[ltp] Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 vs 64MB ATIMobility Radeon x300

[L. Mark Stone]

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Quoting noc ops <aptgetd@gmail.com>:

>
> L. Mark Stone wrote:
>> Quoting noc ops <aptgetd@gmail.com>:
>>
>>
>>> I'm trying to decide whether to pick Intel Graphics Media Accelerator
>>> 900 vs 64MB ATI Mobility Radeon x300 (integrated) for my thinkpad R52.
>>
>>
>> With ATI you get ATI's binary-only drivers or the barebones ati kernel
>> driver.  If you use ATI's drivers, you'll need to recompile them
>> everytime you do a kernel update.  That means you'll need to install a
>> build environment as well as the kernel sources. It also means you'll
>> need to have some familiarity with boot options and/or init 3, for
>> when you update the kernel and forget to recompile the binary driver
>> before rebooting.
>>
>> With the Intel, you can use the 855resolution package (or the newer
>> 915resolution package; 855resolution works fine for me) to get
>> 1400x1050.  Not sure about Ubuntu, but SuSE (which is what I run on my
>> 15" 1859-BAU R52) includes the 855resolution package and so set up was
>> pretty easy--and I don't have to worry about kernel udates.  Plus, I
>> get 3D, the external monitor works, and I can use the KDE utils (I
>> don't know if Gnome has something comparable) to change the screen
>> resolution on the fly.
> --------------
> What if I let the system (ubuntu 5.10 in my case) use the default
> (intel) display driver? Or should I get the newer version of i915 [0]?


Well, the 855resolution and 915resolution packages are not display =20
driver packages, so you will use the default Ubuntu-bundled Intel =20
driver (the SuSE-bundled driver supports 3D; I expect Ubuntu's will =20
too).

What 855/915resolution does is to patch the Intel video BIOS. Sounds =20
scary, but it isn't, because the patch you apply to the video BIOS is =20
not permanent.  The Intel chipset is capable of many more resolutions =20
than can be stored in its BIOS.  In my case, 1400x1050 was not stored =20
in the video BIOS, hence the need for the patch.  (As near as I can =20
tell, the IBM-supplied Windows XP video driver does the same thing.)

You don't have to use 855/915resolution if you don't want to, but in =20
my case that meant SuSE would only do 1280x1024, instead of 1400x1050. =20
And at 1280x1024, screen fonts looked pretty awful and fuzzy.

I took a stab at creating a draft HOWTO for SuSE. Please feel free to =20
use it if it is helpful. You can access it at: =20
http://pinot.rnome.com/LCD.pdf.  Note that I have changed the =20
DisplaySize setting in the Monitor section after I wrote the pdf.  =20
Also, if you are not familiar with SuSE, "sax2" is the video utility =20
that generates the xorg.conf file.  I don't know the comparable Ubuntu =20
tool.

I hope that helps!

Mark

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