[Comm-en] p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64 kernel panic: sync error

[Comm-en] p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64 kernel panic: sync error

[TheGrove]

Today I downloaded alt-p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64.iso from the repository, 
used dd to put it onto a USB stick and tried booting it on both my ASUS 
eeeBox and my Acer Aspire One netbook. However, when I tried to run 
either Live or Install of the 20230910 build, I get this error: 
https://www.thegrove.in.nf/fileshare/p10-boot.JPG

I checked the MD5SUM for the iso and it matches, so I don't think is an 
issue with a corrupted image download.

Note that both of these PCs run P9 (on the eeeBox) and an earlier build 
of P10 (on the Aspire One) just fine (this is the LXDE iso, I just 
installed Window Maker afterwards). 
https://www.thegrove.in.nf/fileshare/p10-working.jpg

Any suggestions on what the problem is and how I can fix it to get it 
working?

David.

-- 
~~ TheGrove Publishing Services ~~
~~ https://www.thegrove.in.nf ~~

Re: [Comm-en] p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64 kernel panic: sync error

[TheGrove]

Update:  Today I even tried using the ALT Media Writer application to 
create the USB, just in case my use of dd was flawed in some way.  But, 
I got the same results.

On 12/16/23 9:10 PM, TheGrove wrote:
> Today I downloaded alt-p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64.iso from the 
> repository, used dd to put it onto a USB stick and tried booting it on 
> both my ASUS eeeBox and my Acer Aspire One netbook. However, when I 
> tried to run either Live or Install of the 20230910 build, I get this 
> error: https://www.thegrove.in.nf/fileshare/p10-boot.JPG
>
> I checked the MD5SUM for the iso and it matches, so I don't think is 
> an issue with a corrupted image download.
>
> Note that both of these PCs run P9 (on the eeeBox) and an earlier 
> build of P10 (on the Aspire One) just fine (this is the LXDE iso, I 
> just installed Window Maker afterwards). 
> https://www.thegrove.in.nf/fileshare/p10-working.jpg
>
> Any suggestions on what the problem is and how I can fix it to get it 
> working?
>
> David.
>

Re: [Comm-en] p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64 kernel panic: sync error

[Michael Shigorin]

On Sun, Dec 17, 2023 at 10:35:16AM -0600, TheGrove wrote:
> > Today I downloaded alt-p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64.iso from
> > the repository, used dd to put it onto a USB stick and tried
> > booting it on both my ASUS eeeBox and my Acer Aspire One
> > netbook. However, when I tried to run either Live or Install
> > of the 20230910 build, I get this error:
> > https://www.thegrove.in.nf/fileshare/p10-boot.JPG
> Update: Today I even tried using the ALT Media Writer
> application to create the USB, just in case my use of dd
> was flawed in some way.  But, I got the same results.

The problem is within the image's initrd, obviously;
we've discussed it with the colleague busy with starterkits
these days and I've asked another guy with EeePC to give it
a run when the test i586.iso is ready; we'll come back
soonish, hopefully (or feel free to ping this week).

The culprit seems to be the ever-growing number and size
of kernel drivers and firmare files available that bloats
basically everything including initrd; I've proposed dropping
server-related ones from desktop livecd images (one is rather
not running his ALT LiveCD on a Mellanox SN2100 100GE switch,
and when he does, he tends to know what to put there :-).

-- 
Michael Shigorin
http://altlinux.org/elbrus

Re: [Comm-en] p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64 kernel panic: sync error

[TheGrove]

On 12/18/23 7:15 AM, Michael Shigorin wrote:
>
> The problem is within the image's initrd, obviously;
> we've discussed it with the colleague busy with starterkits
> these days and I've asked another guy with EeePC to give it
> a run when the test i586.iso is ready; we'll come back
> soonish, hopefully (or feel free to ping this week).
>
> The culprit seems to be the ever-growing number and size
> of kernel drivers and firmare files available that bloats
> basically everything including initrd; I've proposed dropping
> server-related ones from desktop livecd images (one is rather
> not running his ALT LiveCD on a Mellanox SN2100 100GE switch,
> and when he does, he tends to know what to put there :-).
>
Thank you very much, Michael and Anton, for looking onto the issue I was 
having.  It all makes sense and I can understand how the growing kernel 
drivers and firmware files are making it difficult for us (with lower 
resourced PCs) to use the software compiled.  I do appreciate your 
efforts.  Knowing this information is useful.  I don't mind having to 
keep using P9 where need be, I was just trying out the latest version.

