Mint Julia needing driver for Intel 82845G/GL

[jaiz007]

I had installed Linux Mint Julia but Compiz was not working. By using Compiz-check I figured that my system was running a VESA graphics driver which doesn't support Compiz. So I uninstalled VESA and now it shows that its using some driver called "fbdev". Still i am not able to run Compiz. Now when i run compiz-check I get the following result:

Gathering information about your system...

Distribution: Linux Mint
Desktop environment: GNOME
Graphics chip: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 03)
Driver in use: fbdev
Rendering method: AIGLX

Checking if it's possible to run Compiz on your system...

Checking for texture_from_pixmap... [ OK ]
Checking for non power of two support... [ OK ]
Checking for composite extension... [ OK ]
Checking for FBConfig... [ OK ]
Checking for hardware/setup problems... [FAIL]

There has been (at least) one error detected with your setup:
Error: Software Rasterizer in use

Please help me identify my problem and help me solve it....

[xenopeek]

Moved here by moderator

fbdev is the framebuffer driver (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_framebuffer), which doesn't offer the fancy things that Compiz needs I think. You need Intel's driver for the 82845G/GL, but I'm not sure how to get that.

[remoulder]

not sure how to get that

The Intel driver is one of the stock xserver drivers supplied with every distro, there shouldn't be any need to install anything different for this old chipset.

@jaiz007, do you have an xorg.conf file in your /etc/X11 folder? If so rename it and reboot, in a terminal

Code: Select all

sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.old

[jaiz007]

@xenopeek @remoulder Thanks a lot for your replies..
@remoulder I have checked the etc folder and I found a file named "xorg.conf.failsafe". Is that the one you mean?

[jaiz007]

not sure how to get that

The Intel driver is one of the stock xserver drivers supplied with every distro, there shouldn't be any need to install anything different for this old chipset.

@jaiz007, do you have an xorg.conf file in your /etc/X11 folder? If so rename it and reboot, in a terminal

Code: Select all

sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.old

@remoulder There was no xorg.conf file in the x11 folder. So I created one myself with the following data:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device"
Driver "intel"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Plug and play"
HorizSync 20-48
VertRefresh 40-60
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device"
Monitor "Plug and play"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now when i run compiz-check I get the following output:

Distribution: Linux Mint
Desktop environment: GNOME
Graphics chip: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 03)
Driver in use: intel
Rendering method: AIGLX

Checking if it's possible to run Compiz on your system...

Checking for texture_from_pixmap... [ OK ]
Checking for non power of two support... [ OK ]
Checking for composite extension... [ OK ]
Checking for FBConfig... [ OK ]
Checking for hardware/setup problems... [ OK ]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BUT still Compiz doesn't work.
When I right click on Desktop-> Change Desktop Background-->Visual Effects--> and choose any of the effects other than "NONE", i get the message "Desktop Settings could not be Enabled"

What could be the reason? What must be still wrong?

[AlbertP]

Please run compiz --replace in terminal and post the output.

Edit. Mint 10 support has ended. Please try upgrading to a newer version.

[xenopeek]

Edit. Mint 10 support has ended. Please try upgrading to a newer version.

To clarify, if the root cause of the problem is a software bug, those don't get fixed any longer on the version you are using (so this may all be caused by some bug). Linux Mint 10 is indeed unsupported, meaning you no longer get security updates or bug fixes. The just released Linux Mint 13 MATE edition may be a good replacement for you; it has Compiz support and is supported for the next five years (till April 2017). http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

[jaiz007]

Please run compiz --replace in terminal and post the output.

Edit. Mint 10 support has ended. Please try upgrading to a newer version.

Thanks for the suggestion. Here is the output I get with compiz-replace:

Blacklisted PCI ID 8086:2562 detected

Launching fallback window manager
Window manager warning: Log level 16: Error converting selection
Window manager warning: Log level 16: Error converting selection

[jaiz007]

Edit. Mint 10 support has ended. Please try upgrading to a newer version.

