Difference between revisions of "Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950"

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=== Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 ===
 
 
This is an Intel video adapter
 
This is an Intel video adapter
  
=== Features ===
+
== Features ==
 
* Integrated into the following chipsets:
 
* Integrated into the following chipsets:
 
** [[Intel 945GM]]
 
** [[Intel 945GM]]
Line 15: Line 13:
 
|}
 
|}
  
=== Two Drivers One Chip ===
+
= Intel video driver =
There are two major version ranges of driver for this chipset: <2.0 and >2.0  correspondingly referred to as <tt>"i810"</tt> or <tt>"intel</tt> under the <tt>"Device"</tt> section of <tt>xorg.conf</tt>. The newer driver supports dynamic configuration of display parameters including resolution, refresh rate, multiple monitor configuration, etc. through the <tt>xrandr</tt> 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 Intel opensource videodriver is maintained by Intel at [http://intellinuxgraphics.org/ intellinuxgraphics.org].
 +
Intel releases a new driver once per quarter. The latest stable release is 2.10.
  
=== The newer "intel" driver ===
+
== Kernel mode setting (KMS) ==
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.
+
KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) as the name suggests moves some video setup functions to the kernel. This should have the following benefits over legacy mode setting
==== xorg.conf ====
+
* increased stability, because it removes the current contention between the X server and the kernel
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 was turfed entirely (though the latter may still be needed to properly configure multiple pointing devices), 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:
+
* ability to show kernel dump screens even when the X server was running
 +
* rapid mode switching
 +
* in theory should not allow the X video driver to hang the system
 +
* early graphical boot display with seamless login
 +
* should in the future allow for the X server to run without root privileges
 +
* larger virtual display size (4096x4096) allowing extended desktop configs (2048x2048 without KMS)
 +
 
 +
Note that KMS does not eliminate the need for the Intel Xorg driver, it just frees that driver from the hardware setup functions.
 +
=== Status===
 +
Right now KMS is still in heavy development, and officially requires at least kernel 2.6.29 with version 2.7 of the Intel driver. But in reality you should really be running at least the 2.6.30.5 kernel and version 2.8 of the Intel driver.
 +
 
 +
==== Issues ====
 +
The chip has hardware limitations when the display area exceeds 2048 pixels (horizontally or vertically), which is why earlier versions of the driver did not even try to support it. Here are the limitations you may run into when running dual-display Extended desktop.
 +
* 3D acceleration is limited (compiz will crash, or with some older software stacks may even freeze the system) [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=513736]
 +
* Xvideo does not work (black or empty video window) [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=497069]
 +
 
 +
For the Xvideo issue a workaround in the driver is technically possible but not yet implemented.
 +
 
 +
For now you can work around the Xvideo driver issue by either enabling Metacity compositing '''or''' disabling XV overlay.
 +
 
 +
'''Enable Metacity Compositing'''
 +
gconftool-2 --type bool --set /apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager true
 +
 
 +
This will result in a slower desktop. It can be turned off again with
 +
gconftool-2 --type bool --set /apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager false
 +
 
 +
'''Disable XV''' <br>
 +
This will cause much higher CPU usage, but only during video playback. For Gstreamer enabled apps this can be set globally, for other apps you will have to dig into their settings.
 +
gconftool-2 --type string --set /system/gstreamer/0.10/default/videosink ximagesink
 +
 
 +
To set it back to the default setting
 +
gconftool-2 --type string --set /system/gstreamer/0.10/default/videosink autovideosink
 +
 
 +
Here is a script I wrote that automatically sets the correct video output option based on configured displays. It could be launched from a dock hotplug event script (although that would not take care of all the use cases, such as booting with external display already attached)
 +
 
 +
#!/bin/bash
 +
# This script is to work around an annoying issue on Intel 945 video chips
 +
# https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=497069
 +
# Basically you cannot have video acceleration if desktop size >2048 pixels in either way
 +
# unless you use Metacity compositing, which is rather slow.
 +
#
 +
# So there are 2 ways to work around the bug, either use Compositing or disable XV.
 +
# We do the later, but only if the current display size > 2048
 +
 +
disablexv=0
 +
for output in $(/usr/bin/xrandr -d :0.0 --verbose| \
 +
                /bin/grep "Screen 0"| \
 +
                /usr/bin/awk '{print $8} {print $10}'| \
 +
                /usr/bin/awk -F, '{print $1}')
 +
  do
 +
    if [ "$output" -gt "2048" ]; then
 +
      disablexv=1
 +
    fi
 +
done
 +
 +
if [ "$disablexv" -eq "1" ]
 +
  then
 +
    /usr/bin/gconftool-2 --type string --set /system/gstreamer/0.10/default/videosink ximagesink
 +
  else
 +
    /usr/bin/gconftool-2 --type string --set /system/gstreamer/0.10/default/videosink autovideosink
 +
fi
 +
 
