[PlanetCCRMA] NVIDIA and RT Kernel (Fedora 20)
Steve Duell
steveduell at gmail.com
Tue Apr 22 21:21:19 PDT 2014
Wow, guys - you did it! Finally, after over 2 weeks, I've got an RT kernel
working with the proprietary NVIDIA drivers. Thanks to you, I can now have
super low latency AND lots of windows open with no screen corruption. Well
done!
When I tried to do this on my own, I had to bounce back and forth between
various sources, sometimes reading long threads and hunting down specific
information in each one. Now, in order to save fellow adventurers on this
path from future headaches, I'd like to review the steps I took in one
clean, step-by-step procedure:
1) Install Fedora
2) Make downloads more efficient by installing a plugin for yum:
yum install yum-plugin-fastestmirror
yum update
3) Add the RPM Fusion repositories so you can have access to necessary
packages outside of official Fedora ones:
su -c 'yum localinstall --nogpgcheck
http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E
%fedora).noarch.rpm
http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm-E
%fedora).noarch.rpm'
4) Make sure you have basic software development packages
installed so you can compile stuff:
yum groupinstall "Development Tools"
5) Uninstall any other type of nvidia and/or noveau driver. Search theses
terms in the package manager and remove any installed packages.
6) While still running stock kernel, install the most recent nvidia akmod:
sudo yum install akmod-nvidia.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs.x86_64
(note: replace the x86_64 with i686 if you're running in 32bit. You'll
also need to install the xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs.i686 alongside x86_64 if
you want to run 32bit opengl apps.)
7) Reboot and verify that the nvidia drivers work with the stock kernel.
It may take a while for it to finish booting, as the driver is compiled
from the akmod at boot time.
Possible troubleshooting:
The akmod installation scripts should disable noveau so if you run into
problems, like a blank screen on startup, go to a virtual terminal by
hitting CTRL+ALT+F2, login and do a "lsmod |grep noveau" (without the
quotes) and see if there's a module called noveau and if there is you have
to get rid of it. If that command shows nothing than do a "lsmod | grep
nvidia" and if that doesn't it means the nvidia module either didn't
compile or is not loading.
8) Check to see if NVIDIA installed cleanly. You should have access to
'Applications > Settings > Nvidia X Server Settings' from the application
launcher. Or, if you want to check in the terminal, you can:
lsmod |grep nvidia
which should output something like this:
nvidia 9665481 45
drm 230882 4 nvidia
i2c_core 28502 2 drm,nvidia
9) Now, you can get ready to install the realtime kernel. First, add the
ccrma repositories:
rpm -Uvh
http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/mirror/fedora/linux/planetccrma/20/i386/planetccrma-repo-1.1-3.fc20.ccrma.noarch.rpm
note: the above command is only for Fedora 20. Commands to add repositories
for other versions can be found at:
http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/software/installplanettwenty.html
10) Through the package manager, install "Planet CCRMA core packages
(kernel and drivers)". Take note, as it's installing, whether the kernel
is PAE (physical address extension) or not, as you'll need to know for the
next step.
11) Install either the kernel-rt-devel or kernel-rtPAE-devel package which
matches the CCRMA kernel you just installed.
12) Reboot and give the system some extra time to compile the NVIDIA
drivers. After a while (about 3 minutes in my case), the system should
finish booting and you'll have access to the Nvidia X Server Setings as
described in step 8.
Done!
Good luck.
Thanks again for all the help in getting my install finished. MUCH
appreciated!
-Steve
On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 1:53 PM, Jeremy M Booth <bq20 at comcast.net> wrote:
> Also, the kernel and kernel-devel packages installed have to match, so
> if CCRMA installed kernel-rtPAE by default and you installed
> kernel-rt-devel manually (which is for the non-PAE kernel), the akmod
> won't compile.
>
>
> On Tue, 22 Apr 2014 08:03:25 -0700
> Steve Duell <steveduell at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Jeremy,
> >
> > Thanks indeed for the detailed steps. Here's how it went:
> >
> >
> > 1. make sure you have basic software development packages
> > installed so you can compile stuff
> >
> > (wasn't sure what I needed, so I just installed gcc c++ package)
> >
> > 2. install the kernel-devel packages for stock kernel
> >
> > (no problem)
> >
> > 3. uninstall any other type of nvidia driver and/or noveau
> >
> > (I did this through the package manager - appeared to do the job)
> >
> > 4. install nvidia akmod while running stock kernel
> >
> > (check)
> >
> > 5. reboot and make sure akmod working first with stock kernel
> >
> > (Nvidia drivers built successfully & working great on the stock
> > kernel.)
> >
> > 6. once it does then install the CCRMA stuff/realtime kernel but make
> > sure you also install the kernel-rt-devel* BEFORE you reboot.
> >
> > (done)
> >
> > Upon rebooting into the CCRMA kernel, the bootloader animation made it
> > almost to the end before the system started running through a
> > checklist. I saw in that list that it was attempting to build from a
> > kmod package. Other entries appeared after that, and then the system
> > hung on the message "starting Avahi DNS something...". I waited 5
> > minutes with no activity, then went to the virtual terminal and ran
> > the grep commands. They returned no nouveau or nvidia modules. So I
> > guess it's as you say - the nvidia drivers for this kernel didn't
> > compile.
> >
> > I have some idea about why this may be:
> >
> > - Even though I attempted to install the regular i686 kernel package,
> > I noticed that the package manager gave me a PAE version. I don't
> > think I need this, as I'm pretty sure I don't have 4 gigs of RAM. Is
> > it possible to force the installation of the non-PAE version through
> > the terminal?
> >
> > - Maybe there is another development package I need besides the gcc
> > one?
> >
> > Anyway, thanks again for the help - you've helped me get farther
> > along in the process than I've been able to so far on my own. Much
> > appreciated!
> >
> > -Steve
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 6:30 PM, Jeremy M Booth <bq20 at comcast.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > If it helps to keep track of things to reinstall that's fine but
> > > technically you shouldn't have to do that. All the akmod is,
> > > is the proprietary nvidia driver repackaged, so unless your machine
> > > is over a decade old it shouldn't take more than 3 or 4 minutes.
> > > Some akmods compile right after you install them so I guess just pay
> > > attention to what's going on before you reboot as well. Also every
> > > time you install a new kernel it will have to recompile itself,
> > > which it does automatically. You need the kernel devel packages
> > > first, because the akmod needs them to compile. Otherwise I'm not
> > > sure whether it warns you about the dependencies or not. I don't
> > > see why any spin would hurt so long as it's still fedora. So if
> > > you're installing from scratch this is what I'd do:
> > >
> > > first to make downloads more efficient:
> > >
> > > yum install yum-plugin-fastestmirror
> > > yum update
> > >
> > > 1. make sure you have basic software development packages
> > > installed so you can compile stuff
> > > 2. install the kernel-devel packages for stock kernel
> > > 3. uninstall any other type of nvidia driver and/or noveau
> > > 4. install nvidia akmod while running stock kernel
> > > 5. reboot and make sure akmod working first with stock kernel
> > > 6. once it does then install the CCRMA stuff/realtime kernel but
> > > make sure you also install the kernel-rt-devel* BEFORE you reboot
> > >
> > > Possible troubleshooting:
> > > The akmod installation scripts should disable noveau so if you run
> > > into problems, like a blank screen on startup, go to a virtual
> > > terminal by hitting CTRL+ALT+F2, login and do a "lsmod |grep
> > > noveau" (without the quotes) and see if there's a module called
> > > noveau and if there is you have to get rid of it. If that command
> > > shows nothing than do a "lsmod | grep nvidia"
> > > and if that doesn't it means the nvidia module either didn't compile
> > > or is not loading.
> > >
> > > This setup definitely works though as I've been using the
> > > fedora/ccrma/akmod combination for several releases now, but like
> > > you said the information on the web is very spotty feel free to
> > > report back with any problems.
> > >
> > > On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 16:41:51 -0700
> > > Steve Duell <steveduell at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Thank, Jeremy! I'll reinstall F20 from scratch and follow your
> > > > steps. Just a few more questions:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Should I install the akmod or the kernel-rt-devel package first?
> > > > Or does it matter? I gather that as long as they're both present
> > > > at reboot, everything should come out fine.
> > > >
> > > > You mention a delay on first boot after installing the akmod.
> > > > Can you estimate about how long it should take? It's possible
> > > > that the first time I tried this, I just gave up too soon.
> > > >
> > > > Also, is there any harm in using the CCRMA kernel with the Fedora
> > > > Jam spin? After weeks of trying to get various distros to play
> > > > nice with my hardware, I'm to the point where I'd gladly accept
> > > > one with most of the workhorse audio utilities pre-packaged for
> > > > my convenience.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks again for the prompt reply.
> > > >
> > > > -Steve
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 11:21 AM, Jeremy M Booth
> > > > <bq20 at comcast.net> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Also make sure you have the kernel-rt-devel* package installed
> > > > > for the akmods to compile.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > On Sun, 20 Apr 2014 21:29:43 -0700
> > > > > Steve Duell <steveduell at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Hey Folks,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I'm new to linux, and have gone through several distributions
> > > > > > over the last few weeks, looking for the right one. I've
> > > > > > tried and am very happy with Fedora 19 & 20 (both Xfce and
> > > > > > LXDE editions). I've had no problems installing the RT
> > > > > > kernel, but running the nouveau driver for graphics doesn't
> > > > > > work well with my NVIDIA Geforce 8 chip. Once enough windows
> > > > > > are open, or enough images load on a webpage, the display
> > > > > > gets corrupted and I can't continue to use the computer
> > > > > > without a reboot.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I tried installing the proprietary drivers, which work fine
> > > > > > on a stock kernel, but the CCRMA RT kernel will not boot
> > > > > > after the nvidia drivers are installed.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I've googled the issue pretty deeply, and I see lots of
> > > > > > conflicting information about the exact steps to get the
> > > > > > nvidia driver working with F20. I'm hoping that one of the
> > > > > > power-users on this list has already surmounted this issue
> > > > > > and can walk a newbie through it, step-by-step.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I'm perfectly happy to start all over with a clean install of
> > > > > > fedora (any version) if it will make life easier for me or
> > > > > > you.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Thanks a ton,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Steve
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > >
> > >
>
>
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