questions about custom compile

byte.chaser · 07-12-2005, 03:31 PM

hey guys,

i think i'm going to like debian, been using it for a few weeks now. With the exception of a few minors oops, it is great.
Anyway my question is that i keep reading all these threads about trimming ones kernel, and it sounds great.

I have read quite few " compile the debian way" howtos, articles, and tidbits. I would like to give it a go, as there is a sick amout of modules loaded when i run lsmod. But how do i know what i need?

What i mean is when the time comes, and run make menuconfig, there is ALOT of stuff in there. What info would i need or should i look for prior to doing this? I just don't wanna get ahead of myself and end up with a slim trim kernel with half my hardware working

any suggestions are greatly appreciated

Matir · 07-12-2005, 03:54 PM

Step 1. Make sure you keep your default kernel available through lilo/grub (as you use). (add a new entry with a copy of your kernel)
Step 2. When configuring, you can make sure if you need things using lspci and the lsmod of your current kernel.
Step 3. Hit '?' on any kernel option to see more information about it, including (usually) a reccomendation on what to do if you don't know. "If unsure, say Y" or "It is safe to include this even if you don't need it" (say Y) or "This may cause your system to randomly crash, delete your files, download child pornography and report you to the FBI, or beat you over the head with your own keyboard." (say N in that case, and wear a hard hat around your computer if you dare say Y).

byte.chaser · 07-12-2005, 04:16 PM

haha thanks, i will definately heed step 3

Quote:

Step 1. Make sure you keep your default kernel available through lilo/grub (as you use). (add a new entry with a copy of your kernel)

i have two stock kernel entries in there right now, latest being 2.6.8.2-686

Quote:

Step 2. When configuring, you can make sure if you need things using lspci and the lsmod of your current kernel.

i am assuming (i know baaaaaad thing) that when doing this X should not be running and i can switch (ctrl + alt + F( blah) ) to run these? or is it better to run then prior and record whats in there more as a reference?

will lspci give me all "pci" devices or all devices Sorry its an odd question, i just dont know
i am not at home right now so i cant check, i will definately check once at home..

thanks again

Matir · 07-12-2005, 04:36 PM

I frequently recompile my kernels through X with no problem. In fact, you might want to try 'xconfig' then to give you a (somewhat) nicer user interface. LSPCI will, as the name suggests, list only devices on your pci bus. lsusb will list usb devices.

Also, if you list your hardware here, I'd be glad to help you figure out which driver/option you need for anything giving you a hard time.

byte.chaser · 07-12-2005, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Matir
I frequently recompile my kernels through X with no problem. In fact, you might want to try 'xconfig' then to give you a (somewhat) nicer user interface. LSPCI will, as the name suggests, list only devices on your pci bus. lsusb will list usb devices.
Also, if you list your hardware here, I'd be glad to help you figure out which driver/option you need for anything giving you a hard time.

Great, thank you

as for hardware

p4 2.4 533 fsb
seagate and western digital ide hard drives 30/60 gig
asus p4p800-e deluxe has sata and scsi/ promise ata controllers, not currently used but eventually will

no floppy drive
onboard usb and firewire
onboard ac97sound
asus ti4200 nvidia video card ( i know i wil have to setup "nvidia" again)
lg cdrom 52X
lg ( cant remember model) dvd burner dvd-r +r and ram :/
generic keyboard 104 keyboard, has quick keys never used them though
logitech MX510 mouse
samsung 17" moniter ( have the synch ranges at home)
epson c60 printer.. (dunno if that matters)

off to attempt the compile in 2 hrs

Matir · 07-12-2005, 09:14 PM

Hey, I think I should be able to give you a bit of help with things, particularly your motherboard and on-board appliances, because, coincidentally, I have the same motherboard.

byte.chaser · 07-12-2005, 10:50 PM

ok so before i start...

here is my lsmod

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
snd_pcm_oss            55080  1 
nvidia               3711460  12 
snd_mixer_oss          20096  2 snd_pcm_oss
ipv6                  264740  8 
i810_audio             37588  0 
ac97_codec             18956  1 i810_audio
hw_random               5460  0 
uhci_hcd               33136  0 
shpchp                101900  0 
pciehp                 99020  0 
pci_hotplug            34640  2 shpchp,pciehp
eth1394                21576  0 
intel_agp              22816  0 
intel_mch_agp          10608  1 
agpgart                34664  3 nvidia,intel_agp,intel_mch_agp
sk98lin               172072  1 
ohci1394               35492  0 
snd_intel8x0           36460  2 
snd_ac97_codec         69988  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm                98728  2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0
snd_timer              25732  1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc         11752  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
gameport                4704  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_mpu401_uart         7968  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_rawmidi            25124  1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device          8200  1 snd_rawmidi
snd                    57156  9 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore              10336  4 i810_audio,snd
ehci_hcd               32004  0 
usbcore               119012  4 uhci_hcd,ehci_hcd
nls_iso8859_1           4032  1 
nls_cp437               5696  1 
vfat                   14656  1 
fat                    46784  1 vfat
capability              4520  0 
commoncap               7232  1 capability
sr_mod                 17316  0 
tsdev                   7392  0 
mousedev               10476  1 
sbp2                   24392  0 
evdev                   9600  0 
scsi_mod              125228  2 sr_mod,sbp2
ieee1394              111512  3 eth1394,ohci1394,sbp2
psmouse                20360  0 
ide_cd                 42656  0 
cdrom                  40732  2 sr_mod,ide_cd
genrtc                  9588  0 
ext3                  127240  2 
jbd                    62616  1 ext3
mbcache                 9348  1 ext3
ide_generic             1408  0 
piix                   13440  1 
ide_disk               19296  6 
ide_core              139940  4 ide_cd,ide_generic,piix,ide_disk
unix                   28756  42 
font                    8320  0 
vesafb                  6656  0 
cfbcopyarea             3872  1 vesafb
cfbimgblt               3040  1 vesafb
cfbfillrect             3776  1 vesafb

