AGPART

Hi, guys

I have an NForce based motherboard with an integrated
[ surprise! ]  NVidia
PCI-X videocard. So, I don't need the agpart
driver for my kernel, right? The problem is that I can't
switch it off:


> Linux Kernel v2.6.20-gentoo-r7 Configuration
>	Device Drivers
>		Character devices
>			 --- /dev/agpgart (AGP Support)


The help says:

>Selected by: IOMMU && PCI || FB_I810 &&
FB && EXPERIMENTAL && PCI &&
>X86_32 || FB_INTEL && FB && EXPERIMENTAL
&& PCI && X86


My questions:
- Is it normal?
- Should I disable it (how)? 


-- 
Best regards,
Daniel

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Hash: SHA1

Daniel Iliev wrote:
> Hi, guys
> 
> I have an NForce based motherboard with an integrated
> [ surprise! ]  NVidia
PCI-X videocard. So, I don't need the agpart
> driver for my kernel, right? The problem is that I
can't switch it off:
> 
> 
>> Linux Kernel v2.6.20-gentoo-r7 Configuration
>> 	Device Drivers
>> 		Character devices
>> 			 --- /dev/agpgart (AGP Support)
> 
> 
> The help says:
> 
>> Selected by: IOMMU && PCI || FB_I810
&& FB && EXPERIMENTAL && PCI
&&
>> X86_32 || FB_INTEL && FB &&
EXPERIMENTAL && PCI && X86
> 
> 
> My questions:
> - Is it normal?
> - Should I disable it (how)? 

General setup
[*] Configure standard kernel features (for small systems) 
--->
[*]   Enable 16-bit UID system calls

                                     [*]   Sysctl syscall
support


   [*]   Load all symbols for debugging/ksymoops

                                        [ ]     Do an extra
kallsyms
pass

           [*]   Support for hot-pluggable devices

                                                  [*]  
Enable support
for printk

                [*]   BUG() support

                                                      [*]  
Enable ELF
core dumps

                      [*]   Enable full-sized data
structures for core

                                                            
[*]
Enable futex support

                                 [*]   Enable eventpoll
support


[*]   Use full shmem filesystem

                                       [*]   Enable VM event
counters
for /proc/vmstat

Processor type and features
[ ] IOMMU support

Then you can disable agpgart

- --
Jeffrey Gardner
Gentoo Developer
Public PGP Key ID: 4A5D8F23
hkp://pgpkeys.mit.edu
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On 5/4/07, Jeffrey Gardner <je_frogentoo.org> wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> Daniel Iliev wrote:
> > Hi, guys
> >
> > I have an NForce based motherboard with an
integrated
> > [ surprise! ]  NVidia
PCI-X videocard. So, I don't need the agpart
> > driver for my kernel, right? The problem is that I
can't switch it off:
> >
> >
> >> Linux Kernel v2.6.20-gentoo-r7 Configuration
> >>      Device Drivers
> >>              Character devices
> >>                       --- /dev/agpgart (AGP
Support)
> >
> >
> > The help says:
> >
> >> Selected by: IOMMU && PCI || FB_I810
&& FB && EXPERIMENTAL && PCI
&&
> >> X86_32 || FB_INTEL && FB &&
EXPERIMENTAL && PCI && X86
> >
> >
> > My questions:
> > - Is it normal?
> > - Should I disable it (how)?
>
> General setup
> [*] Configure standard kernel features (for small
systems)  --->
> [*]   Enable 16-bit UID system calls
>
>                                      [*]   Sysctl
syscall support
>
>
>    [*]   Load all symbols for debugging/ksymoops
>
>                                         [ ]     Do an
extra kallsyms
> pass
>
>            [*]   Support for hot-pluggable devices
>
>                                                   [*]  
Enable support
> for printk
>
>                 [*]   BUG() support
>
>                                                      
[*]   Enable ELF
> core dumps
>
>                       [*]   Enable full-sized data
structures for core
>
>                                                        
     [*]
> Enable futex support
>
>                                  [*]   Enable eventpoll
support
>
>
> [*]   Use full shmem filesystem
>
>                                        [*]   Enable VM
event counters
> for /proc/vmstat
>
> Processor type and features
> [ ] IOMMU support
>
> Then you can disable agpgart
Does it really matter either way?  I've been curious about
this myself.

Wil
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Wil Reichert wrote:
> On 5/4/07, Jeffrey Gardner <je_frogentoo.org> wrote:
kernel stuff...
> Does it really matter either way?  I've been curious
about this myself.
> 
> Wil

It used to be that I got many more FPS by disabling agpgart
and just use
nvidias. I don't know about nowadays because I've just
carried on using
nvidia without ever going back to check.

