Intel GMA video drivers

[srschifano]

Your issues are related to a number of problems with the kernel version of opensuse 11.1, the version of the intel driver it shipped with, and the version of Xorg it shipped with. These issues are very well known and documented (just do a google search for "Linux Intel video problems", or search the forums).

The problems are related to the fact that around late 2008 Intel substantially changed their driver architecture, and broke a lot of things in Xorg and the kernel. Those issues have since been fixed, but the fixes are only available in new versions of all three components. The issues appear to have been solved in 11.2 (as of two weeks ago when I last tested it), so at least things are improving. IIRC, some openSUSE developers wanted to delay the 11.1 release until the driver problems were fixed, but chose to release since there wouldn't be a fix without substantial work on their part.

The only way you'll get decent 3D performance out of the Intel driver is to go with a distribution released before Intel changed anything (such as openSUSE 11.0), or go with a much newer distribution (such as 11.2). This driver issue is one of the biggest problems many people have had for the past two distro release seasons (Ubuntu 8.10 didn't have the issue, but 9.04 does, and a lot of other distros are in a similar situation).

If you feel adventurous, you could attempt to fix the problem by manually updating the components in 11.1. I have attempted that 3 times, and each time I failed, so I don't recommend it.

[deano_ferrari]

Thanks for adding to the discussion srschifano. Thats a concise summary of the situation. I hope Intel not only fix all the Xorg driver problems, but manage to improve the graphics performance to similar levels as that provided by Windows driver equivalents.

[MirceaKitsune]

Thank you for mentioning that srschifano, I can wait until 11.2 if everything will be fixed then. Only thing that surprises and upsets me is that such components can't be updated from Yast like normal libraries can. Imo at least drivers should be as easy to update as any package.

I have another question now that this has been brought into discussion. My home computer on which I also have OpenSuse has an ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 video card, but when I install the latest official driver from ati.com the screen goes blank at boot time. Is this to be fixed in 11.2 as well with these changes?

[oldcpu]

Originally Posted by srschifano

Your issues are related to a number of problems with the kernel version of opensuse 11.1, the version of the intel driver it shipped with, and the version of Xorg it shipped with. These issues are very well known and documented (just do a google search for "Linux Intel video problems", or search the forums).

Distrowatch had a good article describing this problem with Intel driver for Linux:
DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.

I purchased a new laptop in November last year, and for the first time since I started using Linux, I purchased a laptop with an ATI driver. I avoided nVidia graphics because of some serious problems nVidia had then with quality in the majority of their hardware gpu's and I avoided Intel graphics hardware because of the state of the drivers at that time (Nov-2008). That was a difficult choice for me because (1) I don't care much for ATI Linux graphics drivers, (2) I really like nVidia graphics with Linux, and (3) I have been a big fan of Intel's support for Linux and their graphics worked ok for me a couple of years back in a couple of PCs (one laptop, one desktop).

But things change, and Intel drivers were in a sorry state last November. At that time definitely worse than ATIs.

[gdzie]

I'm using 11.1 on Dell XPS M1330 with GM965 graphics and I have exactly the same problem as described above by MirceaKitsune, but with a small remark. I use two programs that produce 3D plots. One of them (ABAQUS CAE) works fine, the other one (MAPLE13) displays garbage in 3D. From srschifano's post I understand that I have to either down- or upgrade 11.1 to by-pass intel changes. As a newbie to Linux I have to ask the following questions: Does the down- or upgrade of the operating system require re-installation of all programs?

[deano_ferrari]

Does the down- or upgrade of the operating system require re-installation of all programs?

Yes, it does.

[didencool]

srschifano wrote:

> Your issues are related to a number of problems with the kernel version
> of opensuse 11.1, the version of the intel driver it shipped with, and
> the version of Xorg it shipped with. These issues are very well known
> and documented (just do a google search for "Linux Intel video
> problems", or search the forums).
I was trying to upgrade kernel, xorg twiked with xrg.conf
looks like nothing helps.
now I upgraded to opensuse 11.2 milestone 8 looks good with this issue

--
WBR