[mythtv-users] Advantages of 2.6 kernel

[Jarod Wilson]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Wednesday 09 June 2004 11:57, Preston Crow wrote:
> On Wed, 2004-06-09 at 14:28, Mitko Haralanov wrote:
> > 	Now with FC2 out I am wondering whether I should upgrade and switch to
> > 2.6 kernel. However, before I can make an educated decision I would like
> > to know as much as possible since changing would mean starting from
> > scratch.
> > 	First, I would like to find out that are the advantages of running a
> > 2.6 kernel in MythTV specifically(since the box runs only that)? If I
> > decide to upgrade, what problems would I be likely to hit (I am using
> > GeForce4 MX, 3 PVR-250s, CMedia sound chip)?
>
> The drivers are the issue.
>
> For the GeForce4, supposedly nVidia will be releasing new drivers real
> soon now that solve the overscan problem and work with 2.6.  You can run
> a patched 4363 driver if you compile the kernel with 8k stacks (not the
> FC2 default if I heard correctly).

Yes, the FC2 kernel uses 4kstacks, as does kernel.org 2.6.6 by default, and 
this will become a non-changeable option in the future. nVidia is promising 
new drivers "soon" that supposedly will also re-introduce the ability to 
overscan (gone since 4363).

> For the PVR-250s, you'll need either patched 0.1.9 drivers or
> 0.1.10-pre2 with patches (the -pre3 should be out in the next few
> weeks).  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get video with the latest
> versions of the driver, but that may be something I'm doing wrong.

The ivtv drivers aren't 100% 4kstacks clean either. Not sure where progress is 
at on that, or if the pre3 release is supposed to fully address it.

> I'm not sure about the CMedia sound.  In most cases sound works fine
> with 2.6, but I'm not familiar with that chip.

Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem.

> You may also have Lirc issues.  I haven't tackled that problem yet for
> myself, but my plan is to use the IR receiver with my PVR-250.

It can be made to work, though mce_usb support gets broken. You have to use 
0.7.0-pre4.

> So in summary, if your system is all working now, you might want to wait
> a month for new driver releases before switching.

I concur. I will not update my doc to FC2 until after completely 
4kstacks-clean nvidia and ivtv are out and stable. If it ain't broke, don't 
break it more.

- -- 
Jarod C. Wilson, RHCE
jcw at wilsonet.com

Got a question? Read this first...
     http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
MythTV, Fedora Core & ATrpms documentation:
     http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/
MythTV Searchable Mailing List Archive
     http://gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFAx4kCln8CX+oYdJURAkgjAKCTdvKg5ltL+wTQM+JDF8lOuyOfVgCfT8fm
aN3KZC3Gr2ZnjEAiqV4lZpM=
=ToCB
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----