Commit 3d14d804 authored by Tim Keller's avatar Tim Keller
Browse files

nixos/doc: update the status of Intel Graphics with fixed intel driver 

xf86-video-intel is now working again due to a bug fix in Mesa. So this
re-introduces the section on the intel driver and screen-tearing while
discouraging its use generally.
parent 4958f38b

nixos/doc/manual/configuration/x-windows.chapter.md

+27 −7
Original line number Diff line number Diff line
@@ -123,6 +123,24 @@ setting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_setting) (KMS) mechanism, it 
supports Glamor (2D graphics acceleration via OpenGL) and is actively

maintained, it may perform worse in some cases (like in old chipsets).



There is a second driver, `intel` (provided by the xf86-video-intel package),

specific to older Intel iGPUs from generation 2 to 9. It is not recommended by

most distributions: it lacks several modern features (for example, it doesn't

support Glamor) and the package hasn't been officially updated since 2015.



Third generation and older iGPUs (15-20+ years old) are not supported by the

`modesetting` driver (X will crash upon startup). Thus, the `intel` driver is

required for these chipsets.

Otherwise, the results vary depending on the hardware, so you may have to try

both drivers. Use the option

[](#opt-services.xserver.videoDrivers)

to set one. The recommended configuration for modern systems is:



```nix

{

  services.xserver.videoDrivers = [ "modesetting" ];

}

```

::: {.note}

The `modesetting` driver doesn't currently provide a `TearFree` option (this

will become available in an upcoming X.org release), So, without using a
@@ -130,20 +148,22 @@ compositor (for example, see [](#opt-services.picom.enable)) you will 
experience screen tearing.

:::



There also used to be a second driver, `intel` (provided by the

xf86-video-intel package), specific to older Intel iGPUs from generation 2 to

9.

This driver hasn't been maintained in years and was removed in NixOS 24.11

after it stopped working. If you chipset is too old to be supported by

`modesetting` and have no other choice you may try an unsupported NixOS version

(reportedly working up to NixOS 24.05) and set

If you experience screen tearing no matter what, this configuration was

reported to resolve the issue:



```nix

{

  services.xserver.videoDrivers = [ "intel" ];

  services.xserver.deviceSection = ''

    Option "DRI" "2"

    Option "TearFree" "true"

  '';

}

```



Note that this will likely downgrade the performance compared to

`modesetting` or `intel` with DRI 3 (default).



## Proprietary NVIDIA drivers {#sec-x11-graphics-cards-nvidia}



NVIDIA provides a proprietary driver for its graphics cards that has

nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2411.section.md

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@@ -231,9 +231,6 @@ 


- The NVIDIA driver no longer defaults to the proprietary kernel module with versions >= 560. You will need to manually set `hardware.nvidia.open` to select the proprietary or open modules.



- The `intel` driver for the X server (`services.xserver.videoDrives = [ "intel" ]`) is no longer functional due to incompatibilities with the latest Mesa version.

  All users are strongly encouraged to switch to the generic `modesetting` driver (the default one) whenever possible, for more information see the manual chapter on [Intel Graphics](#sec-x11--graphics-cards-intel) and issue [#342763](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/342763).



- The `(buildPythonPackage { ... }).override` and `(buildPythonPackage { ... }).overrideDerivation` attributes is now deprecated and removed in favour of `overridePythonAttrs` and `lib.overrideDerivation`.

  This change does not affect the override interface of most Python packages, as [`<pkg>.override`](https://nixos.org/manual/nixpkgs/unstable/#sec-pkg-override) provided by `callPackage` shadows such a locally-defined `override` attribute.

  The `<pkg>.overrideDerivation` attribute of Python packages called with `callPackage` will also remain available after this change.