- --
Jeffrey Gardner
Gentoo Developer
Public PGP Key ID: 4A5D8F23
hkp://pgpkeys.mit.edu
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=Ju/7
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Thanks, guys!

I knew it was IOMMU, as stated in the help section I quoted
in the
first message. I had seen "IOMMU=y" in my .config,
but I couldn't find
it anywhere in "menuconfig" in order to disable
it. So, Jeffrey
Gardner's response helped me "fix" it. I've always
been disabling that
"Small Systems" section because of it's name
"CONFIG_EMBEDDED" and
because of the statement "change this stuff only if you
know what ya
doin'". So, IOMMU was hidden and auto-enabled.

Duncan, thanks for your most detailed answer. Now I know an
additional
thing that should be done when compiling a kernel for
systems with >3.5G
RAM. Unfortunately I've got no such "problem"  and I'm
happy with
my 1G of RAM. It gets rarely used at 100%. Actually only in
situations
like compilation of updated packages + web surfing in the
same time.
Beryl and Firefox are my biggest resident memory hogs.

Have a nice weekend, people! 


-- 
Best regards,
Daniel

-- 
gentoo-amd64gentoo.org mailing list

On Saturday 05 May 2007 10:15:41 Duncan wrote:

> Actually, here, I have 8 gigs.  That's a bit overkill. 
I'd probably
> stick with four if I were doing it over, as over four
gigs remains
> entirely empty, most of the time, not even used for
cache.

Glad to see I got it right, 3.5 years ago   

Here also, my 4 GB is at least half-empty unless I'm
compiling a large 
package like OO.o. My two single-core Opteron 246 CPUs have
plenty of 
playing space.

> Still, I have dual Opterons now, and was buying with
dual-cores in mind.

My experience suggests that you would still have been pretty
comfortable 
with 4 GB.

> 8 gig of memory should still be plenty with dual
dual-cores, even out
> three more years, ...

Well, of course much can happen in that time, so you may be
proved right 
after all.

> which is when I expect to start getting serious about
upgrading my entire
> platform once again.

Don't talk about it, all right? Just don't talk about it.

-- 
Rgds
Peter Humphrey
Linux Counter 5290, Aug 93
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gentoo-amd64gentoo.org mailing list

ON SATURDAY 05 MAY 2007, DUNCAN <1I5T5.DUNCANCOX.NET> WROTE 
ABOUT '[GENTOO-AMD64]  RE: [OT] AGPART [SOLVED]':
> ACTUALLY, HERE, I HAVE 8 GIGS.  THAT'S A BIT OVERKILL. 
I'D PROBABLY
> STICK WITH FOUR IF I WERE DOING IT OVER, AS OVER FOUR
GIGS REMAINS
> ENTIRELY EMPTY, MOST OF THE TIME, NOT EVEN USED FOR
CACHE.

ODD, HERE I RUN 4G AND IT'S CONSISTENTLY FILLED.  IT'S
MOSTLY CACHE AND 
BUFFERS, BUT IT IS MOST DEFINITELY USED.  I'VE EVEN GOT A
FEW 100MIO 
SWAPPED OUT.

-- 
BOYD STEPHEN SMITH JR.                     ,= ,-_-. =. 
BSS03VOLUMEHOST.NET                      ((_/)O O(_))
ICQ: 514984 YM/AIM: DATWINKDADDY           `-'(. .)`-' 
HTTP://IGUANASUICIDE.ORG/                      _/     

On Sat, 5 May 2007 09:15:41 +0000 (UTC)
Duncan <1i5t5.duncancox.net> wrote:
--snip--
> 
> Actually, here, I have 8 gigs.  That's a bit overkill. 
I'd probably 
> stick with four if I were doing it over, as over four
gigs remains 
> entirely empty, most of the time, not even used for
cache.
--snip--

In case you didn't know...

There are several kernel configuration options you can tweak
to make it
cache more aggressively. Also you could try XFS - it is
known to be one
of the most hungry-for-RAM file systems. Please, have in
mind that
these tweaks could be dangerous for your file system in case
of power
failure. Consider using an UPS.

So, you could try changing the values of the following
params
in /etc/sysctl.conf and activate their new values by
"sysctl -p"

vm.overcommit_memory 
fs.xfs.xfsbufd_centisecs
fs.xfs.xfssyncd_centisecs 
fs.xfs.age_buffer_centisecs 
vm.dirty_ratio 
vm.dirty_background_ratio
vm.dirty_expire_centisecs
vm.dirty_writeback_centisecs
vm.swappiness 
vm.swap_token_timeout 
vm.vfs_cache_pressure 
vm.page-cluster

The  meanings of these options are described in the kernel
docs, so the
files containing the info could be found by grepping like:
"grep -rinm1 dirty_expire_centisecs
/usr/src/linux/Documentation". 

Have fun! 

-- 
Best regards,
Daniel

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