I recently installed elementary OS Freya 0.3 on Dell Inspiron duo 1090 Netbook (Intel Atom n550 @1.6GHz Intel NM10 Chipset, GMA3150 Graphics) and my experience with elementary OS is semi-good, why semi? Due to weird graphics issues. The animations are mostly smooth, only changing pages in apps menu isn't smooth at all, very laggy and sluggish, as well as minimizing and maximizing apps/windows. Graphics tend to have minor artifacts when transitioning from login to desktop, and changing workspace (black parts of screen for split-second). I've updated elementary OS with oibaf's repo added, elementary OS updater installed some updates from his repo (VDPAU mostly), and it did no changes whatsoever, maybe window dragging on desktop is a little smoother, but artifacts still happen, can't install Intel Drivers due to "Distro not supported" error, and some people say elementary OS has it's own Freya optimized Intel drivers included, and don't need installing it manually (even so, tried to install anyway, still distro not supported error). My question is simple: What can I do to solve this problem? Is there anything that can help? Looking forward for a response, Cheers!
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Possible duplicate of How do I install the latest Intel Linux Graphics?– Daniel ForéSep 30, 2015 at 19:26
1 Answer
Upgrade
If you installed before the 3rd of September 2015, then you won't have the new graphics stack included in elementary OS Freya 0.3.1:
At the heart of this upgrade is the latest Hardware Enablement stack from Ubuntu 14.04.3. It includes version 3.19 of the Linux kernel and an updated Mesa that fixes the dreaded “double cursor” glitch. Workspaces in the Multitasking view also now work properly on Nvidia Optimus. The new hardware stack also brings better support for backlights and touchpads on certain laptops, a host of performance and power-related improvements, and support for 5th generation Intel processors. This release should also improve support for (U)EFI systems, especially when installing without an internet connection.
Upgrade
Second to this, GMA graphics are some of the lowest ranked graphics in place, they are probably worse than running on a decent processor, which is another thing you rank fairly low on. While elementary OS is reasonably lightweight, you will experience issues on older/slower hardware. The Dell Inspiron Duo is a 3-star laptop.
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My version is 0.3.1, so graphics stacks are upgraded, I know it's not a speed demon, but it wasn't meant to be even when planned, GMA3150 is a terrible GPU, I'm aware of that, but it's on most netbooks and elementary OS as a OS works reasonably well on it, and that bugs me, because I would agree if there were these issues while whole OS is unstable and sluggish, but OS as it is is mostly snappy and responsive, well, apart from these couple problems. So stack update isn't an option, I can bear even these lagging animations, but is there a method for eliminating at least these screen artifacts?– BartoszSep 7, 2015 at 20:51
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Try disabling the Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-d) which some models of computer have BIOS setting for, others require an update.– Lewis Goddard ♦Sep 7, 2015 at 20:55
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InsydeH2O bios on it is pretty poor, even when updated to newest version, no options to change VT-d, only the basic settings– BartoszSep 7, 2015 at 21:24
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Okay, I found out that this CPU doesn't support Intel Visualization Technology anyway (who would setup virtual mashine on Atom anyway?). So there's no way that the graphics will run without these issues, and I'm forced to use eOS as it is now or Windows 10, which it dual boots with?– BartoszSep 7, 2015 at 21:33
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While I can't provide an explanation for the artifacts, which are likely the strange result of performance problems, I do not believe there is much I can suggest to further your experience.– Lewis Goddard ♦Sep 8, 2015 at 7:55