Same.

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Mentioning sir William Shakespeare we have entered on ground of literature. Following this path I would say this thread just turned into @hazel's Slackwake.

Some video drivers like i915 or radeon work in KMS (Kernel Mode Setting), which requires the generic+initrd configuration in Slackware, and they have to be loaded explicitly very early in the boot process. You'll be able to use them with the huge kernel, but performance will be poor.

Cheers,

Niki

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Not a chance. Some of my happiest memories are teaching undergrad Shakespeare (I ended up learning the most, of course); wandering around Stratford-upon-Avon; and watching the RSC put on Twelfth Night in Galway some time in the 90s, possibly the funniest spectacle I've ever had the pleasure to watch.

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What patches do you use? There was a time when I'd have to patch the kernel to make my wifi card work.
True, but he gives you the config files for the kernels he builds. That's all you need really.
Wow. How many patches do you apply? Is it still Linux when you're done?
This is not 100% correct. The huge kernel leans more towards the conservative side of performance. It makes an excellent "emergency" kernel.

Anyways, the initrd usage is a must if your root filesystem is encrypted, or it is hosted in a LVM or RAID device.

First I've heard of this. As far as I know, loading the kms driver early is just a cosmetic thing, to get a native resolution console earlier in the boot process?

When I still used Slackware, I always periodically built my own kernels based on the generic kernel, but with ext4 built in. That worked fine and dispensed with the need for an initrd. Of course things may have changed a lot since then.

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This should be correct, yes. I only use the file system module in initrd, and KMS initializes as per normal, after the initrd is finished.

I tried putting it in initrd, but apart for the *hugely* bloated initrd image, the difference is minuscule, i.e. the console is switched to KMS just a tad quicker and you get to see a few more earlier lines printer on the console. For me, there is simply no use and I much prefer to have lean initrd image.

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Yes. The patches I apply are not like Ubuntu's patches or similar; they just enhance system performance, like load times for programs and CPU load.

BFQ I/O scheduler - Decreases load time from disk. This is especially noticeable for programs like DOOM.

CPU Optimizations - Compiles kernel for CPUs like the one I have - FX-8370 (Piledriver). Don't know if it specifically increases performance, but I just like having it.

PDS CPU scheduler - Decreases load on CPU - Before, DOOM would load down the CPU to ~114 degrees F. Now, it's about 108. A marked difference.

Kernel deduplication (same page merge) - Decreases total system memory usage.

EDIT: The Linux pf- kernel fork is basically what I'm applying.

So: it boots and the network now comes up by itself. I've got both links and slackpkg to work, so in principle I can now go a lot faster, using links to go through the software lists and slackpkg to fetch and install what I have decided I want.

I couldn't get the slackpkg update to go through because my adsl router kept slowing down and stopping. It does that sometimes when it's been on a long time (another piece of old hardware); sometimes a power cycle cures it but not always. So I'll try again tomorrow. That will be the first day of my new contract period, so I'll have a full 3 GB of downloads prepaid. That should be enough to install everything else that I need.

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I was wondering how things are going for you. Thanks for the update.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

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Your not simple enough to use it
Open an editor and configure your system.
KISS

I can't find the bit where it states that not using an initrd results in poor performance from Linux kms/drm drivers?

As far as I know the early start thing is to facilitate boot splash stuff like plymouth - i.e. it's a cosmetic thing.

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Slackware 14.2 running on Dell Optiplex 330 with an onboard Intel video card.

Huge kernel : KDE desktop effects don't work.

Generic kernel + i915 explicitly loaded on boot time : KDE desktop effects work.

You can make a similar experience with old ATi cards and the radeon driver with{out} KMS.

If I remember correctly, Patrick once stated (long time ago) that huge.s was meant for installation purposes only, and that users are supposed to switch to generic+initrd post-install.

Cheers,

Niki

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