 +
=== Configuration===
 +
In this mode, ideally you do not configure any settings through xorg.conf but by using xrandr, or a graphical front-end to RandR such as gnome-display-settings.
 +
 
 +
=== Disabling KMS ===
 +
If KMS causes you problems, you can disable it and return to user mode setting (UMS) by booting with the {{bootparm|nomodeset|}} kernel boot option. Note that this is no longer an option starting with version 2.10 of the Intel Xorg driver as UMS support has been dropped.
 +
 
 +
== User mode setting (UMS) ==
 +
User mode setting means the Intel Xorg driver does the mode setting. This is how mode setting worked before KMS was introduced. Note that starting with the 2.10 version of the Intel Xorg driver UMS support has been removed, leaving just KMS support.
 +
 
 +
There are two ways to configure the driver, either the 'old fashion' way through xorg.conf, or using xrandr (either from the cmd line or through a display utility such as gnome-display-properties).
 +
 
 +
=== xorg.conf ===
 +
The basic working starting point for the sections relevant to graphics (excluding any manually loaded modules) is:
  
 
<pre>
 
<pre>
Line 35: Line 108:
 
</pre>
 
</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.
+
But with modern distributions even the above is not necessarily needed as the video chipset, 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 display with XRandR ===
 +
Unfortunately, given all the radical changes to the Intel driver, and especially now with KMS, external display support has been rather in flux.
 +
 
 +
One of the issues encountered is that the maximum virtual screensize depending on driver version (or in the case of KMS, the kernel). This is important if you want to have an extended desktop (dual-display), but not for Mirror mode. If your using KMS, depending on what patches made it into the kernel the maximum virtual screensize is either 2048x2048 or 4096x4096. If your not using KMS, depending on the Intel driver version it will be either 1280x1280 or 2048x2048. 4096x4096 is not possible without KMS, and even then you might have to add this patch http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/intel-gfx/2009-July/003353.html to your kernel to enable it.  
  
==== External VGA port with XRandR ====
+
To see what your virtual screensize is, simply run xrandr from a cmdline and look for something like this
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 <tt>"ServerLayout"</tt> sections (or at least remove dual-head specific settings from them) and all but the main Screen section in xorg.conf. The latter should be made to look like the above with the addition of a <tt>"Display"</tt> subsection which specifies the upper bound of the total resolution spanned by the multi-monitor virtual screen. This is necessary because the default virtual screensize is 1280x1280 which is likely too small for any practical multi-monitor setup. If you just want to mirror the displays, this will happen automatically with the above described <tt>xorg.conf</tt> entries and you can skip this step. Please note that the '''videocard does not support DRI with virtual screen size larger than 2048x2048'''.
+
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1400 x 1050, maximum 4096 x 4096
 +
As you can see in the above example the maximum virtual screensize is 4096x4096 which is ideal, and again, only possible in combination with KMS. If your getting 1280x1280 instead, your running an older Intel driver and have to add the Virtual line as shown below to your xorg.conf
  
 
<pre>
 
<pre>
Line 52: Line 131:
 
Once you have started X, you should find that your multiple monitors are automatically activated and mirror each other to the extent allowed by their potentially different geometries. If you want them to appear as a "large desktop", you need to adjust their relative position with the XRandR utility. You can get an idea of what you're working with by typing
 
Once you have started X, you should find that your multiple monitors are automatically activated and mirror each other to the extent allowed by their potentially different geometries. If you want them to appear as a "large desktop", you need to adjust their relative position with the XRandR utility. You can get an idea of what you're working with by typing
 
<pre>xrandr -q</pre>
 
<pre>xrandr -q</pre>
This will give you a list of outputs and tell you which ones are connected. The external vga port should be called "<tt>VGA</tt>" while the builtin LCD should be called "<tt>LVDS</tt>". If, for example you want to stack your desktops vertically, you might do something like
+
This will give you a list of outputs and tell you which ones are connected. The external display port should be called "<tt>VGA</tt>" or "<tt>DVI</tt>" (or "<tt>VGA1</tt>" or "<tt>DVI1</tt>" in case of KMS) while the builtin LCD should be called "<tt>LVDS</tt>". (or "<tt>LVDS1</tt>" in case of KMS). If, for example you want to stack your desktops vertically, you might do something like
 
<pre>xrandr --output LVDS --below VGA</pre>
 
<pre>xrandr --output LVDS --below VGA</pre>
 
or
 
or
Line 58: Line 137:
 
your window manager may treat the two cases differently in terms of where it decides to put things like the toolbar. Ideally, you probably want to put the desired xrandr command someplace that it might get executed before your window manager starts. For example in your ~/.xsession or ~/.xinitrc file.
 
your window manager may treat the two cases differently in terms of where it decides to put things like the toolbar. Ideally, you probably want to put the desired xrandr command someplace that it might get executed before your window manager starts. For example in your ~/.xsession or ~/.xinitrc file.
  
==== External VGA port with xorg.conf ====
+
=== External VGA port with xorg.conf ===
 
While XRandR eliminates the '''need''' to deal with <tt>xorg.conf</tt> in posititioning your screens, you may just want them to be laid out correctly from the outset. In this case, you can specify the default orientation of the displays in the xorg.conf file (which you can still change later with XRandR). This involves adding a <tt>"Monitor"</tt> section for each physical display output specifying its position. You must also tell the driver which  
 
While XRandR eliminates the '''need''' to deal with <tt>xorg.conf</tt> in posititioning your screens, you may just want them to be laid out correctly from the outset. In this case, you can specify the default orientation of the displays in the xorg.conf file (which you can still change later with XRandR). This involves adding a <tt>"Monitor"</tt> section for each physical display output specifying its position. You must also tell the driver which  
 
<tt>"Monitor"</tt> belongs to which output (VGA,LVDS,etc) with the associated <tt>"monitor-..."</tt> option.
 
<tt>"Monitor"</tt> belongs to which output (VGA,LVDS,etc) with the associated <tt>"monitor-..."</tt> option.
Line 88: Line 167:
 
</pre>
 
</pre>
 
More info can be found at http://www.intellinuxgraphics.org/dualhead.html
 
More info can be found at http://www.intellinuxgraphics.org/dualhead.html
----
+
=== VESA (console) resolution ===
 
 
=== 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 <tt>/etc/apt/sources.list</tt> file, you can specify the version to install using the <tt>-t</tt> option to <tt>apt-get</tt>/<tt>aptitude</tt>. To install the old driver,
 
<pre>
 
aptitude install -t stable xserver-xorg-video-i810
 
</pre>
 
You may of course substitute <tt>-t testing</tt> or <tt>-t unstable</tt> 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 [http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/apt-howto/ch-apt-get.en.html#s-pin 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 [http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df-external/filter_results.aspx?strTypes=all&ProductID=2301&OSFullName=Linux*&lang=eng&strOSs=39&submit=Go%21 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.
 
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 [http://www.geocities.com/stomljen/ 915resolution] to change that.
+
=== SVideo port ===
 +
The SVideo Port can be activated using xrandr.
 +
run
 +
xrandr --verbose
 +
to see if there is a TV section. The supported TV_FORMATs and other options are listed.
 +
The parameters TOP, RIGHT, BOTTOM ans LEFT are used to control the TV-overscan.
  
  # To show supported video modes:
+
  #set the TV format
  915resolution -l
+
  xrandr --output TV --set TV_FORMAT PAL
   
+
  #set the overscan (adjust fitting your TV)
  # To add 1400x1050 support:
+
xrandr --output TV --set TOP 20
  915resolution 5a 1400 1050
+
  xrandr --output TV --set RIGHT 20
   
+
  xrandr --output TV --set BOTTOM 0
  # You may need to specify 24-bit color:
+
  xrandr --output TV --set LEFT 40
  915resolution 38 1400 1050 24
+
  #turn on the TV output
 +
  xrandr --output TV --auto
  
Xorg will be able to use this resolution after that.
+
#turn off...
 +
xrandr --output TV --off
  
==== SVideo port ====
+
This works for my Thinkpad R60, running Debian Lenny
??
 
  
==== DVI port ====
 
DVI passthrough is only supported on the T60.
 
  
Linux support status is unknown
+
=== DVI port ===
 +
DVI passthrough is only supported on the T60 in combination with a docking station. Maximum resolution is 2048x1536
  
==== Suspend behaviour ====
+
=== Suspend behaviour ===
 
* Required kernel parameters for suspend to ram: none
 
* Required kernel parameters for suspend to ram: none
 
* Additional notes:  
 
* Additional notes:  
Line 300: Line 202:
 
** DO NOT use vbetool to save/restore the video mode, this breakes resume!
 
** DO NOT use vbetool to save/restore the video mode, this breakes resume!
  
=== ThinkPads this chip may be found in ===
+
== ThinkPads this chip may be found in ==
 
* {{R60}}, {{R60e}}
 
* {{R60}}, {{R60e}}
 
* {{T60}}
 
* {{T60}}
 
* {{X60}}, {{X60s}}, {{X60_Tablet}}
 
* {{X60}}, {{X60s}}, {{X60_Tablet}}
* {{Z61t}}, {{Z61e}}
+
* {{Z61t}}, {{Z61e}}, {{Z61m}}
  
 
[[Category:Components]]
 
[[Category:Components]]

Revision as of 18:10, 24 May 2010

Intel video driver

The Intel opensource videodriver is maintained by Intel at intellinuxgraphics.org. Intel releases a new driver once per quarter. The latest stable release is 2.10.

Kernel mode setting (KMS)

KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) as the name suggests moves some video setup functions to the kernel. This should have the following benefits over legacy mode setting

  • increased stability, because it removes the current contention between the X server and the kernel
  • ability to show kernel dump screens even when the X server was running
  • rapid mode switching
  • in theory should not allow the X video driver to hang the system
  • early graphical boot display with seamless login
  • should in the future allow for the X server to run without root privileges
  • larger virtual display size (4096x4096) allowing extended desktop configs (2048x2048 without KMS)

Note that KMS does not eliminate the need for the Intel Xorg driver, it just frees that driver from the hardware setup functions.

Status

Right now KMS is still in heavy development, and officially requires at least kernel 2.6.29 with version 2.7 of the Intel driver. But in reality you should really be running at least the 2.6.30.5 kernel and version 2.8 of the Intel driver.

Issues

The chip has hardware limitations when the display area exceeds 2048 pixels (horizontally or vertically), which is why earlier versions of the driver did not even try to support it. Here are the limitations you may run into when running dual-display Extended desktop.

  • 3D acceleration is limited (compiz will crash, or with some older software stacks may even freeze the system) [1]
  • Xvideo does not work (black or empty video window) [2]

For the Xvideo issue a workaround in the driver is technically possible but not yet implemented.

For now you can work around the Xvideo driver issue by either enabling Metacity compositing or disabling XV overlay.

Enable Metacity Compositing

gconftool-2 --type bool --set /apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager true

This will result in a slower desktop. It can be turned off again with

gconftool-2 --type bool --set /apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager false

Disable XV
This will cause much higher CPU usage, but only during video playback. For Gstreamer enabled apps this can be set globally, for other apps you will have to dig into their settings.

gconftool-2 --type string --set /system/gstreamer/0.10/default/videosink ximagesink

To set it back to the default setting

gconftool-2 --type string --set /system/gstreamer/0.10/default/videosink autovideosink

Here is a script I wrote that automatically sets the correct video output option based on configured displays. It could be launched from a dock hotplug event script (although that would not take care of all the use cases, such as booting with external display already attached)

#!/bin/bash
# This script is to work around an annoying issue on Intel 945 video chips
# https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=497069
# Basically you cannot have video acceleration if desktop size >2048 pixels in either way
# unless you use Metacity compositing, which is rather slow.
#
# So there are 2 ways to work around the bug, either use Compositing or disable XV.
# We do the later, but only if the current display size > 2048

disablexv=0
for output in $(/usr/bin/xrandr -d :0.0 --verbose| \
                /bin/grep "Screen 0"| \
                /usr/bin/awk '{print $8} {print $10}'| \
                /usr/bin/awk -F, '{print $1}')
  do
   if [ "$output" -gt "2048" ]; then
      disablexv=1
   fi
done

if [ "$disablexv" -eq "1" ]
  then
    /usr/bin/gconftool-2 --type string --set /system/gstreamer/0.10/default/videosink ximagesink
  else
    /usr/bin/gconftool-2 --type string --set /system/gstreamer/0.10/default/videosink autovideosink
fi

Configuration

In this mode, ideally you do not configure any settings through xorg.conf but by using xrandr, or a graphical front-end to RandR such as gnome-display-settings.

Disabling KMS

If KMS causes you problems, you can disable it and return to user mode setting (UMS) by booting with the nomodeset kernel boot option. Note that this is no longer an option starting with version 2.10 of the Intel Xorg driver as UMS support has been dropped.

