Kernel 5.10.81 compiled with improved AMD CPU support

I don't have a PC with AMD CPU, so haven't bothered much with configuring the kernel to work with them. However, some guys testing EasyOS are keen on them, so today have given it a closer look.

I was looking at Gentoo documentation:

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Ryzen

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/AMD_microcode

I have never bothered about microcode either, and the kernel has had CONFIG_MICROCODE disabled. But from a bit of reading, perhaps I should support it. So, have now turned it on, for AMD CPUs only.

Have compiled the 5.10.81 kernel, with these changes, relative to 5.10.78 (as used in EasyOS 3.1.11):

Processor type and features
  [*] Support x2apic   CONFIG_X86_X2APIC
  [*] AMD ACPI2Platform devices support          CONFIG_X86_AMD_PLATFORM_DEVICE
  Performance monitoring
    <*> AMD Processor Power Reporting Mechanism  CONFIG_PERF_EVENTS_AMD_POWER
  [*] CPU microcode loading support              CONFIG_MICROCODE
  [ ]   Intel microcode loading support
  [*]   AMD microcode loading support            CONFIG_MICROCODE_AMD

Device Drivers
  Generic Driver Options > Firmware loader
    (amd-ucode/microcode_amd.bin amd-ucode/microcode_amd_fam15h.bin amd-ucode/microcode_amd_fam16h.bin \
      amd-ucode/microcode_amd_fam17h.bin amd-ucode/microcode_amd_fam19h.bin) \
      Build named firmware blobs into the kernel   CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE
    (/lib/firmware) Firmware blobs root directory  CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE_DIR
  IOMMU Hardware Support
    [*]   AMD IOMMU support                        CONFIG_AMD_IOMMU
    <*>     AMD IOMMU Version 2 driver             CONFIG_AMD_IOMMU_V2

I got the microcode from here:

https://anduin.linuxfromscratch.org/sources/linux-firmware/amd-ucode/

From reading the Gentoo wiki, it seems that improved support for recent AMD CPUs is in the 5.11 kernel. However, I will stay with the 5.10 series for awhile longer.    

Tags: easy