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Slack 11 Is In, Baby!


V.T. Eric Layton

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So, would that 2.6 kernel possibly be a solution?
Well, not the 2.4/2.6 difference, but . . . do you have a SATA drive ?? . . . . And did you pick the SATA-kernel during the install ?B) Bruno
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V.T. Eric Layton

I have two SATA drives, Bruno. They're set up as RAID 1 (mirror), but there is no Linux on them... only Windows XP Pro. My Linux drive is a IDE drive. I chose the default kernel that came up already highlighted in the installer. It was "SATA1", if I remember correctly.Here's the result of that hdparm command above:

root@ericsbane03:/home/vtel57# hdparm -X69 /dev/hda/dev/hda: setting xfermode to 69 (UltraDMA mode5) HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(setxfermode) failed: Input/output error
B)
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My Linux drive is a IDE drive. I chose the default kernel that came up already highlighted in the installer. It was "SATA1", if I remember correctly.
Ahaaaaa . . . there is the mistake . . you should have taken the "bare.i" kernel B)B) Bruno
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V.T. Eric Layton

Well, I kinda' sorta' did this before reading back here...I used the installation CD to install the 2.4 bare.i kernel. All went well, but... it reverted me back to having KDE as the default desktop. Not knowing how to get Dropline back to the default setting, I just reinstalled Dropline. It's actually reinstalling right now. :(While in KDE, though, I attempted to turn DMA on. It still didn't work, and the speed hasn't changed. :(Ah... problems, problems, problems... no wonder I like Ubuntu so much. B)

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sloppyslacker

With the stock bare.i kernel you would have no support for highmem, I don't think, or was that included with 11.0? I think maybe it was. Have you run the hdparm -i /dev/hda with the new kernel installed?

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V.T. Eric Layton

I've been back and forth between distros today, SS. I don't remember if I ran "-i" after I installed the new kernel or not. I may have. The 2.4 kernel has high mem support, at least the SATA.i version did. I haven't checked with the new bare.i yet. I'm in SuSE right now. I'll check it out later.

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Hi Eric . . . . with most hardware, some distros do really like it, some don't . . . . that is why everybody has his/her favorite distro. You might see that on other hardware your fav distro could very well be another.:clap: BrunoPS: If you have much time to spare/waste I would try a "clean" install of Slackware using the bare.i :)

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V.T. Eric Layton
PS: If you have much time to spare/waste I would try a "clean" install of Slackware using the bare.i :D
I'm actually considering that. ;)
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V.T. Eric Layton

OK, Bruno...Slack 11 has been reinstalled (/root only, not /home) on my system. I used the 2.6 kernel this time, though. Unfortunately, I have no mouse action. :thumbsup: I've edited the xorg.conf to reflect the changes that were necessary last time (from your Tips page), but that didn't fix it this time. Hmm... I may have to go back to 2.4, it seems. :thumbsup:

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V.T. Eric Layton

Hmm... didn't say anything about that at the site I was looking at for info on installing the 2.6 version from the CD. I'm using GRUB, anyway, so I'd have to make the intrd and then modify my GRUB in Ubuntu. That can be done, if necessary. The system seems to load fine. I just don't have any mouse action. The KDE terminal works, X loads, etc. *shrugging* I think I may have made a slight boo-boo when editing the mouse field of the xorg.conf. I just mounted that partition and edited it correctly from within Ubuntu. I'm going to reboot now and see what happened.Back in a few...

Edited by V.T. Eric Layton
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Okay . . if it is just the mouse . . . . . . maybe you are right . . and maybe also there was an initrd.gz made during the install ( using mkinitrd is usually needed when you add the 2.6 later ):thumbsup: Bruno

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V.T. Eric Layton

Well, went back and reinstalled Slack with the 2.4 kernel again. I still can't get any improvements out of hdparm. I even tried similar settings to what's in Ubuntu and OpenSuSE, no improvement. :(Oh well... I have to go reinstall all my software again. Off I go...

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V.T. Eric Layton

Current hdparm stats:

