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2.6.1

post #1 of 20
1/9/04 at 4:14pm
Thread Starter 
Muahahah! 2.6.1 is out! Even the gentoo-dev-sources have already been released. Compiling right now.



Mikhail
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post #2 of 20
1/9/04 at 4:28pm
Huzzah. Have to spend 3 mins compiling mine when I get home - danm near takes longer to DL the source than it does to compile it . Have I mentioned I love my sager
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post #3 of 20
1/9/04 at 4:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bratag
Huzzah. Have to spend 3 mins compiling mine when I get home - danm near takes longer to DL the source than it does to compile it . Have I mentioned I love my sager
3 minutes compiling the kernel? That's pretty impressive indeed. On my 5680 it takes:
  • kernel compile+modules: 7 mins 39 secs
  • svga module: 1 min 7 secs
  • ati module: 22 secs
  • shfs module: 12 secs
  • ndiswrapper+pwcx modules: 8 secs
which brings me to a grand total of: 9 mins 28 secs

This is w. bluetooth, webcam, ipv4+6, firewire, etc. using the latest gcc (without NPTL):

HTML Code:
beast root # gcc --version
gcc (GCC) 3.3.2 20031218 (Gentoo Linux 3.3.2-r5, propolice-3.3-7)
HTML Code:
root # uname -r
2.6.1-rc3-gentoo
I'd like to know what I can do to improve my compilation speed, as I've never been below 5 mins 15 secs (just the kernel+modules)
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post #4 of 20
1/9/04 at 4:58pm
Ok tricks to improve compilcation speed. (Keep in mind the 3 mins is the kernel/modules only, not any third party drivers etc like the ATI etc)

1) Tweak your HD using hdparm. I get close to 30MB per second throughput when tweaked, compared to like 20-22 when not tweaked. Check out the man on hdparm
2) Make sure you use the -j 2/4 flag when compiling - this will make use of HT (ie both cpu's the system sees) This of course depends on you running SMP
3) Strip out crap you dont need in the kernel. Never see a novell network? Why have support (even as a module) in the kernel

Those are some good starting points.
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post #5 of 20
1/9/04 at 5:20pm
Thread Starter 
I have to agree, 3 minutes for a kernel compilation from scratch is impressive, Bratag. I would have to say that mine takes about 7 minutes too. However, keep in mind that I'm only on a 2.4GHz chip.

Mind sharing your kernel config with us, Bratag? Also, since we have pretty much the same machines (except maybe the drive; I have the 5400rpm Toshiba, you?), can you share your hdparm set-up?

Thanks

Mikhail

P.S. I have my -j flag to 3 or 4 (I think 3 as per the manual: number of "CPU"s + 1) and HT is obviously taken advantage of as both logical processors peak out during most compiles.
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post #6 of 20
1/9/04 at 5:39pm
Sure I will share it - have to get it from home though. Will post it tonight. Honestly though check out hdparm - makes a HUGE difference.
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post #7 of 20
1/9/04 at 10:12pm
woohoo, time to install Gentoo.
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post #8 of 20
1/12/04 at 7:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bratag
Sure I will share it - have to get it from home though. Will post it tonight. Honestly though check out hdparm - makes a HUGE difference.
Thanks - I should have my 5680 by the end of the week. There are a couple of things in make.conf that I find confusing. It would be great to see someone elsess config.
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post #9 of 20
1/12/04 at 8:05pm
When I looked at the length of the config I realised its not really the type of thing for a board posting. If you want it PM me and I will send it to you.
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post #10 of 20
1/12/04 at 8:09pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah, just fire away with your questions. Personally, I didnt touch anything the manual didnt mention... Well, I probably didnt, LFMAO.

Mikhail
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post #11 of 20
1/13/04 at 1:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bratag
When I looked at the length of the config I realised its not really the type of thing for a board posting. If you want it PM me and I will send it to you.
At the Gentoo forums people usually just upload their .config somewhere and post a link. Presto!
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post #12 of 20
1/13/04 at 1:42pm
Thread Starter 
I'll do that once I have a chance to boot Gentoo.
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post #13 of 20
1/13/04 at 10:02pm
Thread Starter 
Did that this afternoon. Works great now. The cursor is finally smooth (as opposed to shaky and jumpy) and I can tap-click. The weird issue of warm-booting to Windows and being unable to tap-click remains, however... Meh!

Mikhail

P.S. My post on the subject in my Gentoo thread: http://notebookforums.com/showpost.p...4&postcount=51
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post #14 of 20
1/18/04 at 12:37pm
Only Question, Can it Install on a 8887 without any Modifications?
I am totaly Desperate to Swap From Microsnot to Linux, Espcialy after the Recent problems I've been having with XP Corupting the Entire HDD when I install post SP1 Updates....
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post #15 of 20
1/18/04 at 1:36pm
Thread Starter 
I am sure you can. The beauty of the 2.6.x series or development series is that the support for all the new hardware is included in the kernel. I bet the 2.6.x will support the 5670 and 8887 better than the 2.4.x (they were more awkward hardware-wise, while the 5680 and 8890 are closer to standard desktop hardware). You just have to do some reaserch on customizing and compiling your own kernel so that you can tweak it to all your hardware and nothing else (thats the beauty of laptop hardware - you dont change it often; I compile all the stuff into the kernel, except for a few things that cannot be compiled in like specific hardware drivers for XFree86).

Mikhail
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post #16 of 20
1/18/04 at 2:03pm
Ok, quick question about the 2.6 kernel- first, does it support wifi cards, or is the ndiswrapper the only solution? Also, is it possible to load 2.4 drivers into the 2.6 kernel, or would it panic? The thing is, I have a realtek 8180 based wifi card, and realtek provides a linux driver. However, it is a 2.4 driver, so I don't know how to modprobe in 2.6. I'm planning to install linux soon, and I just want to make sure everything's prepared... (I was hit by 4 different viruses on windows after turning off my firewall for 1 hour; quite frankly, I've had enough)

PS, has the Promise RAID chip been figured out on the 8890 yet? The last time I tried, I didn't know how to set grub to boot from raided drives...
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post #17 of 20
1/18/04 at 2:21pm
to add to my innital question, Which Releases currently Have 2.6.1?
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post #18 of 20
1/18/04 at 5:59pm
Thread Starter 
James:

To my knowledge, no kernel has support for using specific WiFi cards; it only has support for wireless access in general. You will need to get drivers for your specific device.

All modules have to be recompiled for a specific version of a kernel. Eg. I needed to remake all my drivers after updating from 2.6.0 to 2.6.1. As for the drivers' support of 2.6.x, you have to refer to the manual etc; developers provide either different versions for different kernel series, a single release for both 2.4.x and 2.6.x series, or only provide support for one of the two.

To answer your RAID question, there has been a guide in this forum on the subject of getting Redhat installed with RAID. Find the thread and adjust the procedure to your specific distro.

Citan:

Most "ready-to-serve" distros have all-around kernels - kernels that (, along with appropriate modules,) work with most hardware. As of right now, this is usually done with the 2.4.x kernels. Meanwhile, custom distros like Gentoo, etc., allow you to use whatever kernel you want. Can anyone using Mandrake, Redhat, Suse, etc., comment on setting up your own kernel under those distros?

Mikhail
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post #19 of 20
1/18/04 at 9:34pm
Thanks for the info mmarkin. I'm using an RTL8180 chipset card, which is the same as the Linksys WPC11. Does that work in 2.6?
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post #20 of 20
1/19/04 at 12:01pm
Thread Starter 
Since I've never actually set up a wireless card the "normal" way, I'm not quite sure of the procedure. Try looking for guides, etc. Nevertheless, I am confident that the hardware is supported by 2.6.x and you would just need a set of drivers/utilities to take care of the card's operation.

Mikhail
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