Posts Tagged ‘Intel’

Intel debuts 48 core processor

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Posted 03 Dec 2009 — by Arun
Category News

Intel on Wednesday demonstrated a fully programmable 48 core processor. Intel says the 48 core chip is 10 to 20 times more powerful than current the top end offering in its multi-core Core line of processors. Intel also noted that the experimental chip uses the same amount of energy as two household light bulbs.

Two years back Intel showed an experimental 80 core chip with teraflop performance capability, but it was not fully functional. It was more research oriented. The new chip is more compatible with standard software that runs in Intel’s Pentium and Core models.

Intel reported that the 48-core chip is designed with a high-speed, on-chip network for sharing information, along with newly invented power management techniques that allow it to operate at as little as 25 watts, or at 125 watts when running at maximum performance.

Source: ComputerWorld.
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Surprise!!! Silverlight to support Linux?

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Posted 24 Sep 2009 — by Arun
Category Announcement, Linux

Intel announced yesterday at IDF (Intel Developer Forum) support for Silverlight 3 on their Atom-based devices. This includes Intel’s own Linux based Moblin OS. As part of this, Silverlight will become one of the technologies supported within Intel’s Atom Developer Program.

Was this a result of Microsoft trying to be nice to Intel or does Microsoft acknowledge the widespread use of Linux and wants to make Silverlight cross platform or was it to dethrone Adobe flash player from all OSes including Linux? What is the status of Moonlight? Is it going to be abandoned?

News source: The Silverlight Blog.
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Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 2 released

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Posted 12 Jun 2009 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

Ubuntu team has released the 2nd alpha version of Ubuntu 9.10 code named Karmic Koala. Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 2 includes the latest GNOME 2.27.1 development release. It includes the 2.6.30-5.6 kernel based on 2.6.30-rc5. The kernel will ship with Kernel Mode Setting enabled for Intel graphics.

Karmic Alpha 2’s underlying technology for power management and laptop Fn key maps was moved from “hal” (which is going to be deprecated soon) to “DeviceKit-power” and “udev-extras”. Intel UXA accelerated Intel video driver is available. It’s not enabled by default since it’s not stable.

Karmic uses GCC-4.4 as the default compiler, which in some parts is more strict than GCC-4.3. The new “ext4″ filesystem is used by default for new installations of Karmic.

GRUB 2 is the default boot loader for new installations of Karmic, replacing the previous GRUB “Legacy” boot loader. Existing systems will not be upgraded to GRUB 2 at this time, as automatically reinstalling the boot loader is an inherently risky operation.

Here are the known issues in Alpha 2:

  • Due to the conversion to GRUB2, installation will fail if you try to install Karmic Alpha 2 on a system with other OSes installed. This will be fixed for Alpha 3.
  • After installation from the desktop CDs, the system will fail to reboot cleanly and you will need to manually power-cycle the system. This wll be fixed for Alpha 3.
  • The likewise-open5 package is currently non-functional because of an incompatibility with MIT Kerberos 1.7. The likewise-open package (version 4) continues to be usable, and likewise-open5 will be fixed in the near future.

You can download Ubuntu 9.10 alpha 2 from here.

Source: Ubuntu.

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Linux, first OS to support USB 3.0

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Posted 11 Jun 2009 — by Arun
Category Linux

Intel hacker Sarah Sharp announced that the first driver for USB 3.0 devices are now available and the driver supports the xHCI. The driver is already queued for Kernel 2.6.31, so it should be available around September 2009. There are not very many USB 3.0 devices available in the market today, but it won’t be long before they flood the market. If you are Linux user, then you don’t have to worry about the driver support since Linux would be the first operating system to support USB 3.0 devices. USB 3.0 will have a theoratical transfer rate of 5.0 Gbps.

Source: ozelwebtasarim.

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Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Alpha 1 released

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Posted 14 May 2009 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

With less than a month after releasing Ubuntu 9.04 code named Jaunty Jackalope, Ubuntu team has released the 1st alpha of next Ubuntu, Ubuntu 9.10 code named Karmic Koala. Updates to Ubuntu 9.10 includes syncing from Debian Sid, a new kernel based on 2.6.30 and the development release of GNOME 2.27.1.

