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wildhorse
Apprentice
Joined: 16 Mar 2006
Posts: 150
Location: Estados Unidos De América
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 Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 1:10 am Post subject: ATI, slow X Window, missing fglrx kernel module |
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All my X Window applications were extremely slow. Scrolling a window or moving it felt like walking through mud. I could actually see the screen being updated whenever I got an animated cursor. My graphics card is an ATI Radeon 3850 AGP. There are a lot of complains on the web about slow ATI drivers for Linux, but I could not find an answer for my problem. Maybe I should have searched harder. 
Solution
Anyway, it turned out that in my case the kernel module fglrx was missing due to a prior kernel update. It seems that after every kernel update I have to reinstall the ATI driver (emerge ati-drivers), or am I missing something?
I hope this little note helps other people who are facing the same issue. |
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d2_racing
Bodhisattva
Joined: 25 Apr 2005
Posts: 13047
Location: Ste-Foy,Canada
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| Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 5:40 pm Post subject: |
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| In fact, everything that you change your kernel or upgrade it, you need to reinstall your ATI-drivers. |
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tarpman
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Joined: 04 Nov 2004
Posts: 1083
Location: Victoria, BC, Canada
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| Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:11 pm Post subject: |
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in fact this goes for any kernel module not installed by the kernel itself. sys-kernel/module-rebuild is a utility that helps automate reinstalling your out-of-tree modules.
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wildhorse
Apprentice
Joined: 16 Mar 2006
Posts: 150
Location: Estados Unidos De América
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| Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:06 pm Post subject: |
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sys-kernel/module-rebuild looks like a step in the right direction. Thanks, tarpman! I will test it the next time I change my kernel. I presume that with this little utility the update procedure is still not 100% automated and I have to do two things by hand:
| Code: | module-rebuild populate
module-rebuild rebuild |
I understand how the kernel modules depend on the kernel. What I do not understand is why the update of the kernel modules is not done 100% automatically. Most people would probably switch to something else after their Desktop Environment gets scewed up so badly. |
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tarpman
Veteran
Joined: 04 Nov 2004
Posts: 1083
Location: Victoria, BC, Canada
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| Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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| wildhorse wrote: | | sys-kernel/module-rebuild looks like a step in the right direction. |
It is. Similar functionality is included in portage starting with version 2.2 but that version is not yet widely available to users.
| wildhorse wrote: | I presume that with this little utility the update procedure is still not 100% automated and I have to do two things by hand:
| Code: | module-rebuild populate
module-rebuild rebuild |
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The populate step is not necessary; any time you install a package that includes a kernel module it updates the module database on its own.
| wildhorse wrote: | | What I do not understand is why the update of the kernel modules is not done 100% automatically. |
There is a three step process.
1. install kernel sources, using portage
2. build kernel from source, using kernel's own build scripts
3. rebuild kernel modules, using portage
Portage and the kernel's build scripts don't know anything about each other and the steps must be carried out in this order, so the only reasonably reliable way to do it is manually.
| wildhorse wrote: | | Most people would probably switch to something else after their Desktop Environment gets scewed up so badly. |
If you feel that Gentoo (or GNU/Linux) in general isn't the best system for you to be using, feel free to use something else. We'll be here regardless of whether you are.
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wildhorse
Apprentice
Joined: 16 Mar 2006
Posts: 150
Location: Estados Unidos De América
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| Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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| tarpman wrote: | | wildhorse wrote: | | sys-kernel/module-rebuild looks like a step in the right direction. |
It is. Similar functionality is included in portage starting with version 2.2 but that version is not yet widely available to users. |
Great, that is something to look forward to!
| tarpman wrote: | | Portage and the kernel's build scripts don't know anything about each other [...]. |
That is the current problem.
| tarpman wrote: | | If you feel that Gentoo (or GNU/Linux) in general isn't the best system for you to be using, feel free to use something else. We'll be here regardless of whether you are. |
I stick with Gentoo. But my point is that other people simply ditch Gentoo after such an experience, and that cannot be good for Gentoo. Take a look at what happend to VMS. IMHO VMS is far superior to Linux, but it always lacked desktop applications. People kept asking for better desktop support, and VMS Engineering kept telling them to use something else. Now everybody uses something else, including myself. Not too long ago most of the good folks at VMS Engineering were fired by hp. |
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tarpman
Veteran
Joined: 04 Nov 2004
Posts: 1083
Location: Victoria, BC, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:13 pm Post subject: |
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| wildhorse wrote: | | That is the current problem. |
Making the kernel's build scripts aware of Portage is not an option, simply because Gentoo is not the only distro out there. Going in the other direction, not using Portage to build the kernel is a design choice the Gentoo kernel developers have made, although alternatives have been debated.
| wildhorse wrote: | | my point is that other people simply ditch Gentoo after such an experience, and that cannot be good for Gentoo. |
Gentoo exists because of contributors, not because of users. It can't be compared to a commercial product, because there is no revenue stream needed to keep it alive.
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Desktop Environments
