Because I’ve tried it already for the past couple of days and I’ve found this scheduler to be really good, I also decided to make a new kernel release which includes this scheduler, so the kernel wont use the classic scheduler, but the new BFS one.

I’ve tested kernel 2.6.33 with this scheduler on my Lenovo T61 laptop and it does make things a bit faster, especially when it comes to desktop virtualization, like VirtualBox, video applications and even Firefox.

Because I don’t want to get into too many details and also I’m not much of a developer to understand what and how this scheduler is modified, I would recommend any of you to go to the project web site and check it out: http://ck.kolivas.org/patches/bfs/bfs-faq.txt.

Now the download part is the same like for any other release and here are the links:

Mirror US/CA: http://dl.robertalks.com/kernel/2.6.33-final-bfs/

Mirror EU/CZ: http://mirror.visualserver.org/kernel/2.6.33-final-bfs/

Download at least the linux-image package, install it and test it. I do hope it will help for most of you in speeding up a bit the computer and processing times.

Good luck and please let me know if you have any issues with it.

Because I don’t wanna carry too much about this and that and plus I don’t really have much time, I will just say that this final release seems to bring tons of improvements top to bottom, so it should present a good speed and stability especially with the ext4 module and i915 and drm modules. In my tests, it does seems to be quite fast, the kernel itself, but also the Intel i915 module too. The only thing it remains is for you guys to download it and test it.

OK! I’ll stop beating around the bush and go directly to the installation and download part, which will be the same like before, just different package name. So you will need root access or sudo access, plus dpkg and the will to try it out. Download the packages from http://dl.robertalks.com/kernel/2.6.33-final/ (US/CA mirror) and remember that to use this kernel you will need at least linux-image-2.6.33-final_2.6.33-1_i386.deb package.

A little help for beginners who wanna use this kernel. After you download the package use dpkg to install it, like this:

sudo dpkg -i –force-all linux-image-2.6.33-final_2.6.33-1_i386.deb (you do the same with the rest of the packages)

For those of you who want or need to rebuild the kernel, you can download the source code with the config file from the links above, as I wrote before there wont be anymore included kernel source archive, but you will have a package call linux-source-2.6.33-final_2.6.33-1_all.deb which contains the kernel source code.

Good day people!

Because the changes done or lets say the add-ons in this kernel are the same as in every kernel package that I release, I wont mention them here over and over again, but one thing you need to remember, I wont add the kernel source archive with the config file as there is already in a package which contains the archive and the config file will be in the linux-image package. At least I will save about 65MB of space on my web servers .

Lets see whats new in this kernel:

