Linux and AMD Fusion

Should I expect any problems installing Linux (Ubuntu) in a AMD Fusion netbook?

TIA

 

It depends really, I don't know if AMD has released drivers for them.

 

IIRC..they are written..they are just waiting for final approval to release...(last i read anyways)

 

Hopefully the ati's open source driver improve the last time I use them (lack of downclocking/no 3D support). I am planning to get the x120e .

 

Anyone try this yet?

 

Any more information on this? I too am quite curious about this.

 

[Phoronix] Open-Source AMD Fusion Driver For Ontario Released

 

Your best bet at this point is to try 2.6.38-rc7

Kernel Log: Coming in 2.6.38 (Part 1) ? Graphics - The H Open Source: News and Features

 

fglrx 11.2 should work fine on Fusion. I'll get my x120e soon so I'll try it out.

 

2.6.38 came out in the wee hours, I've built it but haven't had the chance to reboot yet. I don't have any AMD hardware to run it on but there's an article here: [Phoronix] AMD Fusion Falters With Linux 2.6.38 Final

If anyone has one of these systems please post your experiences.

 

I can tell you right now:

Ubuntu 10.10 with 2.6.38 and open source driver: corrupt screen
Ubuntu 10.10 with 2.6.38 and fglrx: Fglrx won't build
Ubuntu 10.10 with 2.6.35 and open source driver: basic function, correct resolution, and no 2d or 3d acceleration
Ubuntu 10.10 with 2.6.35 and fglrx 11.2: everything works including 2d, 3d, open GL, power management, vari bright and suspend

Ubuntu 11.04 alpha, haven't tried it yet, but it seems to work with open source driver.

If anyone wants to install ubuntu on a Fusion machine, I suggest 10.10 in low graphics mode, manually update the driver or build fglrx 11.2 yourself, then enable proper screen resolution and effects.

 

Not surprising at all about fglrx and .38, too bad about the open driver, probably needs updated libraries so 11.04 might be a better test.

 

While we are still waiting on open-source support for the AMD Radeon HD 6000 series of graphics cards that were released last month, today AMD is releasing their initial open-source support for their Ontario hardware. AMD's Ontario is their low-powered Fusion processor designed for use in netbooks and other such devices. This dual-core chip with integrated Radeon HD 6250 graphics is only starting to ship now, but the open-source support for this first AMD Fusion chip is now available to Linux users, complete with 3D support.

 

Any news on this, especially Ubuntu 11.04 compatibility?

 

Anyone try installing Linux on an AMD Fusion laptop yet?

 

Seems so.

[Phoronix] AMD Fusion E-350 Linux Performance Review

AMD Zacate E-350

The above thread also mentions how nicely the E350 undervolts.

 

Thanks. I read the earlier reviews, and remember reading one dated sometime around March which said that GPU performance was very far from what a Fusion would do with Windows installed.

 

Just ordered a new netbook, Aspire One w/ AMD Fusion (ATI Radeon HD 6250 +AMD C-Series Processor C-50) and I am wondering now how the support is with linux kernels and Fusion currently?

 

I am typing this reply on an Acer Aspire One AO722 right now. Here's the current issues with it:

1: In Ubuntu 10.10, you'll need to download the latest catalyst drivers for linux from AMD's site. Otherwise you'll be stuck with a blurry 1024x768 res or something like that. With the AMD driver you get 1366x768

2: The open source broadcom driver in Ubuntu 11.04 will result in the system locking up when it tries to connect to a wifi access point. You can work around this by enabling netboot and putting it first in line in the BIOS. You don't have to actually boot from the network. for some reason, moving netboot to the top of the list allows the open source broadcom driver to work in 11.04. Or you can plug it into a wired network until you change from the open source broadcom driver to the proprietary one. Or install 10.10 which doesn't have this problem.

3: In Ubuntu 10.10, with the AMD Catalyst driver installed, suspend no longer functions properly. The machine will wake up but to a blank screen. Power cycle required.

4: Performance in linux is still sub par. I'm hoping updated catalyst drivers will fix this in the future. for now windows does a LOT better at high def flash playback. Otherwise performance is acceptable.

 

Thanks for the information. That is the exact netbook I ordered, AO 722. It sounds like I will do a dual boot until some of the issues get fixed.

Does Ubuntu recognize the Broadcom wireless after update? Or did you have to use 'firmware-b43-installer' command?

Also are the AMD drivers Linux compatible?

Thanks.

