Video drivers...? Point me in the right direction! :)

[darkstrike]

Hi all,

Can anybody point me in the right direction to help me get higher resolutions on my two Mint 18.2 MATE 64-bit desktop machines?

One is running an AMD HD3850 1GB video card, the other is running the on-board Intel GMA 3100 card.

Linux drivers are a mystery to me...can anybody tell me where I can go to find drivers to let me use these cards at HD1080p resolutions? I know they are both technically capable of HD display resolutions, but the maximum the Display Properties window is letting me select when hooked up to my Sony 28" HDTV is 1360x768?

Cheers for any help and suggestions!

[Hoser Rob]

Oh dear ... a quick wiki searrch indicates both those cards came out in 2007 ... to confirm you should give more info. Copy/paste this to the terminal and copy/paste the text output here:

inxi -Fxz

Buit if they're that old there aren't any other drivers availale other than the ones yopu have. Intel doesn't really do closed video drivers. And all AMD video cards older than the 5xxx series are legacy so there aren't any for them either.

You may be able to find Linux drivers on the web but they're for much oilder Linux releases and if you install them it will break the video. A lot of info on the web is really out of date.

Hopefully there is some config to be done.

[darkstrike]

Yes, they probably did come out in 2007...so, sadly a bit older. I was hoping the Linux drivers would at least let me do HD display resolutions with them, considering the cards can render HD video no problem!

inxi output from the AMD card desktop:

Code: Select all

Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RV670 [Radeon HD 3690/3850]
           bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1280x1024@60.02hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD RV670 (DRM 2.49.0 / 4.10.0-37-generic, LLVM 4.0.0)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.0.7 Direct Rendering: Yes

inxi output from the Intel card desktop:

Code: Select all

Graphics:  Card: Intel 82G33/G31 Express Integrated Graphics Controller
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1360x768@60.02hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel G33
           GLX Version: 1.4 Mesa 17.0.7 Direct Rendering: Yes

The AMD machine is hooked up to an old LCD monitor atm, but the Intel machine is hooked up to my Sony HDTV's VGA input.

[darkstrike]

*bump*

Sorry to ask, but any thoughts Rob"?

[MintBean]

There's nothing recommended in 'driver manager?'

[Hoser Rob]

There's nothing recommended in 'driver manager?'

The OP has AMD and Intel in 18.2. There isn't going to be anything in Driver Manager. If it was 17.3 there may be a driver listed for the AMD card but installing it would break the video.

Unfortunately I don't have any other ideas on the subject.

[Citizen229]

GT 1030. $75 USD on Newegg. 30 watt card. Unless your mobo is so old that it has AGP slot instead of PCIE, then you have no upgrade path.

[Hoser Rob]

GT 1030. $75 USD on Newegg. 30 watt card. Unless your mobo is so old that it has AGP slot instead of PCIE, then you have no upgrade path.

Sigh . Shoulda thought of that. Get a cheap Nvidia card.

[rene]

*bump*

My 2010 model Panasonic Full HD (i.e, 1920x1080) TV allows on its VGA input resolutions "VGA (640 × 480 pixels), WVGA (852 × 480 pixels), XGA (1.024 × 768 pixels), WXGA (1.280 × 768 pixels, 1.366 × 768 pixels)" (pasted straight from the manual). That is: I rather expect there's nothing to do PC-sides; its the TV that's limiting you.

If you have the possibility to hook it up through HDMI things would be different but through VGA your current 1366x768 will be the best the TV can do. Review your TV manual to confirm. Getting a new card would then also be useful at best in that sense: only if your current one(s) don't have HDMI-out and you'd get one which does.

[darkstrike]

My HD3850 desktop isn't hooked up to the TV right now, but it does have HDMI, so it's nice to know it would probably do a higher res if I used that plug instead. As for the Intel, it's unfortunately VGA only...