Month: October 2011

Intel Graphics – 3D Artifacts

So I’m running a 13″ MacBook Pro with Ubuntu. It has the 2.7GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7 processor with integrated graphics. I’m running the i915 driver (which is what Ubuntu set me up with). Now, everything seems ok, until I run something 3D with (I think) transparent surfaces.

I can spot the issue in SuperTuxKart, but in Minecraft, I don’t have to look for it. It looks awful. I’ve included two screenshots – one from daytime and one from night. Notice that the noise in the image actually is noise, i.e. it changes all the time.

Also, when running the Minecraft game, the rest of the desktop gets messed up too (font rendering, etc) but as soon as I turn it off, everything is working again. Very annoying.

Anyone out there, perhaps you, who know how to solve this? I’d be really thankful!

MacBook Pro, Ubuntu and the Cinema Display

I’ve got a new laptop – a MacBook Pro. The 13″ model with the i7 CPU and no discrete graphics card from ATI or nvidia. Instead one relies on the graphics card built-in to SandyBridge.

This caused some issues with the Cinema Display that I’ve grown so fond of – and it looked as if a driver hack was needed. But, thanks to my helpful colleague Erik Botö, the magic modeline was found. The trick is to lower the refresh frequency. So, for everyone out there, this does the trick:

xrandr --newmode "1920x1200_45.00" 140.92 1920 2032 2232 2544 1200 1201 1204 1231 -HSync +Vsync
xrandr --addmode DP1 "1920x1200_45.00"
xrandr --output DP1 --mode "1920x1200_45.00"

If you want to, you can skip the last xrandr call and simply use the KDE Display Settings tool. The line above gives you a clone setup, which I prefer at work.