Sandy Bridge Graphics Linux Mint 11

[driekus]

I have been playing around with Linux Mint 11 for a few days now and after a few hiccups it is working quite well.

The only real problem is that the graphics are not really what I would expect. It seems to struggle with basic video games (urban terror and eschalon).
Are there any driver improvements that could fix these problems?

[nunol]

Can you post the output of the following command:

Code: Select all

inxi -Gx

[AlbertP]

For good Sandy Bridge support, you have to upgrade the Linux kernel to 2.6.39 or beyond. The 2.6.38 Sandy Bridge driver is working OK for basic things but not yet as good as other Intel drivers.
Here's the how-to on kernel upgrading: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=40185
And here's a good 2.6.39 kernel to use: http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/ma ... 2-oneiric/

And you have to upgrade the Intel graphics driver itself: https://launchpad.net/~glasen/+archive/intel-driver
To add that PPA, you have to open the Software Sources program and add ppa:glasen/intel-driver from there (the Other Sources tab).
After adding it, you can open the updater (shield-like icon) and it will let you update the Intel driver.

I don't think inxi -Gx is really necessary, as we already know that it's a Sandy Bridge.

[nunol]

Unless there was something wrong with the installed driver.

[driekus]

Graphics: Card Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller X.Org 1.10.1 Res: 1366x768@60.0hz
GLX Renderer Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile GEM 20100330 DEVELOPMENT GLX Version 2.1 Mesa 7.10.2 Direct Rendering Yes

[AlbertP]

The driver is installed & working OK, but you still have to update it as I described above.

[driekus]

I upgraded the kernel to 2.6.39 but found things to be a little more glitchy.
I can access the old kernel version in grub no problem. But I want to change the default kernel back to 2.6.38. I tried to find /boot/grub/menu.1st without any success. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Edit: Found Startup-Manager does this brilliantly

[AlbertP]

Did you already update the driver using the PPA?

[driekus]

Did you already update the driver using the PPA?

All I did at this stage is add the repository and autoupdate. 7 packages were updated.

Graphics: Card Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller X.Org 1.10.1 Res: 1366x768@60.0hz
GLX Renderer Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile GEM 20100330 DEVELOPMENT GLX Version 2.1 Mesa 7.10.2 Direct Rendering Yes

I do not have xserver-xorg-video-intel installed, do I need to?

[AlbertP]

xserver-xorg-video-intel should be installed by default. But if it's not there, please install and try again.

After installing the driver, you could again test 2.6.39 if it works better.

[driekus]

xserver-xorg-video-intel should be installed by default. But if it's not there, please install and try again.

After installing the driver, you could again test 2.6.39 if it works better.

I doubled checked and it was installed, however it was not the latest version. I upgraded to the latest version and retried 2.6.39. It works a lot better now.

[driekus]

This gives me hope.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=n ... &px=OTUyOQ

[AlbertP]

Probably that new acceleration will be included in Mint 12. I don't think that you will get it as an update on 11.