HOWTO: Jaunty Intel Graphics Performance Guide

[c.monty]

hi!
i would like to follow the guide in order to
- improve performance,
- make monitor mode 800 x 480 VGA available for Navilock 8" 16:9.

however, my xorg.conf is empty after fresh installation of ubuntu 9.04.

am i supposed to fill the xorg.conf with content?
how do i proceed?

THX

[psyke83]

hi!
i would like to follow the guide in order to
- improve performance,
- make monitor mode 800 x 480 VGA available for Navilock 8" 16:9.

however, my xorg.conf is empty after fresh installation of ubuntu 9.04.

am i supposed to fill the xorg.conf with content?
how do i proceed?

THX

To generate a minimal xorg.conf:

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure xorg-xserver -phigh

This guide will do nothing to help with your resolution issue. If a newer driver provides this feature, then it will work, but there's no guarantee.

[jerrylamos]

I also recommend the karmic .31-1.14 kernel, got a huge increase in fps today with the latest xorg-edgers.
Usually I get average 3.2-3.8 fps in Nexuiz timedemo1 even with karmic .30, but today the fps jumped to 4.8

i830 on IBM Thinkpad R31 video performance as measured by GtkPerf from Ubuntu Synaptic:

Karmic 2.6.31-1 83% slower than Intrepid.

Yes KMS is running. I'm not sure what good that does if it is that much slower.

Jerry

[psyke83]

i830 on IBM Thinkpad R31 video performance as measured by GtkPerf from Ubuntu Synaptic:

Karmic 2.6.31-1 83% slower than Intrepid.

Yes KMS is running. I'm not sure what good that does if it is that much slower.

Jerry

KMS does appear to impact performance (even though it shouldn't). Try to disable KMS and see if your score improves.

Kernel 2.6.31-1-generic has caused a 3D regression for my 855GM (very noticeable jerking in games), but 2D is unaffected (fast).

[beefcurry]

Now this has got me quite confused, I started with the first command running on a standard up to date Jaunty UNR with backports installed. Running

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xorg-xserver

returns me

/usr/sbin/dpkg-reconfigure: xorg-xserver not installed

I did this using xterm, and have no reason to believe why I don't have xorg-xserver.

A quite sudo apt-get install xorg-xserver just returns with couldn't find package xorg-server.

Any insight on what this might be due to? using a Acer Aspire One

[psyke83]

Now this has got me quite confused, I started with the first command running on a standard up to date Jaunty UNR with backports installed. Running

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xorg-server

returns me

/usr/sbin/dpkg-reconfigure: xorg-server not installed

I did this using xterm, and have no reason to believe why I don't have xorg-server.

A quite sudo apt-get install xorg-server just returns with couldn't find package xorg-server.

Any insight on what this might be due to? using a Acer Aspire One

It should be xorg-xserver, not xorg-server. That command is only necessary if you don't have an xorg.conf file present; make sure to read the guide carefully.

[beefcurry]

It should be xorg-xserver, not xorg-server. That command is only necessary if you don't have an xorg.conf file present; make sure to read the guide carefully.

Yes sorry, I had in fact used xorg-xserver in xterm but had a typo here in the forums. With my repositories set to the Ubuntu Main (and tested on Ubuntu UK as well) xorg-xserver was not around, however there was a xserver-xorg. So the logical next step became "sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg" which worked like a charm.

However adding the UXA option decreased my speed by about 40-50fps everytime for some unknown reason (intel 945GM) and when quoting it out caused it to go back to what it was originally at 145fps while using glxgears. Even with the updated xserver-xorg packages and the newer kernel nothing seemed to change. glxgears is still in its low 145 fps. I know glxgears is not exactly a very good measurement of 3D performance, but it roughly gives me a idea. I havn't tried gtkperf and flash yet.

I really can not come up with an explanation for the speed.

While running mtrr.sh I get the following results, which seem a bit off to me, any thoughts?

