Difference between revisions of "Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950"

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(→‎The newer "intel" driver)
(→‎The newer "intel" driver)
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=== The newer "intel" driver ===
 
=== The newer "intel" driver ===
 
The newer driver is the one currently supported by Intel and for most cases, is the recommended one. It is extensively documented and available for download at http://intellinuxgraphics.org/. It is also likely to be available in the repository of your favourite distribution. Once installed there should also be an "<tt>intel</tt>" manpage which has information about driver specific options in the xorg.conf file.
 
The newer driver is the one currently supported by Intel and for most cases, is the recommended one. It is extensively documented and available for download at http://intellinuxgraphics.org/. It is also likely to be available in the repository of your favourite distribution. Once installed there should also be an "<tt>intel</tt>" manpage which has information about driver specific options in the xorg.conf file.
 +
==== xorg.conf ====
 +
The newer driver comes as a godsend to those who are tired of pulling their hair out over the infamous <tt>xorg.conf</tt> file. The developers at Intel have strived to downplay the role of this pesky config file as much as possible. The necessity for the <tt>"Server Layout"</tt> and <tt>"Monitor"</tt> sections were turfed entirely, and the required lines in the <tt>"Device"</tt> and <tt>"Screen"</tt> are minimal. Thus, the basic working starting point for the sections relevant to graphics (excluding any manually loaded modules) is:
 +
 +
<pre>
 +
Section "Device"
 +
        Identifier "Intel Graphics Adapter"
 +
        Driver    "intel"
 +
EndSection
 +
 +
Section "Screen"
 +
        Identifier "Default"
 +
        Device "Intel Graphics Adapter"
 +
EndSection
 +
</pre>
 +
 +
With some possible embellishments, your distribution's automated installer should probably be able to figure this out for you. Resolution, refresh rate, etc will be auto-detected. If you don't like the auto-detected settings, you can use the xrandr command line utility to adjust them dynamically without having to restart the X server! You can always of course get more sophisticated with the xorg.conf file. Just type <tt>man intel</tt> or read Intel's [http://intellinuxgraphics.org/documentation.html documentation] for more info.
  
 
==== External VGA port ====
 
==== External VGA port ====
−
To use the external VGA port on the newer Intel driver you have to remove all extra ServerLayout and Screen sections in xorg.conf.
+
Unfortunately, given the radical changes to the role of the xorg.conf file, old dual-head <tt>xorg.conf</tt> files may not even allow the server to start! To remedy this, remove all the ServerLayout sections and all but the main Screen section in xorg.conf. Which should minimally look something like
−
In your default Screen section you put into the subsection "Display" a line like this:
 
−
 
 
  
−
    Section "Screen"
+
  Section "Screen"
 
         Identifier      "Default Screen"
 
         Identifier      "Default Screen"
 
         Device          "Intel Corporation Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller"
 
         Device          "Intel Corporation Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller"

Revision as of 03:13, 13 December 2007

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950

This is an Intel video adapter

Features

  • Integrated into the following chipsets:
  • PCI ID: 8086:27a2
  • Uses up to 224MB of main memory for video usage

Two Drivers One Chip

There are two major version ranges of driver for this chipset: <2.0 and >2.0 correspondingly referred to as "i810" or "intel under the "Device" section of xorg.conf. The newer driver supports dynamic configuration of display parameters including resolution, refresh rate, multiple monitor configuration, etc. through the xrandr command line utility without restarting the Xserver. Essentially, it strives to minimise the necessity of editing the xorg.conf file manually. It does not, however support the old "dual head" (non-xinerama) mode for multiple monitors. Thus, the older driver is better suited to those who prefer this configuration.