Alpha 1 also contains technology for power management and laptop Fn key maps moved from “hal” (which is going to be deprecated soon) to “DeviceKit-power” and “udev-extras”. The new UXA acceleration method for Intel video driver is available for testing. It’s not enabled by default because of stability problems, but it’ll be enabled in the later alpha milestones. UXA will improve the video performance in Ubuntu for Intel graphics cards.

Karmic uses GCC-4.4 as the default compiler, which in some parts is more strict than GCC-4.3.

You can download Ubuntu 9.10 alpha 1 from here.

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Issues with Ubuntu 9.04 using Intel graphics

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Posted 04 May 2009 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

If you have the integrated graphics chip from Intel and you are using or want to use Ubuntu 9.04 code named Jaunty Jackalope, read this article that explains the issues affecting Ubuntu 9.04 and Intel graphics card.

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Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope released

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Posted 23 Apr 2009 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

Ubuntu team has released Ubuntu 9.04 code named Jaunty Jackalope today. For a tour of Ubuntu 9.04, click here. To know about what’s new in Ubuntu 9.04, check my old post here.

Here are the known issues in Ubuntu 9.04:

  • Wrong display when installing to largest continuous free space on disk on partition editor
  • Hibernation may be unavailable with automatic partitioning
  • Users of older Ubuntu releases need to upgrade to Ubuntu 8.10 first, and then to 9.04.
  • Boot failures on systems with Intel D945 motherboards
  • Systems installed using Jaunty Alpha 5, Jaunty Alpha 6, or the Ubuntu 9.04 beta may use LABEL= syntax in /etc/fstab to identify file systems. This may cause unexpected behaviour later if another disk (such as a USB drive) is added later containing file systems with clashing labels.
  • python ImportError with systems upgraded before Ubuntu 9.04 release candidate
  • Upgrades from alphas may need re-encryption of encrypted home directories
  • Ubuntu 8.10 systems installed from the desktop CD mistakenly had the lilo package installed as well as grub, although grub was used for booting.
  • Setting wireless regulatory domain via module option no longer supported
  • X server crashes when using a wacom tablet
  • Ctrl-Alt-Backspace disabled by default in Xorg
  • iSCSI upgrades fail to generate initramfs
  • Display freezes with Intel graphics cards
  • Lock-ups when deleting files from ext4 filesystems
  • Switching to ext4 requires manually updating grub
  • Possible data-loss problems resizing ext4
  • Apparmor profiles incompatible with ecryptfs
  • Avahi will not start if a .local domain is present
  • Wubi reuses a pre-existing “ubuntu” directory and removes it on uninstallation
  • In some cases it can happen that the index of the “tracker” desktop search engine becomes invalid.
  • The NVIDIA graphics driver that is currently in Ubuntu 9.04 has an interaction problem that results in corruption of the internal flatpanel’s EDID on the Fujitsu Technology Solutions Celsius H270 notebook

Source: Ubuntu.

Kubuntu team has released Kubuntu 9.04. Kubuntu 9.04 includes KDE 4.2, new software management application, Quassel IRC client, Amarok 2.0.2, Network Manager plasma widget and much more.

Here are some known issues in Kubuntu 9.04. There are some serious bugs with the new network manager, so read the bug details before installing Kubuntu 9.04. I didn’t have any problem with Kubuntu 9.04 in my laptop with ATI video card.

  • There are reports of the open source ATI drivers being very slow.
    Be sure to not have Virtual size set to high and try with XAA instead
    of EXA; fixes it in some cases.
  • Nvidia 64 computer chipsets still cannot boot kernel without pci=nomsi option
  • Qt shows repaint bugs with some but not all Intel Gfx Chips. Using
    XXA or UXA fixes them in some cases, but hurts performance, please
    report UXA on this thread. Bug 338669.
  • Qt repaint bugs also seen in some situations using the open source ati driver; XAA fixes this in some cases. Bug 350120
  • Connection to non-broadcasting (hidden SSID) wireless networks with the network-manager widget isn’t possible Bug 330811
  • Network Manager does not connect to some networks Bug 339313
  • Network Manager is not added to the panel on upgrades Bug 349066
  • KPackageKit (which is now the default package manager for Kubuntu
    Jaunty) doesn’t support installations which require a removal or
    updates which require additional software. The packages to be removed /
    installed will be shown as blocked. Bug 342671
  • Kmail sieve functionality is buggy and causes CPU hang. You shouldn’t use it at the moment.
  • Network management applet must be re-added on Kubuntu upgrade
  • Kubuntu Network Management applet does not connect to WPA2 networks
  • Kubuntu may keep unneeded guidance power package
  • Pulseaudio inadvertently enabled in Kubuntu when installing from DVD or upgrading with apt-get
  • Amarok will not offer to download additional codecs when running Kubuntu from the live CD

Source: Kubuntu.

