Mailing List Archive

Dennis Lou wrote:

>A few weeks ago, I said I'd turn my Debian package
>notes
>into documentation. Well, since then I got bogged
>down
>in some issues while trying to upgrade the hardware
>(details in a separate email). After getting through
>that, I spent the last week with Ray doing the
>rewrite, so here it is for review. Questions?
>Comments?
>
you talked about installing kernel 2.4.16, one point to note is that i
had trouble getting the ivtv driver (for the pvr-250) to install on
anything less than 2.4.20 kernel (although someone did say that they had
it going on 2.4.19, but patched up specially). i know that there is
alot more to mythtv than the pvr-250 card, but that definitely seems to
be a draw recently (myself included), and getting the ivtv module
compiled and installed is out of the scope of this doc, probalby worth
at least a mention so that someone doesn't have to upgrade the kernel twice.

i had to install the msttcorefonts manually, the epg looked horrible
with a blocky bitmapped font, installing the msttcorefonts package
cleaned that up nicely.

i'll keep look over it and let you know if i think of anything else.
excellent job!

cheers,

CraigL->Thx();

Craig Longman wrote:
>you talked about installing kernel 2.4.16, one >point
to note is that i
>had trouble getting the ivtv driver (for the
pvr->250) to install on
>anything less than 2.4.20 kernel

If I'm not mistaken, ivtv is only supported in
CVS right now. The Debian packages are 0.8
and don't support the pvr-250, so for now
the point is moot.

Even so, ivtv users are going to be doing a
fair bit of compiling to get the kernel modules
and v4l2 that I think they'll probably be
skipping to step 3.5 or 4 anyway.


-Dennis

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Dennis Lou wrote:

>Craig Longman wrote:
>
>
>>you talked about installing kernel 2.4.16, one >point
>>
>>
>to note is that i
>
>
>>had trouble getting the ivtv driver (for the
>>
>>
>pvr->250) to install on
>
>
>>anything less than 2.4.20 kernel
>>
>>
>
>If I'm not mistaken, ivtv is only supported in
>CVS right now. The Debian packages are 0.8
>and don't support the pvr-250, so for now
>the point is moot.
>
by all accounts (issac) 0.9 is very close, which will support pvr-250,
so 'for now' might only be 'for another week'. i would have looked
first for a debian install doc and if i'd gone and installed one kernel
only to find i needed a newer one before i was finished, i'd be
dissappointed. just a one-liner saying 'if you are working with a
pvr-250/350, look in testing for 2.4.20' and a link to configuring the
sources.list for testing.

>Even so, ivtv users are going to be doing a
>fair bit of compiling to get the kernel modules
>and v4l2 that I think they'll probably be
>skipping to step 3.5 or 4 anyway.
>
well, its not that much compiling. and unless told otherwise, i imagine
they'd at least try and start with the 'recommended' configuration
first. anyway, whatever you want.

one other point about the debian kernels. i did recompile the kernel
i'm currently running, so i don't know if it was my fault or not, but
the dma is not activated by default. also, the ide mode defaults to
33MHz, both are quite detrimental to performance, especially on
non-hardware encoders. is this the case for packages kernels also? if
so, some mention of hdparms with a link might be a good idea. i'm
trying to figure out why my lilo commands to force 66MHz and hda/b into
dma aren't working, once i figure that out, i'll send it to you incase
someone else has the same trouble.

thanks,

CraigL->Thx();

At 02:00 AM 5/6/2003 -0400, Craig Longman wrote:
[...]
>one other point about the debian kernels. i did recompile the kernel i'm
>currently running, so i don't know if it was my fault or not, but the dma
>is not activated by default. also, the ide mode defaults to 33MHz, both
>are quite detrimental to performance, especially on non-hardware
>encoders. is this the case for packages kernels also? if so, some
>mention of hdparms with a link might be a good idea. i'm trying to figure
>out why my lilo commands to force 66MHz and hda/b into dma aren't working,
>once i figure that out, i'll send it to you incase someone else has the
>same trouble.

First, whether DMA is activated "by default" or not in a custom-compiled
Debian kernel depends on 2 things:

1. If you selected that option in kernel configuration.
2. If the kernel supports your IDE chipset.

Check #1 in the "make menuconfig" setup menu under:
IDE, ATA and ATAPI Block devices
Use PCI DMA by default when available

For #2, see if you've enabled your motherboard's IDE chipset in the same
("DE, ATA and ATAPI Block devices") menu. If you haven't, the kernel will
disregard the above setting, viewing DMA as "not available". You *can*
force DMA on in these cases using hdparm the usual way.

Second, look in /var/log/dmesg for information about how the ide driver is
determining the pio bus speed (I assume this is the 33 MHz "ide mode" you
refer to, and not the UDMA speed). I *think* it gets this from the BIOS, so
... are you sure your BIOS supports 66 MHz?

Pre-compiled Debian kernels (the ones I've tried, anyway ... a small
sample) enable the "use DMA if available" option. I've never checked how
they probe or set the ide bus speed.

Ray Olszewski wrote:

> At 02:00 AM 5/6/2003 -0400, Craig Longman wrote:
> [...]
>
>> one other point about the debian kernels. i did recompile the kernel
>> i'm currently running, so i don't know if it was my fault or not, but
>> the dma is not activated by default. also, the ide mode defaults to
>> 33MHz, both are quite detrimental to performance, especially on
>> non-hardware encoders. is this the case for packages kernels also?
>> if so, some mention of hdparms with a link might be a good idea. i'm
>> trying to figure out why my lilo commands to force 66MHz and hda/b
>> into dma aren't working, once i figure that out, i'll send it to you
>> incase someone else has the same trouble.
>
> First, whether DMA is activated "by default" or not in a
> custom-compiled Debian kernel depends on 2 things:
>
> 1. If you selected that option in kernel configuration.
> 2. If the kernel supports your IDE chipset.

yes, i realize after i had compiled that i didn't have that checked.
that part is my fault. i have checked it now, just not bothered to
recomple again yet.

> For #2, see if you've enabled your motherboard's IDE chipset in the
> same ("DE, ATA and ATAPI Block devices") menu. If you haven't, the
> kernel will disregard the above setting, viewing DMA as "not
> available". You *can* force DMA on in these cases using hdparm the
> usual way.

it is enabled, but the options are still ignored. anyway, i'll figure
that out off this list.

> Pre-compiled Debian kernels (the ones I've tried, anyway ... a small
> sample) enable the "use DMA if available" option. I've never checked
> how they probe or set the ide bus speed.

ok, this was what i wasn't sure of. i've never checked it, huge disk
transfer speeds haven't been as critical to me as they are with mythtv.

thanks,

CraigL->Thx();

Craig wrote:
>by all accounts (issac) 0.9 is very close, which
>will support pvr-250,
>so 'for now' might only be 'for another week'. i
>would have looked
>first for a debian install doc and if i'd gone >and
installed one kernel
>only to find i needed a newer one before i was
>finished, i'd be
>dissappointed. just a one-liner saying 'if you >are
working with a
>pvr-250/350, look in testing for 2.4.20' and a >link
to configuring the
>sources.list for testing.

I'll keep it in mind, but for now I wouldn't
want to confuse someone into thinking that
the 0.8 packages support ivtv when it doesn't.

-Dennis

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> After getting through that, I spent the last week with Ray doing
> the rewrite, so here it is for review. Questions?

Let me know when you think you may have a final version.

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