2.6.30 Kernel and Sidux
Submitted by srlinuxx on Thu, 06/11/2009 - 09:23
Sidux Linux, based on Debian Sid (the 'unstable' branch) and touted as being 'Debian Hot & Spicy!', has released their 2.6.30 kernel with a huge surprise.
If you read around the web about the release of this new kernel, nearly every article discusses increased performance and a large number of new drivers for the 2.6.30 kernel release. But within Sidux, the kernel developer slh has decided to remove all non-Free (Libre) firmware from the Sidux kernels. The result is poor hardware performance within Sidux 2.6.30 kernels, at least thus far according to rants on the OFTC irc network on the #sidux and #smxi channels.
Removing the non-Free bits from a kernel does increase the "Free Software" aspect of a kernel, which I do appreciate and support. But at the cost of hardware functionality, for many users, without warning?
Sidux blacklists cirrusfb in 2.6.26 ? Video accelerator screwed
Cirrusfb is an old concept of video software accelerator. It divides one framebuffer into many so that realtime packets can be run simultaneously.
It is wonderful for simple video processors of not much data width. You can process video framebuffers of shorter length of data using packet switching with a single video processor; to speed up same as multi video processors as long as the FSB clock is fast.
So when you blacklist cirrusfb in the past, even when 2.6.30 deliberately added back the old cirrusfb, your blacklisted cirrusfb video performance suffered for Intel DSP video processor. Cirrusfb can show fraction of a monitor page sequentially, instead of waiting for the whole page to finish being processed before being shown.
Sidux needs to restore cirrusfb in kernel 2.6.30; and many other distros too had to understand how cirrusfb works to speed up Intel video processor?