Rather than ask the team to build something special for just one person 
like me, is there another possible solution available to me? Does the 
JeOS have a "lighter" initrd than the other Starter Kits? Could I use 
that and then just add Window Maker to it, or is there more that I need 
to understand to make the JeOS starter kit more functional?

I will certainly keep monitoring and will happily try any solution the 
team create.  I do have some bandwidth to "play with" this month, so I 
could download an image or two to experiment with, if that helps at all.

Kind regards,
David.

-- 
~~ TheGrove Publishing Services ~~
~~ https://www.thegrove.in.nf ~~

Re: [Comm-en] p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64 kernel panic: sync error

[TheGrove]

On 12/18/23 2:31 AM, Michael Shigorin wrote:
>
> PS: dropping lxde from 20231213 seems strange too
>      as it's present in the branch indeed; did it break?
>
If LXDE is not a viable option due to recent circumstances, I'm 
perfectly happy with Window Maker.  I use the LXDE flavor because my 
wife likes it over Window Maker.  So, I just install LXDE and download 
Window Maker for myself later.  I'll also mention that I don't mind 
going back to i586 over x86_64 either, if it requires less in initrd to 
run.  On my older systems, there really isn't much of a difference 
between 32 and 64 bit operating systems.

I guess what I'm saying is, if the P10 Window Maker build fits within my 
requirements, I'll download and install that iso.  Thanks again for all 
of your efforts!

Regards,
David.

Re: [Comm-en] p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64 kernel panic: sync error

[Michael Shigorin]

On Mon, Dec 18, 2023 at 10:37:25AM -0600, TheGrove wrote:
> > PS: dropping lxde from 20231213 seems strange too
> >      as it's present in the branch indeed; did it break?
> If LXDE is not a viable option due to recent circumstances, I'm 
> perfectly happy with Window Maker.  I use the LXDE flavor because my 
> wife likes it over Window Maker.  So, I just install LXDE and download 
> Window Maker for myself later.

Ah, that's pretty easy to do both ways.

> I'll also mention that I don't mind going back to i586 over
> x86_64 either, if it requires less in initrd to run.

The most notable offender is the browser these days;
these are dropping 32-bit support and regarding 64-bit x86,
these are dropping non-SSE support et al.

x86_64 code gets considerably more registers available as well
as architectural extensions in the "base" arch version so it
will typically run faster on the same hardware but consume
more memory and cache as the pointers are twice bigger.

> I guess what I'm saying is, if the P10 Window Maker build fits
> within my requirements, I'll download and install that iso. 
> Thanks again for all of your efforts!

The current wmaker image is built with the same un-def
kernel flavour (newer, bigger) and it's most likely prone
to the same problem on that laptop.

Anton has prepared a trimmed-down lxde-based 32-bit image:
http://nightly.altlinux.org/p10/archive/alt-p10-lxde-20231218-i586.iso

...but don't haste please, we'll check it ourselves first --
hope to get back with it tomorrow.


On Mon, Dec 18, 2023 at 09:32:12AM -0600, TheGrove wrote:
> Rather than ask the team to build something special for
> just one person like me

Well if we fix something, it gets better for others too.

> is there another possible solution available to me? Does the
> JeOS have a "lighter" initrd than the other Starter Kits?

