Re: [LAU] Phonic Helix Board 12 FireWireMKIIcompatibility(linux/ffado)

From: Mark Knecht <markknecht@email-addr-hidden>
Date: Sun Feb 15 2009 - 00:21:44 EET

On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 12:20 PM, pete shorthose <zenadsl6252@email-addr-hidden> wrote:
> On Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:19:53 +0000
> pete shorthose <zenadsl6252@email-addr-hidden> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:26:03 -0000
>> "Simon W. Fielding" <s.fielding@email-addr-hidden> wrote:
>>
>> > >All of which indicates that I would see similar results on my system unless there is some kind of
>> > >bug or problem that only affects you. In effect, you are seeing >1000% penalty for the use of firewire.
>> > >Which is pretty horrific.
>>
>> > I guess that appears to be the case - unless someone more expert has any better opinions.
>>
>> Ok well all the information is pointing one way.. the dell may not be able to use this nor in in fact any
>> firewire audio device and the firewire setup on linux seems to be extremely inefficient going by the
>> information available. As such I decided the only thing to do was to ignore it all and buy one anyway. =]
>> I'll jump in the pit with it and go a few rounds. If I don't get anywhere I'll sell it on or use it on windows.
>>
>> I'll report back with any linux related results (ie not bad dell hardware problems which are outside the
>> scope of this list really). It should arrive in a couple of days.
>
> Ok, a small udpate on my experience with ffado, the hb 12MKII and my dell inspiron 9400.
>
> ..the abridged version:
>
> argh.. xrun xrun.. nooo xrun xrun.. remove dvd drive.. xrun xrun.. remove wireless and disable
> ethernet... xrun.. try every other damn thing that people suggested.. xrun xrun..
> eventually discover that i8k.ko and thermal.ko cause cpu spikes.. remove them.. oh look,
> rock solid RT performance with -r 96000 -p 256 -n 2 and 6.6% reported cpu usage when idle
> (no connections).
>
> And they all skipped off into the woods to live noisily ever after.
> The moral of the story.. DON'T buy an expresscard firewire interface until you have
> exhausted all possibilities. Damn it. (probably wouldn't have helped anyway)
>
> Note that I put everything back as it was. It was only the thermal and i8k (dell fan/temp) module
> that seem to have caused problems. also for google reference:
> pete@email-addr-hidden:~$ lspci -nn|grep -i firewire
> 03:01.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394) [0c00]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller [1180:0832]
>
> Incidentally, does anyone know why this thing (the phonic) has 2 firewire ports on it?
>
> cheers,
> pete.

Are these modules part of the kernel? If they are - and sorry that I
don't remember what real-time kernel you are using - but if the
modules are part of a normal kernel.org package you believe they are
causing the problem then we should report this to Ingo & the crew.
They would certainly want to know what the errors look like in case
it's an issue with the rt-kernel design. Most of the time it's the
driver that needs some small mode to make it real-time safe.

As for the multiple ports it's just so you can build a network I
think. 1 cable to your PC - another to a disk drive or something else
1394-based.

- Mark
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Received on Sun Feb 15 04:15:01 2009

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