It has been one year and four days since X.Org 7.3 was released and a number of months since X.Org 7.4 was supposed to be released, but today X.Org 7.4 is scheduled to finally make it out the door! This release is shipping quite late and with a slimmed down set of features, but in this article we have more details on what this release holds in store for the Linux desktop community and why it may be a short-lived release.
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RE[5]: Xorg 7.4 comes with a whimper...
with hardware I guess its because you can't say that laptop that for forced at gunpoint on you doesn't work anymore, although I am pleased that your employers are so generous. 
Member since:2005-07-24
Yes. It's out but it's quite broken. The X server segfaults with a backtrace going into even 2D.
(Irrelevant drivel trimmed.)
Whether it is memory management or not, it immediately segfaults.
1. It's a desktop.
2. It's my desktop.
3. I've semi-retired. Not that my old employer ever would have bought anyone a laptop.
The marketing hype is actually 300% as fast as 3100.
I Just left this quote in to highlight what a skilled debater you are, Cyclops. Not your best work, though. I thought your "slimy little toady" post was quite outstanding:
http://www.osnews.com/thread?272915
Anyway, like I say, the Intel FOSS driver segfaults immediately when X first starts, and my Nvidia with the proprietary drivers performs perfectly. It's the FOSS driver holding the distro release back and not NVidia's driver.
Yeah, right. I'll work on my "hating". Surely Cyclops harbors none in his heart. :-0
Edited 2008-09-10 21:00 UTC
Member since:2005-06-29
The problem is, these things take a while, so while the driver has been out, your distro (I'm guessing ubuntu) hasn't integrated it yet.
I agree that there should be a better infrastructure to deliver opensource graphics card updates, but don't blame others for a problem that is basically "distro didn't update it yet".
Also, the 7200SE is kinda old, so if intel made discrete graphics cards, your argument would sound something like "It's a G43 chipset with X4500 video. I'm having to use my G965 with intel's drivers, which performs flawlessly, until it all gets sorted out."
I remember when a friend bought a brand new 8800GT and there was no nvidia driver for like 1 or 2 months.
The bottom line is: updates take a while to get to most distros. Don't blame intel (they've been doing an excellent work) for that.
Member since:2005-06-29
Replying to self is kinda lame, but just wanted to add that back in July, phoronix.com was already reviewing a X4500HD under linux:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=intel_x4500hd&nu...
and if you read the first paragraph you even have another link:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NjUzMw
about support being commited in mid-june!
They also mention what I mentioned: you have to compile some stuff from sources, because it's not packaged yet. But the code is there.
Member since:2005-07-24
Did you even read my post all the way through? I explicitly stated that the development version of the distro, which I am using, has the latest stable code from upstream. The problem is that months after the release of the boards with the chipset, Intel's Linux driver is *broken*. I even compiled it myself from the upstream code. Same segfault. So don't be so quick to blame the user.
Turns out, it does work, with some fiddling, as long as you don't try to do anything fancy like use the DVI port instead of the analog VGA port. How many Windows users today, do you think, got home with their new MB only to find out that plugging a cable into the DVI port makes the graphics driver immediately crash?
Part of my irritation comes from disappointment at going so far out of my way to buy Intel instead of something else and then having the worst graphics experience I've had in years. Intel has certainly not lived up to expectations in this case.
But also, part of my reason for bringing all this up is that, as you say, moving to an alpha version of one's distro just to get working SATA and IGP *is* a suboptimal situation to say the least.
And by the way, 5 days of fiddling *did* get me some pretty impressive performance for an IGP. I like fiddling. So overall its been worth it and I am pleased with my purchase. But still, not every potential G43 purchaser/Linux user would be pleased with Intel or Linux at this point.
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:
2005-07-24
I just got a new motherboard. The graphics chipset came out about 3 months ago. And I'm running the latest development version of my preferred distro, which has Xorg 7.4 and the very latest point release of the video drivers. Not only does 3d not work... neither does 2d. In fact, even during the text based installation of the OS the screen is strangely wrapped vertically and flickers at about 10 Hz. The vesa driver gets me a sort of usable screen, but not at the correct aspect ratio. The evil proprietary company that can't keep up with our open source speed of development and released this chipset without making sure that it had working drivers for Linux? Intel. It's a G43 chipset with X4500 video. I'm having to use my Nvidia 7200SE with nvidia's drivers, which performs flawlessly, until it all gets sorted out.
My gripe is that even when the companies do everything we ask: Release good docs... supply the development infrastructure... assign engineers to assist with development... our FOSS video drivers are still crap for some reason. In 2008 we should at least be able to get text mode right!
Edited 2008-09-10 17:43 UTC