intel graphics extremely slow, don't know why!

[platinum]

hi.

i got a small pc with a celeron 1.1ghz, 512mb ram, intel i815 graphics, 40gb hard drive, etc.

i installed linux on my dads computer because windows was screwing up too much for too long. i finally convinced him for me to do it, but the graphics suck!

window drawing is slow, web page rendering is slow, cpu usage is ridiculously high, glxgears doesn't even move, and synaptics package manager says that the intel i815 driver is installed!

here's the output of the xorg.conf file:

"
Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Intel Corporation 82815 CGC [Chipset Graphics Controll$
Driver "intel"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 28-51
VertRefresh 43-60
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Intel Corporation 82815 CGC [Chipset Graphics Controll$
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480" "640x4$
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"

# Uncomment if you have a wacom tablet
# InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
# InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
# InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection
"

because my dad's eyesight isn't the greatest, all i want is 800x600 with 75hz refresh rate and video acceleration (however much the little graphics card will give).

thanks!

[devils casper]

Section "Device"
Identifier "Intel Corporation 82815 CGC [Chipset Graphics Controll$
Driver "intel"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Try setting Driver "vesa" or "i810".

[John A]

This depends on a number of things. First of all, you should post the output of Xorg. If you start it at the command prompt with 'startx', it should be visible on your console, otherwise check the logs in /var/log for more detail. What I suspect is happening right now is there's some sort of error that's preventing you from loading the intel driver.

It could even be that you haven't installed the intel driver to begin with. If that's the case, you'll need to install xf86-video-intel (on Ubuntu, it would be sudo apt-get install xf86-video-intel).

You haven't posted the full xorg.conf file, so I can't tell if you've enabled direct rendering, which, although it shouldn't be the main controlling factor of your normal computer operation, will definitely control whether you can run anything like glxgears. Make sure you're loading the 'dri' module and that you have a DRI section at the end of your xorg.conf file.

Finally, if you've verified that the intel driver is in fact loading correctly and you're still getting slowdowns, you can try another driver, as devil's casper suggested. If you want to use the i810 driver, you'll need to install xf86-video-i810. It generally isn't as bleeding-edge as the intel driver, but it works similarly and some users have reported better success with this driver. If you use the generic vesa driver, it'll work, but you won't have any direct rendering (DRI).

[devils casper]

Intel, i810 and vesa drivers are pre-installed in all distros and you dont have to install those manually. There are a part of Xorg metapacakge.

[John A]

>Intel, i810 and vesa drivers are pre-installed in all distros
Incorrect.

>There are a part of Xorg metapacakge.
What "Xorg metapackage"? Each distro is responsible for providing their own xorg metapackage, and within that, they can include/exclude whatever components they like. There is no "universal metapackage", if that's what you're trying to say. Slackware doesn't even have an xorg metapackage. (I did double-check on Ubuntu though, and it appears that its metapackage does indeed include those drivers.)

[devils casper]

I dont have any experience of Slackware, installed it once only but all drivers ( intel, i810 and vesa ) are pre-installed in most of distros. I am 100% sure about Fedora, Debian, RHEL, Mandriva, SuSe, Gentoo and Ubuntu.

[John A]

Last time I checked, Gentoo didn't even have a package for xf86-video-intel...

But if you can find it on Gentoo-Portage.com, be my guest.

[devils casper]

Last time I checked, Gentoo didn't even have a package for xf86-video-intel...

But if you can find it on Gentoo-Portage.com, be my guest.

I dont have access to Gentoo box right now. I will check it pretty soon and let you know.

[John A]

I dont have access to Gentoo box right now. I will check it pretty soon and let you know.

Okay then, although Gentoo-Portage.com is supposed to be synced with the portage tree, so if you can't find it on the website, you probably can't find it in your package manager either.

Edit: Debian doesn't appear to have the Intel driver either. So your best bet would be to use the i810 driver, or recompile the xorg tree. I recommend doing the former.