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I am working with an embedded board which includes an Intel Atom N2600 processor and a GPU GMA 3600 series based on the PowerVR SGX 545 graphics core (developed by Imagination) [Link1].

As far as I know, Intel just offers Windows 7 support for its GPU through a driver in Link2. In my case, I am working under Linux, so I need to know if there exists any possibility of enabling the GPU capabilities using any compatible driver loaded when X server is started.

Is this impossible? Does the driver just go with a 3.2 Linux kernel, such as in this answer Link3?

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aloplop85
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1 Answers1

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Videocards of this series always have troubles with Linux support.

I know that

  • Fedora 17 supports CedarView chipset (with gma500 driver).

  • Ubuntu 13.04 with community driver supports too. Or Ubuntu 12.04.1 with proprietary driver.

  • I found some useful information about Arch support.

But if you want 3D-video decoding support, you can get into trouble.

P.S.: some years ago I had a netbook with this chipset. So I sold it. :)

approximatenumber
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  • I have seen this video, where using a propietary driver and a Fedora-based Linux an Intel Atom N2600 runs FULL HD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpQwcOaI8J8. Would it just work under Fedora 17 or maybe using a newer one would also work? – aloplop85 Feb 25 '16 at 12:58
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    @aloplop85 current (and the final) driver version 1.0.3 require **Kernel: 3.1.0, Mesa GL: 7.11, Xorg: 1.11**, so I have some doubts about a newer OS... – approximatenumber Feb 25 '16 at 15:29
  • In newer Linux kernels, such as 3.12.20, it appears this option CONFIG_DRM_GMA3600. Would it be useful to enable it or do I need also newer Mesa GL and Xorg versions? – aloplop85 Feb 26 '16 at 09:58
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    @aloplop85 Proprietary driver require versions of **Mesa** and **Xorg**. Built-in driver doesnt require it. You can try, but there will be problems with 3d acceleration, high resolution... Maybe. – approximatenumber Feb 26 '16 at 13:40
  • Once rebuilt the kernel with the option...how should I enable the built-in driver? What driver is it supposed to be included in the xorg.conf file? – aloplop85 Feb 29 '16 at 10:38
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    @aloplop85 Did you install `xserver-xorg-video-modesetting`? In `xorg.conf` you can try options from [here](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel_GMA3600) ("Xorg driver" section) – approximatenumber Feb 29 '16 at 10:53
  • Aha! In the Linux version I am using (Slack 13.1) I don't have such driver... and it may be impossible to build it for a 1.7.7 Xorg server – aloplop85 Feb 29 '16 at 11:16
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    @aloplop85 Unfortunately, this driver possibly cannot work with modern configuration of environment. But you can use GPU capabilities using old Linux dist. – approximatenumber Mar 01 '16 at 13:21
  • Slack 13.1 is quite an old one...however I cannot build xf86-video-modesetting-0.1.0 driver. It seems to be a problem with Xorg (1.7.7), so I'm afraid I should move to another 'newer' such as the ones in Arch-Linux page. E.g.: Bundle Bee Xorg 1.11 or Ant with Xorg 1.9 – aloplop85 Mar 01 '16 at 16:56
  • xf86-video-modesetting-0.1.0 driver has dependencies with xorg-macros 1.8 so...1.7.7 is not valid. – aloplop85 Mar 01 '16 at 17:26
  • I have tried with Ubuntu 14.04 on that CPU. During startup, gma500 driver is loaded. Moreover, I start X with modesetting driver (in xorg.conf) but I'm afraid it is not working... – aloplop85 Mar 09 '16 at 14:36
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    @aloplop85 try to play with `gma500` in xorg.conf. Or maybe VESA will work. – approximatenumber Mar 09 '16 at 14:53
  • vesa and Gstreamer-1.0 seems to work ok. Also fbdev, http://askubuntu.com/questions/158721/which-xorg-driver-not-kernel-driver-to-use-with-gma500-poulsbo-video-hardware :) – aloplop85 Mar 09 '16 at 16:56
  • Maybe the problem is that GStreamer works in a different way with this kind of GPU...do you know any example? – aloplop85 May 18 '16 at 06:23
  • @aloplop85 I did not experiment with GStreamer when I had this chipset, so I do not know... – approximatenumber May 18 '16 at 07:14
  • With Fedora 16 and Intel documentation four XV channels are loaded (not easy, though...). Ubuntu 12.04.1 has also the pvr_drv driver for Xorg, which requires exactly Xorg 1.11: PVR was compiled for 1.11.3 module. Not easy to enable GPU capabilities for this chip... – aloplop85 May 31 '16 at 15:53
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    Solutions: Fedora 16 with Intel guide to compile de xorg driver & Ubuntu 12.04.1, where pvr_dvr can be download from repositories. Note the '.1' is not the LTS version. – aloplop85 Aug 16 '16 at 16:43