NET: fix oops at bootime in sysctl code
powerpc: TIF_ABI_PENDING bit removal
ath9k: fix beacon slot/buffer leak
ath9k: fix eeprom INI values override for 2GHz-only cards
pktcdvd: removing device does not remove its sysfs dir
uartlite: fix crash when using as console
kernel/cred.c: use kmem_cache_free
starfire: clean up properly if firmware loading fails
mx3fb: some debug and initialisation fixes
imxfb: correct location of callbacks in suspend and resume
mac80211: fix NULL pointer dereference when ftrace is enabled
mm: flush dcache before writing into page to avoid alias
be2net: Fix memset() arg ordering.
be2net: Bug fix to support newer generation of BE ASIC
connector: Delete buggy notification code.
usb: r8a66597-hdc disable interrupts fix
block: fix bugs in bio-integrity mempool usage
random: Remove unused inode variable
random: drop weird m_time/a_time manipulation
Fix ‘flush_old_exec()/setup_new_exec()’ split
block: fix bio_add_page for non trivial merge_bvec_fn case
mm: purge fragmented percpu vmap blocks
mm: percpu-vmap fix RCU list walking
libata: retry link resume if necessary
oprofile/x86: fix crash when profiling more than 28 events
oprofile/x86: add Xeon 7500 series support
KVM: allow userspace to adjust kvmclock offset
ax25: netrom: rose: Fix timer oopses
af_packet: Don’t use skb after dev_queue_xmit()
net: restore ip source validation
sky2: Fix oops in sky2_xmit_frame() after TX timeout
tcp: update the netstamp_needed counter when cloning sockets
clocksource: fix compilation if no GENERIC_TIME
x86/amd-iommu: Fix possible integer overflow
x86: Add quirk for Intel DG45FC board to avoid low memory corruption
x86: Add Dell OptiPlex 760 reboot quirk
regulator: Specify REGULATOR_CHANGE_STATUS for WM835x LED constraints
SECURITY: selinux, fix update_rlimit_cpu parameter
firewire: core: add_descriptor size check
drm/i915: only enable hotplug for detected outputs
iwlwifi: set default aggregation frame count limit to 31
x86: Disable HPET MSI on ATI SB700/SB800
Input: winbond-cir – remove dmesg spam
x86: get rid of the insane TIF_ABI_PENDING bit
sparc: TIF_ABI_PENDING bit removal
Split ‘flush_old_exec’ into two functions
FDPIC: Respect PT_GNU_STACK exec protection markings when creating NOMMU stack
mm: fix migratetype bug which slowed swapping
Fix failure exit in ipathfs
fix affs parse_options()
Fix remount races with symlink handling in affs
fix leak in romfs_fill_super()
fix oops in fs/9p late mount failure
Fix failure exits in bfs_fill_super()
Fix a leak in affs_fill_super()
drm/i915: Reload hangcheck timer too for Ironlake
e1000/e1000e: don’t use small hardware rx buffers
e1000e: enhance frame fragment detection
e1000: enhance frame fragment detection
UBI: fix volume creation input checking
ACPI: Advertise to BIOS in _OSC: _OST on _PPC changes
ACPI: fix OSC regression that caused aer and pciehp not to load
ACPI: Add platform-wide _OSC support.
ACPI: Add a generic API for _OSC -v2
dasd: fix possible NULL pointer errors
zcrypt: Do not remove coprocessor for error 8/72
libata: retry FS IOs even if it has failed with AC_ERR_INVALID
x86: Remove “x86 CPU features in debugfs” (CONFIG_X86_CPU_DEBUG)
x86: Set hotpluggable nodes in nodes_possible_map
S390: fix single stepped svcs with TRACE_IRQFLAGS=y
firewire: ohci: fix crashes with TSB43AB23 on 64bit systems
drm/i915: Selectively enable self-reclaim
mm: add new ‘read_cache_page_gfp()’ helper function
mptsas: Fix issue with chain pools allocation on katmai

As you can see from the small snapshot take from ChangeLog there are fixes done to DRM, i915 module, ACPI and even the kernel. If this actually do something or at least give the impression of some kind of improvement, I don’t know, well not yet, because I will be just like you guys, testing it out.

OK! I’ll stop beating around the bush and go directly to the installation and download part, which will be the same like before, just different package name. So you will need root access or sudo access, plus dpkg and the will to try it out. Download the packages from http://dl.robertalks.com/kernel/2.6.32.8-pharox/ (US/CA mirror) or from http://mirror.visualserver.org/kernel/2.6.32.8-pharox/ (EU/CZ mirror) and remember that to use this kernel you will need at least linux-image-2.6.32.8-pharox_2.6.32.8.1_i386.deb package.

A little help for beginners who wanna use this kernel. After you download the package use dpkg to install it, like this:

sudo dpkg -i –force-all linux-image-2.6.32.8-pharox_2.6.32.8.1_i386.deb (you do the same with the rest of the packages)

For those of you who want or need to rebuild the kernel, you can download the source code with the config file from the links above, as I wrote before there wont be anymore included kernel source archive, but you will have a package call linux-source-2.6.32.8-pharox_2.6.32.8.1_all.deb which contains the kernel source code.

Cheers and good luck!

