Intel® Embedded Graphics Drivers (IEGD) and the Intel® Embedded Media Graphics Driver (Intel® EMGD) are two separate media and graphics drivers for embedded usage; Intel® EMGD is not a follow-on/next generation driver to IEGD.

IEGD is a group of drivers that support a broad range of operating systems and chipsets. Please refer to each driver’s release notes, feature matrix, and product brief for the list of Intel® IEGD supported products and operating systems as it is different than Intel® EMGD.

The following are supported by the IEGD driver only: The Intel® Atom™ processor 400 and 500 series (CPU+GPU), Intel® Q45/G45/G41 Express Chipset, Mobile Intel® GM45/GL40/GS45 Express Chipset, Intel® Q35 Express Chipset, Mobile Intel® GLE960 Express Chipset, Mobile Intel® GME965 Express Chipset, Intel® Q965 Express Chipset, Mobile Intel® 945GME Express Chipset, Mobile Intel® 945GSE Express Chipset, Intel® 945G Express Chipset, Mobile Intel® 915GME Express Chipset, Intel® 915GV Express Chipset, and Mobile Intel® 910GMLE Express Chipset.

The Intel® EMGD should be used to support new designs based on Intel’s Atom™ processor E6xx series and Intel® system controller hub US15W-US15WP-and US15WPT-based designs as Intel® EMGD is a newer driver that supports different processors and platforms than IEGD.

The Intel® Atom™ processor E6xx series is only supported by Intel® EMGD.

The Intel® Embedded Graphics Drivers (IEGD) are developed specifically for embedded Intel® Architecture-based platforms, offering a flexible alternative to drivers designed for the desktop, mobile and MID market segments. IEGD offers Intel's embedded customers extended life support that correlates with the extended life support of embedded silicon products. IEGD differentiates itself through its configuration and support of unique embedded market segment requirements, including an unprecedented support of advanced display combinations and non-standard display dimensions (Intel® Dynamic Display Configuration Technology) and embedded operating systems such as Microsoft XP Embedded* and Windows Embedded CE*, while delivering comparable 3D performance to that of the Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) graphics solution, and performance advantages to open source graphics solutions. Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers have also been validated on specific Linux* distributions and Microsoft Windows* operating systems.

The IEGD feature matrix, product brief and the User Guide lists which Linux* distributions are proactively validated for a given chipset. If your “favorite Linux*” distribution is listed in the feature matrix, product brief and/or user guide then the IEGD driver should work. However, in the event the driver does not work perfectly on that distribution you should work with the “favorite Linux*” distribution company or your own in-house Linux* experts to determine root causes and debug any issues.

If your “favorite Linux*” distribution is not listed in the feature matrix, product brief and/or user guide then the chance of the driver working is lower. You can consider trying to install IEGD on a system with the help of your “favorite Linux*” Linux* distributor. However, a technical solution may not be possible.

To better understand how the IEGD Linux* driver works (and how different kernel versions will affect the driver), you need to know how the IEGD Kernel Module (IKM) module is built. Currently, the install.sh script detects a limited set of known or validated Linux* distributions and makes a copy of the relevant kernel headers for AGPGART and DRM. Stay tuned for a future white paper discussing the drivers’ Linux* integration methods.

No, only the following chipsets and/or system-on-a-chips (SoC) are supported with IEGD:

If the chipset or operating system is an older one, there may be an older IEGD version that supports it. If the chipset is in the same family as one currently listed in the IEGD user guide as being supported, please contact an Intel representative to discuss your requirements for a different operating system to be supported.

IEGD offers Intel's embedded customers multi-year extended life support that correlates with the extended life support of on-roadmap Embedded and Communications Group silicon products. This roadmap is available by contacting your Intel representative. Technical, production status, and other relevant information on Intel's embedded products can be found on Intel's Embedded Design Center or on Intel’s product information page (ark.intel.com).

Roadmaps and future releases are forward looking plans subject to adjustments for new technologies and customer/market requests. Contact your Intel representative for the IEGD and Intel® EMGD master POR (plan-of-record) update.

The Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers were designed to enable the customer to configure the driver to support the platform. The Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers can support many flat panel configurations with custom timings through the Detailed Timing Descriptor (DTD) page of the configuration editor (CED) without driver changes.

The Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers achieve EDID-like support for EDID-less panels via configuration (using CED), custom-created Detailed Timing Descriptor (DTD) timings and configuration files. More information on how to generate correct IEGD drivers for LVDS panels is available in the User Guide.

The Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers support multiple generations of Intel chipsets and/or system-on-a-chips (SoC) over the extended support span of Embedded Intel Architecture-based platforms, from the Mobile Intel® 910GMLE Express chipset forward to the Intel® System Controller Hub US15W chipset, based on the Embedded Intel® Architecture roadmap. However, you must build a driver for each specific chipset or SoC you are using and you may need to update to a later version of IEGD to be able to build a driver for a newer chipset. The earliest chipset with integrated graphics that is supported by the Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers is the Intel® 815 chipset. The last release that supports the Intel® 815 chipset was the Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers release 5.1, which remains available through your Intel representative. The last release that supports the Intel® 845 chipset was the Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers release 6.1, which remains available through your Intel representative. The last release that supports the Intel® 852/855 chipset was the Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers release 8.1, which remains available through your Intel representative.

The following Intel® GenX/Gen3/Gen4 chipsets are supported only by IEGD 10.3.1 which was the last validated drivers for these chipsets is available on EDC.

Please use the most recent Gold release (as of February 2011, the most recent release of IEGD is 10.4) of the Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers for following Intel products. The IEGD 10.4 is available on EDC.