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Cooliris available for Linux now

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Posted 14 Apr 2009 — by Arun
Category Linux

Cooliris is a plugin that displays images from Google,  Youtube, Flickr, Facebook, from your PC hard drive etc as a 3D wall. You can effortlessly scroll through the images and videos. Once installed, you can launch Cooliris from the toolbar in the browser window or my moving the mouse over the image if the image is from one of the supported sites.

Cooliris now supports Linux. According to the Cooliris blog, Cooliris now has a linux version that is shipping with 1.10 release. Here are the system requirements:

  • A recent Linux distribution.
    • Ubuntu 8.04, Fedora 10, OpenSuse 11 should work.
  • Hardware-accelerated graphics. Without hardware acceleration, Cooliris should still run, but will be unusably slow.
    • NVidia cards with proprietary drivers (version 173 and above) have been tested and function well
    • ATI cards have been tested and work with the latest fglrx driver
    • Intel integrated cards function but with issues
    • To test hardware acceleration, run “glxgears” in full screen and see if it runs smoothly
  • Firefox 3
  • Flash 10 or higher. If you’re using a 64-bit Linux, it is recommended that you install a pre-release version of 64-bit Flash.

I wanted to check the Linux file. I was using a Windows machine, so when I clicked “To see all products, click here” in the download section, I could see only Windows and Mac versions. I couldn’t find the Linux one. CoolPreviews has a Linux version. I have to try it from a Linux machine and see if it works.

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Another proof of ugly practices by Microsoft and other big companies?

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Posted 14 Nov 2008 — by Arun
Category News

Vista lawsuit spotlights ties between Microsoft, Intel.

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Ubuntu 8.10 upgrade and fresh installation

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Posted 03 Nov 2008 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

I upgraded my desktop from Ubuntu 8.04 to Ubuntu 8.10 last Friday. The upgrade went smoothly though it took 3 hours to complete. Most of the time was used to download the packages. After the installation was done and I rebooted the system, I saw the regular logout button (red square icon) in it’s usual place, but also a new one with my name in the middle of the menu bar. I then saw a informational bulb glowing in the menu bar and it informed me to click ok to replace the old logout button with the new FUSA applet (Fast User Switcher applet). I did that and it told me to logout and login. Once I logged back in, my old logout button was replaced with the new FUSA applet. FUSA applet is the new user switcher that integrates your online status with the usual logout options and user list. I liked the idea of integrating those commenly used options, but it didn’t feel complete to me. I can’t say what’s missing, but i feel it has a potential to get better. For more information on FUSA, check Mark Shuttleworth’s blog.

I was using Kubuntu 8.10 since the alpha stage until the final release, in my laptop. I had few issues with Kubuntu. I had issues with video (flickers), webcam not working and skype audio. It may not be Kubuntu issues, but they were still issues that I had to deal with. I thought I would give Ubuntu 8.10 a try. I did a fresh install of Ubuntu 8.10 in my laptop. I still had the video flickering, but it wasn’t as bad as it was in Kubuntu. Disabling the compiz desktop effects stopped the flickering, but that’s not a complete solution. I want the video to work as it was in Hardy, with compiz effects enabled.

I didn’t see the pulse audio setup in Ubuntu. The default was alsa. Skype voice didn’t work when the sound in and out were set as default. I changed them to HDA Intel xxxx (1st option after default) and it worked. The webcam too worked fine. I have one issue with Linux Skype client. I have this problem in both my desktop and laptop. If I’m doing a webcam chat with another user, as soon as the other user starts the webcam, I don’t see my video in the screen and all the buttons in the window disappear. All I see is the other user’s video. I have to close the window to stop the webcam. Also, there is no option to increase the video size or to make it full screen similar to Windows client.

I can say happily that upgrading the old Ubuntu installation (Ubuntu 8.04) was quite smooth unlike Windows. My dad and my father-in-law did the upgrade and their laptops continue to work fine (as I wrote, they are Ubuntu users). I generally go for fresh installation, but the upgrade was so smooth, I might continue that way and do a fresh install once every 2 years.

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