Arch Linux

mrjayviper

Member

Registered: 2019-04-02

Posts: 8

How do I know if I need a xf86-video driver?

My laptop uses a Sandy bridge CPU which has a built-in Intel HD 3000 graphics. The laptop has no discrete GPU.

My main desktop uses an RX570 and no built-in GPU on the CPU (it's a Xeon part).

I've read various installation guides which included desktop environment and I didn't see any mention of xf86-video.

I ran pacman -Qs xf86-video and no results came back.

Thanks

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 30,530

Website

Re: How do I know if I need a xf86-video driver?

I've read various installation guides...

There is only one installation guide for arch linux, and it directs you to the following page for xorg:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xo … stallation

That page indicates that you could use xf86-video-intel which is readily available in the repos.  But that driver has been mostly displaced by the kernel's own modesetting driver which proves to be better and certainly more reliable on a wide range of modern hardware.

You could try each one to see which suits you best, but if you are not facing problems, just stick with modesetting.

---

"UNIX is simple and coherent" - Dennis Ritchie; "GNU's Not Unix" - Richard Stallman