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Wikipedia has an article on:

Intel GMA

This guide is about Intel's onboard graphic adapter called 'Graphic Media Accelerator'.

[edit] X11 Graphics

[edit] Kernel

Device Drivers  --->
    Character devices  --->
        <*> /dev/agpgart (AGP Support)
        <*>   Intel 440LX/BX/GX, I8xx and E7x05 chipset support

Device Drivers  --->
    Character devices  --->
        <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 4.1.0 and higher DRI support)
        <*>   Intel 830M, 845G, 852GM, 855GM, 865G (i915 driver)  --->

[edit] Basic Setup

First add this line to your /etc/make.conf:

Then install Xorg:

# emerge xorg-x11

or update your existing system:

# emerge -uDNva world

Edit you xorg.conf (for reference see also the official X Server Configuration HOWTO):

 Section "Module"
 ...
 Load       "glx"
 Load       "dri"
 ...
 EndSection
 
 ...
 
 Section "Device"
 ...
    Driver     "intel"
 ...
 EndSection
 
 ...
 
 Section "DRI"
    Mode 0666
 EndSection
 

[edit] Manual modesetting

If your display lists the wrong resolution over DDC, you have to manually specify the right resolution. In the past this could be done by using 915resolution, but this is no option anymore.

Today you have to add some lines to your xorg.conf. First you have to generate a proper modeline for your new resolution. E.g. for 1680x1050@60Hz:

# gtf 1680 1050 60

gives

# 1680x1050 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 65.22 kHz; pclk: 147.14 MHz
Modeline "1680x1050_60.00"  147.14  1680 1784 1968 2256  1050 1051 1054 1087  -HSync +Vsync

Add this modeline to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

 Section "Monitor"
         Identifier   "Dell LFP"
         Option       "DPMS"
         HorizSync    31.5-100
         VertRefresh  58-61
         Modeline     "1920x1200_60.00"  193.16  1920 2048 2256 2592  1200 1201 1204 1242  -HSync +Vsync
         Modeline     "1680x1050_60.00"  147.14  1680 1784 1968 2256  1050 1051 1054 1087  -HSync +Vsync
         Modeline     "1280x800_60.00"  83.46  1280 1344 1480 1680  800 801 804 828  -HSync +Vsync
         Option       "PreferredMode" "1680x1050"
 EndSection
 

Also important is to set the "VertRefresh" option to "58-61". Your display may only support 60Hz, but some your custom modelines might actually have a vertical refresh of, for example, 59.97Hz or 60.002Hz, which will cause X to complain and fill your Xorg.0.log with messages like:

(II) intel(0): Not using default mode "1280x800" (vrefresh out of range)

So you need to override the 60Hz to account for rounding errors.

If your default resolution should not be the highest one, specify also the option "PreferredMode".

To actually use these resolutions you have to add a additional option in the device section:

 Section "Device"
         ...
         Option      "Monitor-LVDS" "Dell LFP"
         ...
 EndSection
 

Use "Monitor-LVDS" for your laptop’s built-in dispay, "Monitor-VGA" for external VGA output. For external DVI output, it’s either "Monitor-DVI" or perhaps "Monitor-TMDS-1".

[edit] Dual Head

Dual Head is supported out of the box by XrandR 1.2. See this HowTo at ThinkWiki.

[edit] TV-Out

The TV is just another screen to Xorg. So it can be configured like another monitor.

By default the TV format is set to NTSC. If you want to change it e.g. to PAL, add this to your xorg.conf:

 Section "Monitor"
         Identifier  "TV"
         Option      "TV Format" "PAL"
 EndSection

 Section "Device"
         ...
         Option      "Monitor-TV"   "TV"
         ...
 EndSection
 

[edit] Framebuffer Graphics

See this HowTo.

There are two dedicated driver for intel chipsets:

• i810fb: Intel 810 up to Intel 815
• intelfb: Intel 830M up to Intel 945GM

Newer chipsets have to use the vesa or vesa-tng driver.

[edit] Links

• http://intellinuxgraphics.org
• http://www.x.org/wiki/IntelGraphicsDriver