Mobile Intel® 915GM/GMS, 910GML Express

mortal · 05-01-2006, 11:06 PM

-Has anyone tried the intel linux drivers for that chipset on slackware?

-Has anyone gotten decent opengl performance with the title chipset under Slackware?

hsimah · 05-02-2006, 02:18 AM

No, and yes.

I have the 915GM on my Vaio laptop.

What I did was upgraded my xorg to current (6.9.0) and this includes the drivers built in, so you don't need to install any. Then I changed my driver in xorg.conf to i810. I get about 900FPS using glxgears, using a resolution of 1366x768.

Hope that helps

-=Graz=- · 05-02-2006, 03:21 AM

hsimah, this look interesting...

so how do i go about upgrading to the current version of xorg ? Is there anything i need to be careful of when doing the upgrade..? just checked my xorg.conf and i am using 'vesa' as the driver =)
I have a laptop with 855GM chipset

hsimah · 05-02-2006, 03:41 AM

I use swaret, as shilo says he does in his guide. That is an awesome tool for slackware.

Anyway, just grab the packages from any slack repository in the current directory. I just looked in pkgtool and saw what X11 packages I had and upgraded them with the 6.9.0 ones (removed the old ones and installed the new ones). Slack 10.2 ships with 6.8.2.

Thats it really. Dropline Gnome downgrades X11 everytime you update it (if you use gnome) so you have to fix that.

I think 6.8.2 includes the i810 driver and you shouldnt need to upgrade for a 855GM chipset. You may need 855resolution (I need 915resolution to run DRI in X).

-=Graz=- · 05-02-2006, 04:53 AM

hey cool, thanks for the info. I use KDE for my desktop so gnome should not bother me.
I currently patch my video anyway now i think of it.. So that i can run the native 1280x800 res..
it works well in my current setup on KDE. I wonder if this will interfere in anyway (i had problems with my console when i was using the 855GM FrameBuffer driver that came with the 2.6.16 kernel) Once i exited KDE the display would go crazy... i have since fixed but not sure if i want to deal with that all over again =)

cwwilson721 · 05-02-2006, 04:59 AM

Backup your xorg.conf, run 'xorgsetup', and see if that helps. My old i830m gets 2200+ with the newest kernel, 2.6.16.9 (btw, xorg ver does not affect glxgears as much as kernel version, the drivers are from the kernel)

-=Graz=- · 05-03-2006, 04:17 AM

Wait a minute - so if i DO NOT include the IntelFB drivers when i compile my kernel then i am using the VESA driver correct? I also use the 855resolution patch for 1280x800.
I had problems with my display and one of the efforts i madfe to resolve was to remve the intelfb driver as it always had a message saying 'intelfb failed to reserve region' - on boot... i think this was becuase the VESA driver had already snapped it up..

Maybe this is why i think my machine sux in linux for even mpeg video playback....
Hrrmmm....

I just had a look at 2.6.16.11 as it contains support for full 1GB ram (not 880MB) on low memory setting and also to look at the intel drivers (which seem to be very similar to 2.6.15)...
I just did a quick compile which ended up in havoc (it seems IPchains is no longer in this release - my firewall uses IP chains..). It seems i would also have to re-install ipw2200 driver + firmware + godkknows what ever else..
I am 90% happy with a fairly tweaked machine - i think i may stay this way for a while..

hsimah · 05-03-2006, 04:31 AM

I have the intel drivers as modules in both Character Devices and Graphics, as well as agpgart. It works for me, and yes, after a kernel compile you have to reinstall all your drivers (like ipw2200, and for me, my alsa)

cwwilson721 · 05-03-2006, 08:50 PM

Just for reference for you:

My hardware:
Gateway Solo 1450LS (About 4 years old)
Celeron 1.3G
256MB PC100 SDRAM
20GB HDD
Intel i830m Graphics, Shared Memory
Kernel 2.6.16.9

Here's my glx gears:

Code:

root@toaster:~# glxgears
10365 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2073.000 FPS
12701 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2540.200 FPS
12712 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2542.400 FPS
12496 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2499.200 FPS
12536 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2507.200 FPS
12668 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2533.600 FPS

Original glxgears was ~700fps w/2.4 kernel, 1100 w/2.6.31, 2000 w/2.6.15, and the above was with 2.6.19.6

This adhoc testing was done with the ONLY change being the kernel, not Xorg

-=Graz=- · 05-04-2006, 08:05 AM

wow!! point taken, i just tried the same on my machine and got:
frames in 5.0 seconds = 151.200 FPS
756 frames in 5.0 seconds = 151.200 FPS
1638 frames in 5.0 seconds = 327.600 FPS
2394 frames in 5.0 seconds = 478.800 FPS
2394 frames in 5.0 seconds = 478.800 FPS

151` indicates 'conservative' governor with 478 being 'ondemand'

My laptop is now blushing out of sheer embarrasment - .... i had best look into this - thanks for the info cwwilson

my specs are in my signature.... =)
1.8Ghz with 855GM chip

-=Graz=- · 05-10-2006, 07:38 AM

okay built a total new machine to adress a number of things and am now getting 618fps in glxgears.
compiled the i910 driver and intelfb into the kernel however.. maybe these should be modules?
kernel 2.6.15 stil @ 618fps
Did however get WPA_Supplicant working this time =)

cwwilson721 · 05-10-2006, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -=Graz=-

compiled the i910 driver and intelfb into the kernel however.. maybe these should be modules?

Yes, they should be modules.