Some classic misunderstandings of PowerVR and Intel's relationship with IMG (owner of POWERVR).
There are no "proper" drivers for this because Intel CHOSE TO DO THEIR OWN DRIVERS. It is not a restriction put on it by IMG who would have happily done the driver job for Intel if they had been asked - and of course paid.
Off the top of my head I can't remember 100% who they did get - Tungsten was it ??
But I've seen some amazing stuff done on Atom systems using PowerVR so it's Intel's fault, not IMG's that there is not the "support" for PowerVR SGX.
There is a massive reason why Intel don't want "the community" buggering about with the drivers and that's because they never wanted Z Atoms to go into anything resembling laptops. The SGX based chips were always intended to be used for more embedded markets (a la mobile phones, MIDs, STBs, etc) rather than the more open laptop/laptop like markets.
Intel, I think it's safe to say, were mightily P@@@ed off that the Z Series chips jailbroke and were used in laptops. That eats into their big profit chip markets.
And there are going to only be more, not less, units shipping with PowerVR inside it.
While Pinetrail is using Intel's own graphics core (someone remind me again why this is REMOTELY a good idea !!), this is the replacement for the Atom N series chips and will again be aimed at larger format units.
The Z series chips are being replaced by Oaktrail which will, again, have SGX inside and will, again, be pointed towards more embedded applications.
The reason ?
It's BETTER. Much, much better. It's smaller, more powerful per square inch, more power efficient, basically everything the mobile market needs.
There are no "proper" drivers for this because Intel CHOSE TO DO THEIR OWN DRIVERS. It is not a restriction put on it by IMG who would have happily done the driver job for Intel if they had been asked - and of course paid.
Off the top of my head I can't remember 100% who they did get - Tungsten was it ??
But I've seen some amazing stuff done on Atom systems using PowerVR so it's Intel's fault, not IMG's that there is not the "support" for PowerVR SGX.
There is a massive reason why Intel don't want "the community" buggering about with the drivers and that's because they never wanted Z Atoms to go into anything resembling laptops. The SGX based chips were always intended to be used for more embedded markets (a la mobile phones, MIDs, STBs, etc) rather than the more open laptop/laptop like markets.
Intel, I think it's safe to say, were mightily P@@@ed off that the Z Series chips jailbroke and were used in laptops. That eats into their big profit chip markets.
And there are going to only be more, not less, units shipping with PowerVR inside it.
While Pinetrail is using Intel's own graphics core (someone remind me again why this is REMOTELY a good idea !!), this is the replacement for the Atom N series chips and will again be aimed at larger format units.
The Z series chips are being replaced by Oaktrail which will, again, have SGX inside and will, again, be pointed towards more embedded applications.
The reason ?
It's BETTER. Much, much better. It's smaller, more powerful per square inch, more power efficient, basically everything the mobile market needs.
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