Installing the linux-libre x64 kernel

[Member calciumsodium]

@andyprough had created the antiX21 libre respin for the x32 systems, and he had suggested instructions for x64 systems.

I wanted to write out instructions for installing the linux-libre x64 kernel based on my own attempts to install the x64 linux-libre kernel on my antiX21 systems.

Start with an antiX21 x64 system, base or full.

Get the trisquel keyring:
wget https://archive.trisquel.info/trisquel/pool/main/t/trisquel-keyring/trisquel-keyring_2018.02.19_all

There were some messages saying that the keyring was deprecated. But I had no problem installing the linux-libre kernel in the subsequent steps.

Install the keyring:
sudo dpkg -i ‘/home/yourusername/trisquel-keyring_2018.02.19_all’

Create a trisquel list in /etc/apt/sources.list.d folder:
printf ‘deb http://archive.trisquel.info/trisquel/ nabia-updates main
‘ > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/trisquel.list

Then update:
sudo apt update

Search for the different linux-libre kernel options:
apt-cache search linux-libre

Install the linux-libre kernel that you want. In this example, I am installing the 5.13.0-51-generic kernel. There is also the low latency version. I did not try that option.

sudo apt install linux-image-5.13.0-51-generic linux-headers-5.13.0-51-generic

If you have the altheros wifi chip, this should be enough to get wifi and get started.

If you don’t have the alteros wifi chip (in my system, I had the wifi chip that uses the iwlwifi network driver), then perhaps install other firmware:
sudo apt install linux-modules-extra-5.13.0-51-generic

Reboot and try out the kernel.

I recommend keeping the previous antiX kernel for a while and thoroughly test the linux-libre kernel before doing anything to the previous antiX kernel. If the linux-libre kernel works great on your system, keep it. If not, remove it, and revert back to the antiX kernel.

Hope this helps for those that might be interested.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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@calciumsodium: While I don’t personally need this right now, it’s still great information!
Thanks for sharing it with everyone; I’m sure that it will come in handy!

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Brian Masinick

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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Why not install libre kernel debs from their (linux-libre) site?

https://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/selibre/linux-libre/freesh.en.html

• This reply was modified 10 months, 2 weeks ago by anticapitalista.

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Member andyprough]

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Hi @calciumsodium, this is great! And easy.

I never used the Trisquel kernel on antiX, so this is a new idea for me. I just used the standard Linux-libre kernels from jxself.org. The Trisquel one is a little different because it’s derived from the Ubuntu kernel, which is then stripped of all non-free blobs and stuff. Should work great though.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Nothing quite like “choices”: we have the antiX kernels, both the 4 and 5 series, the Liquorix kernel, the Debian kernel, the Trisquel kernel and the standard Libre kernels. I’m sure someone could get creative and come up with more that would still work to some degree here. Personally I use either the standard antiX kernels or the Liquorix kernels. Until recently I had perfect results with the Liquorix kernels, at least until 5.16 or 5.17, but in that timeframe there were two of their kernels that for the first time, didn’t work right here.

I had no issues with the most two recent Liquorix 5.17 and 5.18 kernels I tried, but it’s always wise, in my opinion to keep at least one standard antiX kernel handy, which I always do when I’m experimenting!

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Brian Masinick

[Member andyprough]

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Brian Masinick wrote:

Nothing quite like “choices”: we have the antiX kernels, both the 4 and 5 series, the Liquorix kernel, the Debian kernel, the Trisquel kernel and the standard Libre kernels. I’m sure someone could get creative and come up with more that would still work to some degree here. Personally I use either the standard antiX kernels or the Liquorix kernels. Until recently I had perfect results with the Liquorix kernels, at least until 5.16 or 5.17, but in that timeframe there were two of their kernels that for the first time, didn’t work right here.

I had no issues with the most two recent Liquorix 5.17 and 5.18 kernels I tried, but it’s always wise, in my opinion to keep at least one standard antiX kernel handy, which I always do when I’m experimenting!

For about a year I was building all the Liquorix kernels for MX. I wonder if antiX was using those? You could have been using some of my kernels, @Brian.

That was enjoyable, too bad I couldn’t keep it up but the MX packager I was working under gave me a broken build environment for MX 21 and wouldn’t answer any questions, so my time helping him was over. I guess it was all for the best, I hadn’t been using MX for a long time personally, and that gave me more time to explore some really cool things with antiX.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Andy, I have been using MEPIS, then MX Linux since their beginning, along with antiX, and I’ve used Liquorix kernels on them and on other Debian-based distributions.
Most of them are very good. I have no idea why a few recent kernels have not worked, because until then they were all perfectly usable and responsive.

I’ve mentioned this before, because I have experimented with kernels, the practical differences are usually inconsequential for casual use. It’s the heavily loaded systems where you can actually observe and track significant differences.

