21/Dec 1.91 - Teknologist kernel with tun.ko, ext4, cifs, and compache ramzswap for GSM Hero

[Guest teknologist]

teknologist, is your kernel source online at all?

This looks interesting... http://jaysonking.com/bfs-2.6.27-backport/

P

Paul my kernel source is htc's original, posted last week + compache 0.5.4 swap notify patch (applies very cleanly, no rejects)

The only real tweaking I did is in the config and that is available in /proc/config.gz

I attached it to this post.

Seems also LoxDev has set up sources but I still don't understand if they are htc's or android-msm + a hero patch he created from the diff...and I think it might me the later

GIT is here He has included my kernel config file in his source tree though. Actually from what he told me,

when you do make ARCH=arm SUBARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-eabi- msm7200a_defconfig , it loads my .config (the one attached to this post)

When I build here, I prefer to build on stock HTC sources + compache. I just use android official sources for wlan driver. I don't use his GIT for now.

I will be looking at BFS patch, but again, this is con colivas Brain F*ck Scheduler right ? As i told you in previous messages I really think this is beneficial in multi-core/multi-cpu environments ?

Do you have any feedback, hints pointing to the fact that it would improve Hero ?

Cheers,

--Eric

config.gz

Edited October 29, 2009 by teknologist

[Guest teknologist]

I will package the latest Teknologist kernel in future ROMs. :D

P

Paul, thanks, that's great news.

Also read on post #25, after some testing here I have figured out that there doesn't seem to be any real crucial benefits on having the backing swap partition.

I have been using it without it for half day (ie: compressed poool in ram and no need for partition in SDCard) and it works the same.

Again, I don't load my phone like a PC and don't run 100 apps in // but the responsiveness/speed increase factor is still there and at the same level.

It uses a 92Mb compressed pool for the moment. (maybe we'll find the best value later)

I will also be looking at optimizing the kernel configuration a bit further...getting rid of more debug code options in config, unused stuff etc...I'll push as far as I can...if there is further than what the config is right now.

This means:

1) we can eliminate the need for a "linux-swap" partition on SDCard, we also avoid having the felling to be killing your sdcard by using that swap partition

2) inclusion in you (excellent ;-) MCR is even easier. we could integrate my userinit.sh in your system inits.

This would make MCR have compache setup out of the box, no need for sdcard fiddling.

Let me know what do you think.

I hope I'll soon have feedback on this new release. In my case, so far, so good,don't see any difference and don't miss the partition at all ;-)

Cheers,

-Eric

Edited October 29, 2009 by teknologist

[Guest teknologist]

I have it all set up and seems to be working (according to cat command) but wondered if I am meant to leave 'Swapper' installed as I think 'Swapper' is using the swap... er... as well? Or is Swapper a necessity for what we're doing here?

Will report back with comments regarding speed etc. tomorrow once it's been put through its paces a bit. Sleep time for me now!

For god sake if you guys use my kernel config with compache, get rid of Swapper.

Edited October 29, 2009 by teknologist

[Guest teknologist]

Seems ext4 has not been working for the A2SD partition for those that were brave enough to test it. It seems the problem also exists in MCR 1.2 (the kernel supplied byt Paul in MCR 2.8)

Well, as I just removed my swap partition as per my own last recommendations ;-)I decided to give it try.

Well be advised, you won't be able to boot. The device goes in an endless loop HERO ->HTC ->HERO->HTC

and keeps on rebooting

After looking into it

I think I found why ext4 is not working.

I am testing it right now with the fix.

then, I'll go to sleep, and update you guys tomorrow.

If it proves succesfull I will release a new kernel dubbed 1.5 tomorrow evenning..stay tuned...

From this old benchmark (ext4 has gone stable and mature since -> I think it's even main FS for Ubuntu Karmic Koala released today) specifically done with a SanDisk micro-SDHC 6GB Class4

Results are very good compared to other file systems ! and the kernel tested is just 2.6.28 (not far from our 2.6.27)

Of course it's done a desktop PC, blablabla... can't wait to give it a try !

Cheers!

--Eric

[EDIT] 5:50AM here. It works ! I'm off to get some sleep... ;-) I'll get it released tomorrow ! Expect 1.5-hero-mck-teknologist-rom-autosetup-signed.zip to be attached to this post !

