# Intel Atom and cpufreq

## int2str

Hey all!

I successfully installed Gentoo on my Intel Atom powered MSI Wind barebones PC. It runs great off a CF card and is a joy to use overall.

One thing I did not get to work (yet) is cpufreq. I've tried various cpufreq drivers like ACPI P-States etc., but nothing seems to work. Anybody know of a kernel patch or anything to add Intel Atom support?

I'm using "vanilla" sources right know.

Linux ##### 2.6.27-rc3 #3 SMP Sun Aug 31 23:47:51 PDT 2008 i686 Intel(R) Core(TM) CPU 230 @ 1.60GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

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## dakster

I've been reading into buying the MSI Wind desktop to use as a gentoo server in my house. I've been using a Linksys NSLU2 running slugos firmware, but it's been incredibly unstable, and I'm getting a little tired of all the problems.

I was reading a little bit on TomsHardware about the Atom, and according to this page(http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Intel-Atom-Efficient,1981-7.html), the atom has no speedstep in order to save $$$, so it'll be clocked at 1.6ghz all the time. Given it's low power consumption, it shouldn't be an issue. Too bad the northbridge gobbles up "so much" juice. I guess cpufreq won't work no matter what.

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## int2str

Ah, thanks for the info. That's good to know.

I really like my MSI Barebone's btw. And it actually replaced my NSLU2 running Gentoo.

Night and day difference  :Wink: 

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## dakster

No doubt that's quite a bump in performance. The slug is actually fast enough for me, but I keep running into problems when it runs out of it's 32 megs of memory. For some reason it just doesn't seem to do well when using swap space. Large rsync backups are hit and miss whether or not they finish, or crash the damn thing.

I used to run gentoo on mine when I used it for a servo controller, but wanted to try out the slugos stuff when it got relegated to being a boring old server. The slugos folks have done a great job. I think the hardware is just a tad too slim for a lot of applications, but it is a great piece of kit. But then again, when $150 will get you a barebones MSI Wind desktop on newegg....

How's the kernel support? Gigabit ethernet work ok?

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## int2str

 *dakster wrote:*   

> How's the kernel support? Gigabit ethernet work ok?

 

Everything seems to work just fine.

Here's what I have confirmed working on my Wind:

- Intel Atom

- Internal CF Card reader

- Internal SATA drive

- USB 1.1/2.0

- Ethernet

It would be nice to query the CPU temp and the fan speed somehow, but I haven't figured that one out yet.

ethtool output

```
Settings for eth0:

        Supported ports: [ TP ]

        Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full

                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full

                                1000baseT/Full

        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes

        Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full

                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full

                                1000baseT/Full

        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes

        Speed: 1000Mb/s

        Duplex: Full

        Port: Twisted Pair

        PHYAD: 0

        Transceiver: internal

        Auto-negotiation: on

        Supports Wake-on: pumbg

        Wake-on: g

        Current message level: 0x00000033 (51)

        Link detected: yes
```

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## dakster

Thanks for the info, sounds like a great little server.

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## pdr

I have the Intel mini-itx board with the Atom, and sensors works for me. When emerging big stuff passively cooled CPU gets up to 52C, idles at 46-47C

Sensors is showing smsc47m1, but of course that will be board-specific.

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