Intel Gets Working On Moorestown Linux Support

Later this year or early next year Intel will be introducing Moorestown, which is a code-name we have known going back to 2007 and is their next-generation CPU platform for Mobile Internet Devices. Intel's Moorestown is an SoC design and is expected to be used within smart-phones, in addition to MIDs. Moorestown should be very exciting for its reduced power consumption, better graphics, and higher processing performance, but rather than waiting for this next-generation mobile platform to actually arrive, work on the Linux support has already begun. One of the signs of that is a patch that was just submitted to the LM_Sensors development list, which adds thermal monitoring supporting to Linux.

Normally with just-released CPUs from the major manufacturers we find no thermal monitoring support for a while in LM_Sensors, but this should not be the case for Moorestown devices. Intel's Kalhan Trisal has submitted a complete Linux thermal driver for the Intel Moorestown. Kalhan briefly shares that Moorestown uses an EMC1403, which is an SMBus thermal sensor from SMSC. This new thermal driver adds support for that sensor, plus the processor itself, and then a thermal sensor for the platform/skin.

The patch for this new driver can be found on this mailing list. We will keep our eyes out for more Linux patches related to Intel's Moorestown platform.