Viewing newswire

[Updated Oct 10] — Intel unveiled a family of embedded-specific Atom E3800 (Bay Trail-I) system-on-chips based on its 22nm Silvermont architecture, featuring TDPs ranging from 5 to 10 Watts, and offering interoperability with its Quark SoCs. The Intel Atom E3800 SoCs have already been tapped by a handful of companies for new computer-on-modules (COMs) and single-board computers (SBCs) of various shapes and sizes.

With Microsoft and Intel becoming "outright competitors," Hewlett-Packard sees most of the PC growth happening outside the Windows market. That means Android, Chrome, and Ubuntu.

At the beginning of September Intel launched the Intel Core i7 4960X processor as the long-awaited upgrade for their LGA-2011 platform. The Core i7 4960X is not Haswell-based but an Ivy Bridge Extreme Edition processor for maintaining socket compatibility and being derived from the Ivy Bridge Xeon.

Our latest benchmarks of the Linux 3.12 kernel are looking at the I/O performance between the Noop, CFQ, and Deadline schedulers on the latest Linux kernel when using the high-end Intel Core i7 4960X.

Chris Wilson of Intel's Open-Source Technology Center released the xf86-video-intel 2.99.904 driver today to wrap up all the bug-fixes that landed in the past week and to say there's one more feature planned to be completed for the 3.0 release.

This morning there was news of Intel committed their open-source OpenMP Run-Time Library as a new LLVM project. Now this afternoon there's more good news for multi-threading in open-source compilers: the GCC steering committee will allow Intel to add their Cilk+ Runtime Library to the GCC code-base as they add multi-threading Cilk Plus C/C++ support to the compiler.

ADL Embedded Solutions is shipping one of the industry’s first PC/104-style single board computers to use Intel’s 4th Generation Core i7 (“Haswell”) processors. The Linux-friendly ADLQM87PC SBC provides numerous interfaces for storage, networking, display, and USB, offers PCI Express expansion via a mini-PCIe socket and a self-stacking PCIe/104 bus, and can support -40 to +85°C operation.

Last week it was made public that the Linux-based SteamOS-powered Steam Machines console will use Intel CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs in the living room prototypes shipping this calendar year. Now there's a bit more on Valve's relationship with NVIDIA.

Several weeks ago Intel developers announced the Ozone-Wayland project as a back-end for the Chromium web-browser to support running directly on Wayland without any X11 dependence. This wasn't just a code drop but Intel developers continue investing in this as an independent project for letting the Google web-browser run great on Wayland/Weston.

Yesterday Mesa received support for a new OpenGL extension and after that another useful OpenGL 4.2 extension was added to Mesa and implemented within the Intel OpenGL Linux driver. This latest extension can be used for a driver performance optimization.

The necessary plumbing has happened inside Mesa for handling the OpenGL ARB_texture_query_levels extension and it's now implemented for the open-source Intel Linux graphics driver on Sandy Bridge hardware and newer.

The Core i7 4960X Extreme Edition processor is Intel's new $1000+ CPU built atop their "Ivy Bridge" architecture and features six physical cores plus Hyper Threading. The i7-4960X is running at 3.6GHz with a 4.0GHz Turbo Frequency and is all around a super-fast processor. Under Linux, the performance is fantastic and it runs great on modern Linux distributions.

Under the microscope this Saturday morning are benchmark results comparing the Intel Haswell graphics performance of Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10 Beta, Fedora 19, and Fedora 20 Alpha. The System76 Galago UltraPro with Intel Iris Pro 5200 graphics was used to see how these four Linux distribution releases compare in their open-source OpenGL graphics/gaming performance.

Intel has already queued up a fair amount of changes for their DRM graphics driver in the yet-to-be-started Linux 3.13 kernel, but there's even more work ahead. A new set of patches were pushed into the Intel DRM driver's kernel testing branch with a lot of "cool stuff" according to its developers.

After last week announcing Steam Machines as the Valve-backed Steam "living room consoles" (a.k.a. Steam Box) powered by the Linux SteamOS, today Valve has released the prototype hardware details that they will be shipping to 300 beta testers.

Intel ramped up its race to the bottom against ARM today, with the launch of an Arduino-compatible single board computer (SBC) based on its new Quark system-on-chip (SoC), and supported with a full Linux OS. In conjunction with the Galileo launch, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said Intel will donate of 50,000 Galileo SBCs to 1,000 universities worldwide over the next 18 months.

While Intel has their highly-tuned "SNA" acceleration architecture for delivering maximum 2D performance, it turns out the OpenGL-based GLAMOR acceleration architecture for the open-source Radeon driver may be better than the xf86-video-ati driver's own EXA implementation.

Earlier this month I published benchmarks of Intel's Iris Pro 5200 graphics when comparing the Intel driver performance between Windows 8 and Ubuntu Linux. The test results found that there were some performance wins for Intel OpenGL on Linux after the very latest open-source driver optimizations were made, but there are still some losses. In this article are a few more Windows 8 vs. Linux benchmark results for the Haswell Ultrabook with Iris Pro graphics.

