How to use Intel GMA3600 onboard graphics in Lucid 5.2.8?

Problems and successes with specific brands/models of computer video hardware
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HardCoder
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How to use Intel GMA3600 onboard graphics in Lucid 5.2.8?

#1 Post by HardCoder »

Hello. I'm a newbie to Linux.
I installed Lucid Puppy 5.2.8 to my USB stick (frugal) and installed Xorg High.
But Puppy still doesn't detect the embedded GPU, It just shows Intel(R)XX.
Windows 7 detects it though.
So, where can I get the required drivers?
EDIT: My netbook is HP Mini 200. 2GB RAM. Intel Atom 1.6GHz N2600.

tempestuous
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#2 Post by tempestuous »

The GMA36xx "Poulsbo" graphics devices don't play well with older Puppy versions, or to be more accurate, with older versions of Xorg. I provided the Poulsbo Xorg driver for Puppy 5.1/5.2 here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 093#515093
but it's complicated to configure, and no one has reported success to date.

A better option is really to use either of the last two Puppy releases; Slacko 5.7.0 or Tahrpup 6.0.2. Poulsbo graphics should work out-of-the-box with these. And any computer with a Poulsbo graphics is certainly new enough to run well with these Puppies.

But if you're determined to stick with Puppy 5.2.x, then a known-working solution is to install the "uvesafb" graphics driver, which I posted here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=67166
I warn that installation is certainly non-trivial. Follow the instructions very carefully.
Also be aware that the uvesafb graphics driver is non-accelerated, so your graphics performance may be on the sluggish side, especially noticeable when playing (higher res) video files.

tempestuous
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#3 Post by tempestuous »

You're welcome.

HardCoder
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#4 Post by HardCoder »

tempestuous wrote:You're welcome.
Sorry, I forgot to say thank you.

tempestuous
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#5 Post by tempestuous »

All good. I hope you have a working solution.

HardCoder
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#6 Post by HardCoder »

I downloaded Tahrpup 6.0.2 CE, booted it... And Xorg didn't start.
I ran xorgwizard, it presented 'modesetting' as the only available option, which doesn't support acceleration.
The brightness keys work now, they didn't in Lupu.
Any chance of me getting accelerated video?

tempestuous
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#7 Post by tempestuous »

The Slacko developer, 01micko, did some investigation into the issue of Pouslbo graphics. I can't find the relevant post right now - it's probably buried in one of the Slacko "testing" threads - but the bottom line is that your best prospect is Slacko 5.7 -
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/puppy-slacko-5.7/

Since you have less that 4GB of RAM, you might as well get the "NO-PAE" version.

tempestuous
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#8 Post by tempestuous »

Mmm. I just did some Googling about the current state of play, and it seems there's still no clear Poulsbo support in Linux
This seems like a good resource -
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport ... dsPoulsbo/
I see that both Slacko 5.7 and Tahrpup 6.x contain the gma500_gfx kernel module, but that's still no guarantee of success.
HardCoder wrote:Any chance of me getting accelerated video?
Probably not. But even with non-accelerated drivers, some are better than others - the fbdev driver that I mentioned earlier, though non-accelerated, seems much better than the generic vesa driver. And I suspect it's better that the modesetting driver, too.

Give me a day or two, and I'll see if I can package the fbdev Xorg driver for Slacko and/or Tahrpup.

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mikeslr
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Is this also known as Cedarview PowerVR gma600_gfx ?

#9 Post by mikeslr »

Hi HardCoder,

My apologies. I'm a "generalist". When discussions turn on technicalities I tend to tune out.
But if your computer has the same graphics chip as my Acer Aspire D 270, which by necessity I had to research and discovered was variously referred to as Cedarview PowerVR gma600_gfx Intel GMA-3600, then the following post may help: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 955#724955. Also read the next two following it.

Edited after booting the Acer:

Regarding tempestuous's suggestion that either Tahrpup 6.0 & Slacko 5.7 may be serviceable, I can tell you from experience that they work flawlessly on my Acer. So do the any derivatives, Lx or X, upgrades such as Tahrpup 6.02, and Slacko 5.6. [Despite its number, Slacko 5.6 was published after 5.7].

Just booted into Tahrpup on the Acer. Initiated Xorgwizard which showed that graphics are not accelerated. But, as mentioned, graphic performance has been acceptable.

Edited: Eliminated references to Carolina. It's not on that computer. I was thinking of another.

I would suggest trying Tahrpup or its Lx or X variants. Trusty Tahr is Ubuntu's Long-Term-Support publication: to be supported for another 4 years. [Lucid Lynx was its previous LST]. As their names suggest, Puppies named Lucid/Lupu or Tahr were created using the binaries of their namesakes, and to some extend --and sometimes with some difficulty-- enabling the use of applications from the repositories of their Ubuntu namesakes. So, there's a good chance that Tahrpups will be actively supported and applications created for them for some time to come.

