indeviral
ну для начала пользователя может в группу video добавить?
Смысл? С драйвером интел работает без добавления:
[  9713.475] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card0)
[  9713.480] (II) systemd-logind: got fd for /dev/dri/card0 226:0 fd 10 paused 0
[  9713.488] (--) PCI:*(0@0:2:0) 8086:29c2:1458:d000 rev 16, Mem @ 0xfdf00000/524288, 0xd00000
От добра добра не ищут. © xf86-video-intel пока работает — и ладно :)
ls -l /dev/dri/card0
crw-rw----+ 1 root video 226, 0 ноя  6 16:17 /dev/dri/card0
Попробовал все-таки снова.
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf:
Section "Device"
   Identifier  "Intel Graphics"
   Driver      "modesetting"
EndSection
Результат:
[  9697.736] (WW) Failed to open protocol names file lib/xorg/protocol.txt
[  9697.736]
X.Org X Server 1.20.5
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
[  9697.736] Build Operating System: Linux Arch Linux
[  9697.736] Current Operating System: Linux archer15 5.3.8-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT @1572357769 x86_64
[  9697.737] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=491f3fe5-57a0-402b-9966-a8b5bf9a3fd2 rw quiet
[  9697.737] Build Date: 25 October 2019  08:43:50AM
[  9697.737]
[  9697.737] Current version of pixman: 0.38.4
[  9697.737] 	Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
	to make sure that you have the latest version.
[  9697.737] Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
	(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
	(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[  9697.738] (==) Log file: "/home/myuser/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log", Time: Wed Nov  6 18:59:00 2019
[  9697.738] (==) Using config directory: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[  9697.738] (==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[  9697.739] (==) ServerLayout "ServerLayout0"
[  9697.739] (==) No screen section available. Using defaults.
[  9697.739] (**) |-->Screen "Default Screen Section" (0)
[  9697.739] (**) |   |-->Monitor "<default monitor>"
[  9697.739] (==) No device specified for screen "Default Screen Section".
	Using the first device section listed.
[  9697.740] (**) |   |-->Device "Intel Graphics"
[  9697.740] (==) No monitor specified for screen "Default Screen Section".
	Using a default monitor configuration.
[  9697.740] (**) Option "BlankTime" "60"
[  9697.740] (**) Option "StandbyTime" "60"
[  9697.740] (**) Option "SuspendTime" "60"
[  9697.740] (**) Option "OffTime" "0"
[  9697.740] (==) Automatically adding devices
[  9697.740] (==) Automatically enabling devices
[  9697.740] (==) Automatically adding GPU devices
[  9697.740] (==) Automatically binding GPU devices
[  9697.740] (==) Max clients allowed: 256, resource mask: 0x1fffff
[  9697.740] (WW) `fonts.dir' not found (or not valid) in "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi".
[  9697.740] 	Entry deleted from font path.
[  9697.740] 	(Run 'mkfontdir' on "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi").
[  9697.740] (WW) `fonts.dir' not found (or not valid) in "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi".
[  9697.740] 	Entry deleted from font path.
[  9697.740] 	(Run 'mkfontdir' on "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi").
[  9697.740] (==) FontPath set to:
	/usr/share/fonts/misc,
	/usr/share/fonts/TTF,
	/usr/share/fonts/OTF,
	/usr/share/fonts/Type1
[  9697.740] (==) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[  9697.740] (II) The server relies on udev to provide the list of input devices.
	If no devices become available, reconfigure udev or disable AutoAddDevices.
[  9697.740] (II) Module ABI versions:
[  9697.740] 	X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.4
[  9697.740] 	X.Org Video Driver: 24.0
[  9697.741] 	X.Org XInput driver : 24.1
[  9697.741] 	X.Org Server Extension : 10.0
[  9697.744] (++) using VT number 1

[  9697.751] (II) systemd-logind: took control of session /org/freedesktop/login1/session/_37
[  9697.753] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card0)
[  9697.758] (II) systemd-logind: got fd for /dev/dri/card0 226:0 fd 10 paused 1
[  9697.758] (EE) Error systemd-logind returned paused fd for drm node
[  9697.758] (II) systemd-logind: releasing fd for 226:0
[  9697.769] (--) PCI:*(0@0:2:0) 8086:29c2:1458:d000 rev 16, Mem @ 0xfdf00000/524288, 0xd0000000/268435456, 0xfde00000/1048576, I/O @ 0x0000ff00/8, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072
[  9697.770] (WW) Open ACPI failed (/var/run/acpid.socket) (No such file or directory)
[  9697.770] (II) LoadModule: "glx"
[  9697.771] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so
[  9697.778] (II) Module glx: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[  9697.778] 	compiled for 1.20.5, module version = 1.0.0
[  9697.778] 	ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 10.0
[  9697.778] (II) LoadModule: "modesetting"
[  9697.779] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/modesetting_drv.so
[  9697.781] (II) Module modesetting: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[  9697.781] 	compiled for 1.20.5, module version = 1.20.5
[  9697.781] 	Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[  9697.781] 	ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 24.0
[  9697.781] (II) modesetting: Driver for Modesetting Kernel Drivers: kms
[  9697.785] (EE) open /dev/dri/card0: Permission denied
[  9697.785] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for modesetting
[  9697.785] (EE) open /dev/dri/card0: Permission denied
[  9697.785] (WW) VGA arbiter: cannot open kernel arbiter, no multi-card support
[  9697.785] (EE) Screen 0 deleted because of no matching config section.
[  9697.785] (II) UnloadModule: "modesetting"
[  9697.785] (EE) Device(s) detected, but none match those in the config file.
[  9697.785] (EE)
Fatal server error:
[  9697.786] (EE) no screens found(EE)
[  9697.786] (EE)
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
	 at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.
[  9697.786] (EE) Please also check the log file at "/home/myuser/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
[  9697.786] (EE)
[  9697.866] (EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.
vasek, indeviral, попробую как-нибудь. Сейчас пока остановлюсь на достигнутом :) Как я понимаю выигрыш в производительности и качестве от modesetting ждать не стоит.
Удалил xf86-video-intel по совету из поста на забугорном Арч-форуме: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1731411#p1731411
Morisson, vasek, valera_cr, спасибо!
Попробовал переключиться на modesetting: удалил xf86-video-intel, но иксы не запустились, хотя, судя по логу, modesetting загрузился. Но:
(EE) no screens found(EE)
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf не использую — с xf86-video-intel иксы запускаются без него.
Прошу прощения, что влезаю. Но впервые увидел упоминание о таком драйвере modesetting. Совсем уже нубовский вопрос: как его установить? В репозиториях такого не нашел.
talant2000, если не нужны особенные изыски (ввод пароля вручную, вход в разные окружения рабочего стола, в разные учетные записи), я бы посоветовал настроить автологин без экранного менеджера. Сам так давно уже настроил.
Тут обсуждалось: Автологин и автозагрузка любого окружения без DM
Отмечу, что мой ~/.xinitrc выглядит так:
#!/bin/sh

# start some nice programs

if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ] ; then
 for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/?*.sh ; do
  [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
 done
 unset f
fi

exec startxfce4
Спасибо за разъяснения!
Полагаю, тема исчерпана.