wow that seems like alot

Code:

lspci0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 02)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82865G/PE/P PCI to AGP Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #1 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #2 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #3 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #4 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2)
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Bridge (rev 02)
0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) Ultra ATA 100 Storage Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV25 [GeForce4 Ti 4200] (rev a2)
0000:02:03.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev 80)
0000:02:05.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Yukon Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T Adapter (rev 13)

i thought modprobe would give something... but it appears its not installed

Code:

-bash: nexus@debian:~$: command not found
nexus@debian:~$

i think them marvell yukon ethernet is sk98lin ?

Matir · 07-12-2005, 10:56 PM

Wow, that IS a lot of modules. I'm not sure I've ever seen that many before, but then again, I always roll my own kernels and only modularize toys... or things I want to use without rebooting the system.

And even then, I usually build the module, then rebuild the kernel with it built in for the next reboot.

byte.chaser · 07-12-2005, 11:59 PM

hmmm cant seem to locate my audio in menuconfig. I did use the saved .config as a reference to start from. i kinda though it would say "ac97" or "1810 audio"

i assume it

Code:

0000:00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)

from the lspci cant seem to find it.

there is one "intel 18x0/MX440" but that doesnt seem right hmmmm

Matir · 07-13-2005, 08:49 AM

Under ALSA/PCI Devices: Intel/SiS/nVidia/AMD/ALi AC97 Controller. That's what I use.

byte.chaser · 07-13-2005, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Under ALSA/PCI Devices: Intel/SiS/nVidia/AMD/ALi AC97 Controller

thanks, i see i it, theres no "AC97 Controller" but the reset of the line is there :/ . the one underneath is pretty much the same just "experimental" it says...

we shall see what happens its compiling now

byte.chaser · 07-13-2005, 10:12 AM

well it workked

lsmod still seems big though

Quote:

Module Size Used by
snd_pcm_oss 49864 1
nvidia 3711460 12
snd_mixer_oss 17536 1 snd_pcm_oss
hw_random 4308 0
eth1394 18184 0
uhci_hcd 29936 0
intel_agp 19616 0
intel_mch_agp 8080 1
agpgart 28296 3 nvidia,intel_agp,intel_mch_agp
ohci1394 31588 0
snd_intel8x0 31244 1
snd_ac97_codec 66788 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm 86056 2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0
snd_timer 21252 1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 9032 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
gameport 3552 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_mpu401_uart 6112 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_rawmidi 20132 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 6440 1 snd_rawmidi
snd 46532 9 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi, snd_seq_device
soundcore 7488 2 snd
ehci_hcd 28740 0
usbcore 104132 4 uhci_hcd,ehci_hcd
nls_iso8859_1 3680 1
nls_cp437 5312 1
vfat 11904 1
fat 40448 1 vfat
evdev 7424 0
sbp2 21544 0
scsi_mod 66364 1 sbp2
ieee1394 94808 3 eth1394,ohci1394,sbp2
psmouse 18568 0
ide_cd 38752 0
cdrom 37756 1 ide_cd
genrtc 8116 0
ext3 114504 2
jbd 55288 1 ext3
mbcache 7268 1 ext3
ide_generic 928 0
piix 11712 1
ide_disk 16352 6
ide_core 121444 4 ide_cd,ide_generic,piix,ide_disk
unix 23316 34

but it is smaller

Matir · 07-13-2005, 10:52 AM

And it looks like you built most everything as a module. A lot of that stuff, I would compile in (fat, vfat, ext3, jbd, ide_cd, cdrom, piix, ide_generic, ide_disk, ide_core --all the stuff you'd pretty much ALWAYS want). Not to mention you probably don't need eth1394 (firewire ethernet) hw_random (unless you DO have a hw RNG, I don't).

byte.chaser · 07-13-2005, 02:19 PM

Quote:

And it looks like you built most everything as a module. A lot of that stuff, I would compile in...

Good point...
back at it... thanks again. I'll get this eventually

i'm still trying to ge my head wrapped around the "module" part. Why would you want to load anything as a module? I kinda thought
module might load faster, but it makes sense to build it in as it doesnt need to load..?

i guess a module would be good if you had a piece of hardware that was only sometimes used... like an external usb/firewire<insert hot pluggable device here> ?

heh, guess i answered my own question

Matir · 07-13-2005, 02:57 PM

modules are also useful in some other circumstances: in systems with multiple network cards, you can control the ethX numbering by 'modprobing' their drives in the order you want them assigned numbers.