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Windows 7 / Windows 10 / Linux experiences on Gizmo2

Former Member

On my Gizmo2 I've installed a variety of operating systems. Some work better than others, but I'll try my best to explain what I've been able to (and not been able to) do over the past year:

 

I'm using my Gizmo2 with a 128gb SSD with the PCIe detect pin taped over.

 

1. Windows 7:

Works. Works quite well, actually. Main limitation is RAM, 1GB really hamstrings you on what you can do. Runs out of RAM when doing Windows Updates, runs out of RAM when doing anything other than nothing. The only way to make it usable is to replace the shell with whatever I want to use. I have AMD's drivers installed, everything in device manager works EXCEPT for HDMI audio output and Realtek audio output. Can't seem to figure it out. Have tried every combination of AMD HDMI audio driver and Reaktek driver available, down to tracking down other boards with the same embedded APU. My first inclination was to try to use it as a Steam Link - basically streaming real-time video gaming over the network. Works quite well but the very slow GPU makes the Big Picture mode very very slow. No audio over HDMI also kills that possibility.

 

2. Windows 10:

Pretty much the same as Windows 7 except with even less available RAM.

 

3. Linux (Linux Mint):

Complete lack of GPU acceleration makes it very very slow. Audio over HDMI works in Linux. Not sure what GPU module the pre-flashed Linux distro is using but I couldn't find an open-source module that works as well.

 

I've attempted to contact my element14 rep that provided the review sample, as well as the Gizmo2 hardware engineers and AMD and no one has been of any help.

  • Maybe you should try Puppy or DSL(Damn Small Linux) as alternatives since they are small and add carefully the parts you need.want. That way you can control the memory profile of the OS.

    Clem

  • Former Member
    Former Member

    pengc99

     

    In Linux Mint and the various Ubuntus, you can manually request additional hardware drivers.  It's more automatic in Windoze but that's life, eh?

     

    Did you already do that?  If not, do something like the following (Instructions here are for Ubuntu MATE i.e. Gnome 2; Mint Cinnamon is probably a bit different):

    • Click on "System" on the top panel.
    • Select the "Control Center".
    • Down to the "Hardware" section.
    • Launch "Additional Drivers".
    • From the list, you are looking for some entry that matches the Gizmo 2's "AMD Radeon HD 8210E discrete-class graphics".

     

    Good luck.

  • Andrew/Clem/Richard,

     

    Has any more progress been made on Windows 10 and Gizmo 2 by you or anyone you know?

     

    Regards,

    Dan

  • in reply to dholt

    Hi All,

     

         I've been using Win 8.1x86 for 6 months now. 7" capacitive screen at 1024*600 and with a 32GB cheap mSata disk. After stripping W8.1 back, plenty of info on the web, removing the store components and using classic shell it was easy to get reasonable memory. Total Available 753MB, In Use 282MB. Windows 10 is of no use as it doesn't like anything less than 1GB and doesn't work smoothly with less than 2GB.

    I've tried it with XP  SP3 (works even better but no longer easily available and drivers a problem), Win 7 - suffers from bloated RAM use and all sorts of network problems. On W8.1 I disabled the windows update driver and associated components and only do manual updates otherwise the update process is too intrusive. In my experience it is always a disadvantage to us 64 bit systems if 4GB or less memory is available. I would recommend it especially as it boots to the main screen in 20 seconds which is faster than XP or 7.

     

    Cheers,

    Ron.

  • Former Member
    Former Member

    Using linux, you need to download and compile the gpu drivers yourself to target the specific system there arent any 'standard' packages for the system on chip cpu, mine works quite well and I use it for gaming occasionally

  • Former Member
    Former Member

    Im great thanks! literally just sitting here ironing out some wireless connection problems on a raspberry pi3! Configuring it to authenticate on our hidden network has been a nice little challenge, it's all worked out and playing ball now!