Category Archives: Performance

NVIDIA – New Driver 384.130 – Still Fails with 4.16..

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NVIDIA have released driver 384.130, and details are here:  http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/132524/en-us The ‘Release Highlights’ clearly specify ”Improved compatibility with recent Linux kernels.”, and yet it still fails with Kernel 4.16 (tested with 4.16-rc7): ……………… ld -r -o /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-384.130/kernel/nvidia-modeset/nv-modeset-interface.o /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-384.130/kernel/nvidia-modeset/nvidia-modeset-linux.o Building modules, stage 2. MODPOST 4 modules WARNING: “swiotlb_map_sg_attrs” [/home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-384.130/kernel/nvidia.ko] undefined! CC /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-384.130/kernel/nvidia-drm.mod.o LD [M] /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-384.130/kernel/nvidia-drm.ko CC /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-384.130/kernel/nvidia-modeset.mod.o LD … Continue reading →

NVIDIA – Another New Driver – Still Broken with 4.16..

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NVIDIA have released another new driver – 390.48, and details are here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/132530/en-us Surprisingly, this version is still not able to function with Kernel 4.16 (tested with 4.16-rc7): ……………….. Building modules, stage 2. MODPOST 4 modules WARNING: “swiotlb_map_sg_attrs” [/home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-390.48/kernel/nvidia.ko] undefined! ……………… I am still using the patched version of 384.111 (see http://rglinuxtech.com/?p=2227 ), and I should mention … Continue reading →

Kernel – GCC and ‘Retpoline’..

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The recent summary of Kernel 4.15 mentioned the test for ‘compliant’ versions of GCC which fully support the retpoline mitigation, but only gave an example of non-compliance: With GCC 7.2: ~]$ cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/spectre_v2  Vulnerable: Minimal generic ASM retpoline I re-created Fedora (Rawhide) GCC 7.3.1 for Fedora 27, and it gives the following, after Kernel 4.15 compilation/boot: ~]$ … Continue reading →

Kernel – Urgent Changes in Latest Versions, to Fix Intel CPU Security..

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Apparently, there has been a major security defect discovered in Intel CPUs, and full details have been embargoed until early-January, but there is a comprehensive article in The Register, here:  https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/02/intel_cpu_design_flaw/ The Linux Kernel devs have been working to provide a workaround, as – apparently – there is no other practical solution: https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/12/4/709 The article does hint … 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..

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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 – 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 →

ARM64 – 4.14-rc1 Problems..?

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Kernel 4.14-rc1 has been stable on the x86_64 test system, but when I tried updating the Odroid C2 (ARM64) I saw a lot of mmc and other errors reported.. ………. [ OK ] Started File System Check on Root Device. Starting Remount Root and Kernel File Systems… mmcblk0: response CRC error sending r/w cmd command, card status … Continue reading →

Kernel – 4.12-rc1 Released – NVIDIA OK, VMware Not..

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Kernel 4.12-rc1 is out – one day early – and brief details are here:  http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1705.1/03964.html The release includes the reverted GPL/MIT licence changes in refcount.c, and the latest NVIDIA drivers compile/load OK, now: ……………………… Building modules, stage 2. MODPOST 4 modules CC /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-381.22/kernel/nvidia-drm.mod.o LD [M] /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-381.22/kernel/nvidia-drm.ko CC /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-381.22/kernel/nvidia-modeset.mod.o LD [M] /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-381.22/kernel/nvidia-modeset.ko CC /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-381.22/kernel/nvidia-uvm.mod.o LD [M] /home/rgadsdon/kernel/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-381.22/kernel/nvidia-uvm.ko CC … Continue reading →

NVIDIA – Still no 4.11 Solution, but a ‘Good’ Patch for Old Version..

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Kernel 4.11 ‘final’ has been delayed for a week, and -rc8 has been released..     4.11-patched VMware 12.5.5 is OK, but there is still only a ‘Bad’ (illegal licence modification) patch for the latest NVIDIA driver..   (see https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1002820/linux/-patch-381-09-kernel-4-11-rc5/ ) But, if you have an older card, there is a valid patch for driver 340.102 – which does not … Continue reading →