Why This Matters

As an enthusiast of the ramalama project, I needed to use a GPU to run models locally. Ramalama leverages GPU acceleration for better response times while processing answers.

Most of my teammates are using Apple MacBooks or Mac mini systems with M2 or newer chips. However, macOS is not Linux.

Recently I refreshed my Lenovo laptop, which contains a Meteor Lake (14th Gen) GPU. My Fedora system uses the Wayland protocol; I am not using X11 anymore.

However, my GNOME graphical sessions started to freeze, and the only way to recover was by rebooting.

This blog post explains how to fix screen freezes on Fedora systems running the Wayland graphical compositor.

Intel Arc GPU: Migrating from i915 to xe Driver with Fedora

I started a chat with Google Gemini and found that Intel released the xe driver.

Comparison of the i915 and xe Drivers

Hardware Support

Feature i915 Driver xe Driver
Meteor Lake Support Legacy/Limited Native/Full
Arc GPU Support Not Supported Full Support
Integrated GPUs Up to 12th Gen 12th Gen+

Performance & Efficiency

Feature i915 Driver xe Driver
Graphics Performance Good Better
Compute Performance Good Optimized for AI/ML
Power Efficiency Good Improved

Compute & AI

Feature i915 Driver xe Driver
Level Zero Support Yes Optimized
OpenCL Support Yes Yes
AI/ML Workloads Good Better (LLMs, AI inferencing)
oneAPI Integration Supported Enhanced

Development Status

Feature i915 Driver xe Driver
Active Development Maintenance mode Active development
Kernel Status Stable (upstream) Mainline since 6.8
Feature Updates Bug fixes only Regular feature additions

For LLM workloads with Podman: xe driver provides better compute performance and power management.

Prerequisites

  1. Check Your Kernel Version

    uname -r

    Required: Kernel 6.8+ (you have 6.18.8 ✅)

  2. Verify xe Driver Availability

    modinfo xe

    Should show: description: Intel Xe2 Graphics ✅

  3. Check Current Driver

    readlink /sys/class/drm/card*/device/driver

    Should show: i915 (current state)

  4. Backup Current Configuration (GRUB will be modified)

    sudo cp /etc/default/grub /etc/default/grub.backup.$(date +%Y%m%d)

  5. Install Intel oneAPI (Optional but recommended for GPU compute workloads)

    Add Intel’s oneAPI repository:

    sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/oneAPI.repo << EOF
[oneAPI]
name=Intel® oneAPI repository
baseurl=https://yum.repos.intel.com/oneapi
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
repo_gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://yum.repos.intel.com/intel-gpg-keys/GPG-PUB-KEY-INTEL-SW-PRODUCTS.PUB
EOF

    Update and install the base kit:

    sudo dnf install intel-basekit

    Warning: This is several GBs in size.

Migration Steps

  1. Remove Conflicting i915 Configuration

    Your current GRUB configuration has an incorrect blacklist. Edit GRUB:

    sudo nano /etc/default/grub

    Find this line:

    GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="rd.luks.uuid=luks-0bcd3d51-a5eb-4770-b826-5d4db4d8823d rhgb quiet intel_idle.max_cstate=4 module_blacklist=i915 i915.force_probe=!7d55 i915.enable_psr=0 i915.enable_fbc=0"

    Replace with:

    GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="rd.luks.uuid=luks-0bcd3d51-a5eb-4770-b826-5d4db4d8823d rhgb quiet intel_idle.max_cstate=4 i915.force_probe=!* xe.force_probe=7d55"

    Explanation:

    • i915.force_probe=!* - Tells i915 to skip all devices
    • xe.force_probe=7d55 - Tells xe to claim device 7d55 (your GPU)

  2. Create Module Blacklist (Alternative Method)

    Create a blacklist file to ensure i915 doesn’t load:

    sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-i915.conf <<EOF
# Blacklist i915 in favor of xe driver
blacklist i915
EOF

  3. Ensure xe Module Loads

    sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/xe.conf <<EOF
# Load xe driver at boot
xe
EOF

  4. Update GRUB Configuration

    # For UEFI systems (most modern systems)
sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg

# If that fails, try BIOS method:
# sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

  5. Rebuild initramfs

    sudo dracut --force

    This ensures the correct driver is loaded during early boot.

  6. Reboot

    sudo reboot

Verification

After reboot, verify the xe driver is active:

  1. Check Active Driver

    readlink /sys/class/drm/card*/device/driver

    Expected: ../../../bus/pci/drivers/xe

  2. Verify xe Module is Loaded

    lsmod | grep -E "^xe"

    Expected: Shows xe module with usage count > 0

  3. Verify i915 is NOT Loaded

    lsmod | grep -E "^i915"

    Expected: No output

  4. Check dmesg for xe Driver

    dmesg | grep -i "xe.*7d55"

    Expected: Should show xe claiming your GPU

  5. Check OpenCL/Level Zero Detection

    source /opt/intel/oneapi/setvars.sh --force
sycl-ls

    Expected: Shows Intel Arc Graphics via Level Zero

  6. Verify DRI Devices

    ls -la /dev/dri/

    Expected: renderD128 and card* devices present

  7. Verify Wayland Compatibility (Optional)

    # Check display server
echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

# Verify DRM/KMS is working
cat /sys/class/drm/card*/status

    Expected: Wayland session with connected displays showing “connected”

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