intel video driver problem

[Andriy Gapon]

on 14/06/2010 21:31 Brandon Gooch said the following:
> On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 12:26 PM, Larry Gingras <larry at cybent.net> wrote:
>> I have a problem with acceleration features on my graphic adapter.
>> I have (according to Xorg.0.log) Integrated Graphics Chipset: Intel(R) 965GM
>> (it is ASUS laptop X80L).
>> When acceleration is enabled, some parts of windows sometimes became
>> garbled. It seems like parts of video memory is littered. Image is only
>> restored when affected regions is completely redrawn, minimize-restore of
>> window do not restore garbled region (but image inside garbled region become
>> different, it become part of desktop or something like that).
>> I tried to disable everything that use acceleration (disable composition in
>> KDE, etc), even disable DRI but if acceleration is enabled in xorg.conf this
>> bug remains. If I disable acceleration (with Option "Accel" "off") -
>> everything works fine.
>> I tried to play with various options in xorg.conf but there are not many
>> options to play with. Driver just ignores a lot of options (such as
>> VideoRam). I tried change AccelMethod, but only EXA works for me (XAA and
>> UXA make Xorg halt on starting graphic mode, I just have blank black screen
>> and everything stop, I cannot switch back to console or kill X server).
>> Only completely disabling acceleration make things better.
>> I use FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE, xorg 7.4, and intel video driver 2.7.1 (it is
>> latest version currently present in ports).
>> I'm not sure it is bug in xorg driver or in kernel support (i915 and drm
>> modules, btw I mention these are not loaded if acceleration is disabled).
>> It seems to me that it is some sort of memory allocation or access issue.
>>
>> Please advice possible solutions.
>>
>> BTW I think driver is severely outdated now. intellinuxgraphics.org have
>> 2.11.0 now. I tried to download it but I cannot build it (I think it is for
>> linux only and must be ported to FreeBSD).
> 
> I believe Xorg 7.5 is available via ports, perhaps upgrading to the
> most recent version of both Xorg and the Intel driver (2.7.1_3) will
> remedy some of your issues.

I don't think that it will help.

> I will say that the overall quality of open-source Intel graphics
> drivers are highly fluctuating it seems.
> 
> However, the Xorg setup on my Intel-equipped machines is running well,
> although I don't require extraordinary power. The FreeBSD "team"
> working on Xorg is rather short-handed, and can't be expected to keep
> up with the most current developments of either Xorg or the
> constituent pieces (like the Intel driver). Volunteers are always
> welcome...

Main problem is that Intel X drivers team took very Linux-centric world view.
Their newer drivers require certain things in kernel that are not available in
FreeBSD, that's why we can't update the driver to any newer version.
To add to what you said, currently _nobody_ actively works on kernel side of X
support.

-- 
Andriy Gapon