Ubuntu 11.04 Still Tripping Over Sandy Bridge
Ubuntu 11.04 Still Tripping Over Sandy Bridge
Posted 05/18/2011 at 9:59am
| by Paul Lilly
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Much to the chagrin of Linux users, support for Intel's Sandy Bridge platform has been anything but stellar. Many hoped Canonical's Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" release would improve this rocky relationship between Linux and Intel's latest silicon, but according to reports, these new chips are still giving open-source users fits.
"Following the failures of others to get Sandy Bridge graphics working properly under Linux, Intel supplied Phoronix with an Intel Core i5 2500K for my own set of Linux tests," writes Phoronix, a member site of the IDG Tech Network and avid support of Linux. "Sure enough, the 'out of the box' experience with distributions of the time (e.g. Ubuntu 10.10) was poor with 3D acceleration failing, but using the latest open-source code had worked. That is, after first battling an ASUS motherboard problem with the Linux driver."
Phoronix goes on to complain that, while things are improved in Ubuntu 11.04 compared to 10.10, the latest build is still using some older code that doesn't fully get along with Sandy Bridge. Phoronix said it ran into GPU hangs in certain benchmarks, choppy and sometimes "schizophrenic" OpenGL performance, and other annoying quirks.
Have you run into any issues getting Ubuntu 11.04, or any other version of Linux, to play nice with Sandy Bridge?
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Jason_T
May 20, 2011 at 12:00pm
Guys, let's try to remember that the non-LTS releases are testing grounds for Ubuntu advancement. Microsoft's general release schedule is a new OS every three years. Ubuntu releases a new LTS every two years but makes 6-month releases for those who want the cutting-edge. So it isn't fair to be griping over a non-LTS release having problems. People should know this when deciding to use a non-LTS release. If you want the get in and drive experience, you're supposed to use the LTS. If you want the latest and greatest and are willing to deal with any bugs that pop up, then the non-LTS is available should you be interested.
Too many people are expecting the non-LTS releases to be something it's not intended to be. One of the primary reasons there was such a push to get Unity out in 11.04 was so that it will have time to be refined and hence be available for the stable (enterprise ready) 12.04 LTS.
GreenTurtle
May 18, 2011 at 7:20pm
Have to stay with 10.04 LTS because 10.10 and 11.04 dont play nice with my HP touchpad. Has to do with the later kernels. So far 2.6.32 is the last series to work for me.
ShyLinuxGuy
May 18, 2011 at 12:40pm
The Gnome desktop that comes with 11.04 has these annoying little bright spots at the top corners of the window for some reason (even after advanced graphics effects are enabled). Unity is okay, only thing is I'd like the dock to be movable, and I would like to tweak some stuff in Unity.
Matt_Rapp
May 18, 2011 at 11:18am
I can't say anything about sandy bridge but 11.04 drops my mouse randomly, I can still move the curser around but I can't click. It is things like this that stop linux from becoming main stream.
-Hey, FB is now opt-in not opt-out!
I-8-NY
May 18, 2011 at 10:35am
okay intel has never worked well with getting drivers to the opensource world. opengl and games never really worked well on their GPUs even in windows. get a real video card that has linux drives (nVidia & ATI) and leave intel to bring opengl support to their chips.
BAMT
May 18, 2011 at 12:06pm
Are you joking? Intel (but definitely G3x and G4x) chipsets have the best video drivers for Linux in my experience. They are built into the kernel and include framebuffer acceleration, something NVidia and ATI don't have (unless using OSS drivers).
http://intellinuxgraphics.org/
d3v
May 18, 2011 at 1:18pm
He's not joking. He's speaking from experience. As am I. I have an intel dg41rq motherboard with a g41 chipset and a GMA x4500 IGP. This is an extremely common chipset first released circa 2008. But I had stability problems using 2010 distros like opensuse 11.3 and kubuntu 10. Its only after I reverted to intelegacy module that I enjoyed stability. And only after upgrading to a 2011 distro like opensuse 11.4 could I ditch the intelegacy deprecated module. So basically it took 3 years before a stable driver for one of the most common Intel chipsets in the world became available in major Linux distributions.
BAMT
May 18, 2011 at 3:29pm
Huh, maybe I was just lucky. I haven't had a single problem with G3*/G4* (desktop or laptop), and my G41 laptop has been working better under Linux than Windows (for OpenGL) as far as I can remember. (I think the first OS I had on it was OpenSuSE 11.2.)
whiskeymcclinton
May 18, 2011 at 10:04am
I try Ubuntu once a year. I almost always have an issue with wireless or graphics drivers. But Linux is free and tweakable. If you put in the time, it will reward you.
Some people work on their car all day, while others just want to get in and drive away. It's your choice to either pay with time or money.
bjoswald
May 18, 2011 at 10:03am
Just give them some time. 11.04 is still fairly fresh, and hardware support comes from the kernel level.
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