Yes, this is possible. The Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers provide the capability using the Configuration Editor to configure both the OS level driver and the Video BIOS with the same settings. Although the Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers will utilize settings of the embedded Video BIOS, the OS-level drivers are not dependent on the Video BIOS settings. This allows users who may not have the ability to update their system firmware/system BIOS to install and use the Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers with their operating system. Note that the Configuration Editor will not create settings for the standard desktop Video BIOS.

If you require specific capability in the standard desktop Video BIOS in conjunction with the Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers, use Intel's BIOS Modification Program (BMP) tool to configure the standard desktop Video BIOS and CED (Configuration EDitor) to configure the IEGD driver. Contact your Intel representative for more details.

Although not always required, it is generally recommended to upgrade both the VBIOS and driver when an update occurs. Intel tests using only the latest of both VBIOS and driver so there may be unexpected results. Often there are code changes that you will want. Sometimes there are new features that require both to be updated. If after updating only the driver you see a negative change in operation, it is recommended that you then update the platform to the newer VBIOS as well. This will allow you to verify that the negative operation of the driver was or was not related to some interaction with the older VBIOS.

No. IEGD operates with the IEGD VBIOS but the standard GMA desktop drivers are dependent on the settings in the GMA Video BIOS and must use the associated GMA Video BIOS. The Intel Embedded VBIOS will work only with the Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers.

Yes, Intel provides Linux* and Windows CE* codecs for evaluation purposes only with IEGD.

No. There is no plan currently for IEGD to support Linux* UNR Ubuntu.

Detailed information on supported graphics features, display outputs and panels is available in the User Guide. For an overview, please reference the Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers Technical Product Specification for Software (TPS). The Product Specifications include a complete listing of supported features, and can be found on the Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers website. Additional detailed information is available from your Intel representative.

The Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers have run-time APIs that allow for configuration changes in both Windows and Linux* versions of the driver. Intel can also provide on request an IEGD API Reference Manual or sample code that utilizes these APIs. Contact your Intel representative to request details.

The IEGDGUI requires a particular font, Sans Serif(8) (sanserife.fon). The San Serif fonts need to be copied to the font folder in Control Panel. These fonts can be copied from a Windows XP system or obtained from Microsoft*. The required fonts are:

Please make sure that the fonts listed above are in the fonts folder of Control Panel on the Windows XP Embedded* system.

IEGD 10.4 supports these Intel® Atom™ processor- based platforms:

No. There is no plan for an IEGD open source Linux* driver.

The IEGD 10.4 Gold Release (build 1839) was released in February 2011. Customers can download it from the Intel Premier Support Web site or from the Intel Embedded Design Center®.

The IEGD 10.4 release is intended for all customers as a general release and was posted accordingly to QuAD and EDC.

New features in IEGD 10.4 include:

See the IEGD Release Notes, User Guide, Product Brief, and Feature Matrix for additional details about this release.

The driver fundamentally supports multi-threading. However some functions may not be multi-thread capable. Multi-threading in many instances is dependent on the software (OS/application) as well as the hardware (multi-processor/multithread capable) support capability For example, hardware video acceleration is designed as a single pipeline and although you can feed a single stream with multiple videos in it, you cannot interrupt the current thread in order to service another video decode thread/stream.

The IEGD 10.3.1 Gold Release (build #1550) was released in March 2010 (WW10.5). It can be downloaded from the Intel Premier Support Web site (premier.intel.com) or from the Intel® Embedded Design Center.

The IEGD 10.3.1 Gold release (build 1550) was a general release and was posted accordingly to QuAD and EDC in March 2010. It is intended for all customers. This version contains all the new features and capabilities delivered with previous versions (10.1, 10.2, and 10.3) of IEGD.

In addition, this release contains the following new features and capabilities:

Review User Guide for additional details. This release also contains fixes for many issues described in the IEGD 10.3.1 Specification Update (errata) document. For more information refer to the 10.3.1 User Guide in the driver package or visit premier.intel.com or edc.intel.com.

Multiple locations are available to obtain this technical information:

Intel supports our customers through the traditional Intel® Premier Support mechanism via the QuAD application (requires Login and password) along with a network of distributors and direct sales staff and field applications engineers.

The Intel® Embedded Community connects you with other embedded developers and Intel technical support personnel. Get questions answered, respond to peers, and share your ideas. For software & tools blogs, resources and discussions visit http://embedded.communities.intel.com/community/en/software

The latest User Guide in the IEGD package contains the missing section and other updated guidelines. Download the latest version of IEGD (10.3 as of February 2010) from any of these locations:

Then, after extracting the IEGD package, refer to the User Guide found in the C:\IEGD\IEGD_10_x\workspace\documentation folder for instructions on video BIOS and how to configure and build the VBIOS with CED.

The IEGD Specification Update, User Guide and Release Notes are support documents for the driver. They tell customers what’s new with the graphics driver (Release Notes), how to install and use the graphics driver (User Guide) and known errors/defects with the graphics driver and workarounds (Specification Update), if any have been identified. These documents assist in the usage of IEGD.

The IEGD API reference manual is more confidential because it conveys information about how the BIOS and IEGD work internally – the IEGD API. It also discusses the set of APIs for handling drivers on Microsoft* Windows* and X Window, and sample programs for MS-DOS*, Windows* XP, Windows* CE, and Linux*.

There is also information in the IEGD API reference manual about the standard video BIOS interfaces, function definitions, and supported modes. This document discloses information about the external interfaces to the video BIOS, the interrupt 10h-function descriptions, and additional interface components.

Despite the additional layer of confidentiality associated with the IEGD API reference manual, it can still be downloaded by any approved user of EDC by accepting the click-through confidentiality login terms.

Concrete percentages of IEGD’s customers using Linux* fluctuate quarterly. Based on recent download data from the Intel Premier Support Web site and from the Intel® Embedded Design Center, more than 60% of IEGD downloads were installed on Windows-based systems.

