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Linux on Intel Centrino(TM) and Centrino-Duo(TM) Laptops and Notebooks

Tips and tricks how to install and run Linux as well as other Unix systems on laptops and notebooks with Intel's Centrino(tm) technology.




Details about the Centrino technology and available "official" Linux drivers by Intel:

Kernel 2.4

Wireless LAN (WLAN)

Graphic Chipset (XFree86/X.org)

  • For details about XFree86 support for the 855GM chipset, see David Dawes's driver page. XFree86 4.3 provides support for the 855 graphics.
  • Using a beamer for presentations: For some laptops I have got reports that you have to boot with the beamer plugged in, otherwise X11 will not work correctly. But you may use i810switch to switch to the beamer display at runtime. Here is a patch to change the pipe.
  • i855crt is an userspace driver for Linux that can enable the CRT out (port for external monitor) on Intel 855GM based laptop.
  • There are some graphic drivers provided by Intel, but they look like binary only modules ( tough I am not sure whether they are compiled from the sources of the Direct Rendering Interface - DRI project or not). See also this Intel page for graphic drivers.
  • 855resolution is a software to change the resolution of an available vbios mode for the 855 Intel graphic chipset. This software is only tested on Dell 510m with a BIOS A04, to get the 1400x1050 resolution. But it probably works with other brands, too.
  • 915resolution is a software to change the resolution of an available vbios mode for the 915 Intel graphic chipset.
  • Free X.org 2.0 software drivers for the Intel(tm) 965GM Express Chipset.

RAM (memtest)

The memory diagnostic tool memtest latest issue v3.0 does not work with Pentium-M CPUs yet. This release of memtest has a problem with the Pentium M's cache. I have even got reports that it may cause overheating of the CPU. Fabrice Bellet has written a patch to detect the cache correctly. There's also memtest86+ a fork of this project that has updated code and that works with Centrino laptops as of version 1.11.

CPU

Pentium M undervolting and underclocking: "Intel Pentium M processors from the Dothan and Banias families can be instructed to operate at voltage and clock frequencies lower than the nominal ones recommended by Intel and used by ThinkPads by default. Experience shows that the processor may continue working correctly at lower-than-nominal voltages and frequencies, thereby reducing power consumption, heat and fan noise."

Linux and BSD Installation Reports

The list of Linux and BSD installation reports has become very huge and is now incorporated into the TuxMobil Linux Laptop and Notebook Survey. Here are some well written example reports:

Pentium-M (First Generation: Banias CPU)

ASUS M2400NDebian, Novell/SuSE 9.1 
IBM ThinkPad T40RedHat 9.0 
IBM ThinkPad T40 [archived link]Debian  
IBM ThinkPad T40pDebian  

Pentium-M (Second Generation: Dothan CPU)

IBM ThinkPad T42p NEW  Fedora Core 2 
DELL Inspiron 510MFedora Core 1 
DELL Inspiron 510M NEW  Fedora Core 2 

Pentium-M (Third Generation: Sonoma CPU)

DELL Inspiron 6000 NEW  Debian 
DELL Inspiron 9300Mandriva (Mandrake) 10.2rc2 
Samsung X20 XVM 1600 NEW  DebianGerman

Core Duo(TM) (Fourth Generation: Yonah CPU)

ACER TravelMate 3012WTMiFedora Core 5 
ACER TravelMate 4202WLMi NEW  Mandriva (Mandrake) 2006, Novell/SuSE 10.0 
ASUS V6JUbuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake 
ASUS V6JUbuntu 
DELL Inspiron 6400Ubuntu Breezy 
DELL Inspiron 9400 (E1705)Gentoo 
DELL Latitude D620Slackware 10.2 
DELL Latitude D820Debian 
IBM ThinkPad T60 NEW  Debian 
IBM ThinkPad T60p NEW  Mandriva (Mandrake) 2007 Cooker 
IBM ThinkPad T60p NEW  Linux 
Sony VAIO VGN-SZ110 NEW  Novell/SuSE 

Core 2 Duo(TM) (Fifth Generation: Merom CPU)

DELL Inspiron E1405Gentoo x86_64 2006.1 

Core 2 Duo(TM) (Sixth Generation: Santa Rosa)

HP Pavilion DV 6567CL NEW  Debian Lenny 

Celeron-M

DELL Latitude D505 NEW  Debian 
Toshiba Satellite M35X-S149 NEW  Ubuntu 
Toshiba Satellite M35X-S149 NEW  Mandriva (Mandrake) 10.0 

How to Distinguish Banias, Dothan, Sonoma, Yonah, Merom (and the Celeron-M) - CPU Footprints

Usually the manufacturers don't care to tell which generation of Pentium-M CPU has been build into a laptop. You may use the cat /proc/cpuinfo command, to retrieve some pointers:

1. Gen. Pentium-M Banias

processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 9
model name	: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1400MHz
stepping	: 5
cpu MHz		: 1400.058	# changes with work load
cache size	: 1024 KB
...

