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| true | false | false | Artix with `runit` on Intel Integrated XE Graphics | Resolving GTK Rendering Issues | monitor | Hyperling | 2026-09-11T08:00:00-07:00 | true | false |
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Introduction
After installing Artix with LXQT and runit on my NovaCustom laptop I was finding that many GUI applications were failing to run properly.
There were also issues in the /run/user/ hierarchy, such as the 1000 directory not being created, and getting deleted if created manually.
Eventually I realized that it was only the GTK programs such as kitty, transmission-gtk, gnome-system-monitor, etc.
Apps such as qterminal, firefox, and transmission-qt were working with no issues!
This seemed odd since on my mid-2010s Macbook everything had been working flawlessly from the start, but it was installed with a Cinnamon runit ISO
, so I thought maybe I was missing some graphics drivers that come with GTK desktop environment.
After doing some pacman-fu with -Qqn from the Macbook to the newer system it still did not resolve the issues
, so I figured it must be something specific to the laptop
, similar to how the ISO needed booted with nomodeset see this article (TBD).
The steps below are what got me successfully running all GUI applications properly with Intel Integrated 12th-gen XE graphics.
Instructions
Check the GPU and driver in use.
$ lspci -k -d ::03xx
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] (rev 0c)
DeviceName: VGA compatible controller
Subsystem: CLEVO/KAPOK Computer Device 4041
Kernel driver in use: i915
Kernel modules: i915, xe
Ensure the Intel drivers are all installed.
sudo pacman -Sy mesa vulkan-intel lib32-mesa lib32-vulkan-intel intel-media-driver
You may need to enable the 32-bit repo in /etc/pacman.conf first.
$ sudo vi /etc/pacman.conf
[lib32]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
Get the PCI ID (value after the colon in [xxxx:yyyy]).
$ lspci -nn | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] [8086:46a6] (rev 0c)
Switch to xe driver using the PCI ID above in the kernel parameterss for GRUB.
$ sudo vi /etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT='quiet i915.force_probe=!46a6 xe.force_probe=46a6 ...'
$ sudo update-grub
Enable xe's hardware acceleration modes (GuC and HuC).
echo 'options xe enable_guc=3' | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/intel-xe.conf
Remove legacy drivers which may get in the way.
sudo pacman -Rns xf86-video-intel
Reboot the system.
reboot
Check which driver is now in use.
$ lspci -k -d ::03xx
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Alder Lake-P GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] (rev 0c)
DeviceName: VGA compatible controller
Subsystem: CLEVO/KAPOK Computer Device 4041
Kernel driver in use: xe
Kernel modules: i915, xe
Validate whether GTK applications are happy now.
In my case, kitty, gnome-system-monitor, codium, transmission-gtk, mullvad-vpn, and all other GTK apps are now all running properly and their GUI interfaces are now working flawlessly. :D
Artix is feeling fast as ever and the simplicity of using a feature-complete init system like runit are at their full power! >:)