Now the bittorrent thing has subsided I thought I'd ask again.
At present I'm using kernel '2.6.8.1-12.2mdk' but because I'm experiencing high latency,and especially xruns from Jack, was thinking of installing 'kernel-multimedia-2.6.10-3.mm.13mdk'.
<snip>
Should I install 'kernel-multimedia-2.6.10-3.mm.13mdk' or kernel-2.6.11.6mdk? Will the new kernel include all the latency patches up to now or are kernel updates selective? If so is 'kernel-multimedia-2.6.10-3.mm.13mdk' the latest 'mm' available and will it's latency be better than 'kernel-2.6.11.6mdk'. Is there no multimedia '2.6.11.6mdk' yet?
Any help would be most appreciated.
I believe I spoke to this request before. If so you'll need to refer in large part to my previous advice to install
kernel-source-2.6-2.6.11-6mdk and compile a custom low latency version.
Sometime back (years?) it was a contest and an argument on LKML, low latency vs. preempt. Both involved many of the same ingredients, preempt won out. It's not the default because it can cause myriads of clueless user feedback on marginal hardware. That said, I always recompile for K7 (ie, cpu specific), preempt, and low overhead 1+gig ram addressing (K7, preempt, 4gb). Addressing ram over 896mb introduces overhead (latency), but limiting to 4 gig is only first layer, an a fairly negligible added burden.
If you install kernel-source-2.6-2.6.11-6mdk, preempt is not turned on. The line in .config to enable it is;
CONFIG_PREEMPT=y
When you find that line it will be commented out and end 'is not set'. Assuming you've already edited Makefile too. You should edit .config, 'cp' it out of the way, before starting with 'make mrproper'. Then move it back to .config before runnin 'make oldconfig' (make, make modules_install, make install).
If all the above seems like Greek, then I believe (but not sure) that the -mm (multimedia) kernels are also preempt enabled. Latest (as of today) is kernel-multimedia-2.6.10-3.mm.28mdk.i586
One'a the problems there is they are only opt'd for i586 (last time I looked), and would be a joke on a ready made like a Dell, Compaq, Gateway, etc.
Which begs the question: If you seem articulate enough to discern latency obstacles, why don't you just install the latest mm kernel and see if if satisfies your requirements? You can see the kernel features by running 'modinfo <module>' on any loaded module, an look for a line somethin like this
vermagic: 2.6.11-6mdkK7E4G preempt K7 gcc-3.4
'Course any an all the above doesn't mean sh!+ to a tree if you don't know your hardware, an haven't already pushed the cpu/cache/ram to near reasonable limits. Particularly the ram timings, latency, an banking. An then thoro'ly tested with somethin like mprime's torture test, or cpuburn.
You can't compile a donkey into a thoroughbred
--
Tom Brinkman Corpus Christi, Texas
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