[gentoo-user] Re: Intel dilemma

[Simon Hunt]

On Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 10:30:02PM -0400, Simon Hunt wrote:
> 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!

No, I was wrong. I also changed my xf86-video-intel, and THAT is what
fixed the freezing problem, but now I have another freezing problem
which I think is cause by the new intel driver because it happened in
several versions of xorg-server.