# Intel Clover Trail won't work with Linux



## Drone (Sep 15, 2012)

> The forthcoming “Clover Trail” version of Intel's Atom chip will not work with Linux, the company reportedly confirmed on Thursday. Intel apparently offered no real explanation for its decision not to support Linux.



Yes I see they want it to be W8 but why this exclusivity? What the actual fuck is happening?!

http://www.pcworld.com/article/262324/intel_clover_trail_atom_chip_wont_work_with_linux.html


----------



## Frick (Sep 15, 2012)

I guess this is one of the things we'll see more about. I think it'll work but maybe not all the features will work. Time will tell.


----------



## SIGSEGV (Sep 17, 2012)

the title on that site should be misleading..


----------



## 3870x2 (Sep 18, 2012)

Intel could only care to support this on their server processors at best, for business reasons only.

We have just been lucky enough that the atom architecture supported linux.  

That is ok though because Linux will support CT, just give the community time.


----------



## lilhasselhoffer (Sep 18, 2012)

Help me here.

Atom has been designed for low performance computing, and embedded applications.  The atom's direct competitor is ARM based SOCs.  

Intel is going to cripple the Atom, by removing support for Linux.  This means that ARM will support not only a cheaper set of hardware, but a free operating system.  On the other hand, Atom will better support integration on Microsoft software (and subsequent hardware locks).

Does anybody else feel that MS suddenly being unrestricted by their previous agreements is a bad thing?  Intel is moving to kill Linux, because MS is finally exerting themselves as a "unified" media experience.  I detect another Apple in the making, and I'm afraid.


Of course, this could all just be an upcoming brand split between Atom for consumers and the differentiation of the i series into lower computing classes.  I can always hope for the best...


----------



## eidairaman1 (Sep 18, 2012)

a certain atom laptop was barely even able to run XP, my desktop was superior to that crap and its 10 years older than that CPU


----------



## btarunr (Sep 18, 2012)

It's to prevent data-centers from setting up Clover Trail Atom-based micro-servers, forcing them to virtualize on their overpriced Xeon chips. Clients of micro-servers opt for Linux. If not for this OS lockout, it won't be long before a company with access to a few hundred trays ends up starting a COM (computer-on-module) product line. COMs end up as micro-servers most of the time.


----------



## Drone (Sep 18, 2012)

btarunr said:


> It's to prevent data-centers from setting up Clover Trail Atom-based micro-servers, forcing them to virtualize on their overpriced Xeon chips.


Now that's just sad.


----------



## 3870x2 (Sep 18, 2012)

btarunr said:


> It's to prevent data-centers from setting up Clover Trail Atom-based micro-servers, forcing them to virtualize on their overpriced Xeon chips. Clients of micro-servers opt for Linux. If not for this OS lockout, it won't be long before a company with access to a few hundred trays ends up starting a COM (computer-on-module) product line. COMs end up as micro-servers most of the time.



This is not going to prevent anything, though it may prolong it.

I wouldn't say that Arm is much of a competitor, as clock-by-clock the Atom will beat the ARM processor.

(taken from the 700Mhz ARM used in the Raspberry-Pi, whos clocks are equivalent to a 400mhz pentium-ii processor.)

Though who knows about the newer and better ARM processors.


----------



## newtekie1 (Sep 18, 2012)

Who knows what reasons are behind it, I'm inclined to believe what the author of the article suggested, that the current Linux kernel simply can't meet the power management demands that Intel wants, and that might change as time goes on.

Though I also think it is entirely logical that Intel just doesn't want to put the money into providing support for Linux anymore.


----------



## W1zzard (Sep 18, 2012)

Intel did not release why it wouldn't work on Linux, just "there's a lot of software work that has to go into a chip to support it in an operating system".

Linux is running on practically every microprocessor known to man, so my guess is Intel is just not officiallly supporting it. Linux people will figure it out.

Android is Linux, so no Linux -> no Android



			
				Tom's Hardware said:
			
		

> In a statement sent out to media, Intel reiterated that the "current version of Clover Trail supports Windows 8 tablets." However, Intel has plans to extend Clover Trail to Linux/Android, Intel spokeswoman Kathryn Gill told us. It is unclear how this chip will differ from the processor built for Windows 8. Gill said that Intel is "not commenting on the platform specifics or market segments that at this time."


----------



## Drone (Sep 19, 2012)

A bit unrelated but another "not supported" news:

AMD Hondo tablet chip will not run Android

Windows 8 and Linux will work fine.


----------



## FordGT90Concept (Sep 19, 2012)

Maybe something different in Windows 8 is making *nix more difficult to support?  It might have something to do with the ARM and x86-64 capabilities of Windows 8.  When given the choice of supporting Windows 8 or *nix, at least in the short term, the only business choice is Windows 8.


----------



## lilhasselhoffer (Sep 20, 2012)

Perhaps *snicker* Intel is trying to *snort* have Itanium actually mean something in the server space.

http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/poulson-tukwila-cpu-dual-core-quad-core,1-513.html


Damn.  That was a joke in bad taste if I've ever heard one.



3870x2 said:


> This is not going to prevent anything, though it may prolong it.
> 
> I wouldn't say that Arm is much of a competitor, as clock-by-clock the Atom will beat the ARM processor.
> 
> ...



I think you're confused a mite bit.

The Raspberry PI is a very cheap SOC, designed to get people interested in software and engineering.  It isn't a powerhouse processor by any stretch of the imagination.  It's a geo metro, compared with the Mercedes Benz of the smartphone industry.

Additionally, more efficient at 1 GHz means nothing when you want power consumption to be low.  ARM beats the pants off of Atom in smartphones and tablets.  The processors have been shown to be more efficient, because they use RISC rather than CISC instructions.  An anecdotal example of this is Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is specific disease.  Typing "disease, volcanic ash in lungs" will get you the same results in google.  Less than 100% correct, but the same information is being conveyed.


Intel is getting cocky.  ARM has been the only real choice for a long time, and Intel wants a piece of that juicy market.  ARM, meanwhile, is getting closer to the PC and server market.  Watching these two clash will be nice, as the AMD-Intel war is wrapping up with what appears to be a clear victor: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-stock-market-gamestop-shares,17714.html



* Yes, I'm using Tom's for sources, and it's a shame given their...checkered...history.  My other sources bury the information hip deep, and it isn't worth the hassle of wading through them.


----------



## remixedcat (Sep 20, 2012)

btarunr said:


> It's to prevent data-centers from setting up Clover Trail Atom-based micro-servers, forcing them to virtualize on their overpriced Xeon chips. Clients of micro-servers opt for Linux. If not for this OS lockout, it won't be long before a company with access to a few hundred trays ends up starting a COM (computer-on-module) product line. COMs end up as micro-servers most of the time.



These prolly won't run VMWare ESXi/Vsphere then if that's the case, which is in use in tons  of datacenters. Most of the "green" datacenters are using huge clusters of Atom based CPUs instead of smaller amounts of Xeons due to lower power consumption as a whole. This is gonna shaft that market. Also those using Xen hypervisors as well. Those both are bare metal class hypervisors that do not need an underlying operating system to run. MS Hyper-V still requires server core. Virtuozzo/OpenVZ is run as jails rather then full hypervisor. Any of those besides Hyper-V might have issues on those Atom CPUs. Let's see what happens when the hypervisor companies raise hell on this.


----------

