Installing video driver on Arch Linux

Question

I have Arch Linux installed in console mode on an Intel-PC machine. My task is to write and run an OpenGL display program on the machine to check whether it meets the following conditions:

• It would take at most 10% of total CPU usage
• It would take at most 20% of total RAM

Here are more info about the device:

uname -a

3.6.5-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Oct 31 .. x86_64 GNU/Linux

cpu MHz: 1866.717 RAM: 2GB Preemptible: YES

lspci -v | grep -i graphic*

VGA compatible controller: intel corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
(same for Subsystem and Graphics Controller)

Now, what I want if to install the relevant graphics driver. However, I cannot do anything as it is run in console mode. It has no X window. I try ALT+F8 but it does not start X window. also tried startx,but I get

-bash:startx: command not found

Could anyone guide me how to install the graphics driver please. Considering that I think the kernel is compiled in preemptive mode.

Solution

That kernel is quite old, for starters, so begin by updating your machine. As for the graphic drivers, please install xf86-video-intel, and read the wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel_Graphics. It's one of the best wikis from the Linux world, so use it. Then install Xorg as seen here : https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xorg#Installation and perhaps a display manager if you so fancy.

Comments

[Sam]

how can I proceed with the current installation? I want the display manager installed, but I don't want it to take much space as my hard is only 4GB. How can I install it?

[schaiba]

If space is limited just use startx and use a small window manager like openbox/fluxbox.

[jasonwryan]

The error message is telling you why startx is failing. You might want to read that, the Arch documentation and the answer here: any one of the three would solve your "issue"...