xf86-drivers-video-intel: How to use MergedFB sweetness on 965GM

[Colin Guthrie]

Martin Langhoff wrote:
> Just got my hands on a nice HP/Compaq 6710b that has a 965GM in it.
> After seeing KeithP's "look ma, no xorg.conf!" trick even
> autodetecting dual-head setups, I want to run the same.
> 
> I have a MergedFB setup on my old nvidia-based laptop - but things
> seem to be different for the new Intel driver. Is there a good howto?

First things first, it's not called mergedfb!

It's xrandr 1.2

> The key thing for me is to be able to
> 
>  - boot with or without ext monitors
>  - hook up one of 3 possible ext monitors (LCD at work, LCD at home,
> low-res projectors) without restarting X
>  - use them in mergeFB mode or mirror mode

Yup, but it's not called mergeFB either ;)

> I am currently running feisty with:
> 
>    xserver-xorg                               7.2-0ubuntu11
>    xserver-xorg-video-intel             1.9.94-1ubuntu3 (plus some patches)

Too old.

You'll need Xorg version 1.3, IIRC 7.2 ships with 1.2...

And the intel driver is now 2.0 so you've got an earlier beta.

> and could use the latest gutsy packages (2.0.x) but just got the full
> set of git checkouts for a modular build in case I need to hand-build
> ;-)
> 
> BTW - right now getting the 965GM going with Ubuntu Feisty isn't
> trivial for 2 reasons:
> 
>  - the card isn't autodetected, and the intel driver isn't in the base
> install, so
>    you have to do text-mode install
> 
>  - 1.99.94 and the 2.0.x intel drivers have the blurriness problem
> described here
>     http://www.spinics.net/lists/xorg/msg25099.html  -- not sure if
> this is fixed in git
> 
> if the 2nd issue can be addressed so that the fix is in gutsy... yay! ;-)

Dunno about the above issues, but to switch monitors etc. just run
"xrandr --auto" to autodetect stuff. There are various projects on the
go to integrate xrandr into Gnome/KDE so look around if you want a GUI.

xrandr --help is a good starting point too so do things like change
position, change res on a given output etc.

Hope this helps.

Col