Xorg and kernel mode setting issues for Intel video (especially i830m): May 2010 Archives

Update: I checked in my dmesg, and somewhere in the boot process Ubuntu Lucid is automatically turning off kernel mode setting for my Intel 830m-running (82830 CGC) laptop (emphasis mine):

steven@toshiba-ubuntu:~$ dmesg | grep drm
[ 0.000000] Linux version 2.6.32-22-generic (buildd@rothera) (gcc version 4.4.3 (Ubuntu 4.4.3-4ubuntu5) ) #33-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 28 13:27:30 UTC 2010 (Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2)
[ 2.112751] [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810
[ 2.182073] [drm] i915 disabling kernel modesetting for known bad device.
[ 2.192838] [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20080730 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 0
steven@toshiba-ubuntu:~$

I've been turning off KMS in all Linux distributions for quite some time (OK, maybe the past three months). But recently I've experimented with removing i915.modeset=0 manually from Grub in Ubuntu Lucid, and everything is working as well as before.

Today I edited my Grub configuration (still using the Ubuntu Grub2 community page as a reference) and removed the line turning off KMS entirely.

Looking at the dmesg above, kernel mode setting hasn't been "fixed" for older Intel video, but at least the kernel knows not to turn it on when you're running an i915-type chipset (of which i810 is seemingly a subset).

This is how things should have been handled from the beginning. Better late than never — this remains huge for Linux — and for Ubuntu. Why? Because the potential new user with affected Intel chipsets can now grab a live CD, start up Ubuntu and actually have it work. They won't be stopped and immediately turned off by a totally black screen.

As a user with a little experience, I know about turning off KMS, but if I was coming to Linux with no experience whatsoever, I'd think Ubuntu and/or Linux was a big load of crap (what, the SCREEN doesn't WORK? ... you've got to be KIDDING ME).

This change isn't a technological breakthrough, but it's a huge step forward for Linux (and Ubuntu) uptake among potential users, and I thank whoever is responsible for bringing sanity back to Linux and Xorg.