I finally solve my Intel video issues with the newer Xorg

After finally figuring out how to make Xorg work in Debian Lenny (and presumably in Slackware 12.2 and ...), my new method didn't work in Ubuntu 9.04, and I was worried that my Intel 82830 CGC graphics chip would be left behind by Xorg (and by extension Linux and the BSDs and anything else that happens to use Xorg).

Here's what I did to get X working again in Debian Lenny. I added this line to the Device section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Option          "AccelMethod"          "XAA"

But that didn't work in Ubuntu 9.04.

I tried various other suggestions, but nothing worked.

Then I came across this LinuxQuestions.org page, which had this suggestion specifically for the Intel 82830 CGC:

add these to the device section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Option      "AccelMethod"   "EXA"
Option      "MigrationHeuristic" "greedy"

It works!

What's funny is that after following the link through from LinuxQuestions, it turns out this tip/hack comes from the very same thread from the Arch Linux forum that helped me the first time.

I consider this ArchLinux thread to be the best ... thread ... ever. I haven't yet taken the proverbial plunge and actually tried Arch Linux, but if ever a single forum thread would prompt me to move to a new distro, this is that thread.

Begin rant: But I'm also worried that your average new Linux user with 5-year-old Intel video hardware won't figure this out and will abandon Linux quickly as a result. I've been doing this for a couple of years now, and the solution wasn't so easy to find.

Very, very clearly, either the configuration utilities that are part of Xorg, or configuration utilities in the distributions themselves, have to somehow add these lines to xorg.conf or somehow compensate and not screw up X when this specific chipset comes up.

If you Googled your way here because you're having problems with your Intel video in Linux, add these two lines to your xorg.conf under the Device section, restart X (either by logging out or rebooting) and try it again. This fixed my Xorg problems and cleared the way for me to upgrade from Ubuntu 8.04 LTS to Ubuntu 9.04 — and to the next version of Debian, to Slackware 13.0 ... and just about everything else Unix-like out there on my 2002-era Toshiba 1100-S101 laptop (and probably on my Gateway Solo 1450 as well, but I'll have to test that with the live CD). And you can bet I'll be trying this with OpenBSD 4.5, too.

Final words: Xorg has been a mess for my Intel video-using laptops since Lenny was in Testing. It only got worse with the newer Xorg in Ubuntu 9.04. This fix to xorg.conf seems to solve the problem. I'm committed to using FOSS operating systems, but this is just another example of why Linux really isn't ready for the average user. In short, users shouldn't have to jump through hoops like this in order to get basic functionality.

I hope your visit to this page fixed your broken Intel video. If so (or not), either leave a comment below, or if you don't want to sign up for that, send me an e-mail at steven.rosenberg@dailynews.com.