To be honest I don’t like that much bit.ly and because of that I created buh.bz, which uses PHurl code with some modification, of course. Now the cool part is that this new plugin of mine is also included on wordpress.org at plugins. So anyone who uses Wordpress and wants TweeU, can easily install TweeU from their Wordpress admin console.

Another cool part with this plugin and buh.bz service is that you do not need an account to create a short URL. It’s a simple URL shortening service which, well only makes short URLs. The idea of using for everything an account, like Twitter, bit.ly and so on, it’s not quite the easy thing to manage, especially now a days most of us have tons of accounts on different web sites and I’m sure we don’t need an account also on a URL shortening page/web site too.

If you wanna download this plugin, the please go to http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tweeu/ or to the official web site http://www.robertalks.com/tweeu/.

Please use it and rate the plugin on wordpress.org.

x86, msr/cpuid: Pass the number of minors when unregistering MSR and CPUID drivers.
fnctl: f_modown should call write_lock_irqsave/restore
iwlwifi: Fix throughput stall issue in HT mode for 5000
ACPI: enable C2 and Turbo-mode on Nehalem notebooks on A/C
x86: Reenable TSC sync check at boot, even with NONSTOP_TSC
IPoIB: Clear ipoib_neigh.dgid in ipoib_neigh_alloc()
KVM: only clear irq_source_id if irqchip is present
KVM: fix lock imbalance in kvm_*_irq_source_id()
KVM: x86: Fix leak of free lapic date in kvm_arch_vcpu_init()
KVM: x86: Fix probable memory leak of vcpu->arch.mce_banks
KVM: x86: Fix host_mapping_level()
KVM: MMU: bail out pagewalk on kvm_read_guest error
KVM: Fix race between APIC TMR and IRR
KVM: only allow one gsi per fd
KVM: S390: fix potential array overrun in intercept handling
cfg80211: fix channel setting for wext
mac80211: check that ieee80211_set_power_mgmt only handles STA interfaces.
ASoC: fix a memory-leak in wm8903
UBI: initialise update marker
UBI: fix memory leak in update path
hwmon: (fschmd) Fix a memleak on multiple opens of /dev/watchdog
ALSA: hda – Fix HP T5735 automute
ipc ns: fix memory leak (idr)
netiucv: displayed TX bytes value much too high
cio: dont panic in non-fatal conditions
cio: fix double free in case of probe failure
V4L/DVB (13826): uvcvideo: Fix controls blacklisting
md: fix small irregularity with start_ro module parameter
ata_piix: fix MWDMA handling on PIIX3
ahci: disable SNotification capability for ich8
iTCO_wdt: Add Intel Cougar Point and PCH DeviceIDs
iTCO_wdt: add PCI ID for the Intel EP80579 (Tolapai) SoC
iTCO_wdt.c – cleanup chipset documentation
ALSA: hda – Add missing Line-Out and PCM switches as slave
ALSA: hda – Fix quirk for Maxdata obook4-1
ALSA: hda – select IbexPeak handler for Calpella
Input: i8042 – add Dritek quirk for Acer Aspire 5610.
Input: i8042 – add Gigabyte M1022M to the noloop list
Input: i8042 – remove identification strings from DMI tables
DMI: allow omitting ident strings in DMI tables
PCI: AER: fix aer inject result in kernel oops
qlge: Bonding fix for mode 6.
qlge: Add handler for DCBX firmware event.
qlge: Don’t fail open when port is not initialized.
qlge: Set PCIE max read request size.
qlge: Remove explicit setting of PCI Dev CTL reg.
fcoe: Fix getting san mac for VLAN interface
fcoe: Fix checking san mac address
fcoe, libfc: fix an libfc issue with queue ramp down in libfc
libfc: remote port gets stuck in restart state without really restarting
libfc: fix free of fc_rport_priv with timer pending
libfc: fix memory corruption caused by double frees and bad error handling
libfc: Fix frags in frame exceeding SKB_MAX_FRAGS in fc_fcp_send_data