UEFI stands for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface. UEFI is a replacement for Legacy System BIOS and is flexible, fast, and efficient and has no driver size constraints. The UEFI Pre-boot Firmware architecture can either be 32-bit/64-bit/IA64. There is no binary compatibility. CSM (Compatibility Support Module) is used to boot legacy operating systems and operate with legacy Option ROMs.

IEGD supports the EFI driver, which gets merged into the UEFI system Pre-boot Firmware. The EFI driver supports fast boot capability.

EPOG stands for Embedded Pre-OS Graphics feature. EPOG was first supported with the IEGD 10.2 Gold release. This driver is a module within the Boot Loader Development Kit (BLDK).

EPOG is configured using CED. CED provides a file called libepog.a, which must be integrated into the firmware. The EPOG feature enables quick display of the user’s chosen splash screen (8-bit or 24-bit per pixel .bmp format with size less than 50KB). Splash screens are often used to display corporate logos. The current EPOG driver supports a static splash screen only. Industry suppliers can also provide splash video but this is not currently implemented by Intel.

From the time control is handed over to the EPOG driver by the BLDK environment, the EPOG driver typically takes no longer than 500ms to display the splash screen.

No. The GOP driver is a replacement for legacy video BIOS and enables the use of UEFI Pre-boot Firmware without Compatibility Support Module (CSM). GOP driver can be 32-bit/64-bit/IA64 with no binary compatibility. UEFI Pre-boot Firmware architecture (32-/64-bit) must match the GOP driver architecture (32-/64-bit). IEGD GOP driver can either be Fast Boot (speed optimized and platform specific) or generic (platform agnostic for selective platforms).

Here is a quick comparison between GOP and video BIOS:

No. This is not recommended as the UEFI Pre-boot firmware will choose the GFX firmware component for Console_out during runtime based on an algorithm (currently the version number). The GFX firmware component with the highest version number will be chosen and this algorithm is subject to change. This same answer is applicable to multiple instances of the GOP driver.

The vBIOS Option ROM is linked with the PCI vendor-device ID of the VGA device (typically Bus 0, Device 2, Function 0) and this information is embedded in the EFI Pre-boot Firmware at compile time or merged into the image on the host via the Merge utility.

The answer depends upon the EFI Pre-boot firmware setting, if available. If the "PCI as primary" option is available and enabled then the vBIOS Option ROM from the Matrox card is activated. If "PCI as primary" is not enabled then the IEGD vBIOS is activated. Note that there can be only one instance of vBIOS in the platform.

Windows* XP uses the vBIOS via int 10h for displaying the splash screen and any messages until the graphics driver is loaded. Note that during the OS boot process the OS writes to the framebuffer directly, bypassing vBIOS for display purposes. After the graphics driver is loaded, the OS transfers control to vBIOS during full screen DOS mode and during “blue screen” to display the stack information.

CED is a Windows XP-compatible Graphical User Interface “point and click” application configuration editor for the Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers. It replaces the more cumbersome and manual PCF configuration method of configuring and building IEGD. It helps make setting up and building the various driver elements including VBIOS much easier. It replaces the PCF/PCF2IEGD configuration process. Online help and logically grouped features, plus error checking assure your configuration is right the first time built.

The Configuration EDitor (CED) allows easier pre-installation configuration and generation of the drivers and VBIOS.

Note: Although CED can be used to build IEGD drivers for any target operating systems listed below, the CED application runs only under Windows XP on the host platform.

This condition can occur if CED is not properly shut down. It will leave a semaphore lock file that is designed to prevent multiple copies running. Go to the folder of IEGD that you are running and go into the \workspace folder and delete the “.lock” file you will find there. CED will run properly after you remove that lock file.

You probably have a virus scanner set to operate at run time. CED has many files involved in loading and the virus scan will greatly slow down the launch of CED. You can either live with the delays (safest), or instruct your virus scan program to ignore everything in the IEGD directory; that should be done only at your own risk.

Sometimes, for debugging purposes, you would like to know which configuration file is generated by CED. By having access to the config file generated by CED (iegd.inf, xorg.conf, user_config.c, iegd.reg) you can rule out configuration issues. This feature is also useful when you just need the configuration file (especially in VBIOS) and not the whole driver / VBIOS package.

1. Go to the folder where you installed CED; usually in C:\IEGD\IEGD_1_0.
2. Open iegd-ced.ini.
3. Type "-showFiles". This command is case-sensitive.
4. Save the file.
5. Open CED and follow the standard procedure to generate the package. The config file should be visible in the package folder.

The software does not impose any limits; however, developers need to be sure the chipset’s design specs are not violated. The minimum pixel clock frequency supported and validated on the Intel® System Controller Hub US15W chipset is 20 MHz. The minimum standard active resolution is therefore 640x480 @ 50 Hz vertical refresh which equates to ~20 MHz pixel clock. It may be possible to pad the horizontal and vertical blanking and adjust the refresh rate higher to get a lower resolution at the minimum 20 MHz pixel clock, but that is something that needs to be explored with the LCD panel manufacturer.

Theoretically, any timing mode that yields a pixel clock frequency between 20 MHz. and 112 MHz. (maximum allowable pixel clock frequency for US15W internal LVDS controller) can be supported by IEGD and US15W. To determine if a particular timing mode can be supported, use the following formula to determine the pixel clock frequency and then determine if it is between 20 MHz and 112 MHz:

Using 720 x 480 @ 60 Hz as an example:
pixel clock frequency = HTOTAL * VTOTAL * Vertical Refresh Rate / 1000000
HACTIVE = 720 pixels / line
HBLANK_BACK PORCH = 10 pixels / line
HBLANK_FRONT PORCH = 128 pixels / line
HTOTAL = HACTIVE + HBLANK_BACK PORCH + HBLANK_FRONT PORCH
HTOTAL = 720 + 10 + 128 = 858 pixels / line
VACTIVE = 480 lines / frame
VBLANK_BACK PORCH = 19 lines / frame
VBLANK_FRONT PORCH =26 lines / frame
VTOTAL = VACTIVE + VBLANK_BACK PORCH + VBLANK_FRONT PORCH
VTOTAL = 480 + 19 + 26 = 525 lines / frame
pixel clock frequency = HTOTAL * VTOTAL * Vertical Refresh Rate / 1000000
pixel clock frequency = 858 pixels / line * 525 lines / frame * 60 Hz / 1000000
pixel clock frequency = 27.027 MHz
pixel clock frequency > 20 MHz so 720 x 480 @ 60 Hz can be supported by IEGD via the CED application.

