Release Notes

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This document details how to get Linux* up and running on either an Intel® 810 or an Intel® 810E chipset-based motherboard. This document was written using RedHat* 6.0 as a reference platform; some details may not be valid on other distributions or versions.

Table of Contents Requirements:

Features:


Installing a new system:
If you are installing a Linux* distribution on a new system there are a few things you should know to help with the install. Distributions that are using XFree86 3.3.5 or earlier do not have built-in support for the Intel® 810 Chipset family. You will have to install the 'vga16' X server, then after your system has been loaded you need to get and install the accelerated X server. Also, there may be an issue with the distribution not recognizing all of the memory in your system. This should not cause a problem with the installation and can be fixed after the install is done as is detailed below. When doing your install, be sure that you include the gcc compiler. It is needed to compile the agpgart module. All other aspects of the install should proceed as expected.


Kernel setup:
  1. Check your Memory. Linux* kernel 2.2.X has a problem recognizing all the memory on some Intel® 810 and Intel® 810E chipset-based systems. This will make the system seem very slow, or just not as fast as it could be. To check your system, run this command at a command prompt. 
    	cat /proc/meminfo
    Look for a line that says: 
    	MemTotal:	XXXXX kb
    If this number is not close to the amount of RAM in your system, you will have to tell the kernel how much RAM you have. Note that this should be about 1-2 MB less than your actual system memory. This is because the graphics chip uses system RAM for its 1MB frame-buffer.

  2. Specify an amount of RAM. For the kernel to know how much RAM you have available for use you will need to supply a boot parameter to LILO, either at the boot prompt or in the configuration file. At the LILO prompt, enter the name of the kernel you want (Usually 'linux' unless you changed it) followed by mem=##M. The ## is the amount of memory you have in megabytes. REMEMBER to subtract 1 MB for the part taken by the graphics chip; otherwise your kernel will die during boot-up. If it still dies, subtract another 1MB; this could be taken by vendor specific BIOS needs. If your distribution has a graphical boot screen, boot parameters may not be possible. You may still be able to edit the lilo.conf as is detailed below. 
    	LILO:  linux mem=63M
    After you know this works you should add it to LILO permanently by editing the lilo.conf file. This file is usually located at /etc/lilo.conf. After the line 'label=linux' (Or whatever you called your kernel) add a line like:
    	append="mem=63M"
    Change the 63M above to be the amount of RAM you have - 1M. Save this file and as root reinstall LILO by running: 
    	/sbin/lilo
    This should reinstall your boot loader and you will automatically tell the kernel how much RAM you have on your next reboot. If you are currently running with the correct amount of RAM you do not need to reboot. If at a future date, you change the amount of RAM in your system you will need to repeat the above procedure.

    If you are loading your kernel without using LILO consult the loader's documentation for how to supply 'kernel parameters' when booting the kernel. Add the 'mem=##M' parameter in that fashion.


X Server Installation:
  1. Find your XFree86 version. To determine what version of X your distribution has installed you can run: 
    	X -version


  2. Install XFree86 3.3.5. If you do not have it already, you will need to download and install XFree86 version 3.3.5. If your distribution came with a version of XFree86 earlier than 3.3.5 your should check to see if an upgrade is available from your distribution's web site. If your distribution does not have an upgrade available you can download it directly from the XFree86.org web site.
    When installing XFree86 you should use the vga16 server. The maximum resolution with this "compatibility" server will be 640x480x16. After you have successfully installed the vga16 server you can upgrade your install with the XFCom-I810 X server which will support high resolution modes.

  3. Download XFCom-I810 and agpgart. Download the XFree86 3.3.5 accelerated X server for the Intel® 810 Chipset (XFCom-i810) from support.intel.com. This is available in either RPM or tar formats; choose the one your distribution supports.
    You will also need to download the agpgart.o source. This is available in either a source RPM or a tar format; choose the one you distribution supports.


  4. Install XFCom-I810. You will need to be root to do this.
    RPM: 
    	cd /path_to_downloaded_rpms
	rpm -Uvh XFCom-i810*.i386.rpm

    TAR: 
    	cd /path_to_downloaded_tars
	mkdir temp_XFCom
	cd temp_XFCom
	tar -zxpvf ../XFCom-i810*.tar.gz
	./INSTALL


  5. Compile and install the kernel module. The kernel module must be compiled before it can be installed. This module will need to be recompiled and reinstalled if you upgrade your kernel at a later date, so keep the source in a safe place.
    RPM: 
    	cd /path_to_downloaded_rpms
	rpm --rebuild  I810Gtt*.src.rpm
	# Look for the output near the bottom that says where the rpm 
	# was built. Use that rpm name in the next command if you are 
	# not on a RedHat system.
	rpm -Uvh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/I810Gtt*.i386.rpm

    TAR: 
    	cd /path_to_downloaded_tars
	mkdir temp_i810
	cd temp_i810
	tar -zxpvf ../I810Gtt*.src.tar.gz
	make
	make install
	# You may remove the temp_i810 and its contents if you wish.


