Category Archives: Opinion

Kernel – 4.7-rc2 Released – rc1 Patches Still Work.

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Kernel 4.7-rc2 is out and brief details of changes from -rc1 are here:  http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1606.0/03592.html After all the later-rc breakage with 4.6, I tested the latest patched NVIDIA drivers, and VMware, with this version, and all the previous 4.6/4.7 patches for VMware 12.1.1, and the 4.7 patches for NVIDIA 367.18 and 361.45.11 still work.   See https://rglinuxtech.com/?p=1748 and https://rglinuxtech.com/?p=1750 … Continue reading →

Hardware – Replacing the System Disk..

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My ‘system disk’ (/dev/sda) started to show bad sectors, recently, and so I decided to replace it.    The disk was around 8 years old, and had been in almost-continuous use.. I have not had to do this for some considerable time, and I think the last time was in the late-90s, and using LILO!  (No convoluted grub2 … Continue reading →

NVIDIA – Possible Kernel 4.7 Fix for 361.45.11 and 367.18..

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Thanks to juston_li on the NVIDIA Devtalk forum, there is specific detail of the changes needed for Kernel 4.7 compatibility.. Details are at   https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/938665/linux/linux-4-7-rc1-367-18-build-errors/ The first issue is interesting, as it is due to a Kernel Dev. deciding to introduce a new variable – radix_tree_empty – in Kernel 4.7-rc1, that happens to have the same name as … Continue reading →

Kernel – 4.7-rc1 Breaks NVIDIA and VMware..

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Kernel 4.7-rc1 is out, and brief details are here:  https://lkml.org/lkml/2016/5/29/77 The update breaks the latest NVIDIA drivers – 367.18 and 361.45.11: ………. /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-367.18/kernel/nvidia-uvm/uvm_linux.h:557:13: error: redefinition of ‘radix_tree_empty’ static bool radix_tree_empty(struct radix_tree_root *tree) ……………………………. /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-367.18/kernel/nvidia-drm/nvidia-drm-gem.c: In function ‘nvidia_drm_dumb_map_offset’: /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-367.18/kernel/nvidia-drm/nvidia-drm-gem.c:411:33: error: passing argument 1 of ‘drm_gem_object_lookup’ from incompatible pointer type [-Werror=incompatible-pointer-types] gem = drm_gem_object_lookup(dev, file, handle); …………………… ..and, breaks … Continue reading →

VMware – 12.1.1 – Not Very Impressed..

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VMware Workstation 12.1.1 is out, but still needs the same patches (vmmon and vmnet) for Kernel 4.6 as 12.1.0, and the update also (still..!.) breaks the front-end gui (/usr/bin/vmware) on Fedora 23.. Release Notes for 12.1.1 are here:  https://pubs.vmware.com/Release_Notes/en/workstation/12pro/workstation-1211-release-notes.html Kernel 4.6 patch details are here:  https://rglinuxtech.com/?p=1706 The fix for /usr/bin/vmware on Fedora 23 is almost the same … Continue reading →

ARM64 – Odroid C2 – U-Boot MMC Support..

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After the initial patches to provide basic U-Boot support for the C2, as mentioned in a previous article – there is now a further patch, to enable MMC support.    Details at https://www.mail-archive.com/u-boot@lists.denx.de/msg212503.html I have applied this additional patch, and for SDcard-based systems, it works: U-Boot 2016.05-rc3 (May 14 2016 – 21:06:28 -0700) odroid-c2 aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc (GCC) 5.3.1 20160212 … Continue reading →

ARM64 – Odroid C2 – U-Boot Boots..

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After some valuable info received from Brad (see comment on my earlier article, at https://rglinuxtech.com/?p=1723 ), I found the complete set of four patches for initial C2 U-Boot support, and applied these to the latest (May 9) GIT version of U-Boot..   Thanks are also due to Beniamino Galvani for producing these patches.. Detailed instruction on how to … Continue reading →

Kernel – 4.6-rc7 Out – ‘Final’ Should be Next..

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Updated to kernel 4.6-rc7 on the test system, and this is still OK with the ‘patched’ versions of VMware 12.1.0 and NVIDIA 364.19.. Brief details of changes since -rc6 are here:   http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1605.1/00123.html Barring unforeseen problems, the next release should be 4.6 Final.. Robert Gadsdon.    May 8, 2016.  

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ARM64 – Odroid C2 U-Boot – Latest..

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I discovered there was a later version (6) of the U-boot patch for the Odroid C2, and also – after more research – found the reason for the compile error… It turns out that the GIT version (May 5, 2016) of U-boot currently needs two patches.. The first one is to provide psci_system_reset for armv8, and details … Continue reading →

ARM64 – Odroid C2 With Latest U-Boot and Kernel – Not Quite Yet..

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I decided to check the latest linux-next tree for signs of Odroid C2 code, and there is some there – apparently for basic functionality..     Compiled OK, but when I tried to boot it, the Hardkernel-supplied version of U-Boot crashed: odroidc2#ext4load mmc 0:1 ${loadaddr} /boot/uboot/Image 7748608 bytes read in 187 ms (39.5 MiB/s) odroidc2#ext4load mmc 0:1 ${dtb_loadaddr} /boot/uboot/meson-gxbb-odroidc2.dtb … Continue reading →