There's still several more weeks until the Linux 3.12 kernel release, but Intel's open-source developers already have a number of changes queued up for Linux 3.13...

Axiomtek announced a 100 x 72mm Pico-ITX form-factor motherboard based on Intel’s embedded-oriented Atom E6xx processors and EG20T chipset. The Linux-friendly PICO822 SBC provides LVDS display, HD audio, SATA-300, gigabit Ethernet, USB, and serial interfaces, comes with up to 32GB of onboard SSD, runs fanless, and supports -20 to +70? C operation. Axiomtek says the […]

For those curious about the performance of LLVM/Clang 3.4 -- the current development code of the increasingly-used open-source cross-platform compiler -- here's some new tests done on an Intel Core i7 "Haswell" processor with using the compiler's "core-avx2" optimizations and benchmarks comparing it to the stable LLVM 3.3 release.

After several weeks of testing the Linux-friendly System76 Gazelle Pro Haswell laptop, we've now been using the System76 Galago UltraPro for a wide variety of Linux testing as its powered by the Core i7 4750HQ CPU with Iris Pro 5200 graphics. In the preview article for this System76 ultrabook we ran some early comparative tests while in this article are some direct Ubuntu 13.10 comparison benchmarks between System76's two Intel Haswell laptops. What's most interesting to see with these results is how much faster the Iris Pro graphics are over HD Graphics 4600.

It's been a while since last hearing anything from Intel engineers about their proposed Power Capping Framework or Running Average Power Limit driver for the Linux kernel, but that changed today. New patches have been released for the power monitoring and limiting kernel code.

At LinuxCon, Dirk Hohndel, Intel's chief Linux and open-source technologist, explains why Intel is invested in open source and what his company is doing with the OpenStack cloud. -

For the past few days at Phoronix we have begun looking extensively at the Intel Iris Pro 5200 graphics under Linux, since receiving the System76 Galago UltraPro. The Iris Pro 5200 are the new high-end Intel Haswell graphics that have 128MB of embedded video RAM on the die, which should yield a nice performance boost when properly implemented within the Intel Linux driver. Already our testing has found the Iris Pro performance on Linux has doubled with open-source driver improvements since Haswell's launch. Now we're out today with our first Intel Iris Pro OpenGL gaming benchmarks between Ubuntu Linux and Microsoft Windows 8 for this Intel Core i7 Ultrabook.

Intel's Ian Romanick will take to the Linux Plumbers Conference tomorrow with a plea to work together to provide better capabilities across the Linux stack for better debugging and profiling of graphics applications/systems on Linux. The open-source Intel Linux Mesa developer himself calls the current graphics debugging situation on Linux a "disaster" to be fixed.

Intel CTO Dirk Hohndel sees Linux as the leading end-user operating systems - thanks to smartphones, tablets, as well as the rise of Chromebooks.

Acrosser announced a Fedora Linux-ready Mini-ITX single board computer (SBC) equipped with a dual-core 1.86GHz Intel Atom D2550. The AMB-D255T3 supports up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, can run dual displays via VGA, HDMI, or 18-bit LVDS interfaces, and offers both PCI and Mini-PCIe expansion. The Intel Atom D2550-based “Cedar Trail” platform has been a […]

Last week I ran a System76 Galago UltraPro Preview with some benchmark results and a special article looking at the Intel Iris Pro 5200, the Haswell graphics cores with 128MB of dedicated video memory stacked onto the die itself. Those tests were done remotely but now with having a System76 Galago UltraPro ultrabook review sample in the labs, here are some fresh tests looking at the very latest state of Haswell Iris Pro graphics under Linux.

In the months ahead there's going to be a variety of tablets, 2-in-1 devices, and other low-power systems running off Intel Atom Bay Trail / Silvermont SoCs that were announced yesterday. While the new Atoms are exciting for their use of in-house HD Graphics and low-power design, how's the Linux support?.

An updated version of the MintBox mini-PC from a collaboration between the Linux Mint project and CompuLab has begun shipping for $599 with Linux Mint 15 “Olivia” pre-installed.

Intel offered new details about its 22nm “Silvermont” architecture “Bay Trail-T” system-on-chip, targeting affordable Android and Windows 8 tablets. The Intel Atom Z3000 family SoC will be offered in dual- and quad-core models, offering up to twice the performance of current Atom chips while providing up to 10-hour battery life, says Intel.

Aside from the Intel Bay Trail unveiling today, exciting news out of the Intel Developer Forum today is a set of new Chromebooks thanks to Google and their partners. Being at IDF, these are Intel-based devices and using the latest-generation Haswell CPUs.

KO GmbH today presents Krita Gemini for Windows 8. Krita Gemini is a fusion between Krita Sketch and Krita Desktop: Krita Gemini switches seamlessly between the full-featured desktop/laptop user interface and the sketch interface, which is optimized for tablets.