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Brian Masinick

[Member calciumsodium]

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anticapitalista wrote:

https://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/selibre/linux-libre/freesh.en.html

In a previous post, I provided the instructions for installing the trisquel variation of the 64-bit linux libre kernel into 64-bit antiX21 operating system. In this post, I am providing instructions to install the standard 64-bit linux libre gnu kernel provided by fsfla.org. These instructions are based on my own attempts to install the linux libre gnu kernel.

Start with an antiX21 system, base or full.

1. Add the sources.list file in the /etc/apt folder:
sudo apt edit-sources

Add the line:
deb mirror://linux-libre.fsfla.org/pub/linux-libre/freesh/mirrors.txt freesh main

2. Re-enable FTP access:
echo ‘Dir::Bin::Methods::ftp “ftp”;’ | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99local-ftp

3. Add the key:
wget -O – https://jxself.org/gpg.asc | sudo apt-key add –

4. Update:
sudo apt update

5. Install linux libre kernel:
sudo apt install linux-libre-5.15

I chose the current long-term support kernel 5.15.

6. reboot

In the iso that I created, it has both the linux-libre-5.15 for its efficiency and the antiX 5.10.104 for its flexibility.

I had the altheros wifi adapter, so I was ready to start wifi immediately after reboot.

$ inxi -b
System:
  Host: jakersfan Kernel: 5.15.40-gnu arch: x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: IceWM
    v: 2.6.0 Distro: antiX-concept-21-b1.1_x64-full Kaze no denwa 20 July 2021
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: N/A model: N/A serial: <superuser required>
    BIOS: American Megatrends v: 080015 date: 05/06/2010
CPU:
  Info: dual core Intel Pentium D [MCP] speed (MHz): avg: 2403
    min/max: 2403/3403
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 4 Series Integrated Graphics driver: i915 v: kernel
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.20.11 driver: X: loaded: intel gpu: i915
    resolution: 1280x1024~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel G41 (ELK) v: 2.1 Mesa 20.3.4
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet driver: r8169
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR5416 Wireless Network Adapter [AR5008
  802.11bgn]
    driver: ath9k
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 74.51 GiB used: 3.45 GiB (4.6%)
Info:
  Processes: 124 Uptime: 21m Memory: 3.81 GiB used: 991.2 MiB (25.4%)
  Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.19

[Member andyprough]

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For my personal use, I usually just point to a specific mirror from this list: http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/pub/linux-libre/freesh/mirrors.txt

I like to use this one, it’s quite reliable: https://linux-libre.fsfla.org/pub/linux-libre/freesh/

I found in the past that some servers on that list, especially the ftp servers, can require a bit of ongoing fiddling to get apt to work with them.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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BTW, I have not had any new issues with Liquorix kernels. Curiously I had an issue with the most recent 5.18.1.9 siduction kernel, but only on one hardware platform. On that platform, when I did an update, it installed a package with a broken dependency associated with the 5.18.1.9 siduction kernel. Curiously, I already had this kernel installed on another platform, and since the kernel didn’t require a further update, the package was not broken. That is the first time EVER that I had an issue with a [kanotix,sidux,aptosid,siduction] kernel in the ~20 years+ I’ve been using them. (I doubt that I’ll have further issues when I revisit the other system again).

Now that the brief issues with the Liquorix kernels are resolved, I’m finding them to be their usual high quality too.
Between antiX, Liquorix, Debian, and kernel.org kernels, plus the libre kernels, we have plenty of good choices.

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Brian Masinick

[Member andyprough]

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Brian Masinick wrote:

Now that the brief issues with the Liquorix kernels are resolved, I’m finding them to be their usual high quality too.
Between antiX, Liquorix, Debian, and kernel.org kernels, plus the libre kernels, we have plenty of good choices.

If you want a little kernel adventure sometime, Jason Self, the developer who makes most of our Debian-based Linux-libre kernels, has been making a libre realtime kernel called “libeRTy” – https://www.fsfla.org/ikiwiki/selibre/linux-libre/liberty.en.html

All the instructions you would need to install and try it on antiX are on that page. I need to try it one of these days, see how it compares to Liquorix in terms of realtime/low-latency, and see if there’s any noticeable difference from running a regular antiX kernel. I would need to play a bunch of Tuxkart or some other video game to stress it out a bit – most of my day-to-day computing is so light that the kernel is probably irrelevant.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Thanks Andy.

A couple of things that I can say, without getting too technical is that both antiX and Liquorix kernels are well configured for predominantly interactive workloads.

A few months ago I compared the active modules from the MX Linux environment and the antiX environment. While both work quite well for typical computing, without question antiX is more specifically tuned for light, efficient interactive use.

Despite the difference however it is very difficult without actually using tracking or instrumentation to quantify the specific difference; response time to a typical command is difficult to distinguish; what is noticable is the efficiency of memory used in antiX. That’s about it unless you dig deep!