The minimum pixel clock frequency supported by the US15W sDVO interface is 20 MHz. The minimum standard active resolution is therefore 640x480 @ 50 Hz vertical refresh which equates to ~20 MHz.

The maximum pixel clock frequency supported by the US15W sDVO interface is 160 MHz. The maximum standard active resolution is therefore 1920x1080 @ 60 Hz vertical refresh which equates to ~148.5 MHz. pixel clock. Common high resolutions such as 1600x1200 and 1280x1024 are also supported since they possess pixel clock rates less than 160 MHz.

Any timing mode that yields a pixel clock frequency that is between 20 MHz. and 160 MHz. can be supported by IEGD and US15W via sDVO. Check your chosen sDVO device vendor’s data sheet for limitations of the display output. Most VGA and TV encoders cannot support analog CRT, HDTV, and SDTV outputs whose pixel clock rates exceed 80 MHz.

Additional details on the graphics capabilities of the Intel® System Controller Hub US15W chipset can be found here:

http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/embedded/hwsw/hardware/atom-z5xx/overview

No, because a sDVO DisplayPort transmitter does not exist yet, a system containing the US15W cannot provide DisplayPort.

First, choose an embedded Intel chipset with an integrated LVDS controller. Integrated LVDS ports are available on the following Mobile Intel® chipsets and/or system-on-a-chips (SoC):

Second, follow the instructions in the User Guide to enable this display by properly setting the “PortOrder” to include the value for LVDS port. Based on your settings, LVDS display can be either primary display or secondary. The Configuration Editor (CED) also allows you to easily select and configure the integrated LVDS ports on the Intel Mobile chipsets. Please refer to the help in CED for details.

This is typically a configuration or port driver issue. The sDVO port must be properly configured prior to installation of the driver. It is most important that the address of the sDVO device is set correctly if it is different from the default of 0x70. There also are settings that allow you to specify certain attributes, depending on what sDVO device you are using. For example, for VGA operation, it is important to set the “VGA Bypass” or “VGA Output” attribute on some VGA sDVO devices to get VGA output. See the User Guide for more information.

eDP is defined as Embedded DisplayPort.

The differences between eDP and DP are as follows:

eDP extends the capabilities of LVDS, yet with reduced power, cost, and cable length requirements. eDP is a completely different specification with major differences listed below.

“Switchable” allows seamless transition between the integrated graphics in the chipset and a higher power “external” graphics engine for best battery power capability. This is a feature you would expect to find in a battery operated device such as a notebook.

“Additive” is a technique where the integrated graphics GPU is tapped by the “external” graphics driver to supplement the external graphics GPU processing power. This feature is of limited value as the overhead on managing the data and transferring the graphics data between the integrated graphics memory and the external graphics tends to override any performance benefits.

“Multi-Monitor” is the ability for the integrated graphics to co-exist with the external graphics engine(s) allowing for more unique displays. For example, in Windows you could extend your desktop between the integrated graphics’ two displays plus one, two, or more external graphics displays. This requires a chipset tested to support this mode, and possibly a BIOS modification to leave the integrated graphics on when external graphics are present, especially in the X16 PCIe (PEG) slot.

IEGD has always supported Multi-Monitor mode which, in the past, was primarily tested with integrated graphics plus PCI-based external graphics. With the new ability to use the integrated plus PCIe plus PCI, the combinations are endless.

No. IEGD does not support Windows* 7, which Intel's PAVP technology requires as the operating system. Intel and Microsoft do not have a “standard” technology solution for the kind of content protection that is available on newer systems (Intel's PAVP and Microsoft's PVP require a different graphics driver model). Applications that use PAVP have been validated using only Intel GMA drivers and systems with PAVP support. (Platform-level BIOS support is also required for PAVP).

Yes, US15W supports HDCP copy protection assuming these two conditions are met:

1. The sDVO HDMI or DVI transmitter can enable HDCP, and
2. The transmitter vendor provides a suitable port driver for IEGD for HDCP support

The functions for controlling this are proprietary information and cannot be released to customers through the API documentation.

No. The Q45 member of the Intel® Q45/G41/G45 Express chipset series has hardware-level support for DisplayPort natively. Please refer to page 538 of the datasheet, Intel® 4 Series Express Chipset Family

If driver support for DisplayPort is required with the Q45, an alternate driver besides IEGD would need to be used.

Hybrid multi-monitor support is defined as allowing the graphics processing unit (GPU) integrated into Intel’s embedded chipset to concurrently function with a discrete GPU solution provided most commonly on an external PCI-Express graphics card. This allows for generation of unique display timings on greater than two panels or monitors simultaneously.

Hybrid multi-monitor support is officially supported with IEGD for systems using the Q45/G41/G45 and GM45/GL40/GS45 chipsets.

No. IEGD does not officially include Hybrid multi-monitor support for systems using the US15W chipset at the present time.

Several retail platforms based on the US15W chipset and IEGD have successfully enabled unique display timings on greater than two panels or monitors simultaneously. However, much like over clocking the GPU beyond datasheet specifications, enabling Hybrid multi-monitor support with US15W is done at the board vendor’s risk.

