# Atom processors



## dmada (May 3, 2011)

Does FreeBSD support atom processors? I have looked through the hardware compatibility list but have not been able to find atom processors anywhere.

Thanks


----------



## wblock@ (May 3, 2011)

Atom processors, sure.  Where there are concerns, it's with xorg support of the onboard video of the newer Atoms.


----------



## phoenix (May 3, 2011)

An Intel Atom processor is just a power-efficient x86-compatible CPU.  It uses the exact same instruction set as all other x86-compatible CPUs.  Some versions even support the 64-bit extensions to x86 (aka amd64 or Intel64 or EM64T or IA-32e or whatever Intel renames their version this month).


----------



## vermaden (May 3, 2011)

@dmada


Yes, let have a look at that blog for example:
http://www.jzab.de/content/selfmade-nas-intel-d510-dualcore-atom-silent-storage-server


----------



## dmada (May 4, 2011)

wblock said:
			
		

> Atom processors, sure.  Where there are concerns, it's with xorg support of the onboard video of the newer Atoms.



Does this mean that you can't get a graphical interface?


----------



## wblock@ (May 4, 2011)

dmada said:
			
		

> Does this mean that you can't get a graphical interface?



Maybe, or it might only work with the vesa driver--no acceleration.  If you could be more specific about what you need, there might be options.


----------



## shepper (May 4, 2011)

The intel atom cpu has been coupled with several graphics processors.  Early ones utilized the gma945 while the newer one use NM10.  There was also a variant using an NVidea chipset.  The gma945 video chip was separate chip and utilized a fair percentage of energy but it is also better supported in the BSD's (This is the motherboard I would try to buy today - hard to find).  The latest intel video drivers utilize kernel mode setting which has only been implemented in Linux as of today.  As I understanding it, PC-BSD was looking to deal with the KMS issue - and put out a developer bounty on the project.  The NM10 chipset works in OpenBSD with xf86-driver-intel and I recall hearing that it took an additional 2000 lines of code to make it work.  The newer ATI drivers also use KMS.  Not sure if the OpenBSD intel driver has been adapted by FreeBSD or if they are waiting for PC-BSD to come up with a KMS solution.


----------



## vermaden (May 4, 2011)

shepper said:
			
		

> The gma945 video chip was separate chip and utilized a fair percentage of energy but it is also better supported in the BSD's (This is the motherboard I would try to buy today - hard to find).



There is also a 'low power' version of 945 chipset, its 945GSE:
http://ark.intel.com/chipset.aspx?familyID=35553


----------

