I have problem with dell Optiplex gx260 and latest kernels.

When working IN gui the system is jerky.

With Slackware-11 (kernel 2.6.17) I don't have problems. But slack11 has
gcc-3 and I think many programs depend on it.

What's the best option?

Slackware-12.1 with old kernel or slackware-11 and try to compile new
software with gcc-3?

Any other idea welcome. (freeBSD is also buggy)

On Mon, 19 May 2008, michales wrote:

> I have problem with dell Optiplex gx260 and latest kernels.
>
> When working IN gui the system is jerky.
>
> With Slackware-11 (kernel 2.6.17) I don't have problems. But slack11 has
> gcc-3 and I think many programs depend on it.
>
> What's the best option?
>
> Slackware-12.1 with old kernel or slackware-11 and try to compile new
> software with gcc-3?
>
> Any other idea welcome. (freeBSD is also buggy)


Sadly, BSD is a continuous crasher on some (many systems). A slight
warning: Gnome has gotten popular, and it (GSB) needs Slackware 12.x.
A lot of newer stuff for Gnome won't run on Slackware 11.

Not sure what processor and memory you have, but I just installed
Slackware 12.0 on a machine with a P4 and 500 MB RAM. With
addition of 1 GB swap, KDE 3.5 runs multimedia, etc smoothly, while
GDM (Gnome desktop) is very jerky even with some less demanding
software. This leads me to believe that adding some swap (if you don't
have > 1 GB RAM) and changing the GUI might solve your problem.

Dominic

On Mon, 19 May 2008 12:11:49 +0200, Dominic-Luc Webb wrote:
> This
> leads me to believe that adding some swap (if you don't have > 1 GB RAM)
> and changing the GUI might solve your problem.

The problem is with kernel, NOTHING else. The drivers in kernel are buggy,
not the programs.

For example when making mp3 with lame within GUI (twm / kde / xfce / not
matters) but with console it takes 29seconds

When the gui IS up, the encoding REMOTELY from ssh takes 17 seconds! I
suppose there is a confict with grapchics card and .. ide controller!

On Mon, 19 May 2008, michales wrote:

> On Mon, 19 May 2008 12:11:49 +0200, Dominic-Luc Webb wrote:
> > This
> > leads me to believe that adding some swap (if you don't have > 1 GB RAM)
> > and changing the GUI might solve your problem.
>
> The problem is with kernel, NOTHING else. The drivers in kernel are buggy,
> not the programs.

Just trying to help based on my own personal experience. My word
need not be the last for your system. The drivers can be buggy, but
many of them have not been updated much or at all between 11.0
and 12.0, so I am not sure how going back to Slackware 11.0 could
solve this problem on same hardware. For clarity, may I ask which
particular drivers you refer to?

Dominic

On Mon, 19 May 2008 08:18:23 +0000, michales wrote:

> I have problem with dell Optiplex gx260 and latest kernels.
>
> When working IN gui the system is jerky.
>
> With Slackware-11 (kernel 2.6.17) I don't have problems. But slack11 has
> gcc-3 and I think many programs depend on it.
>
> What's the best option?
>
> Slackware-12.1 with old kernel or slackware-11 and try to compile new
> software with gcc-3?
>
> Any other idea welcome. (freeBSD is also buggy)
>
Caveat: I don't have an Optiplex gx260. I googled it and see it is a P4
class PC with onboard (intel?) graphics.

I cannot tell from your post which Slackware versions you have tried, or
are currently using. Continuing on...

The X that came with Slackware 12 had some issues with Intel chipsets.
These were corrected by Jan 2008- I forget the exact date. Anyway, it
would be simplest to try Slackware 12.1 to see if that cures all of your
issues.

The kernel could be partly to blame. IIRC, benchmarks of the kernel before
adoption of the "completely fair scheduler" were faster than the later
design. In some cases, I have recompiled the kernel that comes with
Slackware for better performance on specific hardware. To get the best
performance on a desktop system, I start with PV's configuration and then
make minor adjustments. For example, I have set the default scheduler to
use anticipatory mode IO, set optimizations for a specific CPU model and
CPU count, and set to use desktop latency. I also add ext2 the filesystem,
and IIRC, leave the rest unchanged and compile the kernel. YMMV.

OT?: With systems which run VMWare which run on Intel with many CSTATEs,
set the max CSTATE to 0 before launching VMWare.

--
Douglas Mayne

On Mon, 19 May 2008 08:18:23 +0000 (UTC), michales <korgie@gmail.com> wrote:

>I have problem with dell Optiplex gx260 and latest kernels.

I have a GX100 I use slack-11.0 and almost latest kernel, at the
moment 2.6.24.7 -- see no reason to upgrade to more recent slackware
on that box. No GUI (well, it's installed but hardly used).
>
>When working IN gui the system is jerky.
>
>With Slackware-11 (kernel 2.6.17) I don't have problems. But slack11 has
>gcc-3 and I think many programs depend on it.

Depends on what you are running, can't comment
>
>What's the best option?
>
>Slackware-12.1 with old kernel or slackware-11 and try to compile new
>software with gcc-3?

The latest kernels have many tuning options and the slack distro kernel
needs to be modified (IMHO) to suit your hardware. I use only the deadline
scheduler, turn off the other fancy stuff.

You have P4?

Not installed 12.1 on P4 box yet ... soon. I'll report if I notice any
jerky operation and fixes for it, you could take a look at the config
for the P4 box with slack-11:
http://bugsplatter.mine.nu/test/boxe...g-2.6.24.7a.gz
-- Intel G865/ICH4 chipset, perhaps also:
http://bugsplatter.mine.nu/test/boxe...g-2.6.24.7a.gz

Grant.
--
http://bugsplatter.mine.nu/

On Mon, 19 May 2008 07:42:13 -0600, Douglas Mayne wrote:
> I cannot tell from your post which Slackware versions you have tried, or
> are currently using. Continuing on...

10.1, 11, 12, 12.1, ubuntu-8.04, vector-5.9, freeBSD 7.0
(I have a spare disk for testing )

All distributions with latest kernels are problematic.

Only 10.1 and 11 are working. Also I tried successfully 12.1 with kernel
2.6.17.13.

Now I compile my own kernel starting from 2.6.18 an upwards to check if
it's a kernel issue or x-server issue as mentioned.

I believe in 1-2 days I inform, since I don't see any better option.

I think it's not a kernel option but the COMBINATION of i810 (graphic
driver) and ata_piix (ide controller) is problematic with latest kernels.

More to follow, thanks for the thoughts.

But no-one answred to my original questions

On Mon, 19 May 2008 07:42:13 -0600, Douglas Mayne wrote:
> The X that came with Slackware 12 had some issues with Intel chipsets.
> These were corrected by Jan 2008- I forget the exact date. Anyway, it
> would be simplest to try Slackware 12.1 to see if that cures all of your
> issues.

After testing I think this is spot-on.

I tried Slackware-11 with... latest kernel (2.6.25.4) and the speed is ok.

So, it' not a kernel issue but a driver from the grapchics card. The
module is the i810 and I think I can also use the intel. I will make some
efforts with xorg.conf in Slackware-12.1.

Thank you for the heads-up.