Configuring Intel integrated graphics processor on Debian 10

[caprilo]

I run Debian 10 on an assembled desktop PC with a Z370 Aorus Gaming 5 motherboard. According to Gigabyte (https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z3 ... v-10/sp#sp) it has Integrated Graphics Processor-Intel® HD Graphics support. I have a monitor which, when connected to my laptop (also with Debian 10) supports resolutions up to 1920x1280 and different frequencies, and has a fair image and text quality. But, when connected to the desktop PC only one resolution is available: 1920x1280 and the image quality is horrible; even reading is difficult, especially in the browser, and some applications even get totally black.

Following the suggestion for Intel graphic cards in https://wiki.debian.org/GraphicsCard#Intel I uninstalled xserver-xorg-video-intel. When rebooting, the text was a small bit more clear, but still horrible, and now the only available resolution 1360x768, and some applications are still black.

I also tried https://superuser.com/questions/716795/ ... -in-debian , but:

1) xrandr always give the following messages:
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
X Error of failed request: BadName (named color or font does not exist)
2) when calling

Code: Select all

xrandr

with no arguments, it returns

Code: Select all

Screen 0: minimum 1360 x 768, current 1360 x 768, maximum 1360 x 768

I tried an Ubuntu 18.04 live USB and the text is much clearer, but I prefer to use Debian, so I ask for your help to configure my graphics properly.

In case it's useful, I attach the output of some commands I saw many others request when debugging these things:

Code: Select all

sudo lspci -vk|grep -A 15 Bridge
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 8th Gen Core 8-core Desktop Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers [Coffee Lake S] (rev 0a)
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd 8th Gen Core 8-core Desktop Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers [Coffee Lake S]
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information: Len=10 <?>
	Kernel driver in use: skl_uncore

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 3e98 (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device d000
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
	Memory at ee000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	I/O ports at f000 [size=64]
	[virtual] Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
	Capabilities: [40] Vendor Specific Information: Len=0c <?>
	Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [ac] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
	Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2

Thanks in advance.

[stevepusser]

You need to install firmware-misc-nonfree from the non-free section of the repo, as it provides crucial firmware for your Intel hardware: https://packages.debian.org/buster/firm ... sc-nonfree

[caprilo]

Thanks for the prompt response.

I've just installed it, and there is a small improvement, but some apps are still in black, the text is still of poor quality (specially in Firefox) and there is still only one resolution available.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Code: Select all

sudo lspci -vk|grep -A 15 Bridge
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 8th Gen Core 8-core Desktop Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers [Coffee Lake S] (rev 0a)
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd 8th Gen Core 8-core Desktop Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers [Coffee Lake S]
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information: Len=10 <?>
	Kernel driver in use: skl_uncore

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 3e98 (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device d000
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
	Memory at ee000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	I/O ports at f000 [size=64]
	[virtual] Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
	Capabilities: [40] Vendor Specific Information: Len=0c <?>
	Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [ac] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
	Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2

Is that the full output? The video card isn't listing a kernel driver in use.

If that output is uncropped and the card doesn't have a kernel driver assigned then try a newer kernel version from the buster-backports repository.

Guide here: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php? ... 3&p=684389

[caprilo]

Installing the backports kernel solved the problem. Now lspci shows

Code: Select all

Kernel driver in use: i915
Kernel modules: i915

in the VGA section, the text is much more clearer, and all the resolutions are available.

Thank you very much!

[stevepusser]

I'm curious...when scrolling a page like these forums in Firefox with the mouse wheel, can you see "glitches" in the smooth scrolling of text? I, and a lot of other Intel GPU users over on MX Linux, see the same thing with the default kernel Intel modesetting driver, but it's fixed by switching to the "old and deprecated" intel driver with the TearFree option. Note that Google Earth Pro will not work with the intel driver, but I work around that by having GE Pro use the Nvidia GPU on my Optimus laptop via Bumblebee. Failing that, there is also an older version of GE Pro floating around the Net that doesn't have the intel driver issue.

[caprilo]

I've just tested the wheel scrolling on this forum, but I do not find a glitch. Maybe something related to the xserver-xorg-video-intel package I uninstalled previously?

What I can see is that the text, although much better than before, is still fuzzy. Is there any other optimization I could still perform?

[tynman]

If I understand correctly, you installed the firmware-misc-nonfree package from the Buster repository, with poor results.

Then you installed the kernel (5.2?) from the Buster backports repository, with better-but-fuzzy results.

The next step might be to install the firmware-misc-nonfree package from the Buster backports repository.

[caprilo]

Yep, kernel 5.2.0-0.bpo.2-amd64 is installed now.

After tynman's suggestion, I also installed firmware-misc-nonfree from backports. It got even better; fuzzy yet, but my eyes are thanking very much the change.

I wasn't very sure of the capabilities of the combination of the integrated graphics card and the monitor, but I've just noticed two things: virtual terminals have a perfectly defined and clear text, and so does the Grub menu. Are there more steps I could follow to improve the graphic quality in the graphic session?

Once again, thanks to all of you guys for your time and your super fast responses.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Maybe try some font configuration:

Code: Select all

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM 'fonts.dtd'>
<fontconfig>
  <match target="font">
    <edit name="antialias" mode="assign">
      <bool>true</bool>
    </edit>
  </match>
  <match target="font">
    <edit name="autohint" mode="assign">
      <bool>false</bool>
    </edit>
  </match>
  <match target="font">
    <edit name="hintstyle" mode="assign">
      <const>hintslight</const>
    </edit>
  </match>
  <match target="font">
    <edit name="hinting" mode="assign">
      <bool>true</bool>
    </edit>
  </match>
  <match target="font">
    <edit name="rgba" mode="assign">
      <const>rgb</const>
    </edit>
  </match>
  <match target="font">
    <edit name="lcdfilter" mode="assign">
      <const>lcddefault</const>
    </edit>
  </match>
</fontconfig>

^ Save that to ~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf

[caprilo]

I did it and reboot. I believe now the fonts are larger, but not clearer.

[stevepusser]

Does the resolution you're using now match the native resolution of your monitor? A mismatch will make them look blurry to one degree or another.

I did test MX 19 beta 2.1 (buster based) on a laptop with Skylake Intel 520 graphics, and the scrolling glitch with the modesetting driver seems to be gone, which is good news!

[caprilo]

Yep, it matches. I actually tried with the 12 available resolutions and they all match the monitor's resolution when selected.

[DebbyIan]

Installing the backports kernel solved the problem. Now lspci shows

Code: Select all

Kernel driver in use: i915
Kernel modules: i915

in the VGA section, the text is much more clearer, and all the resolutions are available.

Thank you very much!

I note you removed the Intel driver for X11. As a result Xorg defaulted to the modesetting driver in the kernel. There is practically little to configure either way.

[stevepusser]

Debian defaults to the kernel modesetting driver for recent Intel GPUs, second or third generation or newer, regardless whether xserver-xorg-video-intel (XXVI) is installed or not.