0

Is there is a prepackaged version or pre-compiled package of Intel's Graphic Drivers?

I have an Intel GMA 3150 graphics adapter. One option is compiling from source, from the http://intellinuxgraphics.com website, but I don't know how to compile.

2

2 Answers 2

1

This driver is integrated in Ubuntu, as the whole package of drivers from the Intel Linux Graphics suite is. For the very latest builds of graphics drivers, you can try X.org edgers PPA (warning: experimental1).

You should not have to compile from source for any regular piece of hardware. If you boot up Ubuntu 12.10 on this hardware it works out of the box and you should not have to worry about drivers.

1 "Experimental" when used in Ubuntu PPAs mean that the software is more or less in the "Beta/testing" phase. Therefore it's more likely to experience bugs, so you should not use them if you don't know how/don't want to take the time to fix you system if something goes wrong.

0
0

Unless you are having issues with your graphics it is recommended that you use the default Ubuntu drivers, they have been extensively tested. Intel graphic cards are open source so that they have the best default drivers as the developers know how the card works so can write the drivers to take full advantage of the cards.

Nvidia and other graphics cards are closed source so you have to use the company's drivers or the Linux ones that are usually not as good. This is because the Linux drivers that are written are made by reverse engineering the card.

Intel on the other hand not only has open source drivers but help to write Linux the drivers, hence both Linux and Intel improve.

The short answer here is you already have Intel drivers installed but read on for more...


There are some exceptions, as I mentioned above if you are having problems with your current driver. The other notable exception is if you want to use Steam for Linux it is recommended that you use the updated drivers. See this Wiki for more.

To install theses drivers you can use a Ubuntu PPA type the following into a termnal

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

The drivers that this will install will be the latest Intel drivers that are considered "stable" but there is still the possibility that it will break something(mine is running fine with the x-swat updates but you never know) Just FYI the x-swat team does the compiling for you so you only need to use their ppa to install these drivers(saves us average users a load of work, Thanks xswat team)

You can remove the x-swat ppa but is may unintall a but of other programs that will need to be reinstalled. Remove with the following

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo ppa-purge ppa: ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates

More info in managing ppas on webupd8.org

Purging a ppa will uninstall the ppa and then reinstall the latest program(driver in this case) that is available in the official Ubuntu Repositories.

Hope this helps, your question is a duplicate of Compiling and installing Intel graphics card drivers but the answers there do not mention Steam or how to remove the x-swat ppa if you wish to revert to the default drivers so I posted this answer. Good luck and welcome to the world of Linux/Ubuntu.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .