intel

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	Gentoo doc

intel is the open source graphics driver for Intel GMA onboard graphics cards, starting with the Intel 810.

Hardware detection

To choose the right driver, first detect the graphics card. You can use lspci for this task:

root # lspci | grep -i VGA

Feature support

Generation	Chipset	OpenGL	OpenGL ES	OpenCL	VAAPI	VIDEO_CARDS
Gen1	810, 815	1.2	No	No	No	intel
Gen2	i830M, 845G, 855GM, 865G	1.3	No	No	No	intel
Gen3	915G/GM, 945G/GM, G/Q33	1.4/1.5	No	No	No	intel i915
Gen4	965G/GM/Q, G/Q35, G41, G/Q43, G/GM/Q45	2.1	2.0	No	G/GM45: MPEG2 only	intel i965
Gen5	Ironlake	2.1	2.0	No	Yes	intel i965
Gen6	Sandy Bridge	3.1	2.0 (3.0)1	No	Yes	intel i965
Gen7	Ivy Bridge, Valley View, Haswell	3.1	2.0 (3.0)1	1.12	Yes	intel i965

1) Needs testing packages: >=mesa-9.1

2) Closed source SDK only

Installation

Kernel

You need to activate the following kernel options:

Kernel configuration

Processor type and features  --->
    [*] MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) support
Device Drivers  --->
    Graphics support  --->
        <*> /dev/agpgart (AGP Support)  --->
             <*> Intel 440LX/BX/GX, I8xx and E7x05 chipset support
        <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 4.1.0 and higher DRI support) --->
            <*> Intel 8xx/9xx/G3x/G4x/HD Graphics
            [*]   Enable modesetting on intel by default

Driver

Portage uses the variable VIDEO_CARDS for enabling support for various graphics cards in packages. Setting VIDEO_CARDS to e.g. intel (see the feature matrix) will pull in the correct driver:

File/etc/portage/make.conf

VIDEO_CARDS="intel"

Check the USE flags of x11-drivers/xf86-video-intel:

→ Information about USE flags

USE flag	Default	Recommended	Description
dri	Yes	Yes	Enable direct rendering: used for accelerated 3D and some 2D, like DMA
glamor	No		Enable Glamor OpenGL 2D acceleration
sna	Yes	Yes	Enable SandyBridge's New Acceleration (useful on all chipsets, not just SandyBridge)
udev	Yes	Yes	Enable sys-fs/udev integration (device discovery, power and storage device support, etc)
uxa	No		Enable UMA Acceleration Architecture
xvmc	No		Enables X-Video Motion Compensation support

After setting this you want to update your system so the changes take effect:

root # emerge --ask --changed-use --deep @world

VAAPI

Intel GMA X4500HD / G45 / GM45 and newer supports VAAPI hardware video acceleration.

Configuration

Permissions

If you have the USE flag acl enabled globally and are using ConsoleKit (i.e you're using a Desktop profile) permissions to video cards will be handled automatically. You can check the permissions using getfacl:

user $ getfacl /dev/dri/card0 | grep larry

---

user:larry:rw-

A broader solution is to add the user you want to be able to access the video card to the video group:

root # gpasswd -a larry video

Note that you will still be able to run X without permission to the DRI subsystem, but usually not with acceleration enabled.

xorg.conf

The X server is designed to work out-of-the-box, with no need to manually edit X.Org's configuration files. It should detect and configure devices such as displays, keyboards, and mice.

However, the main configuration file of the X server is the xorg.conf.

See also

• hprofile - Switching between other graphics drivers and intel

Troubleshooting

• Gentoo bugtracker: known bugs
• fdo bugtracker: known bugs
• fdo bugtracker: known bugs
• Guide, how to report bugs upstream

KDM freezes

A workaround is to set TerminateServer=true in all sections of the file /usr/share/config/kdm/kdmrc, which starts with X-.

External resources

• X.Org Wiki