The newer "intel" driver

The newer driver is the one currently supported by Intel and for most cases, is the recommended one. It is extensively documented and available for download at http://intellinuxgraphics.org/. It is also likely to be available in the repository of your favourite distribution. Once installed there should also be an "intel" manpage which has information about driver specific options in the xorg.conf file.

xorg.conf

The newer driver comes as a godsend to those who are tired of pulling their hair out over the infamous xorg.conf file. The developers at Intel have strived to downplay the role of this pesky config file as much as possible. The necessity for the "Server Layout" and "Monitor" sections were turfed entirely, and the required lines in the "Device" and "Screen" are minimal. Thus, the basic working starting point for the sections relevant to graphics (excluding any manually loaded modules) is: 

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Intel Graphics Adapter"
        Driver     "intel"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Default"
        Device "Intel Graphics Adapter"
EndSection

With some possible embellishments, your distribution's automated installer should probably be able to figure this out for you. Resolution, refresh rate, etc will be auto-detected. If you don't like the auto-detected settings, you can use the xrandr command line utility to adjust them dynamically without having to restart the X server! You can always of course get more sophisticated with the xorg.conf file. Just type man intel or read Intel's documentation for more info.

External VGA port

Unfortunately, given the radical changes to the role of the xorg.conf file, old dual-head xorg.conf files may not even allow the server to start! To remedy this, remove all the ServerLayout sections and all but the main Screen section in xorg.conf. Which should minimally look something like 

  Section "Screen"
       Identifier      "Default Screen"
       Device          "Intel Corporation Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller"
       Monitor         "Default Monitor"
       DefaultDepth    24
       SubSection "Display"
               Depth           24
               Modes           "1024x768"
               Virtual         2048 2048
       EndSubSection
   EndSection


After starting into X you can use the new features of XRandR 1.2 so as an example: 

   xrandr --output VGA --right-of LVDS --mode 1920x1200

Please note that the videocard does not support DRI with virtual screen size larger than 2048x2048. If you're going to run any applications which use 3D acceleration (games, Google Earth, etc.), change the config line to the following: 

   Virtual        2048 2048

The disadvantage is that you'll be unable to join external display with horizontal resolution larger than 1024, like in the example above. They'll need vertical layout: 

   xrandr --output VGA --above LVDS --mode 1920x1200

or just overlap a bit (please refer to xrandr manual for more options).

Debian Versions

The old drivers are currently still available in many distributions. For example 1.7.2-4 is the version used by Debian etch (stable), while the newer driver is available in the lenny (testing) and sid (unstable) repositories. If you have repositories for all three releases of Debian in your /etc/apt/sources.list file, you can specify the version to install using the -t option to apt-get/aptitude. To install the old driver, 

aptitude install -t stable xserver-xorg-video-i810

You may of course substitute -t testing or -t unstable to ensure that you go with newer versions instead. As the package manager will try and replace the older driver during regular upgrades, the section of the apt-howto regarding package pinning may be relevant.

Linux X.Org driver

Supported by Xorg http://www.xfree86.org/current/i810.4.html. The driver supports hardware accelerated 3D via the Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI), but only in depths 16 and 24.

Linux Intel driver

There is a Graphics driver for the Mobile Intel® 945GM Express Chipset Family at Intels Support Site. This driver is just a snapshot of the Xorg/XFree86 driver.

In my case, the i810 driver recommended by multiple sources for this graphics card did not work, leaving a message of "No device found." Running against the generic vesa drivers solves that problem, but does not allow use of the external VGA port.

In Fedora Core 5 at least, the correct i810 driver can be obtained from the updates (in updates-testing as of Aug 15, 2006). With that, the i810 driver seems to work.

To get a noticeable speedup in GLX/DRI try this in your xorg.conf (tested with the game Sauerbraten on a Z61e): 

   Section "Device"
       Identifier      "Intel Corporation Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller"
       Driver          "i810"
       BusID           "PCI:0:2:0"
       VideoRAM 131072
       Option "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps" "true"
       Option "MTRR" "on"
       Option "UseFBDev" "false"
       Option "LinearAlloc" "6144"
       Option "MonitorLayout" "CRT,LFP"
       Option "DevicePresence" "true" 
   EndSection

ThinkPad LCD

Display on the internal LCD should work for most distributions out of the box for both the old and new driver.

External VGA port

Works. Dualhead is supported.

There are two options for running the external VGA port - either as a copy of the LCD (clone) or as a separate workspace. Here is an example for the separate workspace mode for xorg.conf for the X60s: 

   Section "Device"
       Identifier      "Intel Corporation Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller"
       Driver          "i810"
       BusID           "PCI:0:2:0"
       Option "MonitorLayout" "CRT,LFP"
       Option "DevicePresence" "true" 
       Screen 1
   EndSection
   Section "Device"
       Identifier      "Intel Corporation Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller External CRT"
       Driver          "i810"
       BusID           "PCI:0:2:0"
       Screen 0
   EndSection
   Section "Monitor"
       Identifier      "LCD"
       Option          "DPMS"
   EndSection

   Section "Monitor"
       Identifier      "External CRT"
       Option          "DPMS"
       HorizSync 28-75
       VertRefresh 43-100
   EndSection

   Section "Screen"
       Identifier      "External Screen"
       Device          "Intel Corporation Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller External CRT"
       Monitor         "External CRT"
       DefaultDepth    24
       SubSection "Display"
               Depth           24
               Modes           "1280x1024"
       EndSubSection
   EndSection

   Section "Screen"
       Identifier      "Default Screen"
       Device          "Intel Corporation Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller"
       Monitor         "LCD"
       DefaultDepth    24
       SubSection "Display"
               Depth           1
               Modes           "1024x768"
       EndSubSection
   EndSection

   Section "ServerLayout"
       Identifier      "Default Layout"
       Screen          0 "Default Screen" 0 0
       Screen          1 "External Screen" RightOf "Default Screen"
       InputDevice     "Generic Keyboard"
       InputDevice     "Configured Mouse"
       InputDevice     "Synaptics Touchpad"
   EndSection

Did not work for me (FC6, x60s) but this one did: (as the x-server crashes at startup if the external port is the primary display you need to change the bios option BIOS>Config>Display>Boot Display Device to "ThinkPad LCD") 

Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier     "Default Layout"
 Option         "Xinerama"
 Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
 Screen      1  "Screen1" LeftOf "Screen0"
 InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier  "Keyboard0"
 Driver      "kbd"
 Option	    "XkbModel" "pc105"
 Option	    "XkbLayout" "de"
 Option	    "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier   "Monitor2"
 ModelName    "Belinea 1905 G1"
 HorizSync    30.0 - 83.0
 VertRefresh  50.0 - 76.0
 Option	    "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
 Identifier  "Videocard0"
 Driver      "i810"
 BusID       "PCI:0:2:0"
 Option      "MonitorLayout" "CRT,LFP"
 Option      "DevicePresence" "true"
 Screen      0
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Screen0"
 Device     "Videocard0"
 DefaultDepth     24
 SubSection "Display"
  Viewport   0 0
  Depth     24
  Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
 EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
 Identifier  "Videocard1"
 Driver      "i810"
 BusID       "PCI:0:2:0"
 Option      "MonitorLayout" "CRT,LFP"
 Option      "DevicePresence" "true"
 Screen      1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Screen1"
 Device     "Videocard1"
 DefaultDepth     24
 SubSection "Display"
  Viewport   0 0
  Depth     24
  Modes    "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
 EndSubSection
EndSection

Here is the relevant text for running the VGA port as a true clone (so even things like Xine video playback appears on both screens) of the internal LCD display: 

   Section "Device"
        Identifier "Videocard0"
        Driver "i810"
        BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
        Option "MonitorLayout" "NONE,LFP+CRT"
        Option "DevicePresence" "true"
        Option "CheckLid" "false"
        VendorName "Lenovo"
        BoardName "Intel Corporation Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller"
   EndSection

comment

I had to disable dri and glx because of X11 crashes with programs using 3D. see http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=289763

Unsupported video modes

Largest video resolution, supported by VESA for T60 is 1280x1024. You can set that for console in grub or lilo by adding vga=794 option.

Default video modes does not support resolution 1400x1050. You can use 915resolution to change that. 

# To show supported video modes:
915resolution -l

# To add 1400x1050 support:
915resolution 5a 1400 1050

# You may need to specify 24-bit color:
915resolution 38 1400 1050 24

Xorg will be able to use this resolution after that.

SVideo port

??

DVI port

DVI passthrough is only supported on the T60.

Linux support status is unknown

Suspend behaviour

  • Required kernel parameters for suspend to ram: none
  • Additional notes:
    • switch to/from X11 to reinitialize display properly (stays black)
    • DO NOT use vbetool to save/restore the video mode, this breakes resume!

ThinkPads this chip may be found in

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