 13.0 32-bit, Xorg and Xfce on Intel 82865G video hardware? In case it matters, the 82865G is on an Intel D865GSA motherboard.

Robby Workman says in this LQ thread "The 82865 chipset almost certainly isn't going to work with Xorg from Slackware 13.0. Stay with 12.2.". Netsearching suggests the alternatives are non-trivial. Maybe OK for my personal machine but this is for the first Linux server in a Windows shop and I want to KISS for them.

What says the best solution is to fit a low end nvidia graphics card and disable the on-board 82865G?

Best

Charles

Stock Slackware 13.0 only supports the Intel 82865G in vesa mode.
To get DRI requires updating the kernel to 2.6.31.4 or later. Upgrading the Intel driver from 2.8.0 is also worth considering.
There is also another thread with information on this.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ml#post3725538
Using the upgrades, I get a usable desktop with desktop effects on my server, but performance is not stunning.

In my experience, nVidia graphics are a better option, but require the proprietary driver for 3D effects. Installation of the proprietary driver is usually trivial using the supplied install script if you have the kernel source installed.
You do have to rebuild the kernel module after a kernel update. If you have changed /etc/inittab to boot directly to run level 4 (unlikely on a server), make sure that you change back to booting to run level 3 before rebooting with the new kernel so that you can reinstall the driver. Occasionally a driver update is required so that it will work with a later kernel version.
You can also install the driver and kernel module using Slackbuild scripts, but you need to know your xorg.conf settings. It is probably easiest to install the proprietary driver directly, letting it update your xorg.conf. Then you can uninstall the driver, build using Slackbuild scripts and install the packages.

Another problem with adding another graphics card on some hardware is that even if the onboard graphics is turned off in the BIOS, the chipset may still be detected. Setting a BusID option in xorg.conf to point to the nVidia card should fix that.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...1/#post3714965

Thanks for the quick and full response allend :)

This being a server, 3D graphics are not required. Actually graphics are not really required but it would be nice to show the Windows people a fully functional computer and for it to be fairly stock Slackware.

I had found agentdcooper's detailed post but hoped something simpler might suffice as KDE is not required.

My personal system has an nVidia card, using the proprietary driver (NVIDIA-Linux-x86-185.18.36-pkg1.run) which makes that option more attractive for its familiarity.

Thanks for the heads up on the possible BIOS issue and the workaround.

Best

Charles