Graphical Environment#

The steps necessary to install graphics drivers are very dependent on your device. This guide details the settings I used for my systems.

For general instructions, consult the Arch Linux Wiki: Graphics.

Intel Graphics i915#

Since Intel provides and supports open source drivers, Intel graphics are essentially plug-and-play. This guide details some customized and improved settings, based on my personal preferences.

Installation#

Install sudo pacman -S ... the following packages

mesa: open source OpenGL implementation for most modern drivers, including intel i915 3rd gen hardware.
mesa-utils: Utilities for mesa.
vulkan-intel: Vulkan support for intel hardware
vulkan-tools: Utilities for vulkan.
intel-media-driver: for VA-API support.
libva-utils: Utilities for VA-API.
vdpauinfo: Utilities for VDPAU.
nvtop: Utility to show graphics card usage

Then reboot the computer.

Enable GuC / HuC Firmware Loading#

Depending on the hardware support, GuC and HuC should be enabled by default. You can check this by running the following commands

cat /sys/kernel/debug/dri/0/gt0/uc/guc_info
cat /sys/kernel/debug/dri/0/gt0/uc/huc_info

Tip

0 might need to be replaced by a different number in the command above. The files will only exist, if GuC / HuC are enabled during boot. A reboot might be required if you cannot see them, or GuC / HuC is disbaled in the system.

If GuC / HuC is disabled, you can manually enable it. Create the file /etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf

options i915 enable_guc=2

Possible options:

1: Enable GuC, but not HuC
2: Enable HuC, but not GuC
3: Enable Huc and GuC

Example

Supported option on my DELL XPS 13: 2

Then regenerate and sign initramfs

sudo mkinitcpio -P

Warning

Manually enabling GuC / HuC firmware loading taints the kernel even when the feature is not supported. Moreover, enabling GuC/HuC firmware loading can cause issues on some systems; disable it if you experience freezing (for example, after resuming from hibernation).

Reboot#

Do not forget to reboot the system after changes to graphics drivers have been made.