Let me re-ask the question, for which I gave too much prior information. 
Apologies for that.  Are there pre-built packages for RTAI on Ubuntu 12.04 
Precise?
-Tom



On Feb 20, 2013, at 3:52 PM, Michael Haberler <[email protected]> wrote:

> Tom,
> 
> Am 20.02.2013 um 20:29 schrieb Tom Easterday:
> 
>> I have a problem that looks like either process scheduling, or buffering, 
>> some sort of blocking on a linuxcnc host running 12.04/Xenomai and 2.6.0pre. 
>>  It does not display this problem on 10.04/RTAI and 2.6.0pre (same base 
>> hardware, an intel atom board).   The symptom is that when continuously 
>> jogging, a DRO showing position on a remote device changes smoothly when 
>> talking to 10.04/rtai.  On 12.04/xenomai we get a distinct pattern of three 
>> updates and a pause, three updates and a pause.  The pause is some number of 
>> milliseconds long (1/4 second maybe) and distinctly visible.  The remote 
>> connection is through our web server (Rockhopper) over tcp (websocket) on 
>> wired ethernet.
>> 
>> We first thought it was packet buffering or network latency and played with 
>> TCP parameters and system buffers but that had no effect.  We put timing 
>> statements in the web server code at the point were we write the data out 
>> and it appears that the whole web server process is being blocked or 
>> something.  We tried re-nicing the web server but it didn't help.  If we run 
>> Axis locally while doing this it doesn't display this pause, it moves along 
>> smoothly as one would expect.
>> 
>> For debugging I thought I might try 12.04 and rtai to see if it was just 
>> with the xenomai kernel or if rtai on 12 does it as well.  Are there rtai 
>> packages available for 12.04 yet?  I was going through the email list 
>> archive on the new RT stuff but don't see any pointer to packages on rtai 
>> specifically...
>> 
>> Any thoughts on what we might look at to narrow it down further?
> 
>> From the above I can tell:
> 
> - you are running some of your own code because you cite some 'web server' 
> which is not part of a released or working branch. Where is the code, the 
> configuration you are using, and the exact sequence of commands leading up to 
> it?
> - you say you are running '2.6.0pre', whatever that is, that tag isnt a 
> unique identifier. Please state repository, branch name, commit, and which 
> changes you did. 
> - you do not say anything about hardware, exact lan setup including any 
> intermediate hardware, the board, kernel version - how are we supposed to 
> guess?
> 
> With that level of information, my thought is that you will get zero help in 
> narrowing down things further, simply because it is impossible.
> 
> --
> 
> that said, what I suggest you do is: triage the problem into a) network 
> driver and hardware b) tcp kernel stack and throughput c) application. 
> 
> a) Find throughput tests which measure at the packet loss level with the 
> least kernel intervention, that is - raw throughput tests at the ethernet or 
> UDP level. Find out if there are significant differences between operating 
> systems on the same hardware. Change hubs/switches or whatever have in 
> between. Try a crossover cable.
> 
> b) do the same including the TCP stack which measures end-to-end throughput 
> at the TCP level. Observe the TCP retransmission numbers in netstat which 
> should give a clue.
> 
> c) as for application level issues, install wireshark and pcap, and trace the 
> flow between the programs which show the the issue - we dont know which they 
> are since you do not tell. The packet capture will include timestamps and TCP 
> retransmissions which hint at network problems. If you see any 
> retransmissions, try alternate hardware and drivers - this zoo has many 
> animals. Try with everyting on one machine to exclude network issues.
> 
> And: read this: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html
> 
> --
> 
> One reason why I suggest you produce a more thorough report, and not some 
> ephemeral problem narrative: I spent several hours recently in a off-list 
> debugging session on a 'reported Xenomai problem'. The problem was finally 
> resolved by me demanding to 'yank that ethernet hub *now* and throw it in the 
> wastebin' in no uncertain words. No more Xenomai issues since. Btw that was a 
> device 'which always used to work so far'. So much for perceived causality.
> 
> 
> - Micahel
> 
> 
> 
> 
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