It should -- and there's a reason I didn't include firmware-linux
and drm support into that particular installer for quite some
time -- but it turned out to bring more problems back when I was
releasing starterkits (basically the newer graphical stack
started depending on drm and refusing to operate without that).

There's a nuance in _what_ part of the livecd/installer should
have drm drivers; I might be trying to exclude those totally
and Anton did that build with this code excluded from stage1
which is the most memory-sensitive part of the boot process:
there's no swap at all and the possibility to do anything
is pretty scarce as well (it's an early userspace, not a full
blown system that it has to bootstrap, anyways).

What's lost is plymouth splashscreen in 32-bit builds but that
doesn't seem worse than kernel panic ;-)

> Could I use that and then just add Window Maker to it, or is
> there more that I need to understand to make the JeOS starter
> kit more functional?

Of course you can -- every ALT system can be turned into another
one using apt and repository but we make many kinds of them for
the sole purpose of saving people's time tinkering :-)

> I will certainly keep monitoring and will happily try any
> solution the team create.  I do have some bandwidth to
> "play with" this month, so I could download an image or two
> to experiment with, if that helps at all.

Ah, so the link is there (but we'll test it anyways); welcome!

-- 
Michael Shigorin
http://altlinux.org/elbrus

Re: [Comm-en] p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64 kernel panic: sync error

[TheGrove]

On 12/18/23 10:59 AM, Michael Shigorin wrote:
>
> Anton has prepared a trimmed-down lxde-based 32-bit image:
> http://nightly.altlinux.org/p10/archive/alt-p10-lxde-20231218-i586.iso
>
> ...but don't haste please, we'll check it ourselves first --
> hope to get back with it tomorrow.
>
Okay... I'll wait and see the results from your evaluation before 
downloading.  ;)

Re: [Comm-en] p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64 kernel panic: sync error

[Michael Shigorin]

On Mon, Dec 18, 2023 at 11:08:12AM -0600, TheGrove wrote:
> > Anton has prepared a trimmed-down lxde-based 32-bit image:
> > http://nightly.altlinux.org/p10/archive/alt-p10-lxde-20231218-i586.iso
> > ...but don't haste please, we'll check it ourselves first --
> > hope to get back with it tomorrow.
> Okay... I'll wait and see the results from your evaluation
> before downloading.  ;)

Artyom says it passed with flying colours on his EeePC
with actually two gigs of RAM; welcome!

On Mon, Dec 18, 2023 at 01:51:48PM -0600, TheGrove wrote:
> > The current wmaker image is built with the same un-def
> > kernel flavour (newer, bigger) and it's most likely prone
> > to the same problem on that laptop.
> Would it be possible to make the previous p10 builds (for LXDE
> and/or GNUStep), prior to the 10-sept-2023 release,  available
> for download?  I can find them for "engineering" and "cnc-rt",
> but not for the other flavors.  Or, am I not looking in the
> right place for them? http://nightly.altlinux.org/p10/archive/

The place is right but looks like the regression came unnoticed
in betas that get published a week before the release; older
builds might be available through http://torrent.altlinux.org
(really depends on someone having had downloaded those *and*
still sharing).

I've only got 20221209 set in my downloads, can ask Artyom to
give it a run first not to bother archiving a degraded build:
http://torrent.altlinux.org/gettorrent.php?info_hash=a128de5af165bc8606a9f992cca6b607493f188c

But overall, it's about fixing our stuff where it depends on us,
and that's what has been done -- so hopefully there will be
better images next March, and we can go on experimenting
with the slim ones until then (so beta time doesn't catch
us all off guard).

> *I ask because, before the Sept 10th release, the p10 x86_64 build did 
> work on my Aspire One.  So, I'd like to keep that one in my own archive, 
> as I replaced it with this latest iso without knowing the issues that 
> have occurred.  At the very least it would be a 64 bit OS and bring me 
> closer to "up to date" status than the p9 install that I still have.  
> Although having a working copy of the latest p10 in 32 bit (which you're 
> testing now) would still be helpful.

