Out of curiosity, I tried to install Ubuntu 12.04 rc1 on fit-pc2 following the instructions here:
https://wiki.edubuntu.org/HardwareSuppo ... rdsPoulsbo

Alas, the resolution got stuck at 1024x768 and as I have a 1920x1080 lcd monitor it does not look good.
Even installing a later kernel did not change this.

A quick look in the gma500 sources revealed that DVI ddc apparently is not supported, hence no monitor info available.
Furthermore the display memory is limited to approx. 8 MB, allowing up to 1680x1050 as stated in the cdv_intel_hdmi.c source.
After further investigations I have finally got it working in 1680x1050 resolution. Not optimal, but much better than the default.

From the information from:
http://linux.bigga.de/blog/blog-post/20 ... %20GMA500/

I then added video=DVI-D-1:1680x1050 in /etc/default/grub:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="poulsbo.blacklist=yes console=tty1 video=DVI-D-1:1680x1050"

and run update-grub.
This seems a stable configuration.

The glxgears performace is not stellar, but acceptable, 70 - 100 fps in the standard size glxgears window.

As I prefer a more 'classic' desktop that unity, I installed Cinnamon and use Gnome classic.

The wirelees adapter is recognized and shows ap's (havent't tried connecting yet).

Thank you for sharing this info with us. I think other users will find this post very useful.

Hi kdpcb

Just wanna clarify things a little and ask you a question.

Ubuntu 12.04 uses the 3.2 kernel and thus only have the staging version of the driver (called psb_gfx). Kernel 3.3 have the newer gma500_gfx driver.

gma500_gfx has support for detecting the correct resolution on Fit-PC2 but unfortunately support for larger then 8MB framebuffers was taken out because of problems with Cedarview/Oaktrail (worked fine on Poulsbo and Fit-PC2). I managed to get a late patch in for 3.3 that at least gives the highest possible resolution in these situations.

Regardless of that, there is a way to get your full 1920x1080 resolution. I'm working on an Xorg driver that bypasses the framebuffer limitation and lets you set higher resolutions. It is experimental but seems solid so far. Will release that when I have done some additional testing.

I have one problem though, my screen flickers at high resolutions. Looks like the horizontal sync is too short or something. Do you have similar problems or is your display steady? Maybe it's because I have an early revision or problems with my clocking. I'd just like to eliminate the possibility of it being a software problem.

Thanks
Patrik

Hi prj,

Sounds great that you can patch the gma500 driver for a higher resoulution.
I do not have problems with flickering, until now it has been very steady.
The monitor menu shows 1680x1050 H: 65 Khz V:60 Hz.

My fit-pc2 is rev. 1.21 with bios 24/12/2009.

I did look in the changelog for kernel 3.3 rc2, but did not see any gma500 comments so I have not tried it. The patch you mention is probably later.
At the moment the running kernel is:
Linux 3.2.2-030202-generic #201201252035 SMP Thu Jan 26 01:44:11 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
and it only complains about missing AppArmor 2.4 compatibility.

Thanks for the info, I'll just ignore my stuttering screen for now

The patch went in for 3.3-rc1 so it's there. But I just realized it will need to be patched away if you're going to force 1920x1080. Hopefully Alan sorts out the Cedarview issues soon so we can go back to getting >8MB framebuffers on Poulsbo.

Think I have the same revision but gonna check it more closely since it was an early demo version of some sort.

I'll keep you posted on the xorg driver if you would like to give it a test run.

Hi prj,

As you mention that the patch is in the 3.3.x kernel, I installed the 3.3-rc3 (pae) to see what would happen.
It does start up in 1600x1200 and vesa mode, slow as molasses.
A look in the .config revealed that the gma500 is not included in the configuration.
However, xrandr -q now shows more resolutions:
1600x1200 0.0* 1280x1024 0.0 1024x768 0.0 800x600 0.0 640x480 0.0.

I have not tried to compile a kernel under ubuntu so I doubt I'll try to rebuild it.
The compiled kernel is from:
http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/ma ... 3-precise/
Edit: Ups, too quick! Of course with no driver it would be vesa!

As mentioned above, the ubuntu mainline kernel 3.3rc3 did not include the gma500_gfx module so I fetched the sources and compiled a new kernel 3.3rc3 including the gma500_gfx module.
After adding drm to initramfs, the behavior is as expected: same max. resolution and performance as before.
Looks promising for the ubuntu 12.04 release.

Cool, thanks for testing. Good to know that 3.3 will be usable.

Just for information I have tested kernel 3.4.0-rc2 and it also works after compiling with the ubuntu patches and configured to include gma500_gfx.
However, the graphic memory is still limited to less than 8 MB.
To make better use of my 1920x1080 monitor, I did some tests and ended up with a non-standard resolution of max. 1824x1080 by adding the cmdline option:
video=DVI-D-1:1824x1080
This does give a lot of vertical blurrred stripes which can be noticed when looking at text. Probably also graphics, but the fit-pc2 with 1 GB memory is hardly useable for graphic work.
I find it worth due to the increased amount of info which can be displayed at the same time while awaiting improvements in the gma500 driver.
I do not know if all monitors are able to work with non-standard resolutions within the max. resolution allowed so be careful.

You had better luck than me. I tried an upgrade from 11.10 to 12.04. But now I just get a black screen. And if I restart lightdm as suggested, it turns into a yellow screen.