Does 11.10 support Sandy Bridge?

Question

I'm an user of Ubuntu 11.10 who have an Asus U32sd equipped with i5 Sandy Bridge (Intel Graphics integrated). I'm afraid that the support of this plattform in Ubuntu is quite bad, and the functionality of the system is lower in comparison with other systems non open source. I'd have the hope that Oneiric Ocelot would increase this performance, but I'm afraid not. I'm wrong? I mean, there is any possibility to make Sandy Bridge works better?

Thanks a lot

EDIT: Thank you very much for your answers, but I'm afraid that my experience is worse than yours. I don't talk about nothing but my own use of Ubuntu and Sandy Bridge, especially about graphics.

I've installed 11.10 and there are not any 3d effects, and when I try to install gnome-shell, results are even worse, because it loads automatically gnome-fallback mode. The tests say that there are opengl errors and I cannot activate even the application switcher of Ubuntu.

These are the reasons of my question above. Have any idea about what would be the problem? The computer is also equip with Nvidia Optimus, but the Intel graphics have to work, haven't it?

Thanks, thanks, thanks

Answer 1

i've same issue with SandyBridge platform (sony vaio vpcz21l9)

Just works in vesa mode with gnome 2d without control of brightness and other stuff

(and with very high battery consuption)

It's working good with fedora 16 beta (not battery..... may be kernel 3.x issues)

Cheers

Award

Answer 2

I note that you say you have an Optimus laptop. Have you installed the nvidia binary drivers? Doing so will break 3D on any other GPU you happen to have - like the integrated Intel one.

It's a bug that we recommend that you install the nVidia drivers while using the Intel card. Removing the nVidia drivers should make 3D work on your Intel card.

Making this less painful is something that we're looking at for Precise.

Answer 3

Oneiric should have good support for Sandy Bridge, mainly thanks to Intel for providing proper Linux driver support. Really not sure where you get the info. With Natty, the support for Sandy Bridge was sub-par because Intel has failed to update its driver in time for the SB release.

Answer 4

I am running ubuntu 11.10 64bit on a Thinkpad Edge 520 with Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2430M CPU @ 2.40GHz (Sandy Bridge Duo) for 3 weeks now. I haven't met any problems concerning Sandy Bridge yet, everything works fine and out of the box.

Answer 5

I fixed my issue with no gl support.. I had an i386 package in my x86_64

apt-get remove libdrm-intel1:i386

apt-get install libdrm2 libkms1 i965-va-driver xf86-video-intel

Not sure which one fixed the issue.

Answer 6

I setup 11.10 64-bit (Unity and Gnome shells) in a Samsung QX411 (i52410, 4Gb RAM, 500Gb HDti Nvidia GT525M) which is stable after disabling Nvidia drivers. Now it is working fine with intel graphics, but no 3D, which is a shame. Googling about it shows mixed results, but most say that optimus it is just a decorative part. So hopefully soon we will get some help from developers to get running Nvidia optimus cards. Computer generates lot of heat and battery drops very fast, which is also bad for a pretty new laptop.

Greetings from México.