Extracing base address and memory size from lspci -v
20000000
10000000

Supplying corrected MTRR ranges to /proc/mtrr
reg00: base=0x0fffe0000 ( 4095MB), size=  128KB, count=1: write-protect
reg01: base=0x0fffc0000 ( 4095MB), size=  128KB, count=1: uncachable
reg02: base=0x000000000 (    0MB), size=  256MB, count=1: write-back
reg03: base=0x010000000 (  256MB), size=  256MB, count=1: write-back
reg04: base=0x01f800000 (  504MB), size=    8MB, count=1: uncachable
reg05: base=0x01f600000 (  502MB), size=    2MB, count=1: uncachable
reg06: base=0x01f500000 (  501MB), size=    1MB, count=1: uncachable
reg07: base=0x000000000 (    0MB), size=  128KB, count=1: uncachable

I did also add mtrr clean and the rest to my grub as suggested @ https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...el/+bug/370552

I would assume if all else fails, I would be back on Intepid. And for one final question, why does the how to use xorg-xserver while I can only use xserver-xorg. I doubt the original howto was mistaken as there has been over 90 pages and after reading a good 40 of them no one has mentioned this.

[Maupertus]

I have no pity for you if you don't read the guide properly... I specifically warn in the disclaimer that using a third-party kernel will mean that restricted drivers no longer function. You should revert the changes (or simply choose the official Jaunty kernel in GRUB - press ESC to access the menu if necessary).

Bit late to respond but @Psyke83
It was by no means meant as offensive or a putdown, just that the kernels up till then did wonders for the WiFi drivers and then rc7 was radically different. Didn't mean to offend and I was fully aware of the consequences of modding in the kernel. Cheers!

[AoSteve]

I'm just a n00bie here. Never did any kernel updates or anything and I was nervous about going to the new kernel with my laptop. But for those who are reading and are worried, don't be. I'll explain why I finally did this.

First, Compiz was horrible at times.. with Audacious playing along with anything else, even wobbly windows was LAME on the 945GM in this laptop. Yeah, I expect that from an 8mb shared intel gpu tho..

I only got 150 frames per five seconds with glxgears which was HORRID. I didn't mind much, it's a two year old el-cheapo portable that works for what I need it for, a mobile web browser and music player that permits me to do "on the road" schooling.

Well, tonight I played a movie on my TV through the RGB out and it scorched my xorg.conf somehow and I was literally stuck at 1024x768 on my 1280x800 screen.... I was more/less mad. I worked on that Xorg for a while and now Ubuntu is stuck. So I followed the instructions on the first post to the safe/optimal settings up to installing the .30 kernel...

I went ahead and checked glxgears and noticed I was getting TWICE the frame rate!! Just with the quick fix! The script and the Xorg update.. "Fine, I'll try it.. I guess it's got an undo here.. what the heck." It literally took me five minutes to restart. It took a few seconds longer to start, and I was already thinking.. "I BROKED MY LAPTOP OH NOES". Then it all the sudden popped up with gnome and there it was. So.. I tried glx gears.. I'm getting 4x the framerate I originally was and now compiz is smooth as my desktop!!!! I'm happy as could be! Also, my overpowering loud sound effects have nulled down to more ... acceptable volumes. Specially for my headphones. First set blew out on the second I plugged them in because of the output!!! Now it's perfect. Switching to this kernel and changing the setup around was the best thing I've done yet! To cap it all off, Compiz works smoooooothly even with a Vbox with XP home installed and running!!! Thank you to the original poster and anyone who has helped with the process! I love my new found smooth graphics laptop!!!

[Citizen_Kane01]

A million thankyou's!

I am a dedicated Linux user, but not a computer expert. I was trying to run Blender on my Acer Aspire 7730 but the screen just went crazy with the blender app window half frozen onto the desktop even after I closed the app.

Did the 'Safe' routine and things got better, but got a black bar across the bottom of the 3D window.

Did the 'Optimal' -same thing

Did the 'bleeding edge' and things now seem to be just perfect.

Thanks again for you clear instructions.