Cinnamon and Intel Integrated Graphics - Software Rendering Mode

[BMR777]

Hello,

I've installed 64 Bit Linux Mint on a PC with Intel Integrated Graphics and whenever I login I get an error that it is running in "Software Rendering Mode", which I believe is also making the computer run rather slowly. Is it possible to not use software rendering mode with the Intel Integrated Graphics that are in this computer? Or will I need to purchase a graphics card to get graphics performance better than software rendering?

When I run inxi -Gx I get:

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Graphics:  Card: Intel 4 Series Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1200@59.95hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 4.0, 128 bits)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.0.7 Direct Rendering: Yes

Thanks!

[WharfRat]

Hello BMR777

Welcome to Linux Mint and the Linux Mint forum

Whats strange with your inxi results is the GLX Renderer being Gallium.

Mine is Gallium with an nvidia card and I thought Intel used Mesa

Can you paste back the results of /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p

[BMR777]

Thanks WharfRat. Running that command I get:

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[intel_init_bufmgr:1193] Error initializing buffer manager.
libGL error: failed to create dri screen
libGL error: failed to load driver: i965
OpenGL vendor string:   VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 4.0, 128 bits)
OpenGL version string:  3.0 Mesa 17.0.7

Not software rendered:    no
Not blacklisted:          yes
GLX fbconfig:             yes
GLX texture from pixmap:  yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes
GL vertex program:        yes
GL fragment program:      yes
GL vertex buffer object:  yes
GL framebuffer object:    yes
GL version is 1.4+:       yes

Unity 3D supported:       no

[WharfRat]

Yep, there is something wrong there and if Unity 3D supported returns no then it's not going to behave with Cinnamon either.

What does lsmod|grep ^i9 andinxi -r return

[BMR777]

The first command returns

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i915                 1314816  2

The second command returns:

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Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/intellinuxgraphics.list
           deb https://download.01.org/gfx/ubuntu/16.04/main xenial main #Intel Graphics drivers
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/maarten-baert-simplescreenrecorder-xenial.list
           deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/maarten-baert/simplescreenrecorder/ubuntu xenial main
           deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/maarten-baert/simplescreenrecorder/ubuntu xenial main
           Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
           deb http://packages.linuxmint.com sonya main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
           deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-security main restricted universe multiverse
           deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ xenial partner

Thanks!

[WharfRat]

I'm suspecting that you installed a package from intellinuxgraphics

If so, try backing it out and see how the default drivers perform.

[MintBean]

Agreed. Intel integrated graphics perform well out of the box with the open source drivers that are installed by default. No need to install extra drivers.

[BMR777]

Thanks. I'll try removing that package. Can I just remove that via the package manager?

I installed the package because with the default drivers I was having the same issue of it loading in software rendering mode.

[WharfRat]

Thanks. I'll try removing that package. Can I just remove that via the package manager?

I installed the package because with the default drivers I was having the same issue of it loading in software rendering mode.

In the terminal sudo apt-get purge packagename

I can't be of much more help with the Cinnamon desktop environment as I run the Mate desktop on this end.

[rene]

His OpenGL Vendor String is "VMware, Inc.". That is: poster seems to be mixing up reports from actual hardware and from a virtual machine.

[EDIT] Please disregard; it seems that "VMware, Inc." is usual for llvmpipe. Googling the issue, causes tend to be manual installs of experimental Mesa. That is, I'll butt out; thread seems to be on right track after all

[BMR777]

Ok, I think I removed the Intel drivers I installed, but how can I check for sure? It's still stuck in software rendering mode.

Thanks.

[WharfRat]

Ok, I think I removed the Intel drivers I installed, but how can I check for sure? It's still stuck in software rendering mode.

Thanks.

Run /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p again to see if there is any change.

[BMR777]

No Change, still getting:

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[intel_init_bufmgr:1193] Error initializing buffer manager.
libGL error: failed to create dri screen
libGL error: failed to load driver: i965
OpenGL vendor string:   VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 4.0, 128 bits)
OpenGL version string:  3.0 Mesa 17.0.7

Not software rendered:    no
Not blacklisted:          yes
GLX fbconfig:             yes
GLX texture from pixmap:  yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes
GL vertex program:        yes
GL fragment program:      yes
GL vertex buffer object:  yes
GL framebuffer object:    yes
GL version is 1.4+:       yes

Unity 3D supported:       no

Running sudo apt-get purge intellinuxgraphics returns "unable to locate package".

[MintBean]

Slooow down... no good *thinking* you removed the drivers. When you purge look and see what the command actually reports.

Where are the instructions you followed to install the driver? That will tell you the package name to purge.

Also, any other installations we need to know about?

[WharfRat]

No Change, still getting:
Running sudo apt-get purge intellinuxgraphics returns "unable to locate package".

That's most likely not the package name

What does apt search intel|grep ^i return

I'm hoping the package contains intel in the name.

[BMR777]

That returns:

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i   intel-microcode                 - Processor microcode firmware for Intel CPU
i   libdrm-intel1                   - Userspace interface to intel-specific kern
i   xserver-xorg-video-intel        - X.Org X server -- Intel i8xx, i9xx display

[WharfRat]

Try sudo apt-get install libdrm-intel1:i386 intel-gpu-tools then reboot

[BMR777]

Ok, ran that. Running

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/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p

gives me:

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[intel_init_bufmgr:1193] Error initializing buffer manager.
libGL error: failed to create dri screen
libGL error: failed to load driver: i965
OpenGL vendor string:   VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 4.0, 128 bits)
OpenGL version string:  3.0 Mesa 17.0.7

Not software rendered:    no
Not blacklisted:          yes
GLX fbconfig:             yes
GLX texture from pixmap:  yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes
GL vertex program:        yes
GL fragment program:      yes
GL vertex buffer object:  yes
GL framebuffer object:    yes
GL version is 1.4+:       yes

Unity 3D supported:       no

[WharfRat]

What does lsmod|grep i915 show

[BMR777]

It shows:

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i915                 1314816  2
i2c_algo_bit           16384  1 i915
drm_kms_helper        167936  1 i915
drm                   368640  4 i915,drm_kms_helper
video                  40960  1 i915