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Brian Masinick

[Member calciumsodium]

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I did some more testing of the linux-libre-4.9 gnu x64 kernel vs the linux-libre-5.15 gnu x64 kernel and linux-libre-4.9 gnu x64 kernel vs linux-libre-4.9 gnu x32 kernel.

First thing, I used @andyprough’s antiX21 libre respin, which had the linux-libre-4.9 gnu x32 kernel, as the prototype. I saw how @andyprough really minimized the /lib/firmware folder to almost like nothing. So I reproduced that in my x64 libre version. In my antiX21 x64 libre system I installed the linux-libre-4.9 gnu x64 kernel. In a separate partition on the same computer, I installed my x32 libre variation of @andyprough’s original libre respin, I installed the linux-libre-4.9 gnu x32 kernel. I used ytfzf and watched many different youtube videos. Both the linux-libre-4.9 gnu x64 kernel and the linux-libre-4.9 gnu x32 kernel performed very well! The building up of the memory cache was very fast, indicative of good wifi experience in watching youtube videos using ytfzf. (As a note, a bad experience watching youtube videos using ytfzf would be lots of buffering pauses and low cache memory.) There was not much difference between the x64 and x32 linux-libre-4.9 kernels. I am very happy using both systems! And I am glad I have the opportunity to learn about and use these libre kernels.

There is a big difference though in one area, and it has nothing to do with wifi. In the x64 system, creating an iso snapshot took only 1-2 minutes and very little CPU power. I will post the computer system that I did the test at the end of this post. However, in the x32 system, creating an iso snapshot took a lot longer and required 100% CPU for a while. I noticed this iso snapshot 100% CPU phenomenon in many other x32 computer systems. Perhaps this is just a difference between the power of x64 vs x32 computing.

Then I created another partition and installed the x64 libre system with the linux-libre-5.15 gnu x64 kernel. Then I watched many different youtube videos using ytfzf. I noticed a big difference in performance. The watching of the youtube videos using ytfzf using linux-libre-5.15 gnu x64 kernel produced some buffering initially, compared with not seeing much if any in the linux-libre-4.9 gnu x64 kernel. Perhaps the 5.15 kernel is too heavy for this older laptop. Perhaps if one has a stronger and more modern computer, the 5.15 kernel would be perfect.

I did these tests with a realtek rtl8188ce wifi adapter. It works fairly well with the linux-libre gnu kernel. The alteros wifi adapters work even better with the linux-libre gnu kernels, in my experience. I have several other computers that have the alteros wifi adapters. The wifi experience using the libre kernels is excellent!

Here is the computer system that I did the tests:

$ inxi -b
System:
  Host: jakersfan Kernel: 4.9.321-gnu1 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: IceWM
    v: 2.6.0 Distro: antiX-concept-21-b1.1_x64-full Kaze no denwa 20 July 2021
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: CLEVO product: S3100 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: CLEVO model: S3100 serial: <superuser required> BIOS: Phoenix
    v: CALPELLACRB.86C.0000.X.0000000000 date: 09/13/2010
CPU:
  Info: dual core Intel Core i3 U 330 [MT MCP] speed (MHz): avg: 1199
    min/max: 666/1199
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Core Processor Integrated Graphics driver: i915 v: kernel
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.20.11 driver: X: loaded: intel gpu: i915
    resolution: 1366x768~60Hz
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (ILK) v: 2.1 Mesa 20.3.4
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter driver: rtl8192ce
  Device-2: JMicron JMC250 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet driver: jme
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 298.09 GiB used: 3.79 GiB (1.3%)
Info:
  Processes: 149 Uptime: 5m Memory: 7.6 GiB used: 417.7 MiB (5.4%)
  Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.19

[Member andyprough]

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New kernels have regressions, and are often outperformed by older kernels that have been through many years of fine tuning. This is a little known secret. Benchmark test comparisons have routinely showed this to be true. Older LTS kernels are among the best, as they get fine tuned for many years. If you aren’t trying to run very new hardware, then often an old LTS kernel will be your best bet in terms of performance and lower resource usage.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Andy, your comments on stable, well tested kernels is undoubtedly true, though for me personally I rarely have use cases any more that stress resources enough to detect much practical difference.

The lone issue is whether a kernel works or not. The odd thing for me is that over 26 years of using Linux on a daily basis, until recently I have not experienced many kernel failures. I think the occasional errors now are because I have a collection of systems that span over two decades and I have to use different combinations of hardware and software to get the various systems to work.

For example antiX works perfectly with all of the systems that are 5 or more years old but I finally ran into a newer system that has wifi drivers on several, but not all distributions. antiX has an Ethernet driver but not a wifi driver that works on the newer system. To compound the issue for me, my community recently disabled Ethernet across the entire facility, though our wifi is one of the fastest sites around. So device support is a crucial kernel issue, not unique to antiX.

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Brian Masinick

[Author]

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