Arch Linux

Cdh

Member

Registered: 2009-02-03

Posts: 1,098

2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

No big discussion here, just kind of a poll. There seem to be so many people having problems that makes 2.6.32 unusable for them. But we don't know much of how many are happy with it.
So just a thread whether the kernel is usable for you and if kernel 2.6.32 as it is now is a good release.

Like:

On my main PC the kernel works very well.
On my eee 1000h I have several problems: eeepc-laptop module is not loading and rt2860 wlan driver is not working, thus it's unusable for me.
So it's like 50/50 for me.

My opinion: I think it breaks too much and should not be released in any distro.

How about you?

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Oxyd

Member

From: Czech Republic

Registered: 2008-01-17

Posts: 167

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

I upgraded my Dell Inspiron 1110 to 2.6.32 yesterday.  My only complaint is that it enabled that kernel mode switching thingy (or whatever it's called) by default, which meant that I could no longer use xrandr to switch BACKLIGHT_CONTROL to native -- that in turn meant xbacklight stopped working.  I fixed it by adding i915.modeset=0 to the kernel line in menu.lst.

Other than this slight nuisance it didn't break anything.  It didn't fix anything for me either.  So in conclusion: It works.

jolinfire

Member

From: France

Registered: 2007-12-21

Posts: 176

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

As I'm using testing repository, I found not a single problem for every single 2.6.32.x version on my computer. Maybe because I don't have KMS enabled ?

Nimatek

Member

Registered: 2009-09-22

Posts: 25

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

Working well on my laptop apart from that KMS debacle, had to revert to using xorg again.

jolinfire

Member

From: France

Registered: 2007-12-21

Posts: 176

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

I will wait until NouVeau is usable on my computer to enable KMS. So about a year or so

pogeymanz

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 1,020

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

Working fine here. Though I use the Nvidia closed driver, so no KMS for me.

Ramses de Norre

Member

From: Leuven - Belgium

Registered: 2007-03-27

Posts: 1,289

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

Appears to have solved a problem with intel wifi on my laptop.

theringmaster

Member

From: Air Force

Registered: 2007-07-16

Posts: 581

Website

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

works here with nvidia's driver

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azleifel

Member

Registered: 2007-10-28

Posts: 486

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

Not noticing any big difference, also with nvidia driver.

vik_k

Member

From: Pune, India

Registered: 2009-07-12

Posts: 227

Website

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

same here.
with nvidia driver & without any problems after upgrade

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ammon

Member

Registered: 2008-12-11

Posts: 413

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

Actually this kernel fixed 6months of regresion in 3d performance with nvidia binary driver. Im happy.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,346

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

I upgraded because it solved the problem with power management functions "Disappearing" when waking up from a sleep state on my HP Pavilion DV4.  It also allowed me to use the native B43 driver with my Broadcom wireless lan without using broadcom-wl. 

Wicd does not work as smoothly as it did with the broadcom-wl driver.  The backend required external tools which are much slower than using ioctl.  I'm sure this is transient and will be fixed soon.

Using Intel graphics with DRM & KMS.  Works fine.

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ozar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2005-02-18

Posts: 1,686

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

Upgraded to 2.6.32 yesterday and haven't noticed any differences either way.

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Anikom15

Banned

From: United States

Registered: 2009-04-30

Posts: 836

Website

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

Nestopia on wine crashes my xorg, and the boot up looks all whacky. KMS enabled. Xorg crashes occasionally at random. (But that was happening before)

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NeoXP

Member

From: MS Matrix

Registered: 2009-01-09

Posts: 206

Website

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

Upgraded this week with kernel26 2.26.32.2-2 from (then) testing, with xorg 1.7.3.902-1 and xf86-video-ati 6.12.4-3. I have since then KMS "late start" enabled.

No problems with my ATI Mobility Radeon X1350 (RV516).