fcoe: initialize return value in fcoe_destroy
libfc: don’t WARN_ON in lport_timeout for RESET state
libfc: lport: fix minor documentation errors
libfc: Fix wrong scsi return status under FC_DATA_UNDRUN
fcoe: remove redundant checking of netdev->netdev_ops
libfc: fix ddp in fc_fcp for 0 xid
libfc: fix typo in retry check on received PRLI
lpfc: fix hang on SGI ia64 platform
scsi_transport_fc: remove invalid BUG_ON
scsi_dh: create sysfs file, dh_state for all SCSI disk devices
scsi_devinfo: update Hitachi entries (v2)
HID: fixup quirk for NCR devices
NFS: Revert default r/wsize behavior
iscsi class: modify handling of replacement timeout
PCI: Always set prefetchable base/limit upper32 registers
timers, init: Limit the number of per cpu calibration bootup messages
nfsd: Fix sort_pacl in fs/nfsd/nf4acl.c to actually sort groups
nohz: Prevent clocksource wrapping during idle
sched: Fix missing sched tunable recalculation on cpu add/remove
sched: Fix isolcpus boot option
ALSA: ice1724 – Patch for suspend/resume for ESI Juli@
partitions: use sector size for EFI GPT
partitions: read whole sector with EFI GPT header
netfilter: xtables: fix conntrack match v1 ipt-save output
V4L/DVB (13680b): DocBook/media: create links for included sources
V4L/DVB (13680a): DocBook/media: copy images after building HTML
atl1e:disable NETIF_F_TSO6 for hardware limit
atl1c:use common_task instead of reset_task and link_chg_task
iTCO_wdt: Add support for Intel Ibex Peak
V4L/DVB (13168): Add support for Asus Europa Hybrid DVB-T card (SAA7134 SubVendor ID: 0×1043 Device ID: 0×4847)
USB: ftdi_sio: add USB device ID’s for B&B Electronics line
USB: mos7840: add device IDs for B&B electronics devices
V4L/DVB (13569): smsusb: add autodetection support for five additional Hauppauge USB IDs
ALSA: hda – Add PCI IDs for Nvidia G2xx-series
vfs: get_sb_single() – do not pass options twice
driver-core: fix devtmpfs crash on s390
Driver-Core: devtmpfs – set root directory mode to 0755
Input: ALPS – add interleaved protocol support (Dell E6×00 series)
davinci: dm646x: Add support for 3.x silicon revision
powerpc/fsl: Add PCI device ids for new QoirQ chips
ar9170: Add support for D-Link DWA 160 A2
mpt2sas: New device SAS2208 support is added
be2net: Add the new PCI IDs to PCI_DEVICE_TABLE.
be2net: Add support for next generation of BladeEngine device.
sfc: Fix DMA mapping cleanup in case of an error in TSO
ACPI: don’t cond_resched if irq is disabled
clockevents: Add missing include to pacify sparse

Because I got really bored of writing almost every second or third day about a new kernel release, I will just go to the download and installation part, but don’t forget, everything which was and is included in the previous kernels, it’s included into this one too, so don’t worry.

The method of installation is the same and you will need root access or sudo access, plus dpkg and the will to try it out. Download the packages from http://dl.robertalks.com/kernel/2.6.32.7-firefly/ (US/CA mirror) or from http://mirror.visualserver.org/kernel/2.6.32.7-firefly/ (EU/CZ mirror) and remember that to use this kernel you will need at least linux-image-2.6.32.7-firefly_2.6.32.7-1_i386.deb package.

A little help for beginners who wanna use this kernel. After you download the package use dpkg to install it, like this:

sudo dpkg -i –force-all linux-image-2.6.32.7-firefly_2.6.32.7-1_i386.deb (you do the same with the rest of the packages)

For those of you who want or need to rebuild the kernel, you can download the source code with the config file from http://dl.robertalks.com/kernel/source/ (US/CA mirror) or http://mirror.visualserver.org/kernel/source/ (EU/CZ mirror)