But don't hesitate to try newer Slackos or Slacko derivatives. Some computers just function better with them.

Puppies are free. So try a couple and see which works best on your computer.

mikesLr

P.S. Depending on the size of your USB-Key, the following may save you some time while you test various Pups. http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 121#848121

tempestuous
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#10 Post by tempestuous »

mikeslr, thanks for your experience and reports. It appears to me that HardCoder also has the modesetting driver working, but although you find this good enough, he would like better. The big question, then, is what constitutes good/better/best, and how good is good enough?
A fully accelerated Linux graphics driver for the GMA500 seems to be possible only with specially tweaked versions of Ubuntu (custom kernel, etc). So with non-accelerated drivers, let me suggest some real-world benchmarks:
- full-screen video playback of DVD's and other standard-definition video content should work fine. For heaven's sake, I remember getting this working with cheap SiS graphics chips under Linux back in 2004/2005.
- high-definition video playback (1920x1080) with MP4/VP2 codecs, well, this is likely to be stuttery.
- 3D games, Google Earth ... forget it.

And regarding the fbdev driver, I just discovered this is difficult to install in Slacko, because the necessary kernel module is missing in Slacko ...
but this module is present in Tahrpup, so I will be able to package the fbdev driver for Tahrpup shortly.

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#11 Post by starhawk »

Tempestuous, sorry to pop in with a question of my own -- I'll try to limit my involvement -- but when X-Slacko 3.0 is out of beta (rg says it'll be about a week) would you consider making an attempt with it, to shoehorn-and-plunger fbdev in? I can't compile but I'm happy to test ;)

tempestuous
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#12 Post by tempestuous »

X-slacko 3 is based on Slacko 6-beta, right?
The tricky part about providing the fbdev graphics driver for Slacko is that the required uvesafb kernel module was never enabled in the Slacko kernel configuration. To make things worse, there have typically been TWO different kernel versions available for each Slacko release - PAE and non-PAE. This means I would have to compile 2 different versions of the uvesafb kernel module.

But with Slacko 6 I see that 01micko appears to going with a single kernel version (PAE). This makes things easier. I would prefer, though, that the Slacko 6 kernel was at final stage. I might post on the Slacko 6 thread to check.

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#13 Post by starhawk »

IIRC, X-Slacko 3.0 will be based on Slacko 593, as X-Slacko 3b7 was. Not 100% sure tho.

Can you PET/SFS up something that provides uvesafb and fbdev in one package? or is that "not done" for some important technical reason (note that I'm a total hopeless code n00b, so I really don't know this stuff)...?

tempestuous
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#14 Post by tempestuous »

starhawk wrote:Can you PET/SFS up something that provides uvesafb and fbdev in one package?
Yes, and will probably do so. I just want to check with 01micko about ongoing compatibility, and whether he wants to incorporate some of these components as standard.

HardCoder
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#15 Post by HardCoder »

Puppies are free, but data isn't. (http://www.mtnonline.com/products-servi ... ta-bundles)
The graphics performance is acceptable, I can live without 3D graphics. I was just wondering if there was a better alternative to modesetting.

On Windows, getting the drivers was as easy as downloading a setup file from Intel. *sigh*

Thanks anyway, I'll stick with Tahrpup.

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mikeslr
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uvesafb and fbdev

#16 Post by mikeslr »

Hi tempestuous,

First, on behalf of myself and all other Puppyites who lack the skill and dedication it takes to compile applications, please accept our thanks for your interest and efforts. You are one of a handful of unsung heroes without which Puppy would have vanished along with many other "small" distros.

As I tend to be "all over the place", if and when you've compiled uvesafb and/or fbdev applications for Tahrpup or Slacko, please call them to my attention by email. I'll be more than happy to run tests on my Acer.

Thanks again,


mikesLr

tempestuous
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#17 Post by tempestuous »

Well I just packaged the fbdev driver for Tahrpup 6 and Slacko 6beta, but in the process I learned that the fbdev driver should be no better than the modesetting driver already included in these modern Puppies. So there's no point posting the packages.

But the modesetting driver is not compatible with the older kernel in Puppy Lucid 5.1/5.2.x, so the fbdev driver remains useful for Lucid.
It's available here -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=67166

I just updated the installation instructions.

tempestuous
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#18 Post by tempestuous »

UPDATE:
The modesetting driver has recently been further developed to support 2D/X-Video acceleration from X.Org Server 1.17 onwards -
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=n ... 7-Released
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=n ... px=MTg2Mzc

How does this translate to Puppy? Slacko6-beta has xorg-server 1.14. Tahrpup 6.x has xorg-server 1.15. No good with either of these.
But I see that Ubuntu Vivid Vervet has xorg-server 1.17
... and I see that 666philb has created a Puppy derivative based on Vivid -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=98032

Poulsbo graphics users - you should really try the modesetting driver in Vividpup beta!

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