 

10.04 had to install the restricted driver to work, 11.04 uses the open source driver. Neither required more than clicking enable on the hardware drivers dialog. AMD's proprietary drivers work well enough. They're no speed daemon tho.

 

What version of 10.04?

 

Correction, it's 10.10 and latest from last week.

Oh, and another issue with 10.10 is the acpi stuff. You can't get a reading on charge rate so no estimation of completion time to charge, and you can't read the temps even with sensors-detect.

 

So if using Ubuntu I should stick with 11.04 basically.

 

Maybe. If you turn on netboot and put it at the top of the boot order you should be ok.

 

Yeah installed Ubuntu 11.04 32bit and the propietary AMD drivers run worse than the Opensource version. I would say at this moment video playback performance is 'halved' in comparison to Win 7. I wonder if an updated kernel would help the issue ( newer opensource drivers, etc.)?

 

Can is still do 1080p with 'halved' performance?

TAI.

 

in windows 7 1080p is smooth, in Ubuntu 11.04 720p is laggy. So the drivers just aren't their yet it seems for Fusion in Linux.

I'm going to toy around with the configs (OpenSource and ATI) and see if I can get something going. Put as of right now it just really isn't worth using linux until the drivers are matured.

* if anyone has any ideas/tips/etc., let me know.

 

nope but 720p is watchable enjoyably offline with some minor lag spikes every once in a while with the open source driver. keep in mind you have to lock the CPU's on max performance to achieve this. I think with VA-API and a modified VLC you can get hardware acceleration with proprietary drivers but with the proprietary driver I'm unable to resume from sleep so that's a no go for me.

EDIT: Can someone who is using the proprietary driver update to 11.7 and report on the status of suspend/resume (and whether it worked for them before the update)?

 

Suspend / Resume is still broken on my AO722 with the 11.07 proprietary driver. Does the open source driver in Ubuntu 11.04 allow for 1366x768 operation?

 

Yes. I have been messing around with the Opensource drivers and ATI, and no doubt the opensource perform a bit better.

Still though I guess I have to use windoze when I need to watch flash,movies etc. I hope these drivers get better as of now I might have to move over to windoze full-time considering the massive performance difference in favor win7.

 

yep and compiz, 720p video works fine too (though there is no hardware acceleration for video playback)

 

Well I'm running 11.04 and the open source ATI drivers and 720p video (a mkv file) has terrible lag and problems in linux. OTOH, in windows it plays sort of alright, but still has plenty of dropped frames and little freezes. Neither is really very good. Tested using VLC on both OSes.

 

Try setting your cpu governer to 1.60Ghz locked when watching HD video, that's what does the job for me.

 

I posted a way to get much better performance in the 'video playback' thread in this sub-forum.

It should help in *buntu. But in Windows you should be getting smooth playback in 720p, 1080p is pretty smooth actually. Something must be going on with your cpu.

Did you do a reinstall of Win7 -- to get rid of the bloatware and such?

*edit

Try this:
uninstall mplayer ( sudo apt-get purge mplayer)

then

- sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ripps818/coreavc

- sudo apt-get update

- sudo apt-get install mplayer

- sudo apt-get install smplayer


After you install smplayer configure it. Options> Preferences>General>video -- make sure it is xv

Then Options>Preferences>Performance>Threads.... -- make this how many cores you have (2 or 4). Then below that: Loop Filter -- skip only on HD Videos.


See if this improves performance. That PPA is basically a compiled mplayer2 build with MT support. It should give you a performance boost in x264 playback.

** Also you can compile ffmpeg-mt (multi-threaded) from source and it is a significant performance increase with x264 encoded video.

*** edit. I have actually looked at the mplayer provided by the PPA above, it appears to have ffmpeg-mt built in. So it should help a lot.

 

Well, sadly this is a C50 machine with dual 1GHz cores so not much chance of that.

 

Oh sorry I didn't see that well I guess until the resume issue is fixed, you need to make the choice between decent video playback with VA-API and Catalyst or the ability to suspend correctly. Keep an eye on this link for updates (as I am):

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/767975

 

Sorry have not checked in sometime.

I guess I will hold off on getting an AMD Fusion laptop and see how things develop. I don't want to pony up for a expensive Intel ultra-portable to run Linux and Fusion may or may not ever work well with Linux.

I kind of wanted to have a "modern" Linux ultraportable laptop for the sake of having one, but I don't want to spend to much for it.

Thanks all. Will keep an eye on this thread for updates.

 

@naticus: Could you please post information on where to find/how to install correct video and wireless drivers?

Thank you!