2.6.29.2-rt11 kernel testing

The kernels I put on my repository are self built, using the RT kernel instructions that can be found all over the web. Building for non-debian based distributions might be a bit different. The are a few guides on the ubutu pages.

Dear Quentin, Sorry, I had a question about this but put it in the wrong place: http://www.64studio.com/node/957#comment-6154 I would really love some help, I really enjoyed this kernel... thanks for the great work.

Thanks Quentin. I' m up and running with your kernel. It is performing very well. Played a few sequences with Rosegarden and QSynth, then opened a multitrack session in Ardour: both ran without any xruns at a Jack latency of 5.33 ms (may run lower, but haven' t tried it out - usually use this setting and works fine for me) with my Delta 1010LT card. I' ll try to actually record something and add some plugins to see how far I can take it. Nice work!

Uninstall the alsa-firmware package for now, as the alsa firmware is included in the kernel. When you get the new kernel later, you can just reinstall alsa-firmware

Hi Quentin. I'm trying to install your 2.6.29-rt11 kernel but I get this message and can't get it installed: E: /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-2.6.29.2-rt11-20090502_2.6.29.2-rt11-20090502-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb: trying to overwrite `/lib/firmware/korg/k1212.dsp', which is also in package alsa-firmware How can I solve this conflict with alsa-firmware?

Thanks Quentin! It's good news that 3.0 beta 4 is around the corner! Icing on the cake if nvidia is supported out-of-the-box -- but I'm cool with installing them myself if necessary (would be cool if the restricted drivers gui worked for our friends who don't like the cli). A little more information for anybody who might be in the same boat: 2.6.26-multimedia is compiled against gcc 4.1, so don't bother trying to compile any of the recent nvidia binaries against it -- I broke an install trying to change my default compiler. Obviously, the 2.6.29-multimedia shipped with beta 3 doesn't work for either firewire or our poor nvidia hardware (not even the console framebuffer). Grant

Hi Grant, Yes, there is a problem with the way we built the temporary kernels... as if you didn't know that already ;-) Those kernels on my repository were just a temporary measure to get firewire support going for the few stragglers (including myself) that needed it. The upcoming 3.0 beta 4 will have a properly built 2.6.29 kernel with all the correct modules, and kernel headers. If they close the nVidia ticket as well, your card might be supported out-of-box if all goes well. We just have to wait a tiny bit longer. You are right about wasting a day going via hardy. Cheers, Quentin

Ok, so I've been banging my head against the wall here trying to get the nvidia drivers to compile against this excellent-sounding kernel -- but the wall is starting to complain. I installed a fresh copy of 3.0 beta 3 yesterday, then installed the 2.6.29.2-rt11 image, headers, and source. Unfortunately, when I try to run the 180.60 installer it tells me "If you are using a Linux 2.6 kernel, please make sure you have configured kernel sources matching your kernel installed on your system." AFAICT, I do have configured kernel sources matching 2.6.29.2-rt11 installed. In fact, it worked on my first try installing Ubuntu Studio last week (hardy 2.6.24-19-rt). I tried installing nvidia-glx, nvidia-glx-new, and nv drivers on a previous 64studio 3 beta 3 install without any luck. I definitely prefer 64studio to ubuntu studio, so I'm eager to get it working. I'm at a loss here, I'm afraid if I try pivoting from a hardy install to 64studio that it'll just break as soon as I install one of the rt kernels, wasting a days work. My hardware: Gigabyte GA-EP45T-UD3P, running Intel Core2 duo e7400 CPU at 2.8gHz 4gb Corsair DDR3 RAM running at 1066mHz Nvidia geForce 7200gs/7300se Thanks, Grant

Dave - Thanks for the very detailed info! Can you tell me what the key differences are between the Debian and Ubuntu kernels? I would be very interested in finding out. This is really bugging me as I would like to use debian/sidux kernels on ubnutu if possible. Otherwise i am not so keen on using ubuntu as the base distro. Quentin - Thanks you for getting back to me. I would be very happy to test one of your latest kernels as long as it comes with a complete set of headers and source code. I will have a flick through your repo later. Any recs on a final kernel yet for 3.0? Also Quentin, what are the main things that you disable in a kernel? It would be interesting to know. ie cpu frequency scaling, extras for laptops etc. Do you have a standard config file you could share with us? Thanks for your lovely replies, Regards, Chris

It's good you've found a working solution and nice to see you're still experimenting with various methods. My time here is spent comparing the varios distros kernel configurations including Sidux, avlinux2r1, ubuntustudio, Musix, Quentin's, 64studio 2.6.21, 2.6.26, 2.6.29-beta3 and others found on the linux-audio-lists etc., The conclusion I've come to at this point in time is that there isn't a common configuration base between any of the audio disrtibutions kernels-rt. They all do the Preempt-rt and that's as far as *common* settings go. Methods of comparison: 1) ediff-files: Emacs users, highlights diffs and informs how many diffs there are. 2) $ sdiff --suppress-common-lines configQuentin-rt11.config config2629mm2b3 > sdiff-Qrt11-2629mm2b3 Compares the two configs and creates a file *sdiff-Qrt11-2629mm2b3* 3) $ diff -uN configQuentin-rt11.config config2629mm2b3 > config-diff-Qrt11-2629mm2b3 Compares the two configs and creates a file *config-diff-Qrt11-2629mm2b3* Then run: $ grep -v "^ " config-diff-Qrt11-2629mm2b3 | grep -v @@ | grep -v '\\-\\-\\-' | grep -v '+++' | grep -v '\\#' > config-diff-Qrt11-2629mm2b3-grep Creates the file *config-diff-Qrt11-2629mm2b3-grep* All three diffs methods have there own qualities and result in text files that can be viewed at a later date. The basic code = $ diff .config1 .config2 (using: *> creates-file*) Another method I'm liking is to have Two computers side by side and use $ make menuconfig $ make xconfig $ make gconfig Then browse the variations on both PC's and read the help files in the menu browser. READ: /linux-source/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt Slow work, best done in sessions and with constant note taking. Cheers! Dave.

Glad you found something that works for you. Hope it is not my unofficial testing kernel that drove you away ;-) When 3.0 is released, feel free to check it out. Cheers, Quentin

As discussed, the vanilla kernels are now as good/almost as their rt equivalents. They can operate in realtime mode as well. (just make sure you are part of the audio group and you have limits.conf setup correctly) You can download the latest ubuntu kernels from here:- (includes 2.6.30!) http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/ You can use iceweasel/firefox with flashgot (select the files you want and use flashgot all) to download the files. Just to note, you need the following for a complete kernel set:- 3 x headers, 2 x image and 1 x source. If you are missing any of these you will not be able to install the graphics drivers etc! I believe this was the reason nvidia/gpu kernel module was not building against just 1 x headers and 1 x image. Also the debian gpu installation method should work if you have these as well. Cheers, Chris

After trying Quentin's kernel i have decided to try a different distribution. I am now using AV Linux, based on Debian with Sidux Kernels. I think the main reason i was having problem before is that i need to have about 3 different kernel headers installed along with the kernel source (i believe this was missing when i tried it before) I have found that the vanilla sidux kernels work very well, as good as the rt equivalent. Also i have had no issues installing nvidia drivers on these kernels (fantastic!) Here are the links:- http://www.bandshed.net/AVLinux.html <- avlinux http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/sidux.com/sidux/debian/pool/main/l/linux-sidux-2.6/ <- sidux vanailla kernels (always up to date) http://w3you.com/makke/kernel/experimental/ <- makke's rt kernels I did try to install these kernels on ubuntu but it came up with an error when installing the kernels. It worked but i don't like error messages so i went to avlinux, based on debian. One thing, i did update my avlinux mostly to unstable using the sid repos (apart from X and a few other things) Also I needed the latest initramfs -> http://packages.debian.org/sid/initramfs-tools Also had to update gconf and few other things for the system to work perfectly. Also a good tip to use visudo to add your user to sudoers. This is the only way to open some stuff in sid right now. I did not try these kernels on 64studio 3 because it is based on ubuntu and i am not convinced it would work. Sorry for the defection guys but this seems to work. I also installed nvidia without issue (32 and 64bit I have heard that the rt patch is experimental for 64bit. I had issues with rt13 but nvidia built fine. Apparently makke's rt14 64bit kernel scripts are not working so the best bet is to use the i386 stuff for the time being until the 64bit RT stuff is fixed. Quentin etc, please feel free to ask me some questions about this. I like the way 64studo is setup and i'll be honest, gnome is the best window manager for me. Using AVLinux's LXDE is a bit limited. Also have to grab lxtask from here:- https://launchpad.net/~bojo42/+archive/delibo However, LXDE is very fast! however, it is a bit clunky in terms of cpu spiking when switching windows. This is the task manager which seems to be omitted from debian right now but works fine! Go figure! Also You many need to delete usb storage mount points after installation (usb keys etc) as i had a read only issue on my usb key after install. One last thing, i noticed that sidux uses the SMP IRQ Balancer. This seemed to influence performance positively. However, is this compatible with rtirq? or better/worse/different? Please let me know. Cheers, Chris