Superseded by kernel version 1.6 see Post#1

Edited October 29, 2009 by teknologist

[Guest wusui]

Jut share my test result.

flash 2.8 MoDaCo chinese core + 1.4_hero_teknologist_rom_autosetup_signed.zip for my HTC hero.

don''t know why, ramzswap can't be initiated automatically, I have to manullay extract userinit.sh from the zip and copy it to /system/sd. after reboot, it works fine.

after loading some big app.

cat /proc/ramzswap

DiskSize: 94208 kB

NumReads: 15344

NumWrites: 18087

FailedReads: 0

FailedWrites: 0

InvalidIO: 0

NotifyFree: 2740

ZeroPages: 394

GoodCompress: 80 %

NoCompress: 2 %

PagesStored: 14455

PagesUsed: 4726

OrigDataSize: 57820 kB

ComprDataSize: 18631 kB

MemUsedTotal: 18904 kB

cat /proc/meminfo:

MemTotal: 196128 kB

MemFree: 2716 kB

Buffers: 132 kB

Cached: 44144 kB

SwapCached: 10884 kB

Active: 138588 kB

Inactive: 9644 kB

SwapTotal: 94200 kB

SwapFree: 34408 kB

Dirty: 4 kB

Writeback: 0 kB

AnonPages: 102332 kB

Mapped: 35028 kB

Slab: 7516 kB

SReclaimable: 1352 kB

SUnreclaim: 6164 kB

PageTables: 11840 kB

NFS_Unstable: 0 kB

Bounce: 0 kB

WritebackTmp: 0 kB

CommitLimit: 192264 kB

Committed_AS: 3671776 kB

VmallocTotal: 319488 kB

VmallocUsed: 94956 kB

VmallocChunk: 171004 kB

In general, I didn't fell much immediate performence improvement, but mobile phone run much smoothly than before after using for a while. It's a excellent feature. we don't need worry about memory anymore....

thanks a lot.

[Guest JamesKing]

Thanks for 1.4!

To go from an earlier version (with backswap) do I need to do anything, or can I just do an install over the top?

Cheers,

James

[Guest JamesKing]

Also,

is the ext4 problem only a problem in version 1.4?

Is it working in earlier versions?

I have an ext4 partition for Apps2SD, but I'm not sure if it's being used...

So I can't tell if I have the problem or not. :D

[Guest BTJ]

How can I check if I have "..92Mb of compressed pool in RAM"?

Should ramzswap still be used? If so, it is not loaded after install ing the auto setup file...

Edit: ok, it seems I am having the same problem as wusui, had to copy the userinit.sh manually to /system/sd, then it worked...

BTJ

Edited October 29, 2009 by BTJ

[Guest jank.dk]

I am having problems initializing compcache automatically at boot.

It seems that userinit.sh is only executed if you use Apps2SD. I don't use that yet, as I still have plenty of space on my phone, and I don't like the fact that apps crashes when I choose to mount the SD-card on my PC via an USB cable.

I read that Paul had made an /data/init.sh that also will be executed on every boot, so I tried to put the contents of userinit.sh into /data/init.sh, but still no success. I can execute the init.sh from ADB shell and everything works fine. But it refuses to start automatically.

[Guest Paul]

Teknologist, BFS has had huge benefits in testing on Dream etc. I believe! Might be worth a try?

P

[Guest drewstiff]

For god sake if you guys use my kernel config with compache, wether you choose the easy way and use the later setup (completely auto) or the manual with backing swap,

In all cases, get rid of Swapper.

It has no interest at all, and that one for sure will end up killing your sdcard for good !

Again I advise everyone to use the completely automatic setup (<a href="http://"http://android.modaco.com/content-page/294951/27-10-1-4-teknologist-kernel-with-tun-ko-and-compache-ramzswap/page/24/"" target="_blank">Post#25</a>) it should work in less than 30seconds! yep right 30s !

The old way (First post is pretty difficult to setup for a newcomer and has no real advantage for the vast majority of users)

I noticed your original post last night (before the updated 'auto' method) and by some massive fluke managed to accidentally wipe my phone (clearstorage command, complete accident - must have been pressing 'back' without noticing!) when I rebooting to recovery to do a Nandroid backup. That sucked! All sorted now though. [ this is all irrelevant to my point but just wanted to talk about my d'oh moment].

Anyway I then tried to resize my partitions and noticed my apps2sd partition seemed corrupt (wouldn't resize) so I went through pulling apps from sd to desktop, recreating ext3 partition, then pushing apps back (all worked fine). The part actually to do with your script and update.zip went fine and I was up and running. I noticed swapper was installed and thought I'd be best removing it but when I did a "Get Information" the swap was set the same size as 'your' swap so I wasn't entirely sure whether you were utilising Swapper or whether I should remove it.

I have now removed it, thanks for clarifying!

There aren't any known problems with the backing swap are there? i.e. no reason to turn it off now that it's all set up and working correctly?

Seems speedy but then I have just done a wipe so a bit more use and I'll see if it makes a more noticeable difference.

Thanks very much for your work!

[Guest teknologist]

Teknologist, BFS has had huge benefits in testing on Dream etc. I believe! Might be worth a try?

P

Ok I'll have a look!

[Guest teknologist]

Also,

is the ext4 problem only a problem in version 1.4?

Is it working in earlier versions?

I have an ext4 partition for Apps2SD, but I'm not sure if it's being used...

So I can't tell if I have the problem or not. :D

Well might be me, but no custom kernel for hero had working ext4 support for me until I modified the config yesterday.

[Guest teknologist]

I am having problems initializing compcache automatically at boot.

It seems that userinit.sh is only executed if you use Apps2SD. I don't use that yet, as I still have plenty of space on my phone, and I don't like the fact that apps crashes when I choose to mount the SD-card on my PC via an USB cable.

I read that Paul had made an /data/init.sh that also will be executed on every boot, so I tried to put the contents of userinit.sh into /data/init.sh, but still no success. I can execute the init.sh from ADB shell and everything works fine. But it refuses to start automatically.

I am investigating. I'll delay the new version with ext4 support until I get the proper information on how to have this script launched automatically on every MCR 2.8, independently from the fact that you have A2SD or not.

[Guest yabolek]

No luck here :D

Flashed the autosetup zip file and Hero keeps looping at boot screen (HERO sign).

Good thing I made a nandroid backup before this.

MCR 2.8

Edited October 29, 2009 by yabolek

[Guest branwen]

Ok so I installed this back when it was hard, and I think I ballsed it up. I didn't get much in the way of changes, but now on 2.8 and with this new .zip, I can confirm it is hell on heals, super update :D

[Guest Keramidas]

No luck here :D

Flashed the autosetup zip file and Hero keeps looping at boot screen (HERO sign).

Good thing I made a nandroid backup before this.

MCR 2.8

Hi,

Sorry to hear that. Have you tried removing /system/sd/userinit.sh just after installing the autosetup zip, before rebooting ? If it solves your problem, we would be sure that your problem is related to partitions on your sdcard...

[Guest yabolek]

Hi,

Sorry to hear that. Have you tried removing /system/sd/userinit.sh just after installing the autosetup zip, before rebooting ? If it solves your problem, we would be sure that your problem is related to partitions on your sdcard...

I had two partitions on my sdcard - one for fat32 and one for swap. It looks like its booting fine with the sdcard taken out.

I wiped all of the partitions from SD and now it boots fine :D

[Guest Keramidas]

I had two partitions on my sdcard - one for fat32 and one for swap. It looks like its booting fine with the sdcard taken out.

I wiped all of the partitions from SD and now it boots fine :D

Cool ! Yeah, the setup expected by userinit.sh is: fat32, ext2-3, swap. So you were missing the 2nd partition (for apps2sd). Glad to know that it works well for you now :P

[Guest bunt83]

Hello,

I have 2 questions, one if which may have been answered previously, but it's still a bit unclear for me:

1 - I have a standard setup using the Modaco rom with no partitions on my SD card for A2SD, does this matter when using the new kernel? I'm assuming no as the new update.zip style kernel doesn't need partitions to work...

2 - I'm using MCR 2.5 as I'm happy with all of the features and don't need the extra features that come with 2.7/2.8, does the kernel work with 2.5?

Thanks

[Guest shokka9]

just like to add....

This is great work from teknologist, i have been so busy recently, and not had time to even flash Pauls 2.8 version or even any of teknologist's kernels.....

I cant wait to see the modaco ROM with this kernel. It sounds really nice.

I need to catch up, and it wont be any time soon. LIFE is too busy at the mo, still working on my site too.

Hopefully when i come back from my trip, there will be more goodness to try out.

Just wanted to say thanks and well done to Paul & Teknologist for making my Hero so much better than stock...

Also....i hear that Android 2.0 will be available to the Hero in November, so something HUGE to look forward too.

:D

[Guest Shahz]

Hey Teknologist,

Well, I'll pass the v1.4 then since I don't see anything much of my use yet..I'd suggest you release the version with a working ext4 and compiled with BFS as suggested by Paul..I bet your kernel will pwn!!

shokka9, the Android SDK 2.0 is out. I bet Hero's Android 2.0 will be out soon too! Eagerly waiting for it. Can't wait to see whats in for us :D

[Guest keef319]

I currently have Teknologist's original "hard method" running on my Hero.

How easy would it be to go to the new auto method (ie removing the backup swap) without having to format the whole SD card?

[Guest Loxley]

1 - I have a standard setup using the Modaco rom with no partitions on my SD card for A2SD, does this matter when using the new kernel? I'm assuming no as the new update.zip style kernel doesn't need partitions to work...

2 - I'm using MCR 2.5 as I'm happy with all of the features and don't need the extra features that come with 2.7/2.8, does the kernel work with 2.5?

1. The kernel will work, but there is a script for compcache that normally resides on the a2sd partition. It should work though because the setup should create a directory with the right name on your device and put the script there. (Be sure to take the last automatic setup!).

2. It works with my MCR 2.2, so yes, I think it will wok.

HTH

Niki

[Guest Remington Steale]

How exactly do I backup my apps from the ext3 partition before I wipe it and reformat without the swap??

Anyone??