The CH7318 is a level shifter device for HDMI. This is not a transmitter device but it provides voltage shifting. The IEGD-supported Series 4 chipsets (Q45/G45/G41/GM45/GS45/GL40) that have integrated HDMI/DVI require only a level shifter to increase the internal voltage to the necessary line voltage. Since IEGD supports some of the Series 4 chipsets (Q45/G45/G41/GM45/GS45/GL40), and the internal HDMI/DVI interfaces that are available, it also supports the necessary level shifters, but not directly. The driver is not aware that the level shifter (for example, the CH7318) is present. Because it is not a transmitter, only a level shifter, it is theoretically invisible to the driver. The driver only knows that there is a DVI or HDMI interface configured. When setting up the IEGD driver with CED, you are not choosing sDVO and then looking for a device labeled CH7318; you are configuring the HDMI interfaces and the additional data to get these interfaces up and running.

When installing or re-installing the graphics driver, switch off the extended display mode.

Four display configurations are currently supported by IEGD and US15W.

Single; only 1 display active, supported by any operating system supported by IEGD. Single display’s hardware configuration is comprised of 1 frame buffer, 1 pipe, and 1 port.

Regarding dual display configurations:

From a hardware perspective DIH, Linux* Xinerama, and Windows Extended configurations are all the same.

Extended Mode in Windows drives two displays simultaneously with continuous widescreen-like content each with independent resolutions. Linux*’s DIH (Dual Independent Head) drives two displays simultaneously with distinct, independent, non-continuous content, each with independent resolutions.

A single widescreen image cannot straddle two monitors in DIH but can do so in Windows Extended configuration and in Linux* Xinerama configuration (with limitations).

DIH at a hardware level has independent resolutions, refresh rates, and content, the same as Extended. In DIH, the two monitors are active and they are logically distinct.

In addition, in DIH, each image is locked to a single monitor. In Extended configuration, two monitors are also active but they form one large virtual desktop (i.e., not logically distinct).

Vertical Extended is a Windows term and Xinerama is a Linux* feature/application/tool. The Intel® System Controller Hub US15W and other Embedded chipsets (Intel Q45/G41/G45, GM45/GL40/GS45, Q35, GME965, GLE960/GME965, 945GME /945GSE/945G, Q965, 915GME /915GV, 910GMLE, 852GM, 852GME, 855GME) support both dual display configurations to the limits of the application and operating system. Xinerama has more limits than the Windows XP/XPE/CE built-in operating system feature called Extended or Vertical Extended. See also the Glossary term Xinerama.

Yes, IEGD and US15W support Vertical Extended Configuration under Windows CE. CED needs to be configured appropriately per the instructions in the User Guide to enable Vertical Extended Configuration (VExt). VExt is a dual display configuration under Windows CE only.

Go to “Display properties” and select the “Settings” tab. There you should see two displays. Select the second display and enable it for extended desktop by checking the box for “Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor,” and then click Apply.

Yes. GMCH drives sDVO-output via sDVO-ports. Based on the chipset type, the numbers of available sDVO-ports are different. If your GenX chipset has multiple sDVO ports, these sDVO ports can drive multiple sDVO devices (for example VGA encoder, DVI encoder, LVDS controller, etc.). For dual sDVO, it is necessary to specify the addresses of the two devices in your configuration.

Note: The Intel® System Controller Hub US15W/US15WP/WPT chipset cannot enable a dual-sDVO system because it has only a single sDVO port supporting pixel clock speeds from 20 MHz to 160 MHz.

Yes, this is the Clone dual display configuration. The Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers support this configuration if the GMCH has two pipes. Each pipe drives out different timings and eventually outputs to a display device. Check the Clone Configuration sections in the User Guide for specific implementation instructions.

Twin display is a display configuration in which two displays are driven by the same set of timings. Both display devices should support those timings (resolution, refresh, etc), where Clone display is a display configuration in which two displays can each have an independent set of timings. The Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers support both Twin and Clone configurations. See the User Guide for more information.

Note: The Intel® System Controller Hub US15W chipset does not support Twin configuration because the US15W hardware requires that the integrated LVDS controller must be on its own pipe; therefore Twin cannot be supported. Twin configuration is possible with most GenX Intel chipsets however.

Yes, starting with IEGD 7.0 on certain chipsets, a second overlay is available as a driver feature. Note: GMCH has only one dedicated hardware overlay surface. This overlay can be attached to either one of the displays but not to both. The one exception is if you are running in Twin configuration, you can see the overlay image on both displays. This is because the Twin displays share the same timings and a single pipe is driving both displays. The latest IEGD drivers simulate the hardware overlay capability on a second independent or clone display.

The configuration file needs to be configured to select which display to use as the primary display. Refer to the User Guide for configuration instructions.

This hardware limitation was eliminated starting with the IEGD7.0 release. This used to occur because Intel chipsets have only one overlay surface to be able to display the XVideo overlay on one graphics pipe at a time. The XOrg driver allocates the XVideo overlay to the primary display when operating with a cloned display enabled. With 7.0 driver and up, a second overlay capability has been added such that XVideo should be able to display on multiple displays. Another solution is that the XVideoBlend overlay does support multiple graphics pipes and will work when in a cloned display. In your XF86Config file, you can disable XVideo with the line 'Option “XVideo” “No”' in the driver device section. Enable XVideoBlend with the line 'Option “XVideoBlend” “Yes”'. The same restrictions apply when using a Dual-Independent Head configuration. XVideoBlend can be enabled and display an overlay on both displays.

The User Guide receives regular updates and lists all sDVO devices currently supported by IEGD via port drivers. The sDVO devices listed in the table below are supported by IEGD currently for second display outputs.

Yes, for all supported X-Server versions, a user can run OGL and OGLES on both screens with Hardware Acceleration.

