Kernel Mode Setting

1. Under normal circumstances it should be enough to add the i915 kernel module to the initramfs to get early KMS to work:

    MODULES="i915"
   

2. When running a UHD+ resolution display, however, the KMS may fail to set the correct mode, resulting in no signal being sent to the display and the display entering screen saving mode.

   • The simplest solution is to append the nomodesetting kernel boot parameter, which will disable KMS.
   • Another solution is to obtain the EDID from the display (using read-edid) and then pass it to the kernel as a boot parameter:

     1. Copy the EDID to /usr/lib/firmware/edid/dell_p2715q.edid.

     2. Add the EDID to your /etc/mkinitcpio.conf file's FILES section:

         FILES="/usr/lib/firmware/edid/dell_p2715q.edid"
        

     3. Rebuild the initramfs:

         mkinitcpio -p linux
        

     4. Add the following to your /esp/loader/entries/arch.conf''s options` line:

         video=1920x1080@60D drm_kms_helper.edid_firmware=edid/dell_p2715q.edid
        

Hardware Acceleration

1. Install the libva-intel-driver package:

    pacman -S libva-intel-driver
   

   • When asked select mesa-libgl as the libgl provider.

2. Verify that you have support for VA-API:

    vainfo
   

Xorg

1. Install the following packages:

    pacman -S xorg-server xorg-xinit xorg-xrandr xorg-twm xorg-xclock xterm
   

   • When asked select xf86-input-libinput.
   • Note that you only need the xorg-twm, xorg-xclock, and xterm packages if you wish to run a bare-bones X server via startx.