OK - I've finally got round to trying to get my Intel 855 integrated graphics working with a proper driver, not VESA.
I'm using Lighthouse 500a at the moment.
Following Tazoc's excellent data , which I misinterpreted, I tried using a kernel parameter of i810.modeset=1 and i810.modeset=0. Both failed with the following error messages in the xorg log:
...
loading driver: intel
...
No kernel modesetting driver detected
unloading driver: intel
...
(Thank you - thank you - Tazoc for allowing us to recover from the black screen without a reset and giving us access to the error log! This is a nice touch which the other Puppy developers would do well to copy)
It seems to be looking for something, cannot find it so unloads the video driver. No wonder we get a black screen!
I've done some googling today.
The intel driver now used in Puppy MUST have kernel mode setting (KMS)operational. I cannot quite determine whether KMS is on by default or not. As Tazoc says it seems as if it should be but according to:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/KernelModeSetting
VESA does not work with KMS and yet it works without the kernel parameter nomodeset.
It would be nice to know what the Intel driver is looking for when it says no kernel modesetting driver detected and perhaps we could supply it.
OK - the best post I have found that discusses this problem is this one:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes
Various workarounds are presented but the most reported successes elsewhere is to run the kernel parameter i915.modeset=1. Trust me not to try this last night but I thought I needed i810 because I had an 855 chip and the i810 driver worked before!
I have only seen 1 failure reported with this option but being a pessimist I want to assume that I am going to get a failure and I have a query for Tazoc:
When you run the Xorg wizard and select 'choose' (a driver) you are presented with a list which includes intel. presumably this is the standard intel driver. If I wanted to add the old i810.so driver can I add it to this list somehow? If so, how and where must the driver files be located to be picked up?
Why do I want to do this?
Well, even those succeeding with i915.modeset=1 have reported some problems with video playback. i810 driver has worked in the past but failed for me with Quirky. I am beginning to wonder if this is because KMS was enabled and i810 is definitely a non KMS driver.
What I want to try is to use the i810 driver but disable KMS by using the kernel parameter nomodeset.