Kernel 3.18 Tinkering

[mechanic]

My most recent build of 3.18.27.

Since I'm building runtime kernels and not general purpose or install kernels I have moved most functions (where practical) to modules. The loaded kernel is now about 12.2M.

I also blacklisted the ATI HDMI sound on the HD6850 as it was causing not only scratchy noise in the SB600 sound but would create green horizontal noise lines in the display of my webcam. That took forever to figure out where they were comming from. As a bonus the SB600 sound is better than ever in 5.1 surround. I still wish to install a PCIe soundcard.

Here is something interesting. Connecting the webcam to one of the top USB ports on the rear, instead of the lower ones, results in 25% to maybe 40% less delay in video processing. Almost a full 1 second delay when going through the SB600.

So with the rtl8168 PCIe network card and not using a PCI sound card I have 2 free PCI slots for playing around with.

[xeno74]

I also blacklisted the ATI HDMI sound on the HD6850 as it was causing not only scratchy noise in the SB600 sound but would create green horizontal noise lines in the display of my webcam.

This sounds interesting. Thanks for sharing this!

[mechanic]

Looks like there have been some changes to 3.18.27 that fixed the Realtek 8169 driver, which now works to drive the 8168 chip.
So no need to insert the Realtek driver as a module anymore.

Also ethtool probes the driver and allows various settings. I also changed the MTU to 4000 which helps a lot.

This PCIe card is faster than the 8139 PCI card, but then again that may be due to the SB600.

[mechanic]

Built 3.18.27 using a Deb8 base install with gcc4.x.x.

It boots Deb8 base and Mint11.

[mechanic]

There is some problem either in the base system of Deb8 or in gcc4.9.x. It has something to do with endian.

I found a problem doing ifdown/ifup. If I do a ifdown ethx then do ifconfig -a the NIC numbers are swapped around for each set of two. Instead of the numbers being 2a:00 or 3a:c8 they show as 00:2a and c8:3a and I am unable to do ifup ethx as the system reports 'unknowen interface ethx'. Something is not right. Just not ready for prime time yet. I do 'feel' it is in the base system.

[xeno74]

There is some problem either in the base system of Deb8 or in gcc4.9.x. It has something to do with endian.

I found a problem doing ifdown/ifup. If I do a ifdown ethx then do ifconfig -a the NIC numbers are swapped around for each set of two. Instead of the numbers being 2a:00 or 3a:c8 they show as 00:2a and c8:3a and I am unable to do ifup ethx as the system reports 'unknowen interface ethx'. Something is not right. Just not ready for prime time yet. I do 'feel' it is in the base system.

Thank you for sharing your interesting experiences! I always read it with pleasure.

[mechanic]

Interesting........Yeah, good word.

Sometimes on booting the system has trouble locating the root directory, and the ethernet device. After noting the uuid drive it is trying to boot from and then checking the numbers under Mint11, it is trying to boot from the swap partition, again things are backwards, sdx1 and sdx2. Something is broken, and I have read on one of the fora others are having the same results.

Shrug shoulders, shake head.

[xeno74]

Interesting........Yeah, good word.

Sometimes on booting the system has trouble locating the root directory, and the ethernet device. After noting the uuid drive it is trying to boot from and then checking the numbers under Mint11, it is trying to boot from the swap partition, again things are backwards, sdx1 and sdx2. Something is broken, and I have read on one of the fora others are having the same results.

Shrug shoulders, shake head.

Mechanic,

I have read a lot about problems with Linux on the AmigaONE X1000. My problem is, that I don't have any problems with a lot of installed Linux distributions on my AmigaONE X1000. Therefore it is very difficult to help because the most of the problems I don't know. I think my X1000 is jinxed because Linux works too well on it. OK I know the problems with Mesa but I use very successful the unofficial Mesa.

Cheers,

Christian

[mechanic]

Christian,

I have been messing with Linux since the time it came as a boxed set because everybody was still on dialup party lines. So I know that it only takes one glitch somewhere to cause many headaches. Right now, using my 3.18 kernel, I believe the biggest problem is that I have most things as modules and they are probably not loading at boot time. Using your 4.1.18 kernel and modules, since you have most things built-in, the process gets further, but still no GUI. It all takes time and I'm sure it will be worked out soon(ish). For those of us with problems that don't seem resolvable at this time.....there is the older, still supported, distros.

For me, Linux is not my hobby, it is a tool I use for my hobby. The better you know the tools, the easier to get to the fun.

Time to start dinner,

Len

[mechanic]

Upper left, Watching Youtube Video
Upper right, System Monitor
Lower left, Timidity Playing Folder full of tunes.
Lower right, Live video from my webcam.......Yeah, the old guy is me.

On Mint_11. Lightweight, fast and expandable.