To clarify, if the root cause of the problem is a software bug, those don't get fixed any longer on the version you are using (so this may all be caused by some bug). Linux Mint 10 is indeed unsupported, meaning you no longer get security updates or bug fixes. The just released Linux Mint 13 MATE edition may be a good replacement for you; it has Compiz support and is supported for the next five years (till April 2017). http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

@xenopeek
Thanks for the link. I would still like to try to fix it for Julia but if it doesn't work at all, then maybe I would switch over to Mint 13. Thanks for the info and the suggestion.

[AlbertP]

@ Jaiz: The Compiz developers blacklisted your GPU. Probably the "Intel Extreme Graphics 2" which is integrated in the 845G chipset does not properly support some feature needed by Compiz (even though it says it works - which compiz-check reported).

[jaiz007]

@ Jaiz: The Compiz developers blacklisted your GPU. Probably the "Intel Extreme Graphics 2" which is integrated in the 845G chipset does not properly support some feature needed by Compiz (even though it says it works - which compiz-check reported).

@AlbertP ok.. So what could be the solution to this? Will I have the same problem if I switch over to another version of Linux (like version 13 Maya)?

[AlbertP]

You won't have Compiz on this gpu. Maybe another desktop works. Cinnamon also has effects, got it working on the Intel 915GM which is a bit newer. I don't know if it will run on the 845G.

[jaiz007]

You won't have Compiz on this gpu. Maybe another desktop works. Cinnamon also has effects, got it working on the Intel 915GM which is a bit newer. I don't know if it will run on the 845G.

What about "MATE" desktop?

[AlbertP]

Of course Mate will work, but without effects - as Compiz doesn't accept your GPU. Just like Mint 10.
Maybe you can put another graphics card in the machine. For example a cheap old Radeon 9000 series card if it has an AGP slot. That's enough to run most of Compiz. It's not using proprietary drivers so I don't expect Cinnamon or Gnome 3 problems on them, in case you ever want to run one of those desktops. (Even older ATI hardware may not run Cinnamon - on a 7500 it failed for me)

[jaiz007]

Of course Mate will work, but without effects - as Compiz doesn't accept your GPU. Just like Mint 10.
Maybe you can put another graphics card in the machine. For example a cheap old Radeon 9000 series card if it has an AGP slot. That's enough to run most of Compiz. It's not using proprietary drivers so I don't expect Cinnamon or Gnome 3 problems on them, in case you ever want to run one of those desktops. (Even older ATI hardware may not run Cinnamon - on a 7500 it failed for me)

Thanks a lot for the suggestions...

[jaiz007]

One more thing...

When I try to change Visual effects it says "DESKTOP SETTINGS COULD NOT BE ENABLED".
Why does that happen? That doesn't have anything to do with Compiz I guess..

[jaiz007]

Of course Mate will work, but without effects - as Compiz doesn't accept your GPU. Just like Mint 10.
Maybe you can put another graphics card in the machine. For example a cheap old Radeon 9000 series card if it has an AGP slot. That's enough to run most of Compiz. It's not using proprietary drivers so I don't expect Cinnamon or Gnome 3 problems on them, in case you ever want to run one of those desktops. (Even older ATI hardware may not run Cinnamon - on a 7500 it failed for me)

Thanks a lot for the suggestions...

One more thing...

When I try to change Visual effects it says "DESKTOP SETTINGS COULD NOT BE ENABLED".
Why does that happen? That doesn't have anything to do with Compiz I guess..

[AlbertP]

No need to double-post. If you think it's not graphics related please ask it in Desktops & Window Managers > Gnome (mint 10) or Mate or Cinnamon (mint 13).

[jaiz007]

No need to double-post. If you think it's not graphics related please ask it in Desktops & Window Managers > Gnome (mint 10) or Mate or Cinnamon (mint 13).

I am just a new user of Linux and I am not sure whether the problem is related to Graphics or Desktop. I am just asking your help to help me identify whats wrong.
When I try to change Visual effects it says "DESKTOP SETTINGS COULD NOT BE ENABLED". Why does that happen? I am just asking you to please tell me why that problem arises usually if u can..

[AlbertP]

Where did you find that "Visual Effects" option?