  6. Edit the XF86Config file. Setup your XF86Config file. Use your favorite text editor to edit the file /etc/X11/XF86Config. You will need to be root to do this. You may want to do a 'man XF86Config' on your Linux box first to understand this file.

    Monitor Section
    Each Mode that you would like to use must be defined in the XF86Config file under the "Monitor" section. They are defined in one of the two following formats. 
    Modeline "name" ...

#or

Mode
  ...
EndMode
    These should be set up according to what your monitor can support. Most distributions do this during the install process. If your distribution does not include all the modes you would like to use, check the References section for information on creating these.

    Device Section
    Add the following device section to your XF86Config file. There should be other similar device sections already in the file. You can add this to the file without changing other device sections. 
    Section "Device"
	Identifier "i810"
EndSection

    Screen Section
    Add this screen section, you should remove any other "svga" screen sections that may be in this file. Do not remove the vga16 screen section, as it would be useful if you should ever need to fall back to vga mode. You must edit the Monitor line to reflect the Monitor you have. You can get this from another "Screen" section in this file, or from the "Monitor" section of the XF86Config file. Be careful not to specify modes that your Monitor cannot support; you could damage the Monitor.
    Section "Screen"
    Driver      "svga"
    Device      "i810"
    Monitor     "Your_Monitor_Here"
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth      8 
        Modes       "640x480" "800x600" "1024x768" "1152x864" "1280x1024" "1600x1200"
        ViewPort    0 0
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth      16 
        Modes       "640x480" "800x600" "1024x768" "1152x864" "1280x1024" "1600x1200"
        ViewPort    0 0
    EndSubsection
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth      24 
        Modes       "640x480" "800x600" "1024x768" "1152x864" "1280x1024"
        ViewPort    0 0
    EndSubsection
EndSection
    Note: Edit the "Modes" lines to have only the resolutions you want for each Color depth. In this configuration your desktop will be as large as the largest supported mode in the line. Your viewable area is the only thing that changes giving you a 'zoom' affect. If this is not what you want make sure the largest mode on each line is the mode you plan on using for your desktop, the other modes can be available in case you need a low resolution mode for a game or application. You can also remove an entire Subsection (Including the Subsection "Display" and "EndSubSection" lines) if you do not want to be able to use that color depth.

  7. Set up the X server link. You will need to be root to do this. Since distributions set this up in differing manners, two methods have been included below. If neither of these work, you will need to contact your distribution to get more complete setup information.



  8. Start the X server. If you are already running X you will need to exit and start again. If you are set up to start X automatically then you will want to restart it by doing a "CTRL-ALT-Backspace". If X is not running you should start it with a command like this: 
    	startx -- -bpp 16
    The "-bpp 16" tells the server to start in 16 bit depth. You could also use 8 or 24 bit depth.
    "CTRL-ALT-KeyPadPlus" and "CTRL-ALT-KeyPadMinus" will rotate through the resolutions available at the current color depth. For additional documentation on XFree86 or the XF86Config file please visit the References.



Compiling X from Source:
  1. Download the source for the X server from XFree86.org. You will need these files, do not untar them, simply put them in a temp directory. (Note that this is 40+ MB of source)

  2. Download the patch from support.intel.com. This file should be called XFCom-i810-3.3.5.patch.tar.gz

  3. Patch and build the source. Untar the patch into the same directory you placed the X335* files in and run the build-i810.sh script. 
    	cd  path to X335*
	tar -zxpvf XFCom-i810-3.3.5.patch.tar.gz
	./build-i810.sh
    This will build the entire X tree by doing a 'make World'. You can find the correctly compiled XF86_SVGA server with i810 support located in the directory XFree3.3.5/xc/programs/Xserver/. This is the same binary shipped as XFCom-i810 in the binary only distributions. Provided you already have XFree86 3.3.5 installed you should be able to use this binary by placing it in the correct location and setting up your links/XF86Config file as detailed above. If you do not have XFree86 3.3.5 installed you should see the References for help.



References:


Know Issues:


Revision History