Just for the record, in case any of the Linux users out there are curious, it is in fact possible to get xGL running on a Lenovo Thinkpad x60s. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’s slow. So slow, in fact, as to be more or less unusable – I didn’t even manage to get a screenshot before I killed it. I’m looking into tips to tune Compiz down – like deactivating plugins and so forth – but for the moment the xGL/Compiz combination appears to be too much for the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 in my x60s and the i810 drivers that support it.
This is the kind of problem that could, presumably, be attacked by open source graphics afficianados were they to have access to the drivers in question. The intersection of a very common graphics archictecture (Intel graphics hardware ships in a variety of Lenovo, Toshiba, etc machines) and a couple of high profile, popular projects (the aforementioned xGL and AIGLX) would seem likely to bring the right minds to bear.
I’m pleased, therefore, at the news that Michael Dolan discusses here. Like Michael, I think that users of that specific Intel graphics chipset who run Linux will be very happy about Intel’s decision to open source their next generation graphics drivers. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them – I’m on the last generation. Intel open sourced the 965, rather than 945 chipset stuff so I appear to have just missed the boat. Still, as Gentoo founder Daniel Robbins discusses, it’s a logical move with very little potential downside. As I mentioned on the podcast I recorded with Cote today, I don’t know for sure whether or not Danese had a hand in this particular move, but I’d be surprised if she did not. So kudos to Intel, and as for ATI and NVidia, all I can say is that I’m not likely to buy a machine with your hardware in it unless I have no other choice.
Mike Dolan says:
August 14, 2006 at 5:49 pm
I may have spoke to soon – saw a discussion on LKML that Intel may not be opening up all their code for the drivers – looks like they tried to split it up.
Bottom line: don’t rely on the press to ask all the right question 🙂
stephen o'grady says:
August 15, 2006 at 8:18 am
well, i’ll reserve judgement until i learn more, but in the meantime that seems like a move that could potentially backfire.
Paul Cooper says:
August 16, 2006 at 5:22 am
You should be able to get AIGLX working with that hardware. Have a look at http://bin-false.org/?p=17 – ignore the first part about installing Ubuntu on a MacBook, and skip to the part about AIGLX. As far as I can tell these instructions work with any i810 driven chipset – for me so far they work on a MacBook (which also uses the 950) and two generations of Sony T series (which use a 945 and an 855 if I remember).
Paul
stephen o'grady says:
August 17, 2006 at 12:29 pm
Paul: as documented later, AIGLX failed me as well. i think i must just be cursed to never have accelerated 3D graphics 😉
Donnie Berkholz says:
August 17, 2006 at 4:25 pm
Intel’s drivers are open source back to the i810, don’t worry that your 945 is unsupported. They just seemed to make a bigger fuss about the 965 because it’s got more current-generation features supported like shaders.