A while ago Neon switched from the xserver-xorg-video-intel driver to the xserver-xorg-video-intel-native-modesetting. This should be very beneficial to all users exept a few with very old intel videocards. This laptop dates from 2010 and it reacts not so good on the new driver.
Mainly the user interface of libreoffice has to suffer from it.
So I tried to get the old driver back.
And here is the strange thing: there is no way to do this.

The strangest things happen when I try to install the old xserver-xorg-video-intel driver. E.g. neon-destkop is removed as dependency. The other intel video-driver packages I tried to install using Muon are all "dummy packages". I can find no way to re-install the old driver in Neon.
Kubuntu 17.10 simply uses the xserver-xorg-video-intel driver again.
Does someone know a way to get the old xserver-xorg-video-intel driver back?
Thanks!

You tried install driver with software Additional Drivers?
https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/precise/jockey-gtk/

No, I didn't try that. And I will. I will tell if it worked or not. But I am not optimistic.
Thanks.

No, didn't work. The kubuntu-driver-manager helps to install closed-source drivers in a user-frienly way. But this intel driver isn't at all closed-source.
It looks as if it is a bit of a mess.
But I hope someone can help me out.

Basically you have the choice in Neon between the native-modesetting driver and the HWE driver. When I look in Muon there are lots of other possibilities like even the real xserver-xorg-video-intel driver but all these packages are either "virtual packages" or "transitional packages". They won't install.
In k/ubuntu 17.04 and 17.10 I can just install this driver.
It is possible that the switch to the native modesetting driver was a wise decision, lots of people have newer intel hardware. But I don't think it's correct to cut of all people with older intel hardware from their best driver option.

The package neon-desktop is a meta-package, which solely exists to provide the set of default packages that make up Neon. The removal of this does not remove any other packages that you already have, so nothing will be broken if it is missing. It is safe to go ahead and install the driver package you want.

In Kubuntu, the equivalent kubuntu-desktop package does not have the intel driver package as a dependency, so you do not see the removal of the meta-package when you install it.

Thank you Claydoh, for your comment. Encouraged by it I did all I could think of to install the package xserver-xorg-video-intel. But I had no success. In the end my system broke completely but that is not a big problem.

it may be possible to compile it from source using the LFS package stuff. But altho I can compile I and you will need to know some specs from your CPU and your graphics card. Leaping ahead....do you know if you have this chipset features?

--enable-uxa Enable Unified Acceleration Architecture (UXA) [default=auto]
--enable-xaa Enable legacy X Acceleration Architecture (XAA) for i810 chipsets [default=auto]
--enable-dga Enable legacy Direct Graphics Access (DGA) for i810 chipsets [default=auto]

2) --with-default-accel Select the default acceleration method out of none, sna, or uxa [default is sna if enabled, otherwise uxa]

(2) may then require a config of (example is uxa for sandybridge CPU)

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sudo su
mkdir /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
cat >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf << "EOF"
Section "Device"
        Identifier "Intel Graphics"
        Driver "intel"
        Option "AccelMethod" "uxa"
EndSection
EOF

ref
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/vi ... tel-driver

so post the output for your VGA section to this command might help

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lspci -v

name your CPU make and model, if unsure post contents of

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cat /proc/cpuinfo

or a snippet of

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journalctl

There is some output! Btw, I just filed a bug about this https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=381848

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lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07)
        Subsystem: Dell Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Capabilities: <access denied>

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: Dell Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 27
        Memory at f6c00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
        Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        I/O ports at efe8 [size=8]
        [virtual] Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: i915
        Kernel modules: i915

00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
        Subsystem: Dell Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Memory at f6b00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
        Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: Dell 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 20
        I/O ports at 6f60 [size=32]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: Dell 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
        I/O ports at 6f80 [size=32]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1a.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: Dell 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
        I/O ports at 6fa0 [size=32]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
        Subsystem: Dell 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
        Memory at fed1c400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Dell 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 30
        Memory at f6afc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 24
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=0b, subordinate=0b, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 00002000-00002fff
        Memory behind bridge: c0000000-c01fffff
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000c0200000-00000000c03fffff
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
        Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 25
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=0c, subordinate=0c, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 00003000-00003fff
        Memory behind bridge: f6900000-f69fffff
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000c0400000-00000000c05fffff
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
        Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 26
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=09, subordinate=09, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 00004000-00004fff
        Memory behind bridge: f6800000-f68fffff
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000c0600000-00000000c07fffff
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
        Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: Dell 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 20
        I/O ports at 6f00 [size=32]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: Dell 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
        I/O ports at 6f20 [size=32]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: Dell 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
        I/O ports at 6f40 [size=32]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
        Subsystem: Dell 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 20
        Memory at fed1c000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 92) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=06, sec-latency=32
        I/O behind bridge: 00005000-00005fff
        Memory behind bridge: f6700000-f67fffff
        Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Dell ICH9M LPC Interface Controller
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: lpc_ich
        Kernel modules: lpc_ich

00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801IBM/IEM (ICH9M/ICH9M-E) 4 port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 02) (prog-if 01 [AHCI 1.0])
        Subsystem: Dell 82801IBM/IEM (ICH9M/ICH9M-E) 4 port SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
        Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 28
        I/O ports at 6e70 [size=8]
        I/O ports at 6e78 [size=4]
        I/O ports at 6e80 [size=8]
        I/O ports at 6e88 [size=4]
        I/O ports at 6ea0 [size=32]
        Memory at fed1c800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: ahci
        Kernel modules: ahci

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Dell 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller
        Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 11
        Memory at f6afbf00 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
        I/O ports at 1100 [size=32]
        Kernel modules: i2c_i801

02:01.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev ba)
        Subsystem: Dell RL5c476 II
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 19
        Memory at c4000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Bus: primary=02, secondary=03, subordinate=06, sec-latency=176
        Memory window 0: c8000000-cbffffff (prefetchable)
        Memory window 1: cc000000-cfffffff
        I/O window 0: 00005000-000050ff
        I/O window 1: 00005400-000054ff
        16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: yenta_cardbus
        Kernel modules: yenta_socket

02:01.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 04) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
        Subsystem: Dell R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 17
        Memory at f67ff800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: firewire_ohci
        Kernel modules: firewire_ohci

02:01.2 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 21) (prog-if 01)
        Subsystem: Dell R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 18
        Memory at f67ff700 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: sdhci-pci
        Kernel modules: sdhci_pci

09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5761e Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 10)
        Subsystem: Dell NetXtreme BCM5761e Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 31
        Memory at f68e0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Memory at f68f0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: tg3
        Kernel modules: tg3

0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation WiFi Link 5100
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation WiFi Link 5100 AGN
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 29
        Memory at f69fe000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
        Kernel modules: iwlwifi


I found a way to revert to the old xserver-xorg-video-intel driver!
Just:

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sudo apt remove xserver-xorg-video-intel*
sudo apt install xserver-xorg-core
sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-intel
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt install sddm

On every step unexpected things happen. Wrong dependencies are removed (sddm etc.). But after the last step everthing is in order again.