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:
- Intel: operating system compatibility survey: Centrino
![[archived link]](/pics/archived.png "archived link")
- Intel: operating system compatibility survey: Centrino Duo(http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/sb/CS-022060.htm)
- Intel: drivers(http://downloadfinder.intel.com/)
Kernel 2.4
- patch: the laptopkernel(http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/laptopkernel/) project collects all the patches required to run recent laptops (though it looks outdated and unmaintained)
- patch: for 2.4.x is provided by Dean Gaudet(http://arctic.org/~dean/patches/linux-2.4.21-pre5-ac2-centrino.patch) and also in -ac patches
- patch: for some patches (PCI IDs, AGPGART, ..) see Alan Cox -ac Linux Kernel
series - LKML: linux-kernel(http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0305.0/0233.html) mailing list, which contains some remarks by Alan Cox(http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0305.0/0474.html)
- KernelTraffic: status of Centrino wireless support(http://www.kerneltraffic.org/kernel-traffic/kt20030523_217.html#7)
- HOWTO: controlling ACPI Centrino features via software in Linux(http://www-lehre.inf.uos.de/~rfreund/acpi.php)
- USB: all Centrino laptops seem to be capable to boot from an stick, for an example see Linux on an ASUS S1300N. Since some of these laptops do not have floppy drives or CD/DVD drives attached, you may use this way to make your laptop ready for an installation via network. For a plenty of alternative laptop installation methods see the Linux Mobile Guide - Installing, Maintaining and Tuning of Linux on Mobile Computers.
- SpeedStep:
You may use SpeedStep if you don't want your CPU to eat your batteries empty. It's
included in the 2.6.x Kernel config
CONFIG_X86_SPEEDSTEP_CENTRINO=y. You can load it by using thespeedstep-centrinomodule and thecpufreqddaemon. Look here for 2.4.2x patches(http://www.sonarnerd.net/projects/linux/). - Linux Benchmarks for Pentium-M and other CPUs from Intel and AMD(http://www.anandtech.com/linux/showdoc.aspx?i=2308), as well as a discussion of GCC compiler flags suitable for Pentium-M. See also this discussion at SlashDot(http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/29/006226&tid=137&tid=118).
Wireless LAN (WLAN)
- HOWTO: change a miniPCI WLAN card in a laptop or notebook(http://repair4laptop.org/wireless_lan_minipci.html)
- WLAN and other PCMCIA cards working with Linux
- WLAN and other miniPCI cards working with Linux
- tips and tricks for wireless Linux
- Linuxant DriverLoader(http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/) commercial NDIS wrapper for Intel Centrino and other Wireless LAN devices, the new release 1.6 contains support for the Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG card with 54Mbps WLAN 802.11g (incl. WEP and WPA).
- ndiswrapper(http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/) by Pontus Fuchs is an Open Source NDIS wrapper, which also supports the Intel WLAN chipset and others (incl. WEP).
- ipw2100(http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/), Intel's Open Source driver with included firmware, for the first Centrino generation (incl. WEP and WPA together with HostAP(http://hostap.epitest.fi/)).
This driver is included in Linux Kernel >= 2.6.14.
-
For the second generation of Intel's miniPCI modules: PRO/Wireless 2200BG (802.11g/802.11i), the
ipw2200(http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/)
project provides a driver.
This driver is included in Linux Kernel >= 2.6.14.
-
Third generation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG (IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g und 802.11a) miniPCI cards
are supported by the ipw2200(http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/) project.
This driver is included in Linux Kernel >= 2.6.14.
- Fourth generation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG network connection adapters are supported by the IPW3945(http://ipw3945.sourceforge.net/) project.
- Fifth generation (and former ones): The iwlwifi(http://intellinuxwireless.org/?p=iwlwifi) project provides a driver which utilizes the new mac80211 Kernel subsystem for the Intel(tm) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG and 4965AGN Network Connection adapters. In addition to using the mac80211 subsystem, this project uses a new microcode image which removes the need for the user space regulatory daemon for this adapter. This change should help to simplify installation, development, and redistribution of this driver package. NOTE: The mac80211 subsystem was previously called d80211. You may hear folks still refer to this subsystem using the old name.
- A generic ieee80211 networking stack for the Linux kernel(http://ieee80211.sourceforge.net/).
- Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG AP Driver for Linux(http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipw2200-ap) - an open source 802.11 b/g access point driver for the ipw2200 and ipw2915.
