Installing liquorix on Stretch

[stormw]

So I recently decided to use debian for the first time on a new desktop computer. Among other things, I'd like to do some audio recording/processing and generally interact with lots of peripherals.

At the advice of a forum post <tedfelix.com/linux/linux-midi.html> I decided to try to install a low latency kernel. The only low latency kernel I could find that was compatible with debian (maybe there are lots more, I'm new to this) is Liquorix. I followed the instructions to install this kernel <https://liquorix.net/> and there were no apparent errors at this stage.

However, when booting with Liquorix, lightdm fails to start and the whole process hangs. I'm not sure how to proceed in debugging here and could use a pointer to some guides. I don't really know how kernels work or how I should be approaching these sorts of issues in the future, so general advice is also welcome as well.


P.S. First post here, so I might have put this in the wrong category

[Head_on_a_Stick]

https://packages.debian.org/stretch/lin ... e-rt-amd64

[stevepusser]

You can still boot with the stock kernel, is that right? If so, so that, install inxi, and give us the result of "inxi -F" in a code box here...and don't run it as root, please.

As first glance, it looks like some graphics driver issue, and it's common for new kernels to need newer versions of firmware or third-party drivers. Those from stretch-backports should work with up to the 4.17 kernel, though...but first we need some information.

[stormw]

Yes I'm able to still boot the old kernel. Here's the output you asked for. And Thanks for helping!

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System:    Host: localhost Kernel: 4.9.0-6-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: i3 4.13
           Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)
Machine:   Device: desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: Z170-E v: Rev 1.xx UEFI: American Megatrends v: 3401 date: 01/25/2017
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i5-6500 (-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB 
           clock speeds: max: 3600 MHz 1: 800 MHz 2: 911 MHz 3: 800 MHz 4: 800 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GP102 [GeForce GTX 1080 Ti]
           Display Server: X.Org 1.19.2 driver: nvidia Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 1080 Ti/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 375.82
Audio:     Card-1 NVIDIA GP102 HDMI Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel Sound: ALSA v: k4.9.0-6-amd64
           Card-2 Intel Sunrise Point-H HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
Network:   Card: Intel Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V driver: e1000e
           IF: enp0s31f6 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: f8:32:e4:bd:d1:e0
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1120.2GB (3.8% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: KINGSTON_SV300S3 size: 120.0GB
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 58G used: 9.9G (19%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
           ID-2: /home size: 802G used: 15G (2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb2
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 17.18GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb4
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 24.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 34C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0
Info:      Processes: 135 Uptime: 36 min Memory: 709.9/15990.1MB Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.5 

[stevepusser]

Edit: if the following seems like a hassle, just install the 4.9 rt kernel and headers in the repo...

I don't think the Stretch Nvidia 375.82 video drivers are going to build with any 4.17 kernel. The 390.48 nvidia-driver in stretch-backports will, though. You'll also need to make sure you have the Liquorix linux-header packages installed.

Also run

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apt policy *-dkms

and see if you have any other dkms packages installed, or search for that in Synaptic. Then check to see if there are any updates of those in backports--they are there because new kernels need an updated version.

What you can do is backup or make a snapshot of your working system, then add the stretch-backports repo and upgrade the Nvida driver with the stock kernel. If you have Synaptic installed, you can set it to prefer the packages from stretch-backports and then go through the upgradable packages and just update the Nvidia ones. Make sure to reset the repo preference in Synaptic before you finish and disable the backports repo! Failing to do this will break the Synaptic startup when backports is disabled.

You should open the terminal output in Synaptic and watch the install procedure to make sure it's building for the stock kernel and the Liquorix kernel. Post if it doesn't.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

https://packages.debian.org/stretch/lin ... e-rt-amd64

^ This is Debian's official realtime kernel, purposed for use with Audio production, you do not need Liquorix (and probably shouldn't use it).

[stevepusser]

Just something to note for any Liquorix users. I'm under the impression that the Nvidia driver build can detect that the normal Liquorix headers were built with gcc-7, and won't build with Stretch's gcc-6 unless forced to with an override. I do have backported Liquorix kernels in an OBS repo:


For Stretch, add the repo as root:

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echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/stevenpusser:/codelite/Debian_9.0/ /' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:stevenpusser:codelite.list

Download and install the repo key as a standard user:

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rm -f Release.key && wget -nv https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:stevenpusser:codelite/Debian_9.0/Release.key -O Release.key

Update your package database as root:

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apt-get update

After that, the steps are the same as for the official Liquorix repo:

The Liquorix kernel can be installed by way of meta-packages. This will guarantee that the latest kernel is installed on every upgrade.

32-bit without PAE (HIGHMEM4G):

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 apt-get install linux-image-liquorix-686 linux-headers-liquorix-686

32-bit with PAE (HIGHMEM64G):

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 apt-get install linux-image-liquorix-686-pae linux-headers-liquorix-686-pae

64-bit:

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 apt-get install linux-image-liquorix-amd64 linux-headers-liquorix-amd64

[sunrat]

https://packages.debian.org/stretch/lin ... e-rt-amd64

^ This is Debian's official realtime kernel, purposed for use with Audio production, you do not need Liquorix (and probably shouldn't use it).

I installed AVLinux recently which is based on Stretch. Pretty sure I elected to use Liquorix as the rt kernels won't work with Nvidia drivers which I needed due to running a 4K monitor via GTX970. If you don't run a hi-dpi monitor or a very recent Nvidia card, the default graphics drivers should be fine with an rt kernel.