Category Archives: Opinion

Kernel – 4.15-rc1 is Out – Breaks VMware and NVIDIA…

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Kernel 4.15-rc1 has been released, and brief details are here:  http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1711.3/00971.html With VMware 14.0.0 – plus the 4.14 vmmon patch – vmmon breaks again: ……………………… /tmp/modconfig-hOVOTM/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c: In function ‘LinuxDriverInitTSCkHz’: /tmp/modconfig-hOVOTM/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:254:22: error: assignment from incompatible pointer type [-Werror=incompatible-pointer-types] tscTimer.function = LinuxDriverEstimateTSCkHzDeferred; ^ /tmp/modconfig-hOVOTM/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c:256:12: error: ‘struct timer_list’ has no member named ‘data’ tscTimer.data = 0; ^ /tmp/modconfig-hOVOTM/vmmon-only/linux/driver.c: In function … Continue reading →

IA64 – An Exercise in Nostalgia..

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Ever since I spent some considerable time promoting HP’s IA64 Linux systems, way back in the early-2000’s, I have always wanted one for myself, and I recently managed to acquire an RX2600 1U server for a very reasonable price, and beef it up with some inexpensive parts from eBay.. The spec – at the moment – is … Continue reading →

VMware – 12.5.8 Released – Still Incompatible..

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There has been a new release of Workstation 12.5 – 12.5.8 – and the – rather vague – release notes are here:  https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workstation-Pro/12.0/rn/workstation-1258-release-notes.html I tested this with a ‘clean’ install on my cash-and-burn system, and basically, it suffers from the same compatibility problems as 12.5.7.    GCC7, Fedora 26/27, and Kernel 14.x all cause it to fail. # … Continue reading →

Fedora – 26-27 DNF Upgrade Woes, and a Workaround..

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After upgrading four Fedora systems (x86_64) from release 26 to 27, using # dnf system-upgrade download –refresh –releasever=27 –allowerasing –nogpgcheck –best -y, two of these worked OK, but two failed – with a sudden reboot, back to F26 – and no (apparent) error displayed, after # dnf system-upgrade reboot had rebooted the system, and the upgrade process … Continue reading →

Kernel – 4.14-rc8 Released, After All..

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Kernel 4.14-rc8 is out, and brief details of changes since -rc7 are here: http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1711.0/03395.html This might have been 4.14 ‘final’ but there were still too many changes to warrant that..    Th 4.14 ‘final’ release may be slightly delayed, as it would now clash with the US ‘Thanksgiving’ holiday.. The latest NVIDIA drivers (384.98 and 387.22 beta) both … Continue reading →

Audacity – New Major Release – Compile Fix, for Portaudio..

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After some considerable time, there is a new major version of Audacity – 2.2.0 – with a new-improved UI, amongst other things.. As I needed this ASAP, and did not want to wait for the (uncrippled) RPM to come out, I decided to compile it myself, with all useful options included.. I got the following error on … Continue reading →

VMware – Potential Fix for W/S 14 Performance/Memory Issues..

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I had found that although VMware 14.0.0 installed OK with Kernel 4.13, the runtime performance was rather ‘sluggish’, and others have reported more serious memory issues… There is a patch that may help with this – and thanks to Roke for reporting this, and to mkubecek for the actual patch.. Details are in this posting, on the … Continue reading →

VMware – Potential Fix for W/S 14 Performance/Memory Issues..

Adventures With Linux ™ Posted on by

I had found that although VMware 14.0.0 installed OK with Kernel 4.13, the runtime performance was rather ‘sluggish’, and others have reported more serious memory issues… There is a patch that may help with this – and thanks to Roke for reporting this, and to mkubecek for the actual patch.. Details are in this posting, on the … Continue reading →

Kernel – 4.14-rc3 Released – OK with Patched VMware, Still has NVIDIA/AMD/GPL Problem..

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Kernel 4.13-rc3 is out, and brief details of changes from -rc2 are here:  http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1710.0/00180.html VMware 14.0.0 – with the vmmon patch – still loads/runs OK(*), and NVIDIA is OK on Intel systems, but if the new AMD ‘Secure Memory Encryption‘ feature is enabled in the kernel config, then NVIDIA (384.90) will still fail with a GPL error: … Continue reading →

VMware – Workstation 14 released – with a Gotcha..

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VMware Workstation Pro 14.0.0 has been released – a bit earlier than expected – and it has a (potentially) nasty surprise for those with ‘older’ CPUs..   Release notes are here:  https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workstation-Pro/14.0.0/rn/workstation-14-release-notes.html I installed this on my test system without any problems, and was able to confirm that it compiles and loads/runs OK with Kernels 4.13.x, and that … Continue reading →