User mode setting (UMS)

User mode setting means the Intel Xorg driver does the mode setting. This is how mode setting worked before KMS was introduced. Note that starting with the 2.10 version of the Intel Xorg driver UMS support has been removed, leaving just KMS support.

There are two ways to configure the driver, either the 'old fashion' way through xorg.conf, or using xrandr (either from the cmd line or through a display utility such as gnome-display-properties).

xorg.conf

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 Screen"
        Device "Intel Graphics Adapter"
EndSection

But with modern distributions even the above is not necessarily needed as the video chipset, 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 display with XRandR

Unfortunately, given all the radical changes to the Intel driver, and especially now with KMS, external display support has been rather in flux.

One of the issues encountered is that the maximum virtual screensize depending on driver version (or in the case of KMS, the kernel). This is important if you want to have an extended desktop (dual-display), but not for Mirror mode. If your using KMS, depending on what patches made it into the kernel the maximum virtual screensize is either 2048x2048 or 4096x4096. If your not using KMS, depending on the Intel driver version it will be either 1280x1280 or 2048x2048. 4096x4096 is not possible without KMS, and even then you might have to add this patch http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/intel-gfx/2009-July/003353.html to your kernel to enable it.

To see what your virtual screensize is, simply run xrandr from a cmdline and look for something like this

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1400 x 1050, maximum 4096 x 4096

As you can see in the above example the maximum virtual screensize is 4096x4096 which is ideal, and again, only possible in combination with KMS. If your getting 1280x1280 instead, your running an older Intel driver and have to add the Virtual line as shown below to your xorg.conf

Section "Screen"
     Identifier      "Default Screen"
     Device          "Intel Graphics Adapter"
     SubSection "Display"
            Virtual         2048 2048
     EndSubSection
EndSection

Once you have started X, you should find that your multiple monitors are automatically activated and mirror each other to the extent allowed by their potentially different geometries. If you want them to appear as a "large desktop", you need to adjust their relative position with the XRandR utility. You can get an idea of what you're working with by typing

xrandr -q

This will give you a list of outputs and tell you which ones are connected. The external display port should be called "VGA" or "DVI" (or "VGA1" or "DVI1" in case of KMS) while the builtin LCD should be called "LVDS". (or "LVDS1" in case of KMS). If, for example you want to stack your desktops vertically, you might do something like

xrandr --output LVDS --below VGA

or

xrandr --output VGA --below LVDS

your window manager may treat the two cases differently in terms of where it decides to put things like the toolbar. Ideally, you probably want to put the desired xrandr command someplace that it might get executed before your window manager starts. For example in your ~/.xsession or ~/.xinitrc file.

External VGA port with xorg.conf

While XRandR eliminates the need to deal with xorg.conf in posititioning your screens, you may just want them to be laid out correctly from the outset. In this case, you can specify the default orientation of the displays in the xorg.conf file (which you can still change later with XRandR). This involves adding a "Monitor" section for each physical display output specifying its position. You must also tell the driver which "Monitor" belongs to which output (VGA,LVDS,etc) with the associated "monitor-..." option.

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Intel 945GM"
        Driver     "intel"
	Option     "monitor-VGA"  "External VGA"
	Option     "monitor-LVDS" "Builtin LCD"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
     Identifier "Builtin LCD"
     Option "Below" "External VGA"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
     Identifier "External VGA"
     Option "Above" "Builtin LCD"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen Dual"
        Device "Intel 945GM"
	SubSection "Display"
                Virtual 2048 2048
	EndSubSection
EndSection

More info can be found at http://www.intellinuxgraphics.org/dualhead.html

VESA (console) resolution

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.

SVideo port

The SVideo Port can be activated using xrandr. run

xrandr --verbose

to see if there is a TV section. The supported TV_FORMATs and other options are listed. The parameters TOP, RIGHT, BOTTOM ans LEFT are used to control the TV-overscan.

#set the TV format
xrandr --output TV --set TV_FORMAT PAL
#set the overscan (adjust fitting your TV)
xrandr --output TV --set TOP 20
xrandr --output TV --set RIGHT 20
xrandr --output TV --set BOTTOM 0
xrandr --output TV --set LEFT 40
#turn on the TV output
xrandr --output TV --auto
#turn off...
xrandr --output TV --off

This works for my Thinkpad R60, running Debian Lenny


DVI port

DVI passthrough is only supported on the T60 in combination with a docking station. Maximum resolution is 2048x1536

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