CM-iTC: Linux: Mint

Overview

Linux Mint for the CM-iTC is based on standard Linux Mint 10 "Julia". The Linux package for CM-iTC contains run-time image with a full-featured desktop filesystem. Network, sound and graphics should work out of the box.

Bootloader

In the provided ready-to-run image syslinux bootloader is installed instead of commonly used grub. At the current state neither legacy grub nor grub2 can boot Linux from SD Card on the CM-iTC.

Take this in account if you are planning to install another Linux distribution to an SD card. By default, most Linux distributions use grub and you will need to replace it with

Authorization info

• username: itc
• password: 111111

Customized kernel

• Based on the 2.6.38 mainline kernel with patches from Ubuntu and Compulab.
• Available in packages repository
• Supports most features present on the SB-iTC development board and CM-iTC module.
• Described in more detail on the Linux kernel for CM-iTC page.

Package management

• In order to be consistent with Ubuntu/Debian packaging standards, all custom packages provided by CompuLab reside in the repository.
• This repository contains binaries and sources for the kernel, graphic drivers, libraries, etc. You will receive all required updates automatically.
• Please refer to Debian Repository HOWTO for information about working with a Ubuntu/Debian repositories.

Graphic support

• Intel Processor E6xx Series using the SGX535 graphic module from PowerVR.
• Graphic drivers are Intel® Embedded Media and Graphics Drivers.
• Intel® Embedded Graphics Drivers specifically target the needs of embedded platform developers. Please review this Users Guide.

The current state of the EMGD drivers may be called alpha version. They are not included in any official Linux distribution yet. There are still a few technical issues to be fixed. Known issues are listed below.

• Known issues
  • Display artefacts when visual effects are enabled. Work-around: Set Preferences->Appearance->Visual Effects to "None"

MPlayer

The E6xx graphic module provides support for the hardware decoding of the most popular video formats. The well-known MPlayer media player is patched for this purpose and supports the following codecs:

• MPEG-2
• MPEG-4 ASP (DivX)
• H.263 (MPEG-4 short-video header variant)
• MPEG-4 AVC (H.264)
• Windows Media Video 9 (WMV3)
• Windows Media Video 9 Advanced (VC-1 Advanced profile)

Non-accelerated decoding is currently not supported with the vaapi renderer.

Please refer to official mplayer-vaapi page for more information.

Sound

There are two sound cards available in the evaluation kit, one on the CM-iTC core module and another on the SB-iTC baseboard. Current Linux drivers allow only one of the two cards to be active at any given time. The /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf file specifies which card will be active.

• To use the CM-iTC sound card, add this line to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf:

options snd-hda-intel probe_mask=0x1

In this case, the out line is CORE-LINE-OUT (P31) and the in line is CORE-LINE-IN (P29)

• To use the SB-iTC sound card, add this line to /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf:

options snd-hda-intel probe_mask=0x2

In this case, the out lines are BASE-HOUT-A (P23) and BASE-HOUT-B (P22) and the in line is LINE-IN-C (P21)

See also

• Getting started with Linux on CM-iTC
• Linux Kernel for CM-iTC