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

[Eus]

Hi Ho!

On Thu, 2009-03-19 at 06:21 -0400, Ali Gunduz wrote:

> 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.

Thank you very much Ali for sharing your experience with me.

I am glad to know that Intel 4500M video chip is a free hardware although 
currently the GNU/Linux driver may not be ready for the prime time yet :-)

> 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.)

Thank you for your advice.

> Ali

Best regards,
Eus (FSF member #4445)

In this digital era, where computing technology is pervasive, your freedom 
depends on the software controlling those computing devices.

Join free software movement today! It is free as in freedom, not as in free 
beer!

Join: http://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=4445