Can't get desktop effects to work

[macosxp]

I'm kind of stumped here.

I removed an older installation of Linux Mint from an HP a1010n (which has integrated intel graphics). Intel graphics drivers seem to already be installed.

But while there was no problem on the older installation (and I can't remember if I had to do anything special to get it working then) the new one won't enable the desktop effects and when i try to watch a video on youtube on fullscreen it's extremely choppy.

Any help? Keep in mind I don't use Linux very much, I basically know how to type sudo apt-get install into the terminal and other stuff on that level.

Thanks.

[emorrp1]

There is a massive Intel graphics regression in Gloria/Jaunty (see release notes), and the fix either requires compiling an older kernel, or a newer one. The safer option is to stick with Felicia until Helena comes out.

[macosxp]

I reinstalled the older version of Linux Mint (6 I think) and the video works fine now. Now, I noticed that the video did not work well in Ubuntu 9.10. Do you think it would work in Linux Mint 8?

[emorrp1]

Since Helena is based on Karmic, the hardware support is identical I'm afraid. No worry, Felicia is still supported with updates until Easter when hopefully the next LTS will be out and hopefully it'll fix the issue.

[macosxp]

Since Helena is based on Karmic, the hardware support is identical I'm afraid. No worry, Felicia is still supported with updates until Easter when hopefully the next LTS will be out and hopefully it'll fix the issue.

But I thought you said the problem was with the kernel, and I'm not really sure if older versions of Ubuntu worked properly with the graphics, I only know that Linux Mint 6 did. How come there was a hardware support regression? Can I expect to be able to use Linux Mint 10 well?

[emorrp1]

The hardware support regressions are often a case of the manufacturer, who previously provided drivers better than the existing reverse-engineered open-source ones, suddenly drops support for "older" hardware, so the only support is from the open-source driver which is created without full access to the hardware specs. This is the case with ATI radeon graphics in Gloria+ when ATI dropped a ton of models in February, though luckily they saw the wisdom in releasing more specs to help the open-source driver. On the other hand this might not apply to the Intel situation - e.g. Intel could just be behind the times and providing support for a driver which is not compatible with the graphics stack on Linux, as was the case in Gloria (though this was supposedly solved with Helena) Basically it's proprietary hardware and the only difference between it and software is there isn't much of an alternative for the hardware.

[macosxp]

The hardware support regressions are often a case of the manufacturer, who previously provided drivers better than the existing reverse-engineered open-source ones, suddenly drops support for "older" hardware, so the only support is from the open-source driver which is created without full access to the hardware specs. This is the case with ATI radeon graphics in Gloria+ when ATI dropped a ton of models in February, though luckily they saw the wisdom in releasing more specs to help the open-source driver. On the other hand this might not apply to the Intel situation - e.g. Intel could just be behind the times and providing support for a driver which is not compatible with the graphics stack on Linux, as was the case in Gloria (though this was supposedly solved with Helena) Basically it's proprietary hardware and the only difference between it and software is there isn't much of an alternative for the hardware.

In that case, is there some way to install the older graphics drivers that supported my hardware on the newer versions of Linux Mint?

[emorrp1]

no, the older driver will not work with the newer graphics software in later Mints (see http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=31845 for more). I have heard that Intel graphics are slightly better on Fedora 12, which you might want to investigate.

[macosxp]

no, the older driver will not work with the newer graphics software in later Mints (see http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=31845 for more). I have heard that Intel graphics are slightly better on Fedora 12, which you might want to investigate.

Ok, I'll report on how it works. I'm not expecting miracles though....

[macosxp]

I was using Fedora 11 on my HP a1010n and it was working fine, though I found my display was more stable if I switched to the VESA device rather than Intel. I just tried the Fedora 12 Live CD, and it seems to boot well, but the display ends up hanging. I couldn't CTRL-ALT-F2 to get to a VT, so I couldn't play around with X settings.

I wonder why the packagers don't default to a more stable display device, like VESA.

Just tried Fedora 12, and it wouldn't get past the automatic login to the live cd. I've seen that with some other live cds I've tried in the HP.

Fedora 11 you say? Do desktop effects work?