How to install a different video driver

[kasperle]

OK I am a total newbie in Linux but am very experienced in other OS's.
I have installed Mint and all is well except for 2 simple or they should be things.
The screen redraw is very sluggish and I am almost certain it is because the installation of Mint installed a video driver that is just not appropriate.
SO where does one do this in MINT? I mean - why is there not a a device manager that is right there to use and not hidden in some forsaken netherworld.
Very frustrating and after searching this site there was also no joy.

So - will someone please give me a simple and easy to understand method where by I can get a new driver and then install it for the video card. This machine is an older Gigabyte MOBO with video onboard (Intel Graphics Engine) with an old Intel Celeron Pentium 4 , 2.4 Ghz porcocessor and only 512 Mb Ram. OK This machine is really old but Windows XP ran fine on it and now with MINT it is like a crawling three legged horse. I thought that LINUX is a streamlined thoroughbred that uses old technology way better than Windows? So what am I missing people????

[EmpireITtech]

First off, yes Linux DOES handle "older" hardware more efficiently, but often it can be considered "harder" depending on the person using it. If you have no xp in Linux, it's going to be more difficult at first. Think of it this way: you probably know how to drive a car and have been doing so since you were 16ish, but that doesn't mean you can just hop in an airplane and drive it. The operation is similar, but the application of your knowledge is different.

Check your graphic card driver by command :
inxi -Gx

Post your results here.

[EmpireITtech]

BTW, i believe these are what you need to run in a shell/terminal to get the newest intel drivers:

sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dri libgl1-mesa-glx

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

[kasperle]

Hi there EmpireITtech

first let me say THANX for replying so godamn fast

I will do as you say and report back soon

ciao

[EmpireITtech]

Lol, well these msg boards are AMAZING when it comes to support. I've been using Mint since last year and I was blown away by the speed of response and help I received when starting out. So stick with it, it's worth the trouble =]

Couple of notes: if you are trying to get the fastest possible desktop with the easiest installation, I'd go with Mint 13 Xfce. Mint 13 is based off the 12.04 LTS (Long Term Support) of Ubuntu and it'll be the most "stable" for you. Xfce is one of the desktop environments that the Mint team package up for you to download, and imo is the most hardware friendly of the main editions (Cinnomon, MATE, KDE). Mint 14 is based off 12.10 and will offer the newest features, but can sometimes take more tweeking to get it right. In the end it's up to you obviously, but you can actually run the Live iso on your PC to test the functionality of the environment of each of the desktop version which is pretty cool.
Let me know

[kasperle]

inxi -Gx gives me the following


Intel 82845G/GL (Brookdale/G) chipset Integrated Graphics Device

present driver appears to be

X-org 1.13.0

will report back on the other stufff very soon

[kasperle]

Unfortunately now it seems that a previous terminal install of the codecs and trutype fonts has somehow taken hold of the whole process and will not let me do anything. I did a dpkg fix but it will not let me give in my password and so I am presently in a stuck loop.
Is there a way to tell the system to get clean again and let me back in to the terminal properly?
Then I can try your sudo commands finally.

[kasperle]

ok I am back into it - feels like relearning how to walk YUK

anyway

after thsi is done I will apply your mesa stuff but i think that the latest drivers are already installed

it seems to be doing better already but still a bit sluggish
suppose that is because the machine is just too damn old

[EmpireITtech]

ok I am back into it - feels like relearning how to walk YUK

anyway

after thsi is done I will apply your mesa stuff but i think that the latest drivers are already installed

it seems to be doing better already but still a bit sluggish
suppose that is because the machine is just too damn old

Sometimes that can be, what version of Mint did you install? And what desktop environment (Cinnamon, MATE, KDE, Xfce)?