- Exponential Averaging for Signal and Noise Level for IPW2200 under Linux(http://www.ces.clemson.edu/linux/ipw2200_averages.shtml)
- Signal Quality as a Percent for IPW2200 under Linux(http://www.ces.clemson.edu/linux/signal_quality.shtml)
- (http://damien.bergamini.free.fr/ipw/index.html)
- ipw2200-ap(http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipw2200-ap) is a set of Linux kernel drivers and tools to use the Intel ipw2200 and ipw2915 in access point/master mode.
- Intel 4965 WiFi on Debian HOWTO(http://www.nanonanonano.net/linux/debian/iwlwifi)
- WiMAX support for Linux(http://www.linuxwimax.org/)
Graphics Chipset (XFree86/X.org)
- For details about XFree86 support for the 855GM chipset, see David Dawes's driver page(http://www.xfree86.org/~dawes/845driver.html). 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(http://www16.plala.or.jp/mano-a-mano/i810switch.html) to switch to the beamer display at runtime. Here is a patch to change the pipe(http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/~cjb/i810switch.c.patch).
- i855crt(http://sourceforge.net/projects/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
graphics drivers(http://downloadfinder.intel.com/) 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 graphics drivers(http://support.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-010512.htm).
- 855resolution(http://perso.wanadoo.fr/apoirier/) is a software to change the resolution of an available vbios mode for the 855 Intel graphics 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(http://www.geocities.com/stomljen/) is a software to change the resolution of an available vbios mode for the 915 Intel graphics chipset.
- Free X.org 2.0 software drivers for the Intel(tm) 965GM Express Chipset(http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xorg/2007-May/024508.html).
- i810 TV-OUT Lenny(http://sourceforge.net/projects/i810tvout/) is a ready-to-use chroot environment that allows usage of the TV-out device on intel i810/i8xx/i9xx hardware. It also contains a media player, a file manager, and a window manager.
RAM (memtest)
The memory diagnostic tool memtest(http://www.memtest86.com/) 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(http://bellet.info/laptop/t40.html). There's also memtest86+(http://www.memtest.org/) 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(http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/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 M2400N | Debian, Novell/SuSE 9.1 | |
| IBM ThinkPad T40(http://bellet.info/~bellet/laptop/t40.html) | RedHat 9.0 | |
| IBM ThinkPad T40 | Debian | |
| IBM ThinkPad T40p(http://www.thunk.org/tytso/linux/t40.html) | Debian |
Pentium-M (Second Generation: Dothan CPU)
IBM ThinkPad T42p(http://pmw.org/~gardnerj/Thinkpad/Install.html)  | Fedora Core 2 | |
| DELL Inspiron 510M(http://www.incunabulum.de/projects/computer_stuff/linuxlaptop) | Fedora Core 1 | |
| DELL Inspiron 510M(http://www.ccd.uab.es/~jordicj/linux/inspiron510m.php3) | Fedora Core 2 |
Pentium-M (Third Generation: Sonoma CPU)
| DELL Inspiron 6000(http://www.fam-lindeman.nl/content/category/2/16/34/) | Debian | |
| DELL Inspiron 9300(http://www.atlink.it/~conti/?page_id=5) | Mandriva (Mandrake) 10.2rc2 | |
| Samsung X20 XVM 1600(http://faq.pathfinderteam.org/index.php/Samsung_X20) | Debian | German |
Core Duo(TM) (Fourth Generation: Yonah CPU)
Core 2 Duo(TM) (Fifth Generation: Merom CPU)
| DELL Inspiron E1405(http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Dell_Inspiron_E1405) | Gentoo x86_64 2006.1 |
Core 2 Duo(TM) (Sixth Generation: Santa Rosa)
| HP Pavilion DV 6567CL(http://arrrr.com/dv6567cl.shtml) | Debian Lenny |
Core 2 Duo(TM) (Eight Generation: Montevina)
| HP Pavilion DV 7-1800(http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Hp_Pavilion_DV7-1080) | Gentoo |
Celeron-M
| DELL Latitude D505(http://asl.epfl.ch/~kolski/d505.html) | Debian | |
| Toshiba Satellite M35X-S149(http://jwl.freakwitch.net/Linux_Toshiba_M35X-S149.html) | Ubuntu | |
| Toshiba Satellite M35X-S149(http://www.d.umn.edu/~salu0005/linux_installation.html) | 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(http://acpi.sf.net) 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.