Important !

Ubuntu does not ship with this driver anymore. If you are running ubuntu v7.10 and possibly 7.04, use the "intel" driver instead. It is more up to date, has similar configuration settings, and, most importantly, you do not need the i915 tool anymore. This means your fancy monitor with a strange resolution will work out of the box.

If you have an Intel graphics card and an older version of Ubuntu then this page is for you. The i810 driver works with all i8xx and i9xx series from Intel. The driver is Open Source, provides very good 3D acceleration and works perfectly with AIGLX. If you only wish to enable different resolutions, like widescreen resolutions, you can use the i915 tool (which is not a driver, you still have to use the i810 driver to make that work). For more information visit http://wiki.ubuntu.com/i915Driver .

Will It Work On Your Card?

If you have a 8xx or 9xx series, yes, you will get 3D acceleration, xV, and all that at 24 depth, except for the 810 and 815, which will not have DRI (3D) enabled at 24 bits depth.

If you dont know what your card is, you can type in this command

Check first your graphic card name and chipset:

$ lspci

Then look for the following entry:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)

Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy) installation with AIGLX

The i810 driver is already shipped with Ubuntu, so you won't have to download it. This driver is completely compatible with AIGLX, so if you want an accelerated desktop, you won't need to install XGL.(And beleive me, the result is quite impressive on those little cards)

Configuring X.org

This method is based on the edition of /etc/X11/xorg.conf . You will have to edit it with superuser privileges (using the sudo command). You can use gedit if you are in a graphical environment, or vim if you are in a console.(quick vim commands: i to enter edit mode Esc to escape edit mode, :w to save and :q to quit )

sudo vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf

or

gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Configuring xorg.conf's "Device" section

You first of all have to find the device section already related to your graphics card. It can have any identifier, or might even not exist if you are just installing your xserver. You can usually find it right after your mouse entry.

It should look like this:

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device"
        Driver          "i810"
        BusID           "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Identifier is the name you give your graphics card. It is better if it is short. It can be anything. (I only tested with alphanumerical names though). Driver specifies which driver you want to use. In this case it is i810 indeed. BusID gives the hardware address of the graphics card. It always is PCI, even for an AGP card. The BusID can be found using the command lspci. A BusID given in lspci as 00:02.0 will become "PCI:0:2:0" in xorg.conf .

The "Monitor" section

This is what your monitor section should look like:

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Generic Monitor"
        Option          "DPMS"
        HorizSync       28-51
        VertRefresh     43-60
EndSection

Identifier is the name you want to give your monitor. The DPMS option is a power management option. HorizSync and VertRefresh options are often not necessary. These are given in the example but are pretty much standard. You can refer to your monitor's documentation to find them.

The "Screen" section

It will basically look like that:

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Device          "Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device"
        Monitor         "Generic Monitor"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           24
                Modes           "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Identifier is the name you give to your screen. It does not really matter, but I prefer it short. Device has to be the identifier name you previously gave to your graphics card. Monitor is the name you gave your monitor DefaultDepth is the bit-per-pixel depth X.org will use,you wil want 24 if you have a 830 or more, 16 if you have a 810 or 815. The modes in the "Display" subsection have to be supported by your monitor. If you don't know, choose 1024x768, it is a safe bet. If you know, list your favorite resolution first, and the other available resolutions after. Dont forget to visit the i915 tool page to enable non-bios-listed resolutions.

Finalizing

Those final steps are not necessary if you dont wnt desktop acceleration such as beryl, etc.. However even if you want desktop acceleration, they do not seem to be compulsory.

Add the following sections at the end of the file if they don't exist elsewhere:

Section "DRI"
        Mode 0666
EndSection
        
Section "Extensions"
        Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

Then check the "ServerLayout" section:

Section "ServerLayout"
        Option          "AIGLX"         "true"
        Identifier      "Default Layout"
        Screen          "Default Screen"
        InputDevice     "Generic Keyboard"
        InputDevice     "Configured Mouse"
EndSection

The AIGLX option is to enable AIGLX for fancy 3D desktop effects. Identifier should not be changed. Screen is the name you gave to your screen in the screen section. InputDevice are for the devices you want to use (with a section device in this file) and which are not your graphics card or monitor.

Page maintained by Benjamin COUHE (voraistos)