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Arch x86_64 on HP 6820s and on HP nx9420. Registered Linux User 350155, since 24-03-2004
"Everyone said that it could not be done, until someone came along who didn't know that."

bobdob

Member

Registered: 2008-06-13

Posts: 138

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

This update fixed the bugs for my netbook wifi card and introduced one for my desktop, but there's an easy work around.
The KMS was annoying tho. I had my ATI card running well with KMS enabled, but now I can't get early start to work. Late start works ok, so its not all bad.
Plus oss broke on my desktop but it fixed itself somehow.

Since its all working now and I knew about these issues before updating I can't really complain.

tavianator

Member

From: Waterloo, ON, Canada

Registered: 2007-08-21

Posts: 859

Website

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

I had my ATI card running well with KMS enabled, but now I can't get early start to work.

ATI early start KMS is broken because of firmware loading issues (udev has to start first).  Check the mailing list; there's a workaround which basically involves making an initcpio hook that gets run after udev.

weakhead

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2008-08-21

Posts: 341

Website

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

ASUS F5VL with Mobility Radeon X2300 here, ATI-DRI, KMS disabled.
So far I don't see any difference. It's fine, I guess.

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jdarnold

Member

From: Medford MA USA

Registered: 2009-12-15

Posts: 485

Website

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

Update with nVidia 8600 GT video card went swimmingly (so far).

vacant

Member

From: downstairs

Registered: 2004-11-05

Posts: 816

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

HP6735S (radeon 3200) with two Arch installs, (1) main using catalyst with older Xorg etc, (2) media player using xf86-video-ati for 1280x768 vga videos to my HD TV plus usb 8 channel sound card. Both working just fine. Replaced broadcom wl with b43 so changed wicd to use wlan0 rather than eth1, signal strength still 100% and no connection problems.

bobdob

Member

Registered: 2008-06-13

Posts: 138

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

ATI early start KMS is broken because of firmware loading issues (udev has to start first).  Check the mailing list; there's a workaround which basically involves making an initcpio hook that gets run after udev.

Thanks, I early start KMS now works for me.

nblock

Member

From: Austria

Registered: 2008-08-06

Posts: 123

Website

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

I upgraded because it solved the problem with power management functions "Disappearing" when waking up from a sleep state on my HP Pavilion DV4.  It also allowed me to use the native B43 driver with my Broadcom wireless lan without using broadcom-wl. 

Wicd does not work as smoothly as it did with the broadcom-wl driver.  The backend required external tools which are much slower than using ioctl.  I'm sure this is transient and will be fixed soon.

Using Intel graphics with DRM & KMS.  Works fine.

which external tools are needed for wicd?
How is the performance of b43 vs broadcom-wl? (is the b43-fwcutter still needed)?

thanks…

stojic

Member

From: Zagreb, Croatia

Registered: 2008-02-24

Posts: 51

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

Everything works well (just as .31).

NeoXP

Member

From: MS Matrix

Registered: 2009-01-09

Posts: 206

Website

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

I had my ATI card running well with KMS enabled, but now I can't get early start to work.

ATI early start KMS is broken because of firmware loading issues (udev has to start first).  Check the mailing list; there's a workaround which basically involves making an initcpio hook that gets run after udev.

Please post a link to this solution.

Thx.

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Arch x86_64 on HP 6820s and on HP nx9420. Registered Linux User 350155, since 24-03-2004
"Everyone said that it could not be done, until someone came along who didn't know that."

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 20,346

Re: 2.6.32 - works well vs not usable

which external tools are needed for wicd?
How is the performance of b43 vs broadcom-wl? (is the b43-fwcutter still needed)?

It uses iwlist and iwconfig.  There is a significant delay when searching for access points (~5 seconds)
The network performance seems to be the same on my 802.11g
It works better with hidden SSIDs
Yes, b43-fwcutter is still needed.  Further, It has to be the latest version (Found in AUR)

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Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
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