For US15 and Tunnel Creek, you can run OGL and OGLES when running Xinerama HOWEVER it will not be Hardware Accelerated rendering. It is expected to be very slow. For other platforms such as Gen4 and Gen3, OGL is not supported when running Xinerama configuration due to X-Server limitations.

IEGD supports desktop rotation through the “Rotation” function using the IEGD Graphical User Interface (GUI) tool in Single, Clone, and Extended mode configurations. Consult the User Guide for a list of rotation instructions and operating system limitations.

Yes.

The Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers:

No, internal LVDS in all current mobile chipsets only supports SPWG data formats. Other transmitters that support LVDS can support both via port driver attribute 49.

Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers support a variety of sDVO devices from Chrontel* and Silicon Image* for HDMI, DVI, TVOut, VGA/CRT, and LVDS via the chipset’s internal sDVO port. Refer to the User Guide, POR update, and Product Brief for an up-to-date list of supported devices.

Yes, but the “Data Address Byte” of the sDVO devices should be different. Check the User Guide for more information on how to configure them. Please note that for two-transmitter support it is critical to specify the I2CDAB hardware address option in the configuration for each one. Typically sDVO devices will be found on port 70h and 72h but your hardware may vary. In CED, the configuration option will be found on the sDVO Configuration page under the “I2C Settings” button in the I2C Bus Configuration section. Specify your addresses in each device's “Device Address Byte” box.

See the User Guide for more information.

On a Microsoft Windows XP/eXP* system, this can be done from SysBIOS. For X Server* this should be done from xorg.conf. See the User Guide for more information.

The US15W supports Shader Model level 2.0 with some minor restrictions.

Yes, most if not all chipsets are supported on Linux* 2.6 kernel Linux* distributions, and in Windows on the US15W chipset as detailed in the IEGD v10.2 User Guide, POR Update and Product Brief.

EDID stands for Extended Display Information Data, one of the VESA body of standards that allow for a display or monitor to provide information back to the driver for proper display resolution, mode setup, and configuration.

CRT/VGA monitors exchange EDID information over the I2C bus with IEGD so the driver generates only display modes and timings that are compatible with the monitor to which it is connected.

Some LVDS panels do not allow for exchange of EDID information hence these displays are called “EDID-less” and require custom Detailed Timing Descriptor (DTD) timings to be generated via CED.

See the User Guide, Appendix D for information on support for OpenGL and OpenGL ES.

Two of the more significant differences between OpenGL ES and OpenGL are the removal of the glBegin–glEnd calling semantics for primitive rendering (in favor of vertex arrays) and the introduction of fixed-point data types for vertex coordinates and attributes to better support the computational abilities of embedded processors, which often lack a Floating Point Unit (FPU).

No. Intel believes acceptable platform solutions exist without implementing NVIDIA* proprietary technologies, such as PhysX*, CUDA*, etc.

No. However, OpenVG is supported by the newer Intel® EMGD driver. For more information regarding OpenVG, please review this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openvg

Yes, it is possible for users to have an application that dynamically controls the LVDS backlight, but you first need to make sure that the platform or board being used can control the backlight using PWM. The LVDS connectors need to be hooked up to the PWM inverter. (This is as far as software engineers know about board design).

Then you need the IEGD driver that is able to program the PWM that controls the LVDS backlight. Currently, both IEGD and Intel EMGD can support LVDS PWM on the Intel® System Controller Hub US15W chipset and Tunnel Creek board. It is not confirmed whether the codes have been ported for the Intel® Atom™ Processor 400 and 500 Series. The driver takes in two config inputs to enable PWM. One is the frequency of the inverter and the other is the maximum intensity of the LVDS panel in percentage. IEGD and Intel EMGD normally sets the maximum intensity to 100% but configuring this parameter will set the maximum panel intensity, not the default startup intensity. What this means is that no matter what you do, the brightest setting you can achieve is what you configure in the driver.

The third part is the user application that controls the intensity of the LVDS. If you have the PCI Config spec of the Intel® Atom™ Processor 400 and 500 Series, go to the display device (PCI device 2) section and see the PCI configuration register. Find an entry called LEGACY Backlight Brightness (LBB). On Intel® System Controller Hub US15W, it is offset 0xF4 to 0xF7. You will need to write an application that writes to this PCI config space. You will need to see the Intel® Atom™ Processor 400 and 500 Series spec that applies to Tunnel Creek. Bit 0:7 controls the brightness of LVDS backlight. It has 255 levels of brightness. But bear in mind that the settings on the driver (mentioned in the paragraph above) will set the maximum brightness. This means if you set the max to 50%, even if you set the LBB to 255, it will be 50% intensity.

You can then create an application using sliders, etc. to modify the LBB value which will control the backlight.

IEGD does not currently support Microsoft Silverlight dedicated acceleration. However, IEGD does accelerate many of the basic features and functions that Silverlight uses. For Windows, IEGD accelerates DirectX* (and WPF) and, for Linux*, accelerates OpenGI*/GLES. In summary, IEGD currently has no specific Silverlight acceleration, but Silverlight works on top of the operating systems that IEGD is accelerating.

The current chipset designs do not support rotation in hardware. To rotate a display, the driver must re-render the frame buffer to display rotated which requires use of the 2D and 3D engine for EVERY frame displayed. This causes the overhead and limitations associated with rotation. For best performance, use the display in its native orientation.

Yes, HD video content hardware acceleration is currently supported in Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers (IEGD) with Windows Media Player running with Microsoft* Windows* XP using the VC-1 Motion Compensation (MC) entry point.

VC-1 720p or lower resolution content can be played back with moderate CPU utilization rates using Windows Media Player 11 (WMP11). Playback with 1080p or 1080i VC-1 content may increase CPU utilization rates to unacceptable levels using WMP11 because WMP11 still uses Motion Compensation (MC)-based hardware acceleration.

Note: VC-1 hardware acceleration is not supported with IEGD under Windows* CE.

