Arch Linux

balance

Member

Registered: 2017-02-17

Posts: 64

How to properly set up graphics driver

Hi,

I've been using arch for several months now and really like it. Because I needed a dual boot system I just reinstalled arch. And of course at some point I run into a problem, one of this problem was that xorg server was looking for the "intel" module because I use xbacklight in my i3 config file to make the FN Keys for Brightness working.

This remembered me of how I have absolutely no idea about the topic of graphic drivers. If one looks up the wiki page for intel graphics, he gets right at the beginning several options. Which is nice, if one knows what he actually wants. I have no idea, expect that my module "intel" is in "xf86-video-intel". So I installed it. But still, I'm quit confused.

How do I know what drivers I need? It seems, there are several possibilities to make my Graphics Chip work. E.g., how do I know if I need 32-bit application support?
I installed mesa, since that, as far as I can tell, is the basic open GL support. Which, afaik, is used for 3D Acc., often found e.g. in games. But would I really need it for xf86-video-intel?
How do I know that it was installed sucessfully?

It's just a huge junk of information and since I never done anything which remotly needs to talk to my graphics card I have no idea about it. Basically, I'd like to get an "overview about intel graphics". Does anyone know a good ressource which gets me started?

ooo

Member

Registered: 2013-04-10

Posts: 1,638

Re: How to properly set up graphics driver

Does anyone know a good ressource which gets me started?

The wiki page is the absolute best, arch specific resource there is. There's nothing special about intel graphics either, so if you really want to dig deeper, you should look into the open source linux graphics stack in general.

I think you may be overthinking. If you're unsure whether you need to install some package, you really don't need it or you would notice. For example, lib32-mesa libraries would get automatically installed as dependency by pacman, if some package requires them.

The packages listed at the "Installation" part of the wiki page aren't several possibilities. Each package provides some specific functionality, but again, they should get installed as dependency if you really need them.

The only thing where you have some choice, is the xf86-video-* driver, where you could use either xf86-video-intel or xf86-video-modesetting, as explained on the wiki page. If the intel driver works for you, keep using it, or could simply try modesetting if it somehow worked better for you.

There are some packages (not necessarily related to graphics drivers, but in general) that aren't required by anything and could be beneficial to you though, (e.g. see the link to Hardware video acceleration), but it's up to you to understand what they do and whether you want them.

alex.theoto

Member

From: Athens Greece

Registered: 2014-11-30

Posts: 307

Re: How to properly set up graphics driver

lspci |grep VGA
pacman -Qs |grep xf86-video-

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel_graphics

I'm confused. Which wiki's part you don't understand?

balance

Member

Registered: 2017-02-17

Posts: 64

Re: How to properly set up graphics driver

No it's not about the wiki tiself. I usually really like the arch wiki since it's very good. Since I just have no idea about anything related to this topic, I just got a bit confused at which driver/lib is for what/when etc. ooo described it quite good. I just like to know what the stuff I'm installing is for (more or less). Anyway, guess I'll just play around with it a bit and just keep reading around and then it might get all clear at some point.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,729

Re: How to properly set up graphics driver

Someone made a good summary here: https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comm … m/djsc8at/

balance

Member

Registered: 2017-02-17

Posts: 64

Re: How to properly set up graphics driver

thanks