Hi Quentin, I have problems installing the kernel i386. I am getting this message when i run make-kpkg clean cannot read debian/control: No such file or directory This applies too changelog and other files that are supposed to be in the debian directory. Can you tell me where these files are supposed to be? Are they missing? Still using 2.6.29-2 rt11 I think their is something wrong with my development tools or config as i got the same message when I was trying to install the unstable nvidia driver via apt. I have installed the recommended packages for building from .tar Also Quentin, do you have a kernel .config file i could look at. I am currently using the one form jaunty with the following mods:- Full Preemption (RT) 64gb Max Mem (PAE), Setting kernel to 1000hz and selecting defaults for HPET and tickless. Should i set the kernel to 1000hz or leave it to 250hz? also i don't need to have the headers installed to buld the kernel do i? PS someone built the new 2.6.29-3 rt last night on #LAD and is testing it now. edit - noticed you got linux-source-2.6.29.3-rt12.2b3.2.090513_2.6.29.3-rt12.2b3.2.090513-10.00.Custom_all.deb in the repo now so will have to try this soon. I think i am missing the debian folder in the source. Cheers, Chris ps it seems a lot more straightforward to build a kernel than i thought!

Hi Chris, ALWAYS leave at least one kernel you know is working installed... You can have multiple kernels, it will ask you which one. You can thank me later.

Thanks for this Quentin. Your a star :-) One quick question tho. Should i remove all the previous headers and kernel before i attempt this? Obviously leaving the generic stuff installed. ps i would like too build a PAE/Bigmem (36bit memory addressing) enabled kernel to handle 8gb of memory on 32bit. Eventually i will go fully 64bit but would like to make an install which will work on pretty much any computer apart form old amd's. Is this possible with the kernel source provided? Cheers, Chris ps any other tips re acpi / power management to speed things up? Also heard that in 2.6.29 the hpet module has changed. I would like to use this timer with jack so i can have speedstep without interfering with jack. Ps do i need to make alsa/jack again from svn to do this or is hpet the default clock for also/jack on 2.6.29?

1) When you build the kernel yourself you normally get all the headers rolled into one 2) The source package is patched already - unpack the kernel and compile! 3) Step by step guide: 4) We'll look at the rest later. First get that system of yours pumping ;-) Cheers, Q

Hello Dave, Yeah, the delay is not acceptable.....just kidding :-) Thank you for responding. The latest few kernels 2.6.28 and 2.6.29 seem to be a bit of a nightmare! Did you have a look at this thread -> http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=62667 The error was in PKGBUILD (which is part of Arch Linux) but their must be a Debian equivalent. I am super keen to get this kernel working because it seems to be the fastest one i have ever tried :-) I noticed that Quentin's repo only has one header file and that the 64studo one contains about 3 or 4 different header files for each kernel. Please explain this! Also their is no kernel patch deb file in Quentin's repo. Doesn't this enable you to build against the vanilla kernel? I know that i ask a lot of questions! Here is the last biggie:- How do i build the kernel and headers? If you can provide a step by step guide that would be great. One last thing, please check out a new wine patch that enables you to use USB devices/drivers under wine:- http://wiki.winehq.org/USB I am having trouble with the git code but as soon as i get it working i will let you know. Should enable me to run my Cubase 4 on linux! BTW jaunty is a great OS. I tried Debian testing but there were too many issues with permissions etc. I am also thinking about trying the new Fedora 11 preview or Suse 11.2 release. These contain 2.6.29 kernel by default. http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=suse - http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=05442 http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=fedora - http://mirrors.se.eu.kernel.org/fedora/releases/test/11-Preview/Fedora/ Does anyone here use Sidux + 64 studio stuff? Thanks 64studio team and I look forward to your response !

Hi Chris, Sorry about the delay in responding. The PSU failed on one of my PC's here and I've been caching up. No /arch/x86/Makefile_32.cpu present: This ia a bug in the kernel and we're trying to find a workaround here. I had to configure\build a kernel for my jaunty ubuntustudio install to get my nvidia drivers installed, and I hit the same error. The only way I could get the headers, source to function was by building image, headers & source myself. Post build saw the nvidia driver install ok. Chris> Anyway back to 2.6.29-2 rt11...sh NVIDIA-.....180.51.pkg1 Yes it's the same bug as mentioned above. It needs to be addressed. Again the only solution I've found that works is to rebuild as you suggest. I'm building a kernel each day and the headers & source have been fine post build. Chris> CC=gcc-4.2 Yes I'm building on hardy, for hardy. When I built 2.6.29-rt11 for ubuntustudio jaunty I built the kernel on ubuntustudio jaunty and it's working fine, nVidia and all. Cheers! Dave.

I also noticed this kernel is built with gcc-4.2 This means i have to build with CC=gcc-4.2 NVIDIA.180.51.....pkg1 (this fails as discussed above) I would prefer a gcc-4.3 one or is this for compatibility with older releases? Is that so it can work with hardy? It also says that their is a problem with accessing Debian control or something (not by my machine, at work right now) is this an issue with rules? Cheers, Chris

i have tried the kernel on Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 i386 The 3 files, headers, source and image installed fine. However, i cannot build the nvidia kernel due to errors in the headers:- http://www.64studio.com/node/1122 This denotes that the i386 build does not contain the /arch/x86/Makefile_32.cpu I downloaded the file:- 2.6.26/arch/x86/Makefile_32.cpu http://paste.ubuntu.com/165264/ Tried to install nvidia-glx through synaptic and it says i need nvidia-kernel 180.44-2 I am using the unstable / sid sources for this. I had the same problem on my Jaunty generic kernel so not sure who's fault this is (probably mine!) the .pkg1 file installs fine on the generic 2.6.28 kernel supplied with jaunty. Anyway back to 2.6.29-2 rt11. If i try the sh NVIDIA-.....180.51.pkg1 it fails saying "is this linux 2.4 or 26" ? etc... I think there may be a problem with the headers. Has anyone installed the nvidia driver on this kernel i 386 successfully? I un-bzipped the source into its own folder in /usr/src/ and created the symlink usr/src/linux as Quentin suggested but it doesn't work. Do i need to rebuild the kernel headers and kernel from source to get this working? I hope someone can help me! Cheers, Chris 13/5/2009 @ 17:22 - edit - found this -> http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=62667 I will try later. thx

The kernel upgrade bug is fixed. We now have an upgradable kernel :) The kernel is now based on rt-11 and is configured with (stable firewire). $ cp /boot/config-2.6.29-1-multimedia-686 ~/config-2629-1-mm-686beta3-8 $ grep IEEE1394 config-2629-1-mm-686beta3-8 CONFIG_IEEE1394=m CONFIG_IEEE1394_OHCI1394=m CONFIG_IEEE1394_PCILYNX=m CONFIG_IEEE1394_SBP2=m \# CONFIG_IEEE1394_SBP2_PHYS_DMA is not set CONFIG_IEEE1394_ETH1394_ROM_ENTRY=y CONFIG_IEEE1394_ETH1394=m CONFIG_IEEE1394_RAWIO=m CONFIG_IEEE1394_VIDEO1394=m CONFIG_IEEE1394_DV1394=m \# CONFIG_IEEE1394_VERBOSEDEBUG is not set $ grep IEEE1394_RAWIO config-2629-1-mm-686beta3-8 CONFIG_IEEE1394_RAWIO=m There are 94 diffs between the 3.0beta3 default kernel and the new kernel. Dave sdiff-2629-2-2629-8 (94 diffs) I've tested the upgrade on a couple of different PC's here and all went smoothly. On with testing audio performance. Cheers! Dave. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kernel-package/+bug/54346

I have included Dave's 2.6.29.2-rt11.2b3.090503 32bit kernel for testing into my repository. NB: please report any and all issues here. We would love to sort the kernel issues out once and for all (for a while anyway)

$ uname -r 2.6.29.2-rt11.2b3.090503 Configured\Built (with stable firewire) nVidia binary installed. On with audio performance testing. Cheers! Dave.

Hi Quentin, $ uname -r 2.6.29.2-rt11.090503 Built 2.6.29.2-rt11.090503 using rt-11-config-Q. Build went smooth. On with more tests. Keep up the great work:) Cheers! Dave. Revision: Check Entry: $ sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf kernel.sched_rt_runtime_us = -1

Hi Quentin. I just have reading your last post , but I need 32 bit version and for intel 686 , my cpu is Intel 8400 dua-core @ 2,66 GHz Then I'm waiting next release while follow news on forum. Bye Guido

The kernels in my repository also includes the firmware normally excluded by distribution repositories because of non-free firmware issues. Using synaptic I would recommend removing rt8 before installation of rt11 You can install both by using the terminal: sudo dpkg --force-all -i /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-2.6.29.2-rt11-20090502_2.6.29.2-rt11-20090502-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb Cheers, Quentin

Hi Quentin It's good !!! I'm happy, I'm waiting for 32 bit realease or also an official release by 64studio team, Bye Guido

Will the kernels on your repo continue to have firewire support? thanks tb PS i got this error with the new kernel. E: /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-2.6.29.2-rt11-20090502_2.6.29.2-rt11-20090502-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb: trying to overwrite `/lib/firmware/e100/d101s_ucode.bin', which is also in package linux-image-2.6.29-rt8+20090429 not sure what happened. I was trying to install both kernels at the same time with synaptic. Is that a problem?