Multiple versions of the CyberLink* PowerDVD video player also support hardware-accelerated decoding of VC-1 content using the VLD entry point. Examples: PDVD build 3204, build 3116.

The VLD entry point method used by CyberLink PowerDVD for VC-1 content is more efficient than Windows Media Player 11 and Power DVD (PDVD) will thus experience lower CPU rates when decoding HD VC-1 content.

If your PDVD application version reverts to software decode, follow the instructions in this White Paper to modify the registry setting and force the video player to use the VMR7 surface: Enabling Hardware Accelerated Media Playback on the Intel® Atom™/ Intel® SCH US15W Chipset Platform and IEGD - Case Study Using CyberLink PowerDVD* on Windows* XP

The profile defines functionality such as compression algorithm and chroma format whereas the level defines quantitative capabilities such as maximum and typical bit rates and maximum frame size.

Use commercially available media analyzers to get the bit rate and codec information. Most have this capability. The media player provides information on whether hardware acceleration is on or not.

CyberLink’s PowerDVD8* is a media player that typically uses hardware acceleration on the Intel System Controller Hub US15W chipset to decode high-definition video content.

Both formats have 1080 lines per frame. 1080p yields a higher quality image than 1080i due to the fact that 1080i content has been captured with interlacing (“i”) and 1080p has been captured with a progressive (“p”) scan. IEGD can video decode content of either type.

No, not at this time. Support for hardware accelerated Adobe Flash is planned for H.264 video content in Q1/Q2 of 2010.

MC (Motion Compensation) and VLD (Variable Length Decoding)

VLD (Variable Length Decoding) results in the lowest CPU Utilization. Motion Compensation requires more processing to be done in software, thus increasing the CPU utilization rate.

Two overlay layers are supported by IEGD.

In Windows, the Microsoft DirectDraw* interface provides improved video playback performance and primary overlay support. Secondary overlay support via any interface is also supported for Clone or Dual Independent Display (Extended) mode configurations.

Two overlay layers are supported by IEGD.

In Moblin, the X11 Xv interface provides improved video playback performance and primary overlay support. Secondary overlay support via any interface is also supported for Clone or Dual Independent Display (Extended) mode configurations.

Video filters are an aspect of video codecs and players. Regarding codecs and players, customers need to contact their chosen codec and media player vendor to obtain production licenses.

The following media players are known to support hardware acceleration for MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264, VC-1 and WMVHD based HD content: CyberLink* PowerDVD*, Corel* WinDVD and Arcsoft* TotalMedia Theatre. The table below contains a list of supported media players organized by operating system and video codecs hardware accelerated by the GenX and the Intel® System Controller Hub US15W chipset.

:IEGD does not support VDPAU . VDPAU stands for Video Decode and Presentation API for UNIX. VDPAU is an open source library and API originally designed by NVIDIA that provides an interface to support hardware-accelerated video decode.

IEGD does support the VA-API which is Intel's equivalent technology to VDPAU for providing accelerated video decode support. Support for the VA-API has already been integrated into many popular media players, including MPlayer, RealPlayer, VideoLAN, and more.

IEGD continues to provide support for newer versions of the VA-API, allowing embedded chipsets with integrated GPU cores to exhibit enhanced video decoding and presentation capabilities for Linux* IEGD users.

LibVA is the only implementation of the VA-API interface, which Intel supports. For additional information on VAAPI, visit the VAAPI wiki page here: http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/vaapi

POINT OF CLARIFICATION: Both the VDPAU interface and the VAAPI interface are generic enough to be a cross-vendor standard.

IEGD supports only Intel® Video Analytics API (vaapi) 0.29. IEGD does not support Intel Video Analytics API 0.31.

The configuration needs to have "HKR, ALL\1\General , DxvaOptions, %REG_DWORD%, 1" set to 1 to enable hardware acceleration. The miniport driver copies these .INF settings on load. The driver uses it in instances such as hardware accelerated decode.

Similar to Adobe’s 10.1 argo plug-in, IEGD when paired with an Intel Atom + US15W-based platform and a suitable video player can hardware accelerate WMV or H.264 video. However, IEGD does not currently include any dedicated code to support Microsoft Silverlight animations and graphics. Any Microsoft Silverlight features enabled with embedded platforms using IEGD are due to the web browser and Microsoft operating system capabilities and are not caused necessarily by the IEGD Driver.

IEGD supports the following Windows operating systems:

No. IEGD does not support Windows* 7 nor Windows* Embedded Standard 7 (WES7).

Yes. Microsoft* Windows Vista is supported as a POR operating system for all IEGD ECG chipsets supported by Windows XP SP3.

Please check the Intel® EMGD driver for support at http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/embedded/hwsw/software/emgd?iid=subhdr+hwsw_emgd#overview.

Now. However, customer based platforms using the Intel Atom™ N270 + 945GSE chipset must use the GMA driver for Windows 7 / Windows Embedded Standard 7.

Support for Windows Embedded Standard 7 is not on the IEGD roadmap for Intel® Atom™ N270 + 945GSE chipset -based platforms.

Now. However, customer based platforms using the Intel® Atom™ Processor 400 and 500 Series must use the GMA driver for Windows 7 / Windows Embedded Standard 7 (WES7).

IEGD supports other non-WES7 Windows* and Linux* operating systems for systems using the Intel® Atom™ Processor 400 and 500 Series (integrated 945 GPU core + Intel Atom processor).

Support for Windows Embedded Standard 7 is not on the IEGD roadmap for Intel® Atom™ Processor 400 and 500 Series-based platforms.

IEGD does not support Windows* Embedded Standard 7 (WES7) now nor will it do so in the future.

