Difference between revisions of "Fitlet: Installing Linux Mint 17.2"

From fit-PC wiki
Jump to: navigation, search
(watchdog)   (change visibility)
(Watchdog)   (change visibility)
Line 61: Line 61:
  
 
== Watchdog ==
 
== Watchdog ==
* [http://fit-pc.com/wiki/index.php/Fitlet:_Linux:_Kernel Custom kernel] should be installed to make this feature work
+
* '''NOTE!''' Not supported in mainline Linux kernel. [http://fit-pc.com/wiki/index.php/Fitlet:_Linux:_Kernel Custom kernel] should be installed to make this feature work
 
* The AMD FCH supports a user configurable watchdog
 
* The AMD FCH supports a user configurable watchdog
 
* Once the watchdog is enabled the system restarts once the timeout period elapses, in order to prevent it the user needs to either feed the watchdog or to disable it
 
* Once the watchdog is enabled the system restarts once the timeout period elapses, in order to prevent it the user needs to either feed the watchdog or to disable it

Revision as of 12:21, 18 November 2015

Prepare installation media

Base installation of Linux Mint

  • Follow the standard Linux Mint installation procedure - choose timezone, partitions, username, password etc.
  • Disconnect the installation media and reboot.
  • Login using previously selected username and password.

ATI Catalyst video driver

  • fglrx is a proprietary ATI Catalyst video driver that provides XvBA (X-video Bitstream Acceleration) support.
  • WARNING!!! fglrx driver has been updated on 2015-05-19, from version 13.350 to 15.200. There is a bug or some incompatibility in the new package. Please blacklist new version until Ubuntu or ATI will release the fix. Create file /etc/apt/preferences.d/fglrx.13.350.pref
Package: fglrx*
Pin: release a=trusty
Pin-Priority: 1001
  • Install fglrx driver and other required utilities with the command below:
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install fglrx-updates fglrx-amdcccle-updates xvba-va-driver vainfo
  • Note: system reboot is required after the installation of the fglrx driver.

Kodi and VLC

  • Kodi (formerly known as XBMC) and VLC are well known free and open-source multimedia players
  • Both of them use GPU accelerated video decoding and give excellent playback quality
  • Both of them compatible with the most popular video formats
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install kodi vlc
  • Kodi will support GPU accelerated video decoding out of the box
  • In VLC you need to check Tools->Preferences->Input and Codecs->Use GPU accelerated decoding checkbox to take advantage of GPU accelerated video decoding

Thermal monitoring

  • Install tools for monitoring CPU and storage temperature
$ sudo apt-get install lm-sensors hddtemp
$ sensors
k10temp-pci-00c3
Adapter: PCI adapter
temp1:        +60.9°C  (high = +70.0°C)
                      (crit = +105.0°C, hyst = +104.0°C)
$ sudo hddtemp /dev/sda
/dev/sda: SanDisk SD6SF1M064G: 42°C

Aggressive Link Power Management (ALPM)

  • It's a mechanism where a SATA controller can put the disk into a very low power mode during periods of zero I/O activity and into an active power state when work needs to be done. Tests show that this can save some power and decrease mSATA average temperature.
  • Create text file /etc/pm/power.d/sata_alpm
#!/bin/sh

for i in /sys/class/scsi_host/host*/link_power_management_policy; do
echo min_power > $i
done
  • Make it executable
$ sudo chmod +x /etc/pm/power.d/sata_alpm
  • Reboot, check that SATA power management policy has been changed
$ cat /sys/class/scsi_host/host*/link_power_management_policy
min_power
min_power

Watchdog

  • NOTE! Not supported in mainline Linux kernel. Custom kernel should be installed to make this feature work
  • The AMD FCH supports a user configurable watchdog
  • Once the watchdog is enabled the system restarts once the timeout period elapses, in order to prevent it the user needs to either feed the watchdog or to disable it
$ sudo apt-get install watchdog
  • Uncomment watchdog-device line in /etc/watchdog.conf
watchdog-device = /dev/watchdog
  • Set responsible kernel module to sp5100_tco in /etc/default/watchdog
watchdog_module="sp5100_tco"
  • By default the timeout value is 60 sec and the watchdog deamon feeds the watchdog every 10 sec
  • As example you can simulate kernel panic (as root user):
$ echo c > /proc/sysrq-trigger
  • As a result, the watchdog is not fed and the system will reboot after 60 sec