Intel 3150 officially won't support OpenGL 2.0 for Windows so how come I read it can for Linux?

Question

Intel 3150 officially doesn't support OpenGL 2.0 for Windows. However I read it can for Linux?

Is there some miracle way to get the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator to support OpenGL 2.0 in Windows 7 Ultimate (32-bit)?

Answer 1

Is OpenGL support *really going to help you in any way whatsoever?

Looking at the Intel site for that chipset it looks like the Windows drivers are circa 2010 while the Linux ones are late last year. The chipset is already pretty old so it's not surprising Intel discontinued development on them a couple of years ago.

It looks to me as if Intel have basically abandoned the drivers.

If the Linux drivers from Intel do indeed support OpenGL 2.0 then it is entirely possible that the Windows drivers could be resurrected and given support, but there is almost no reason at all for Intel to support that line anymore.

Chances are that to get the drivers certified as working in Windows 7/8 Intel would have to pay some amount of money to Microsoft so that it doesn't come up with a warning when installing the drivers, this is something that simply isn't necessary with Linux.

It is probably a combination of those sort of factors that are preventing Intel from releasing updated drivers, time, effort and money make it simply not worthwhile for a small and aging user-base that simply aren't going to see enough of a benefit to be worth the cost.

Answer 2

For those who have Intel Graphics, the only way is drivers, but Windows 7 drivers, just won't work!

Here's how to do it (Remember, tested again on VM, each step necessary, you'll need to reboot 3-4 times). Thanks to Prayaas from MyDigitalInfo

1. Use Windows Update to update to the latest driver.
2. Go to Intel Download Center.
3. Click on Graphics in left-most column. Choose whether you have a desktop, laptop or tablet. Then select your graphic card in the third column.
4. Download the Windows 7 drivers
5. Attempt to Install. It will say that you already have a newer driver. Note the version of newer driver. Still install.
6. After reboot, your resolution is messed up, you can't set brightness and all.
7. Again go to Intel Download Center.
8. Choose Chipsets in the left. Then choose desktop or laptop. Then, select your series.
9. Download and install the Windows 7 Chipset software. You might notice USB connect and disconnect sounds during installation.
10. After reboot, you'll see no change.
11. Open Device Manager. You'll see an exclamation next to your device under Graphics. Uninstall the driver.
12. Reboot. You'll again be reverted to Microsoft Basic Driver.
13. Now, install the freeware software 'Uniextract'.
14. Now right click the file you downloaded in STEP 4.
15. Click on UniExtract to SubDir. A dialog box will open after sometime. The correct radiobox is already chosen, click OK.
16. Now, there is a new sub-directory with the name of your file. Open it. It contains all files in the driver.
17. Open the Graphics folder in it.
18. Open igdlh.inf. Inside it, there is info about the driver, in my case the line is "DriverVer=09/23/2009,8.15.10.1930"
19. Just change the version to something greater than the newer version noted in STEP 5. Like, for me the newer version was 8.15.10.2230, so I changed the version in igdlh.inf to 8.15.10.5000.
20. Go one directory up.
21. Click on File in ribbon, open command prompt as administrator. Now type setup.exe /OVERALL
22. Hit enter. Your screen will go messy during it. Even Ctrl+Alt+Del, will show only the background color of Start Screen, nothing else.
23. Wait for atleast 8-9 minutes by watch and ONLY THEN, forcefully shut down your PC.
24. Now, when you start it, Viola!
25. You have OpenGL!