Yes, a host system running Windows 7 64-bit can be used to build an IEGD 10.x driver package, but CED must be run in Microsoft* Virtual PC Windows* XP mode as some utilities used to generate VBIOS in CED are Windows XP applications. Access the link below to obtain more background information on Microsoft Virtual PC mode: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

IEGD supports the latest Microsoft QFE patch dated June 09, 2009 in IEGD 10.2 and IEGD 10.3.

Please use the following steps to patch Platform Builder environment:

1.	Patch platform builder with following patch orders (please follow the order)
     a. WinCEPB60-081231-Product-Update-Rollup-X86.msi
     b. WinCEPB60-090131-2009M01-X86.msi
     c. WinCEPB60-090228-2009M02-X86.msi
     d. WinCEPB60-090331-2009M03-X86.msi
     e. WinCEPB60-090430-2009M04-X86.msi
     f. WinCEPB60-090531-2009M05-X86.msi
     g. WinCEPB60-090630-2009M06-X86.msi
2.	Manually copy the wmvdmod.lib and wmvdmod.pdb files: 
     From: C:\WINCE600\Updates\Backup\090430_2009M04\PUBLIC\DIRECTX\OAK\LIB\X86\DEBUG
     To: C:\WINCE600\PUBLIC\DIRECTX\OAK\LIB\X86\DEBUG
3.	Manually copy the wmvdmod.lib and wmvdmod.pdb files from: 
 From:   C:\WINCE600\Updates\Backup\090430_2009M04\PUBLIC\DIRECTX\OAK\LIB\X86\RETAIL
     To: C:\WINCE600\PUBLIC\DIRECTX\OAK\LIB\X86\RETAIL
     Note: Please back up the new wmvdmod.lib and wmvdmod.pdb file after patch
4.	Perform clean sysgen.

IEGD 10.4 Gold (build 1839) does not work with Fedora 12 or Fedora 14. It requires driver changes and building a new IEGD Kernel Module (IKM).

This is an older configuration capability that was available for configuring the Linux* version of the Intel Embedded Graphics Drivers. Although this is compatible with the newer releases, it is recommended that you use more current configuration mechanisms. See the User Guide for more information on the most current ways to configure the Linux* version of the driver.

IEGD 10.2 drivers support the Fedora 10 operating system. Successful manual driver installation can be completed using instructions found in the latest User Guide.

A Linux* Installer for Fedora 10 does not yet exist.

VAInfo and MediaInfo applications are recommended for this purpose.

Note: US15W is the only chipset that currently supports Video Decode Hardware Acceleration; however, future Embedded chipsets will have this capability as well.

No IEGD does not support Kernel Mode Setting feature on any platform on any Linux* flavor (as of IEGD 10.3 and earlier versions or in near future).

No, IEGD v10.3 has an installer/uninstaller for Fedora 7. Please refer to the User Guide for installation instructions on other supported Linux* distributions.

This depends on the chipset being used.

Intel® US15 System Controller Hub supports:

Intel® Atom™ Processor 400 and 500 Series supports:

All other supported IEGD chipsets support:

NOTE: The above X Server versions correspond to the IEGD Linux* Xorg-xserver directories that contain the drivers when the IEGD Linux* package is expanded.

For further information, download the IEGD 10.3.1 Feature Matrix from the Intel Embedded Design Center.

Review document 324962, "Application Note: Installing Fedora* 10 for Platforms Based on Intel® Atom™ Z510/Z520/Z530 Processor + Intel® US15W System Controller Hub."

Download or request doc number 452607, "Installing Fedora 10 for Moon Creek." It's available via the Intel Business Portal.

Download or request doc number 449300, "Cloning Linux* Drives Using MondoArchive." It's available via the Intel Business Portal.

Often, glxgears is suggested as an easy way to see that GL is working. The nice thing about it is it comes with most Linux* distros. Unfortunately, glxgears does not exercise GL much so it's not a good GL benchmark. Its FPS report only measures copying from the render buffer.

Instead, use "glblur -fps" or "sierpinski3d -fps" to rigorously test the graphics system. These programs come with the xscreensaver suite (please see http://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver but download the binary from your distro's repository or from http://rpmfind.net/Linux/rpm2html/search.php?query=xscreensaver)

The -fps option shows the CPU load figure with the FPS report. Glblur keeps the CPU load high but steady. Sierpinski3d* varies its load with the number of polys it uses. When its polys go up to 4,096 the load rises higher than glblur's load and sierpinski3d's FPS drops.

Currently, the only supported Linux* distribution for platforms based on the Intel® Atom™ Processor 400 and 500 Series is Fedora 10, kernel 2.6.27-5: X Server 1.5.3.

Yes, platforms based on the US15W + Atom™ combination are supported with this Moblin-IVI (Aug. 19, 2009, Kernel 2.6.31, X Server 1.6.3) package.

During the driver release development process (for example IEGD v10.2) a specific distribution must be selected to develop and validate with. The Moblin 2 Aug. 19, 2009 (Kernel 2.6.31, X-Server 1.6.3) distribution was the most recent available during IEGD v10.2 development.

MeeGo is a new operating system that debuted in 2010. It combines Moblin and Maemo*.

Moblin is the open source, Linux*-based software platform optimized for Intel® Atom™ processor-based platforms. Maemo is also an open source Linux*-based software platform but for ARM*/OMAP*-based platforms (i.e., N900, N770, Qt devices).

Graphics capabilities are provided to Intel® Atom™ processor + Intel® System Controller Hub US15WP/WPT chipset and Tunnel Creek-based platforms with Intel® EMGD under MeeGo.

US15W and Tunnel Creek-based platforms. The graphics driver used for MeeGo must be EMGD. IEGD does not support the MeeGo operating system.

Moblin is the open source, Linux*-based software platform optimized for Intel® Atom™ processors. Moblin is targeted for small form factor, handheld, and IVI designs.

Moblin was created by Intel in the second half of 2007.

Other key Moblin milestones are: