Gecko Edubook on Quirky/Wary

April 29, 2010 — BarryK

I just tested the latest Quirky on the Gecko Edubook netbook, and it does not poweroff. I did have an earlier Quirky powering-off, but it was built with the same 2.6.33.2 kernel except configured as uni-processor (not SMP).

The kernel docs do state that when the kernel is configured for SMP, it might not work properly on all uni-processor systems, even if the "nosmp" boot parameter is passed. Well, this is one of those cases.

I don't have any multi-processor PCs, so I'm only building SMP kernels because other users are demanding it ...but in the future I might build Quirky/Wary with uni-processor kernels because of this on-going problem. I particularly want Quirky/Wary to work on older hardware, and on netbooks.

Anyway, what I'm going to do is bring out an edition of Wary especially for the Gecko. We need to use Xorg 7.3 I think -- I tested the latest Xorg driver in Quirky, provided by raffy, but it won't load (Quirk has Xorg 7.5) -- a missing symbol, so it seems Xorg 7.3 is required. If they are using Debian Lenny for testing, then that will be the reason (Lenny uses Xorg 7.3).

So, expect a Wary with the 2.6.33.2 uniprocessor kernel, the latest RDC Xorg driver, and the other kernel patches and drivers for sound, ethernet and wireless. I'll see if I can get that out in a couple of days.

Comments

RDC Video Driver
Username: Michael C. Barnes
Please send me an e-mail address that I can send a fairly large file. I have the latest RDC Xorg video driver. We have tested this with Ubuntu 9.04 and it is working very well. I think I can get you direct support for any issues you have from RDC. We are working on a very large install in Indonesia now. We were able to get direct support from RDC on the driver when we showed them what the issues were. We will be posting new BIOS, Windows Drivers and Xorg drivers online soon. There will be several new products coming out with the same CPU next month. "29 Apr 2010, 10:43"01545"114.59.12.106'SMP s & the real world!"Sage""I particularly want Quirky/Wary to work on older [???!] hardware, and on netbooks. ... I'll see if I can get that out in a couple of days." Good thinking, Barry. The Wintelies want us all to follow them into oblivion.Les Bisons futees know that they are leading us over the cliff, if you'll pardon the mixed metaphors..... Compact distros don't [i]need[/i] SMP; SMP offers [i]no[/i] advantage for them."29 Apr 2010, 15:35"01545"89.243.239.7'My email"BarryK"Michael, My email address (obfuscated): bkaulerATgmailDOTcomEND Username: 29 Apr 2010, 16:31
"01545"114.129.167.148'No switch off"ICPUG"I think this is the first time I have seen a reason for the no switch off behaviour. I'm a pleased winteli about this discovery because my old desktop wouldn't switch off with Puppy 4.3.1 (after many versions had switched off OK since an early version had the problem). There are so many parameters that can cause anomalous behaviour - in this case not the kernel version but the way it is compiled! Well done for tracking this one down."29 Apr 2010, 19:35"01545"194.62.210.50'smp"Jemimah"Removing SMP would not make netbook users very happy. :( At least not owners of atom netbooks. Username: 29 Apr 2010, 21:48
"01545"216.168.239.87'Atom netbooks"BarryK"Am I lagging in my knowledge here? I didn't know there are any multi-core Atom CPU netbooks. Username: 29 Apr 2010, 22:36
"01545"114.129.167.148'Intel Atoms support Hyper-Threading"Anonymous Coward"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Atom_microprocessors#Netbook_processors_.28sub-notebook.29"30 Apr 2010, 6:57"01545"78.86.7.194'hyperthreading"Jemimah"All the atom processors have hyperthreading, which is 1 core but it looks like 2 processors to the OS. Running without SMP would theoretically reduce performance by 15 to 30 percent. I think some of the newer atoms (eee 1201N?) are dual core now too. Maybe make Wary without smp and Quirky with it."30 Apr 2010, 7:24"01545"71.166.200.104'2 cores"Raffy"Ahh, thanks for that bit of info. Now I know why I see 2 cores while running the Atom board (built 2009)."30 Apr 2010, 8:31"01545"119.95.184.244'Sourcecode of the driver"Fernando"Michael, BarryK hi guys. Do any of you have the sourcecode of the 2.0 version of the RDC driver? I'm trying to get it work on a Debian Lenny based distribution, but the binary of deviceonchip.com just doesn't work on Debian. I would be grateful if you could send me some information of this Xorg driver. My e-mail address is: fernandoDOTeDOTlopezATgmailDOTcom Thanks"19 May 2010, 9:00"01545"201.255.165.103'

Tags: quirky