Category Archives: Opinion

VMware – 15.1.0 released. Still broken, but Fix available

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VMware 15.1.0 is out, and release notes are here:  https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workstation-Pro/15/rn/VMware-Workstation-151-Pro-Release-Notes.html Sadly, vmmon/vmnet install still fails (tested with Kernel 5.1.2), but a fix is already available – thanks once again to Michal Kubeček – at: https://github.com/mkubecek/vmware-host-modules/tree/workstation-15.1.0 I have tested this, and VMware now runs OK, again.. Robert Gadsdon,   May 15 2019.

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Kernel – 5.1 Released, OK with latest NVIDIA, and Patched VMware

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Kernel 5.1 is out, and brief details are here:  http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1905.0/03532.html The latest NVIDIA driver (430.09) and patched VMware 15.0.4 both compile and run OK. One odd quirk, is that the behaviour of # make xconfig has changed, and if you have your custom configs saved out-of-tree, then the save option tries to save them back to the … Continue reading →

Kernel – 5.1-rc3 Released – NVIDIA (Patched) OK, but Must Have VMware 15.0.4 (Patched)

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Kernel 5.1-rc3 has been released, and brief details of changes since -rc2 are here:  http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1903.3/08402.html NVIDIA 418.56 with the 5.1 patch compiles and runs OK, but if you are still using VMware 15.0.3 – with the vmmon/vmnet patches – the installer may fail, with a rather vague error message: ………. make[1]: ‘postbuild’ is up to date. make[1]: … Continue reading →

KDE/Plasma – Softlink to NTFS-3G Partition – Solution..

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This is one of those not-sure-if-bug-or-feature issues..   On my dual-boot Fedora/Win7 system, I needed to access a ‘shared’ NTFS (ntfs-3g) partition.   When I came to add a softlink to the NTFS partition on the Plasma Desktop, the link existed, but nothing showed on the Desktop.    Other softlinks – to EXT4 partitions – displayed OK.   I tested with … Continue reading →

NVIDIA – 418.56 Released – Kernel 5.1 Fix still Applies, with Slight Tweak..

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NVIDIA have released driver 418.56, and details are here:  https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1048767/announcements-and-news/-linux-solaris-and-freebsd-driver-418-56-long-lived-branch-release-/ This version has almost the same problems with Kernel 5.1-rc1 as 418.43, but the fix mentioned in the previous article still applies, after the fixes for ‘list_is_first‘ in   ~/kernel/common/inc/nv-list-helpers.h and ~/kernel/nvidia-uvm/uvm8_range_tree.c have been removed, as these are no longer required, and would now cause the compile to … Continue reading →

NVIDIA – Fix for 418.43 to Work with Kernel 5.1-rc1..

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I have done some more investigation into the NVIDIA compile failures with Kernel 5.1-rc1, and now have a – rather inelegant – solution. I found clues to some of the errors in a post relating to nouveau: https://lkml.org/lkml/2019/2/20/50 and the rest were due to content removed from /include/drm/drm_crtc_helper.h in Kernel 5.1-rc1: https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/v5.1-rc1/source/include/drm/drm_crtc_helper.h compared to: https://elixir.bootlin.com/linux/v5.0.3/source/include/drm/drm_crtc_helper.h.  I also … Continue reading →

VMware – 15.0.3 Released, Still Broken with Kernel 5.0..

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VMware Workstation 15.0.3 has been released, and the details are here: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workstation-Pro/15/rn/workstation-1503-release-notes.html Not an impressive effort, as it still fails when compiled with Kernel 5.0, with multiple warnings, and errors (tested with 5.0.2): ………………….. /tmp/modconfig-32tPYF/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c: In function ‘HostIF_EstimateLockedPageLimit’: /tmp/modconfig-32tPYF/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c:1641:25: error: ‘totalram_pages’ redeclared as different kind of symbol extern unsigned long totalram_pages; ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In file included from /tmp/modconfig-32tPYF/vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c:42: … Continue reading →

Kernel – 5.0 – Finally..

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Kernel 5.0 has been – finally – released, and brief details are here:  http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1903.0/01288.html As expected, the latest NVIDIA driver (tested with 418.43) compiles and loads OK, and VMware 15.0.2 – with the 5.0 patch – also works OK. Robert Gadsdon.  March 3, 2019.

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NVIDIA – New Drivers – OK with Kernel 5.0, Fix for Kernel 4.4

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NVIDIA have released new drivers 418.43 and 410.104, which support Kernel 5.0, and also include a fix for a compile problem with ‘legacy’ Kernel 4.4.168.   There is also a new ‘legacy’ 3xx driver 390.116. which – finally –  provides support for Kernel 5.0. Details for 418.43 are here:   https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1047710/unix-graphics-announcements-and-news/linux-solaris-and-freebsd-driver-418-43-long-lived-branch-release-/ – and for 390.116:  https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1047708/unix-graphics-announcements-and-news/linux-solaris-and-freebsd-driver-390-116-legacy-for-gf1xx-quot-fermi-quot-gpus-/ I have tested … Continue reading →

Compiler – GCC 9 – First Impressions..

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Just updated to the pre-release Fedora 30 (Rawhide) on the test system, and tried out the new version of GCC: $ gcc –version gcc (GCC) 9.0.1 20190209 (Red Hat 9.0.1-0.4) Kernel 5.0-rc7 compiled successfully, and runs OK.    As expected, there were quite a lot of compiler ‘warnings’: ………………….. CC net/ipv4/proc.o CC drivers/hid/hid-samsung.o CC net/ipv4/fib_rules.o CC drivers/hid/hid-sunplus.o fs/xfs/xfs_ioctl32.c: … Continue reading →