Re: [gentoo-user] Interesting install experience
At Thu, 14 Jul 2005 20:33:23 +0100 Daniel Drake <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Allan Gottlieb wrote: >> *Very* interesting. Please let us know when the documentation is >> available. I have build everything into the kernel (including alsa) >> and so far it is working well, but I haven't stressed audio. What >> problems should I be looking for and do you advise rebuilding the >> kernel with alsa as modules even if we don't experience trouble with >> everything built in? (I should have said all but nvidia built in). > > It's fine to build ALSA into the kernel if you are happy to configure it, > which usually isn't too much hassle anyway. > > The reasoning behind compiling ALSA as modules is that it then gives you the > option of using 'alsaconf'. > > alsaconf is a great little utility, which, providing you have built the > modules, will configure pretty much any sound card for you, set up the system > for autoloading the relevant modules and saving/restoring volume, and unmuting > the channels. > > I came across it when i was attempting to get an ISA sound card going in an > old computer. It just didn't work when built into the kernel or loading the > module manually. I discovered alsaconf, which did some weird probing, and 20 > secs later informed me of 4 cryptic parameters that were needed to pass to the > module in order to find the sound card, as well as doing everything else I > described above. > > Recently at work, I built *all* alsa drivers as modules, and proceeded to test > 30-40 sound cards that we had lying around. ALSA supported every one of them > that wasn't so broken that it stopped the PC booting, and alsaconf made it > dead easy even with the older PCI cards and the ISA ones too. > > So, the advantage of building ALSA modules is that you can use alsaconf, which > in most cases makes initial configuration a little bit simpler, and in some > cases is a complete lifesaver. thank you for the lucid explanation. > You might be interested in our recently revamped ALSA guide: > http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml It is indeed much improved since I last used it. > And also, if you are interested in the upcoming kernel config doc, then you > can add yourself to the CC list on http://bugs.gentoo.org/94955 Done. Thanks again, allan -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Interesting install experience
Allan Gottlieb wrote: > *Very* interesting. Please let us know when the documentation is > available. I have build everything into the kernel (including alsa) > and so far it is working well, but I haven't stressed audio. What > problems should I be looking for and do you advise rebuilding the > kernel with alsa as modules even if we don't experience trouble with > everything built in? (I should have said all but nvidia built in). It's fine to build ALSA into the kernel if you are happy to configure it, which usually isn't too much hassle anyway. The reasoning behind compiling ALSA as modules is that it then gives you the option of using 'alsaconf'. alsaconf is a great little utility, which, providing you have built the modules, will configure pretty much any sound card for you, set up the system for autoloading the relevant modules and saving/restoring volume, and unmuting the channels. I came across it when i was attempting to get an ISA sound card going in an old computer. It just didn't work when built into the kernel or loading the module manually. I discovered alsaconf, which did some weird probing, and 20 secs later informed me of 4 cryptic parameters that were needed to pass to the module in order to find the sound card, as well as doing everything else I described above. Recently at work, I built *all* alsa drivers as modules, and proceeded to test 30-40 sound cards that we had lying around. ALSA supported every one of them that wasn't so broken that it stopped the PC booting, and alsaconf made it dead easy even with the older PCI cards and the ISA ones too. So, the advantage of building ALSA modules is that you can use alsaconf, which in most cases makes initial configuration a little bit simpler, and in some cases is a complete lifesaver. You might be interested in our recently revamped ALSA guide: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml And also, if you are interested in the upcoming kernel config doc, then you can add yourself to the CC list on http://bugs.gentoo.org/94955 Daniel -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Interesting install experience