root@ericsbane03:/home/vtel57# hdparm /dev/hda/dev/hda: multcount = 16 (on) IO_support = 3 (32-bit w/sync) unmaskirq = 1 (on) using_dma = 0 (off) keepsettings = 0 (off) readonly = 0 (off) readahead = 128 (on) geometry = 30401/255/63, sectors = 488395055, start = 0root@ericsbane03:/home/vtel57# hdparm -tT /dev/hda/dev/hda: Timing cached reads: 4328 MB in 2.00 seconds = 2164.00 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 14 MB in 3.03 seconds = 4.62 MB/secroot@ericsbane03:/home/vtel57# hdparm -i /dev/hda/dev/hda: Model=WDC WD2500JB-00REA0, FwRev=20.00K20, SerialNo=WD-WMANK3280060 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq } RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=50 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=8192kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=268435455 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120} PIO modes: pio0 pio3 pio4 DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled Drive conforms to: Unspecified: ATA/ATAPI-1 ATA/ATAPI-2 ATA/ATAPI-3 ATA/ATAPI-4 ATA/ATAPI-5 ATA/ATAPI-6 ATA/ATAPI-7 * signifies the current active mode
Notice that I'm now in UDMA mode 5.By the way, what file was it that I have to edit to keep my hdparm setting after reboots?
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Current hdparm stats:/dev/hda:Timing cached reads: 4328 MB in 2.00 seconds = 2164.00 MB/secTiming buffered disk reads: 14 MB in 3.03 seconds = 4.62 MB/secroot@ericsbane03:/home/vtel57# hdparm -i /dev/hda
Hi Eric . .Your cached reads improved . . but the buffered disk reads still is not really up to scratch, is it ? :whistling:
Notice that I'm now in UDMA mode 5.
Yep . . what was it that did the trick ??
By the way, what file was it that I have to edit to keep my hdparm setting after reboots?
pssst . . . . it was the /etc/rc.d/rc.local :thumbsup: :) Bruno
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V.T. Eric Layton
Hi Eric . .Your cached reads improved . . but the buffered disk reads still is not really up to scratch, is it ? :P
Nope. Not exactly zooming along, huh? B)
Yep . . what was it that did the trick ??
I'm not sure. I just noticed after the new install that UDMA5 was the default mode. I did change multicount to 16, IO to 32bit, unmask to on, and increased readahead from 8 to 128. Oddly enough, in Ubuntu, multicount is off, IO is 16bit, dma is on (UDMA5), and readahead is 256. The speed on that OS/drive combination is over 10 times faster than in Slack. Slack wouldn't even let me set readahead to 256. :( Obviously, Slack is having a hard time with the hardware configuration on my system. Ubuntu doesn't seem to have a problem. That says something about Debian, doesn't it? :)
pssst . . . . it was the /etc/rc.d/rc.local :D B) Bruno
Ah yeah... that's the one. I just wrote it down. :)
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V.T. Eric Layton

OK, back in Slack for a while...I have NTP installed, but when I try to sync my clock, it says that I need to initialize the service. How does one do that? B)

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V.T. Eric Layton

I'll check on that right now, Bruno...Back to the hard drive performance problem for a minute... I did something interesting. I used the hdparm command within Slack to get the performance readings on my RAID SATA drives. They're indentical to my IDE drive except for the SATA/IDE difference. They're the same brand (WD) and size (250Gig). The hdparm readings on the SATA drives were zipping along at a respectable 50M+, while the IDE will only access at about 4.7M, no matter what the settings are. Could Slack be having some problems with my IDE controller? Can you think of a solution for this... new driver, something like that?Hmm... this is all I could find in that directory, Bruno...

root@ericsbane03:/etc/rc.d# ls -a. rc.cups rc.local rc.serial.. rc.dbus rc.local~ rc.sshdrc.0 rc.dhcdbd rc.modules rc.syslogrc.4 rc.dnsmasq rc.modules-2.4.33.3 rc.sysvinitrc.6 rc.font.new rc.modules~ rc.udevrc.K rc.gpm rc.mysqld rc.wirelessrc.M rc.hal rc.networkmanager rc.wireless.confrc.S rc.hotplug rc.nfsd rc.yprc.acpid rc.httpd rc.pcmcia rc3.drc.alsa rc.inet1 rc.rpc rc4.drc.atalk rc.inet1.conf rc.samba rc5.drc.avahidaemon rc.inet2 rc.saslauthdrc.avahidnsconfd rc.inetd rc.scanlunsrc.bind rc.ip_forward rc.sendmail
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V.T. Eric Layton

Well, I double checked to see that NTP was installed. It is. However, there is no rc.ntpd file in the rc.d directory. :D When I try to sync I still get the warning that NTP support is not installed. I'm confused. :(Well, out of Slack for now... off to Debian... B)

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V.T. Eric Layton

I'm in Debian currently, Bruno. However, I'll check that link out and let you know what happens when I get back to Slack.Thanks,~EricP.S. Any guesses on the hard drive situation. Numerous searches of Google haven't turned up anything on that issue, which is bad news for me... it could be unique to my hardware/Slackware combination. B)

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P.S. Any guesses on the hard drive situation. Numerous searches of Google haven't turned up anything on that issue, which is bad news for me... it could be unique to my hardware/Slackware combination. B)
I am puzzled to the same level as you are Eric . . . . . . sorry.B) Bruno
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V.T. Eric Layton

I'll keep snooping around, I guess. Everyday, it seems, I get to scratch one more goal off my different distro's lists. This drive problem in Slack and the Updater problem in Fedora are the only two big ones that I can't work past so easily. Ah well, today's challenge is tomorrow's ho-hum stuff. ;)I'm in Slack now... gonna' play with that NTP thing for a bit.Thanks,~Eric

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V.T. Eric Layton

There's some other good stuff on that site, Urmie, but the hdparm stuff I was aware of already. Thanks! :)Hey Bruno,You think maybe reinstalling using ext3 instead of ReiserFS would make any difference?

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