Cedar Trail platform , Intel GMA 3600 and Linux Mint 14

[RTPDr]

Can anybody predict how the new LM14 will be supporting Cedar Trail platform Intel GMA 3600 (as in ACER AOD270 Atom N2600). will it get installed without any problem, giving a low power consumption and 3d graphics ?

[AlbertP]

On Mint 13, there's "cedarview-graphics-drivers" in the repository, but that package has not been made available yet for 14.
You won't get very good 3D but apart from that your computer should be working: you'd better not run Cinnamon on it. Mint 13 Mate with the cedarview-graphics-drivers package should be OK.

[RTPDr]

Thanks albert. You saved a full day of mine !. Anyway of knowing when it appears on LM14 repos ?
The bluetooth drivers are not working with LM13, which appeared on 3.6.2 kernel which was removed as xorg failed to load. any solutuon ?

[AlbertP]

I think we have to wait for Intel to release a newer driver version that's compatible with 14, before it will appear in the repository.

[RTPDr]

Intel will never do that as it has outsourced the whole thing to powerVR. they are even discouraging cedartrail+linux.

[AlbertP]

The cedarview-graphics-drivers package on Mint 13, was made by Intel: influence from Imagination Technologies (PowerVR is their brand name, not a company) just means that it can't go open-source. I think they will continue maintaining this driver and eventually release a package for Mint 14.

[RTPDr]

LM14.1 Mate could not boot on ACER AOD270 !

[adriann]

Hi,

I'm trying to install Mint 14 with MATE on a Asus Eee PC with Intel GMA 3600, but I cannot get into graphical mode. Error is "No screens found". Are there any kernel/boot params that I can use to start the installation?

Thanks,
Adrian

[AlbertP]

For the moment I recommend using 13 Mate or 13 Xfce on these laptops with Intel GMA 3600, there you can install cedarview-graphics-drivers (on a fresh Mint 13 install, you first need to run the updater once, since the package did not yet exist by the time the ISOs where made).

You could boot by adding the xforcevesa boot argument in 14, but it will not work as well as 13 with cedarview driver. It won't have any hardware acceleration of the graphics, which can be quite noticeable on a slower CPU like Atom.

[adriann]

Thanks. Shouldn't the cedarview-graphics-drivers package from 13 also work in 14 if manually installed?

[AlbertP]

It appears to have no support for the newer kernel or X server used in Mint 14. Else it would probably have been added to the Mint 14 repository already.

Also, it is 32-bit only. Just like on Windows, using 64-bit this driver will not work. The CPUs support 64-bit in fact, but that is only really useful in computers which pair an Atom CPU with an AMD/NVIDIA graphics card, since those cards have working 64-bit drivers.

[adriann]

Okay, I think I'll try release 13 after all - but something is wrong here. I'm not yet familiar with the Linux Mint development process, but this issue has to be escalated. It shouldn't be normal that a part of the user base be forced to downgrade. MATE 1.4 in LM14 has significant improvements and bug fixes over the 1.2 version in LM13.

Also, this issue should be mentioned in the Known Issues section of the release notes.

[Crazycreative]

Dear fellow Mint users,

I also have the crud named GMA3600. I have the Intel D2700DC board.
I have downloaded and installed Mint 13 Mate. I have updated all the software. I installed the cedarview drivers (there are three packages in total).
When i reboot and log in the screens go BLACK. I have done this three times now and to be honest I'm p*ssed off with it all.

The board has hdmi and dvi. I hooked this up to my main tv via hdmi. After getting a blank I connected a monitor to the dvi port - still the same after login.
Before I login i get the full screen on both monitors; 17" monitor and 42" plasma.

Does anyone know what i need to do from here? Or should i just give up and purchase a different board?

Any assistance appreciated.

CC

[AlbertP]

Please make sure you are using Mint 13 32-bit, not 64-bit.

It's a pity there are not much Atom D525 boards with a DVI port, else you could easily have replaced it with this older generation of Atom which works fine.
What you could also do is using a PCI graphics card, such as the Zotac GeForce 610 PCI (not PCI Express, those won't fit!). That is one of the few modern cards available in PCI form instead of PCI Express; most other PCI graphics cards sold use pretty old graphics chips which might also have some problems.

[castillojdavid]

I had the exact same problem. I solved it as described here (Installed Linux Mint 13 MATE 32bit and then the cedarview drivers). But now, you should read this: http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2524
You can now backport MATE 1.6 in Linux Mint 13! Thank you so much developers!