[Liverpool] Atom Cedar Trail Linux compatibility

[David Hughes]

Hi Sebastian,

Thanks for that, very interesting. Is this related to the Clover Trail 
chip which Intel said wouldn't work with Linux (but confusingly, which 
they're apparently now saying will work with Linux:
http://www.zdnet.com/intels-new-clover-trail-chip-will-support-android-and-linux-7000004451/ 
)

I've always been under the impression that it's sensible to wait until a 
particular bit of hardware has been around for a while before expecting 
it to be supported by the kernel; although given that Intel are heavily 
involved with kernel development these days (they contributed some 6.2% 
of new code to the kernel in 2011) I suppose this isn't as important as 
it once was.

(It's kind of academic for me - I can't afford a top of the range laptop 
anyway at the moment!)

Cheers,

David

On 15/10/12 09:27, Sebastian Arcus wrote:
> Just a quick note for anybody who is not aware of this yet. The
> (relatively) new Intel Atom Cedar platform - containing the N2800, N2600
> or N2100 CPU's don't have adequate support under Linux. This is not due
> to the processing cores themselves, but due to the graphics chip (which
> is physically integrated on the processor, if memory serves).
>
> The graphics core - which is the GMA3600/GMA3650, is a PowerVR core -
> not a real Intel one. The story is similar to the GMA500 which was
> integrated with the Intel Atom Z6xx series - and never quite got
> anywhere proper in terms of support under Linux - although some people
> have got it to work, of sorts.
>
> Intel seems to have released some drivers for this chip (from what I can
> tell, binary stuff) - and there are some reports of people who have
> gotten them to sort of work - but apparently with a lot of problems.
> I've seen some mentions that there might be a proper driver in
> development in the kernel for these chips - but I wouldn't hold my
> breath as PowerVR have never cooperated in releasing the specs.
>
> I just thought I'd post this here, in case anybody is considering buying
> one of these newer netbooks - as their performance otherwise (compared
> to older models) is rather good.
>
> Here are some links with extra info:
>
> https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=144445
>
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1953734&page=2
>
>
>
> Sebastian
>