At Thu, 14 Jul 2005 16:58:42 +0100 Daniel Drake <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Jim Hatfield wrote: >> BTW, what is the received wistom wrt building things into the >> kernel or building them as modules? As well as the G400 I have >> an Intel NIC and a VIA sound card, and this time round chose to >> build them in, though before I built them as modules. I'm not >> clear as to the pros and cons. > > We are writing documentation on this at the moment. With manual configuration, > build everything into the kernel unless you have a reason *not* to. Build ALSA > (sound) as modules, since the ALSA utilities work better with modules. *Very* interesting. Please let us know when the documentation is available. I have build everything into the kernel (including alsa) and so far it is working well, but I haven't stressed audio. What problems should I be looking for and do you advise rebuilding the kernel with alsa as modules even if we don't experience trouble with everything built in? (I should have said all but nvidia built in). allan -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Interesting install experience
Jim Hatfield wrote: > BTW, what is the received wistom wrt building things into the > kernel or building them as modules? As well as the G400 I have > an Intel NIC and a VIA sound card, and this time round chose to > build them in, though before I built them as modules. I'm not > clear as to the pros and cons. We are writing documentation on this at the moment. With manual configuration, build everything into the kernel unless you have a reason *not* to. Build ALSA (sound) as modules, since the ALSA utilities work better with modules. Daniel -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Interesting install experience
Hi, On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 16:27:49 +0100 Jim Hatfield <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > So I just installed another machine, using the 2005.0 CD and using > the new instructions. It has a Matrox G400 so I added support for > that in the kernel. This may have been a mistake. > > Everything is fine until I reboot, when after the GRUB screen and > kernel selection, the screen goes black with lots of pretty blue > squares all over it. This may be due to the framebuffer chosing a wrong mode for the kind of monitor you have. You can set the resolution and frame rate on the kernel command line. This should be documented in /usr/src/linux/ Documentation/fb/... (don't have it here atm) > I guess I will rebuild the kernel with Matrox support removed and > see if that fixes. This will probably work, too :-) > BTW, what is the received wistom wrt building things into the > kernel or building them as modules? As well as the G400 I have > an Intel NIC and a VIA sound card, and this time round chose to > build them in, though before I built them as modules. I'm not > clear as to the pros and cons. If the hardware is builtin, and you don't have problems with somewhat random hardware enumeration (i.e., multiple NICs getting different devices on each boot), there's little reason to build the drivers as modules. OTOH, probing a module triggers (if it loads successfully) a hotplug event, which is not the case during bootup (AFAIK, at least there are no hotplug scripts available at that moment). So if you chose to compile them into the kernel, you need to e.g. have "net.eth0" in the runlevel configuration for "boot" or "default". If you're probing them as modules, that will trigger hotplug and this should take care of running the respective start script. If you intend to run a common kernel on multiple machines, it may be wiser to compile some drivers to modules, but for e.g. PCI devices this shouldn't matter a lot, you only will save some RAM on machines that don't need the driver (compiled into the kernel). Sound is another matter: The kernel ALSA isn't always the latest version. So it's best to only configure sound support but no ALSA or OSS and then later "emerge alsa-driver". Then there are drivers that have their own code base only. In most cases it's much more complicated to integrate them into the kernel sources than to compile them as external modules. -hwh -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
[gentoo-user] Interesting install experience
The machine I posted about earlier (GRUB GRUB GRUB...) is dead. It hung booting the 2005.0 CD, and if I booted a DriveImage CD with a DOS partition, every key on the keyboard was echoed ^A. Ah well. So I just installed another machine, using the 2005.0 CD and using the new instructions. It has a Matrox G400 so I added support for that in the kernel. This may have been a mistake. Everything is fine until I reboot, when after the GRUB screen and kernel selection, the screen goes black with lots of pretty blue squares all over it. Nice, but not helpful in logging in. And of course sshd isn't enabled by default. No matter, I reboot off the CD, mount everything, do the chroot thing and add sshd to the default runlevel, reboot and I can get in remotely. I guess I will rebuild the kernel with Matrox support removed and see if that fixes. BTW, what is the received wistom wrt building things into the kernel or building them as modules? As well as the G400 I have an Intel NIC and a VIA sound card, and this time round chose to build them in, though before I built them as modules. I'm not clear as to the pros and cons. -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
