AMD A10-5800K "Trinity" APU On Linux

[wdh1974]

Not gonna read 7 pages, but let me point out something out from a casual, not alot of deep knowledge PC builder....

first the APU needs FAST ram, and 2nd...

There is a difference between MAXED out ultra mega super sayin 4 level ultra elite graphics, and good enough graphics. Im ok with good enough, i dont need every last detail, heck, i always turn off BLOOM lighting and shadows, its just a distraction and not needed(specially if you're competitive).

Other than bragging rights....hotrod mindset(WHICH IS FINE) what you get with a $2000 I7 system and a a10 5800k $500(counting a 22" LED monitor) is more flash, but the FPS past 60, you wont even feel...

So before you blindly trash the APU, please understand WHAT it's for, it's for those of us that say good enough, and don't have epeen issues...and remember, there are FAR more of us; not alot of knowledge types that are PERFECTLY happy with what we have, than those elite epeen bragger types that will spend $500 extra to just say its 10 more FPS

[pingufunkybeat]

Thank you for the answer Pingu. I had seen that page before and, if you are right and it's not working yet, then there's something to be corrected on that page because it's clearly saying that dynpm is working with kernel 2.6.35!!! and up, and on the feature matrix is written DONE in every square for Northern Islands.

It's a bit more complicated than this.

Dynamic PM has been in the kernel for a long time. It kind of, sort of works, but it fails often, doesn't always switch frequencies when needed, and has a number of issues on some hardware. It's also not nearly as efficient as the stuff in Catalyst. The AMD guys got a simple implementation out, hoping that the community would improve it using available documentation, but this turned out to be very difficult.

It turns out that there are parts of the documentation which have not been released by AMD, and which could really help power management. Because of this, nobody really spent much time getting the current dynpm working well, knowing that if this information is ever released, it would likely have to be re-written to take advantage of it. This is hearsay, I haven't worked on the code.

It also turns out that AMD engineers have written a new, improved implementation of dynamic powersaving for the open drivers, but can't release it yet. Bridgman wrote about it. When/if it passes technical and/or legal review, it could end up being the solution everybody has been waiting for.

As with all things relating to internal AMD reviews, we won't know anything until it's released (or rejected).

[curaga]

@RussianNeuroMancer

There can't possibly exist Trinity laptops without discrete graphics...

[RussianNeuroMancer]

I didn't disable anything. I'm just running stock Ubuntu 12.10 here. I didn't really tried looking into it yet.

That why your battery drained quickly. Put

echo "OFF" > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch

into /etc/rc.local.

[jntesteves]

Did you disable dGPU?

I didn't disable anything. I'm just running stock Ubuntu 12.10 here. I didn't really tried looking into it yet. Now I'm testing Catalyst 12.11 beta but it's still in a very sad state. Unfortunately I was expecting to do some gaming on Wine with this laptop as I was doing easily with my old desktop with a HD3000 discrete gfx card, but it's really not possible anymore. Look's like both Catalyst and Wine are way worst now than they were about 2 years ago. I'm trying here the same things I used to run and none work anymore, so, can't play games on Linux with my new laptop. I think it's time to give the free driver another chance. If it can just give me a smooth desktop to work on with long battery life and without burning my lap, that's good enough for now.

The sad thing is, I didn't have a dual boot and could do whatever I wanted with my Ubuntu desktop for years and now I can't. I don't use Windows for about 4 years now. It feels very awkward to go back to it just for playing the same games I used to play on Linux.

[RussianNeuroMancer]

BUUUT, it kills my battery in less than 2 hours and heats A LOT

Did you disable dGPU?

[jntesteves]

They are not solved, and will not be properly solved until dynamic power management is merged -- it is currently stuck in technical review, and nobody knows how long that will take.

In the meantime, you can use profile-based power management and force low power mode by default (enough for the desktop). Switch to high profile if you need 3d power for something manually. See http://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature for more info.

Thank you for the answer Pingu. I had seen that page before and, if you are right and it's not working yet, then there's something to be corrected on that page because it's clearly saying that dynpm is working with kernel 2.6.35!!! and up, and on the feature matrix is written DONE in every square for Northern Islands.

[pingufunkybeat]

I got a Trinity laptop and installed Ubuntu 12.10 and with the default kernel (3.5) and FOSS drivers it's looking great. 3D works WAAAY better than Catalyst, very stable, BUUUT, it kills my battery in less than 2 hours and heats A LOT, so I'm stuck with buggy catalyst for now. Are these problems already solved in newer kernels?

They are not solved, and will not be properly solved until dynamic power management is merged -- it is currently stuck in technical review, and nobody knows how long that will take.

In the meantime, you can use profile-based power management and force low power mode by default (enough for the desktop). Switch to high profile if you need 3d power for something manually. See http://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature for more info.

[jntesteves]

They should work fine with the open source drivers. There were some display problems with certain configurations, but those should all be fixed now with the fixes in 3.6 kernels and newer as well as the stable series kernels. 3D is supported in mesa 8.0.5 and 9.0.

I got a Trinity laptop and installed Ubuntu 12.10 and with the default kernel (3.5) and FOSS drivers it's looking great. 3D works WAAAY better than Catalyst, very stable, BUUUT, it kills my battery in less than 2 hours and heats A LOT, so I'm stuck with buggy catalyst for now. Are these problems already solved in newer kernels?

[curaga]

The same stable kernels that have the ext4 corruption by any chance?