Usually the Banias comes accompanied with an i855GM chipset and the PRO/Wireless 2100 (802.11b) miniPCI card and input/output controller hub ICH4.

2. Gen. Pentium-M Dothan

processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 13		# 1. difference
model name	: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.5GHz
stepping	: 6		# 2. difference: note 6 also known as B0             \
.				#               QPUFREQ not in Kernel <=2.6.8 *)     \
.				# some models show    1 also known as A1             \
.				#               CPUFREQ included already
cpu MHz		: 600.246	# changes with work load
cache size	: 64 KB		# 3. difference: note the cache size is actually 2048KB
...

*) The current driver in 2.6.[78] is not aware of the B0 stepping of the Dothan CPU, so these times you need this updated speedstep-centrino driver. Copy this file to <src>/arch/i386/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/speedstep-centrino.c and recompile the kernel. You also should include the latest release of the ACPI patch from 20040715 which fixes a problem when the speedstep module tries to get data from the DSDT.

Usually the Dothan comes accompanied with an i855GME chipset and the PRO/Wireless 2200BG (802.11g/802.11i) miniPCI card and input/output controller hub ICH4.

3. Gen. Pentium-M Sonoma

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 13
model name      : Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.86GHz
stepping        : 8
cpu MHz         : 798.280	# see note *)
cache size      : 2048 KB
...

*) Note that Speedstep technology is enabled and powernowd is active, so the CPU MHZ line is slower than the max.value for the CPU when under load. Actually the CPU features 1.8 Ghz. The third generation Pentium-M Codename Sonoma will come accompanied with PCI-Express, Serial-ATA, DDR2-RAM and FSB533. You need special Kernel options and drivers to enable these features.

Usually the Sonoma comes accompanied with an i915 chipset (Alviso) and the PRO/Wireless 2200BG (802.11g/802.11i) miniPCI card and input/output controller hub ICH6.

4. Gen. Pentium-M Yonah (Core Duo)

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 14
model name      : Genuine Intel(R) CPU           T2300  @ 1.66GHz
stepping        : 8
cpu MHz         : 1662.608
cache size      : 2048 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 2
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 2
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 10
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat \
                  clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss httm pbe nx pni monitor est tm2 xtpr
bogomips        : 3284.99
.
processor       : 1
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 14
model name      : Genuine Intel(R) CPU           T2300  @ 1.66GHz
stepping        : 8
cpu MHz         : 1662.608
cache size      : 2048 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 2
core id         : 1
cpu cores       : 2
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 10
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat \
                  clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss httm pbe nx pni monitor est tm2 xtpr
bogomips        : 3317.76

5. Gen. Pentium-M Merom (Core 2 Duo 64bit)

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 15
model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU         T7200  @ 2.00GHz
stepping        : 6
cpu MHz         : 1000.000
cache size      : 4096 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 2
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 2
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 10
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca \
                  cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx lm \
                  constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips        : 3999.27
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 1
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 15
model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU         T7200  @ 2.00GHz
stepping        : 6
cpu MHz         : 1000.000
cache size      : 4096 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 2
core id         : 1
cpu cores       : 2
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 10
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca \
                  cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx lm \
                  constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips        : 3990.05
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual

6. Gen. Pentium-M Santa Rosa

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 15
model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     T7100  @ 1.80GHz
stepping        : 13
cpu MHz         : 800.000
cache size      : 2048 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 2
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 2
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 10
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca
cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm
constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips        : 3595.09
clflush size    : 64

processor       : 1
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 15
model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     T7100  @ 1.80GHz
stepping        : 13
cpu MHz         : 800.000
cache size      : 2048 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 2
core id         : 1
cpu cores       : 2
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 10
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca
cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm
constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
bogomips        : 3592.10
clflush size    : 64

Celeron-M

Intel has announced a Celeron-M version, though laptops which will include this CPU will not bear the Centrino logo. 

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 9
model name      : Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor         1300MHz
stepping        : 5
cpu MHz         : 1299.444
cache size      : 512 KB
...

BSD

For FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD installation reports, drivers and applications see BSD on laptops and notebooks.








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© Werner Heuser 1997-2008 · http://tuxmobil.org/centrino.html · last change Thu Mar 6 2008