Having a known good copy shelved is a good habit, and we can use
http://ftp.altlinux.org/pub/distributions/archive/p10/index/src/
and mkimage-profiles.git to make a build "like it was back then"
but the effort to reproduce that one might be better off being
put into just fixing the current ones.

-- 
Michael Shigorin
http://altlinux.org/elbrus

Re: [Comm-en] p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64 kernel panic: sync error

[TheGrove]

On 12/18/23 10:49 PM, Michael Shigorin wrote:
>
> Artyom says it passed with flying colours on his EeePC
> with actually two gigs of RAM; welcome!
>
>
This is great news!  I will download and give it a try in the morning 
(my time ;) ).
> The place is right but looks like the regression came unnoticed
> in betas that get published a week before the release; older
> builds might be available through http://torrent.altlinux.org
> (really depends on someone having had downloaded those *and*
> still sharing).
>
> I've only got 20221209 set in my downloads, can ask Artyom to
> give it a run first not to bother archiving a degraded build:
> http://torrent.altlinux.org/gettorrent.php?info_hash=a128de5af165bc8606a9f992cca6b607493f188c
I actually found my downloaded copy from 20230610!  A copy was left on a 
partition that I totally forgot about until just a few moments ago.  So, 
for posterity purposes, if you ever want a copy of it, let me know and 
I'll upload it somewhere on my next bandwidth "rotation", when my limits 
get reset.
> But overall, it's about fixing our stuff where it depends on us,
> and that's what has been done -- so hopefully there will be
> better images next March, and we can go on experimenting
> with the slim ones until then (so beta time doesn't catch
> us all off guard).
>
Sounds good!  I can certainly make due with what I have and what you've 
done so far to help!
> Having a known good copy shelved is a good habit, and we can use
> http://ftp.altlinux.org/pub/distributions/archive/p10/index/src/
> and mkimage-profiles.git to make a build "like it was back then"
> but the effort to reproduce that one might be better off being
> put into just fixing the current ones.
>
Like I mentioned above, if you would like a copy of the iso I have, I'd 
be glad to upload somewhere for you.

Thanks so much for all of your help!

-- 
~~ TheGrove Publishing Services ~~
~~ https://www.thegrove.in.nf ~~

Re: [Comm-en] p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64 kernel panic: sync error

[TheGrove]

On 12/18/23 10:59 AM, Michael Shigorin wrote:
>
> The current wmaker image is built with the same un-def
> kernel flavour (newer, bigger) and it's most likely prone
> to the same problem on that laptop.
>
Would it be possible to make the previous p10 builds (for LXDE and/or 
GNUStep), prior to the 10-sept-2023 release,  available for download?  I 
can find them for "engineering" and "cnc-rt", but not for the other 
flavors.  Or, am I not looking in the right place for them? 
*http://nightly.altlinux.org/p10/archive/

*I ask because, before the Sept 10th release, the p10 x86_64 build did 
work on my Aspire One.  So, I'd like to keep that one in my own archive, 
as I replaced it with this latest iso without knowing the issues that 
have occurred.  At the very least it would be a 64 bit OS and bring me 
closer to "up to date" status than the p9 install that I still have.  
Although having a working copy of the latest p10 in 32 bit (which you're 
testing now) would still be helpful.

Re: [Comm-en] p10-lxde-20230910-x86_64 kernel panic: sync error

[TheGrove]

On 12/18/23 5:08 AM, Michael Shigorin wrote:
>
> David, we discussed the initrd size a bit more and came to
> conclusion that it's worth to try out i586 (32-bit) build;
> Anton is going to make one with a patch I've made now.
>
> I understand that traffic is an issue with mobile internet,
> so I've asked arbars@ to test the images first (he's got
> an EeePC with a gigabyte of RAM).
>
I see it in the the /p10/archive now!  Thank you!  I'll give it a try 
and report back.

-- 
~~ TheGrove Publishing Services ~~
~~ https://www.thegrove.in.nf ~~