Re: [gNewSense-users] Free driver for Intel 4500M video adapter?

[Ali Gunduz]

> Is there a free driver for Intel 4500M video adapter?
>
> It is not included in FSF list of free video hardware 
> (https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/video).
>
> If there is one, what is the name of the kernel module (e.g., i915.ko)? It 
> supports DRI, doesn't it?

I have a Thinkpad X200s with Intel 4500MHD and I can confirm that
Intel's GMA X4500 series have basic free software support. In fact,
gNewSense 2.1 recognizes the screen resolution (1440x900 in my case)
correctly out-of-the-box. However, due to the oldness of gNS' graphics
utilities (x.org server, mesa and xf86-video-intel), the performance
is somewhat flaky iirc. Furthermore, when I installed
linux-libre-2.6.28 for wireless support, the screen resolution broke,
i guess, due to the incompatibility with the xserver in gNS. You can
find a discussion on what you need for a more thorough graphics
support at http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=intel_x4500hd
As you can see, it involves compilation of X.Org 7.4 and
xf86-video-intel 2.4.0.

Note: I personally preferred to do a free Debian 5.0 installation
(which means main repo + linux-libre) which doesn't come with those
exact versions of xorg or xf86-video-intel but provide a decent
graphics performance/stability. (Freed Ubuntu Intrepid also works
okay, though freeing Ubuntu is a little bit more complicated.)

Ali