Intel’s answer to the Raspberry Pi is here – but at nearly six times the price, can it tempt buyers back to x86?

On the first day of the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) conference, new Intel CEO Brian Krzanich revealed plans for a “Quark” processor family that uses a tenth the power of an Atom chip and is designed for low-power applications ranging from the “Internet-of-Things” (IoT) apps to wearable computing. Intel also unveiled some new details on […]

LinuxCertified Inc introduced the LC22UltraPlus 14.1" High Resolution, Full HD Display - Exclusive High Performance Linux Ultrabook pre-installed with Ubuntu or Fedora Linux. The LC22UltraPlus is world's first 14.1 inch display with Intel Iris Pro graphics. One of the ultralight, ultrathin, yet powerful Linux Ultrabook designed for legendary performance on the go, whether to another meeting or another country, you sacrifice nothing in return. http://www.linuxcertified.com/linux-ultrabook-lc22plus.html

"We are pleased to add the LC22UltraPlus Linux laptop to our highly successful LC series product line," said Rajesh Goyal, vice president of LinuxCertified, Inc. "The laptop offers Intel Iris Pro 5200 Graphics with 128MB eDRAM memory and FHD (1920 X 1080) display."

Last week support was committed to the mainline Mesa tree for Haswell Gallium3D support via the community-maintained "ILO" driver formerly known as i965g. In this article are the first public benchmarks of the Intel Haswell Gallium3D support code and the performance is compared to the classic i965 Mesa DRI driver that is officially developed by Intel for all modern HD Graphics hardware support.

Gigabyte announced a Linux-friendly mini-PC that supports Intel’s 4th Generation (Haswell) Core processors clocked at up to 1.8GHz. The Brix comes in four different models, depending on the dual-core Core variant, supports dual HDMI/DisplayPort displays at up to 4K resolution, and offers and SPDIF, mSATA, four USB 3.0 ports, WiFi, Bluetooth, and gigabit Ethernet connections.

The choice to not support XMir patches upstream is not what had me scratching my temple. After all, much of Con Klivas's work was rejected by the core developers of the Linux kernel. I take issue with how the overall message and choice of wording regarding the attempt to send said patch upstream.

Intel (INTC) has decided not to support the Mir display server built into Canonical's forthcoming Ubuntu 13.10 release, which is set to arrive in late October 2013. Most observers think Intel backed away from Mir because the chip giant is embracing Wayland, another display server. Here's the background, and potential implications for Ubuntu and Intel partners.

If all goes according to plan by Red Hat engineers operating in conjunction with Intel, Fedora 20 will be the first tier-one Linux distribution with decent support for Wayland and a usable desktop environment having its own compositor...

Intel announced yesterday, September 7, 2013, that they've removed support for XMir, Canonical's new X11 display server that will be injected in the upcoming releases of the Ubuntu Linux operating system, from the xf86-video-intel package, the open source driver for Intel video cards.

In preparation for running Intel Haswell Gallium3D benchmarks, this weekend I ran some fresh Mesa 9.1.6 vs. 9.2.0 vs. 9.3-devel tests on an Intel Core i7 "Haswell" system with HD Graphics 4600...

In an interesting change of events, the mainline Intel Linux graphics driver has reverted the patch to support XMir -- the X11 compatibility layer for the Mir Display Server in Ubuntu Linux.

The "Ilo" driver that began targeting Sandy/Ivy Bridge graphics support on the Gallium3D architecture in mainline Mesa now has initial support for Haswell graphics...

Congatec announced two Linux-ready Type 6 COM Express computer-on-modules based on Intel’s 4th Generation Core (“Haswell”) processors. The more compact Conga-TC87 supports Intel’s higher-integration, lower-power embedded processors, while the larger Conga-TS87 offers more PCI Express lanes and USB 3.0 ports, and higher performance graphics including PEG compatibility. Congatec unveiled the larger “Basic” sized (3.75 x […]

If you are an owner of Intel "Ironlake" generation hardware, there is still some good open-source Linux graphics driver news. Intel developers have addressed hardware context support for Ironlake Linux graphics and will be re-attempting to enable RC6 power-savings support.

It's been a while since last running any Ubuntu Linux disk encryption benchmarks either of the eCryptfs-based home directory encryption feature or the LUKS-based encrypted LVM, both of which are supported by Ubuntu's Ubiquity installer. With having around the System76 Gazelle Professional laptop and its nice Core i7 4900MQ "Haswell" CPU with Intel 520 SSD, and I'm always one to encourage encrypted disks especially for mobile systems, here are some new benchmarks of Ubuntu 13.10 with no disk encryption versus home directory encryption versus a fully encrypted LVM of the root EXT4 file-system.

Our latest tests from an Intel Core i7 4900MQ "Haswell" laptop are looking at the impact of applying CPU compiler optimizations for this high-end "core-avx2" processor when using a recent GCC 4.9 development snapshot...