[gentoo-user] Re: Intel dilemma

[Simon Hunt <chesemonkyloma@gmail.com>]

On Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 02:00:35PM -0400, Simon Hunt wrote:
> I posted this on the forums but I want some more information. I have a
> bit of a dilemma. With these settings,
> 
> xf86-video-intel: 2.6.3-r1 xorg-server: 1.6.2-r1 and 1.6.3 kernel
> module: i830 kernel: gentoo 2.6.29-r5 and 2.6.30-r4
> 
> sometimes when stopping or starting X my computer would freeze and there
> would be no video output. However, other than that, inside Gnome Firefox
> ran pretty smoothly, not incredibly fast, but not sluggishly at all.
> With these settings,
> 
> xf86-video-intel: 2.8.0 xorg-server: 1.6.3 kernel module: i915 kernel:
> vanilla 2.6.31_rc7
> 
> 
> X starts and stops very smoothly without ever freezing, I think because
> of the KMS. But Firefox runs sluggishly and my whole machine freezes in
> Firefox frequently. According to this,
> http://www.x.org/wiki/IntelGraphicsDriver, the 2.8.0 driver drops
> support for XAA and EXA, but has no UXA support for my graphics card
> (865G), so I think I'm getting no 2D acceleration. Could that be the
> reason Firefox is so slow? As for the freezes, I think that's just
> because the newer driver is unstable. What are the optimum driver and
> kernel versions for my graphics card, the 865G? Also, the reason I'm
> using the 2.6.31 kernel is because that X.Org wiki page says it works
> best with the 2.8.0 intel driver. Oh, and what exactly is the kernel
> module for and what are the differences between the i830 and i915? 
> 
> Pappy told me I should use kernel .27, and that KMS support right now
> for my card is very unstable. Anyway, I just want to know the best
> options right now for my card which is the 865G.

Okay, my current setup is
xf86-video-intel: 2.7.1
xorg-server: 1.6.3.901
kernel: 2.6.30-r4 with i915

and it never freezes while starting or stopping, and it never lags in
Firefox. The only way this differs from my old setup is the xorg-server,
so I think they may have fixed the freezing issue in the version. I
tried both suggestions, and I don't know why but they just didn't work
for me. Thanks for all the help though! Oh by the way, the only reason I
even tried this was because I had to use a different kernel to get into
X and it just happened to work perfectly!