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Ubuntu 10.04 To Hang Onto Old Intel Driver

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  • Ubuntu 10.04 To Hang Onto Old Intel Driver

    Phoronix: Ubuntu 10.04 To Hang Onto Old Intel Driver

    When it comes to Intel's X.Org driver for Linux, xf86-video-intel, the most recent release was version 2.10 and it arrived in early January complete with Pineview (their next-generation Intel Atom systems) support, X-Video improvements, and various other features. The xf86-video-intel 2.11 driver is now emerging as their next quarterly update that brings in the KMS page-flipping and DRI2 swap events support. However, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, which is set to be released in April, will not be shipping with either of these drivers. Instead Canonical has decided to stick with the xf86-video-intel 2.9 driver that was released last September...

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  • #2
    i suggest that from now on we call all distro's that backport this much code and patching a BPM distro. (backport madness)

    Ubuntu 10.04 LTBPM. (long-term backport madness, later on we could call it LTBPMS ; if it turns out to be stable)

    hehehe

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    • #3
      Originally posted by portets43 View Post
      i suggest that from now on we call all distro's that backport this much code and patching a BPM distro. (backport madness)

      Ubuntu 10.04 LTBPM. (long-term backport madness, later on we could call it LTBPMS ; if it turns out to be stable)

      hehehe
      Hehe, I like it.

      Ubuntu seems to be suffering from a certain amount of schizophrenia right now (stay with older drivers, but radically change window layout on a long-term release, no less)? Hopefully things will settle onto a happy medium before the final release.

      Comment


      • #4
        The scary thing is I actually agree with Ubuntu on this one.

        I have a computer, ~3 years old with a:
        00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

        This computer I have connected to a TV with the help of S-Video (the TV has no support for other stuff). If I try KMS the TV starts with a strange resolution (should be 640x400 but is 848x<something>, a bug that should be fixed but started to appeared again with 2.6.34-rc1 + drm-intel-next).
        When I start X and start glxgears (or anything using glx) the picture starts to flicker and scroll vertically.
        I have also gotten this scroll to appear in console, depending on system load.
        There has been a bugreport open for over half an year, but very little help with the last problem, and no efforts trying to help me figure out wtf is wrong.

        Without UMS that system would not be useful at all for me.

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        • #5
          come on ...
          10.04 will be a crap, if you look at the features wich are available.
          they are always so shy with new versions. and 10.04 will be the version which is most shy since ubuntu's first release.
          look at the other dists. they can do it with actual features.
          i don't want to change, cause ubuntu got what i need, is smiple and has good support. ... but this makes me think of it. think of a chance.

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          • #6
            While I can somewhat understand this move, I also don't like it. "Backport madness" is usually not a sign of quality, as it easily introduces bugs and problems and somewhat detaches the software from upstream development. It's like a small fork.

            Is there anything that speaks against providing both drivers, 2.9.x and 2.11.x? Make 2.9.x the default and 2.11.x optionally available. Or use the best version depending on chipset. It shouldn't be that hard, there's infrastructure for this in Ubuntu already (NVidia's legacy drivers need it).

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            • #7
              Originally posted by brent View Post
              While I can somewhat understand this move, I also don't like it. "Backport madness" is usually not a sign of quality, as it easily introduces bugs and problems and somewhat detaches the software from upstream development. It's like a small fork.

              Is there anything that speaks against providing both drivers, 2.9.x and 2.11.x? Make 2.9.x the default and 2.11.x optionally available. Or use the best version depending on chipset. It shouldn't be that hard, there's infrastructure for this in Ubuntu already (NVidia's legacy drivers need it).
              RedHat knows all about backporting madness.


              Looks like the Intel dev's are back to their old tricks again.
              10 bugs 5 fixes 5 ignores 20 new features and 10 deprecations.

              Won't catch the Windows team pulling that. Dell would be on the Phone cursing them for everything they are worth.


              l8r

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by squirrl View Post
                Won't catch the Windows team pulling that. Dell would be on the Phone cursing them for everything they are worth.
                No they just ask MS to lower the standards on their OS so they can be certified.
                *cough*Intel 915 Vista Capable.*cough*

                Comment


                • #9
                  I agree that Ubuntu 10.4 will propably suck.

                  I am an Arch user myself, but i still need a noob-friendly distro to propose to people in order to make the switch. And Ubuntu 9.10 failed me, while 10.4 as it seems will do the same.

                  I felt embarrased when i installed Ubuntu 9.10 on my girlfriend's laptop. She was confortable with open source software, but she got mad about bugs. She encountered many bugs that i running Arch with Gnome had never encountered. We are talking about some serious bugs here, and only ubuntu official repos were used... She asked me" Wasn't linux supposed not to crash?". Tell me, what would you answer. Ubuntu gives a bad image to Linux distros.

                  The reason why all of this happens is Ubuntu's flawed model of development. They never update their packages and applications. Even those termed "Canonical maintened". They simply backport some of the bugfixes and that's it. This is so stupid it makes me angry. Open source doesn't work that way. Not only they do not solve most bugs, or provide latest features(like Firefox 3.6), they probably even introduce new bugs specific to their distro. Because i cannot imagine Ubuntu developers know all about each driver and application they cut and paste...

                  I cannot understand their reasoning. Dwelling into the source in order to backport features to an older version, is much more difficult and error prone than simply update to the newer version. Plus they get far from upstream. This development model does NOT provide stability. This development model does NOT provide features. This is simply wrong.

                  I really hope Ubuntu goes down. There are other excellent distros out there. Ubuntu provides a BAD image for Linux Desktop. And it is important to have a proper newbie distro available in order to switch people to opensource.

                  My girlfriend agreed to have me install Arch on her laptop. She even wants to learn using the terminal. But i still need a livecd newbie distro to replace Ubuntu. Considering openSUSE or Mandriva... We 'll see.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by squirrl View Post
                    Looks like the Intel dev's are back to their old tricks again.
                    10 bugs 5 fixes 5 ignores 20 new features and 10 deprecations.
                    I agree that Intel's development practices suck. Sorry Intel, but dropping support for something that _works_ and forcing users into something new that obviously is not ready yet is not a good idea. And it's not the first time we're seeing this in the X11 drivers. This time around, non-Linux platforms are basically screwed until they implement KMS, which isn't exactly funny either.

                    Anyway, I'm also still waiting for usable VA-API support.

                    Originally posted by TemplarGR
                    The reason why all of this happens is Ubuntu's flawed model of development. They never update their packages and applications. Even those termed "Canonical maintened". They simply backport some of the bugfixes and that's it. This is so stupid it makes me angry.
                    They have this because Ubuntu is heavily influenced by Debian, which is much worse in this regard. (New upstream versions are never incorporated into a Debian release, this is possible in Ubuntu)

                    Hello maintainers: no, you aren't any more clever than upstream developers. Usually it's quite the opposite. Backporting is a lot of work, error-prone and can introduce bugs easily. Also, it's very confusing for both users and upstream developers.

                    I really hope Ubuntu goes down. There are other excellent distros out there. Ubuntu provides a BAD image for Linux Desktop. And it is important to have a proper newbie distro available in order to switch people to opensource.
                    I still think Ubuntu provides a good overall package, but it's very rough around the edges. It's not easy trying to please everyone.

                    Comment

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