Kernel Seed Settings

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Page 8:

This page covers Device Drivers.

This is where you put the information you got back from lspci -n and http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/ to good use. If it's a device driver you seek, this is where you'll find it. You can also use the output from lsusb to find USB-based drivers.

In cases where I specifically know or prefer a certain way of setting up the drivers, I will note these choices and the reasons behind them. This is where I break away from what < Help > says, and let you in on my experience with the Linux kernel.

Arrow key down to the area shown. When you hit <Select> at this point, you will bring up the following sub page:

Reading this page:

This page is meant to be a reference for the symbols you receive from http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/. Because of this, all drivers will be listed. They will be represented as magenta text. The symbols will appear next to the magenta as right-justified, bold yellow text in all caps. To aid in visualization, the data is presented in border-less table form.

Unfortunately for Opera users, that particular browser does not render the tables properly. I suggest you use Chrome or Firefox. IE also works well with the setup. Hopefully, Opera will fix that little glitch so you folks can enjoy the page as it was made to look.

LEGEND:

[ ] Boolean driver. The device driver or sub-option can only be turned on [*] or off [ ].

( ) Alphanumeric. This denotes either numbers, letters or a combination thereof. The parentheses usually contain the default settings for these drivers.

--- Device driver(s) or option(s) turned or modularized on by another process, symbol, or separate kernel section. In most cases, it is the setting immediately above the --- that hard-wires that driver into the kernel. Drivers of this type can be either boolean or tri-state. These settings show up as -*- or -M- under make menuconfig. They have been stylized for this page.

Many of the settings below, indeed many of the settings for this revision of the kernel seed settings pages were made using make allyesconfig (all options turned on). One of the settings turned on is CONFIG_EXPERT, which shows all the options available in the kernel. As such, some of the settings seen below might not be visible in the seed, as CONFIG_EXPERT isn't a seed default.

Using make allyesconfig is the best way to illustrate the full wonder of the Linux kernel. I hope it is as educational to everyone else as it has been to me.

Due to the length of this page, please use these jumps to navigate between device driver sections. Of course, those who wish it are free to look over the entire page.

Block devices ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support SCSI device support Serial ATA IEEE 1394 Networking Wireless LAN WAN Input devices Character devices I2C support SPI support Hardware Monitoring support Watchdog Timer support Multimedia support Graphics support Sound card support HID devices USB support Ultra Wideband devices LED support Real Time Clock Staging drivers x86 Platform Specific Device Drivers

Generic Driver Options --->

The Generic Driver Options settings tree is as follows:

The kernel seed defaults are as follows:

(/sbin/hotplug) path to uevent helper

This setting is hardwired into the kernel. Even though I don't have /sbin/hotplug, the kernel doesn't seem to care. It is what it is.

[*] Select only drivers that don't need compile-time external firmware
[*] Prevent firmware from being built

These setting will cause the kernel to fail compilation if unset. For that reason, they default to on.

<*> Connector - unified userspace <-> kernelspace linker --->

The Connector - unified userspace <-> kernelspace linker settings tree is as follows:

The connector module is a kernel module which reports process events such as fork, exec, and exit to userland. This is extremely useful for process monitoring. Both settings in this tree default to on.

< > Memory Technology Device (MTD) support--->

The Memory Technology Device (MTD) support settings tree is as follows:

*** User Modules And Translation Layers ***

RAM/ROM/Flash chip drivers--->

Flash cmd/query data swapping (NO)--->

Mapping drivers for chip access--->

Self-contained MTD device drivers--->

< > NAND Device Support--->

< > OneNAND Device Support--->

LPDDR flash memory drivers--->

UBI - Unsorted block images--->

Memory Technology Devices are flash, RAM and similar chips, often used for solid state file systems on embedded devices. If you have any of the above listed devices, turn on the required trees. These settings default to off.

< > Parallel port support --->

The Parallel port support settings tree is as follows:

Even though the number of external devices that require the parallel printer port is growing smaller, there are still many out there, as well as computers with parallel ports. For most users, turning on <*> PC-style hardware and [*] Use FIFO/DMA if available (EXPERIMENTAL) will do the trick, if this device is desired or needed. These settings default to off.

The Plug and Play support settings tree is as follows:

Plug and play is hardwired into the kernel. The only real option you have is whether or not you get debugging messages. That setting is turned off by default.

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[*] Block devices --->

The Block devices settings tree is as follows:

Block devices are special files that connect to physical devices. Addressable devices such as CDROM drives, hard drives, and other special devices, such as USB Stick drives are all block devices. Block devices move data through the system in blocks, hence the name. You turn the main setting off at your own peril. [*] Block devices defaults to on. If you have any of the above mentioned devices, turn on the required settings.

The kernel seed defaults are as follows:

<*> Loopback device support

Loopback device support allows for the creation of virtual devices that can be used as standard block devices. This allows for mounting of iso images, and other things. While this is very important while creating a bootable Linux CD/DVD, in general, it is not needed for proper operation of your machine. While this setting currently defaults to on, experimentation has shown this setting is not needed for proper machine operation. It will default to off in the future.

<*> Packet writing on CD/DVD media

This is a good setting to have turned on if you plan on burning optical media. Since most modern computers come with DVD burners of some sort, this setting defaults to on.

[ ] Misc devices --->

The Misc devices settings tree is as follows:

< > Silicon Labs C2 port support (EXPERIMENTAL) --->

EEPROM support --->

Texas Instruments shared transport line discipline --->

*** Altera FPGA firmware download module ***

If you have any of the above devices, these are the drivers that make them work. I'm not sure why they're called miscellaneous, but I do know that I have yet to run across any of the above in any of the .configs I've created. These settings default to off.

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< > ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support (DEPRECATED) --->

The ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support (DEPRECATED) settings tree is as follows:

These settings are now officially deprecated. Use these settings if and only if you are using only PATA drives, and the drives listed in your /etc/fstab file are hda, hdb, hdc, or hdd, and your distribution still supports the /dev/hd(x) nomenclature. Since Gentoo does not recommned the use these settings, and Gentoo Linux has elements that don't accept that nomenclature (such as recent versions of udev), these settings default to off. Unless your distribution demands it, or you're into playing with historical software, it is better to change over to using the libata (SATA) drivers below.

If you find yourself in a situation where you wish to mix these settings and the libata drivers listed below, don't do it! This is especially true if you have Intel ICH5 or greater hard drive controllers. To do so will cause hangs, crashes, and lockups. If you have ICH5 or greater, use the *only* the libata drivers below to insure error-free operation.

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SCSI device support --->

The SCSI device support settings tree is as follows:

SCSI Transports --->

[ ] SCSI low-level drivers --->

< > PCMCIA SCSI adapter support --->

< > SCSI Device Handlers --->

SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) is a set of standards for connecting a computer and its disks. SATA drivers are actually SCSI drivers as far as Linux is concerned. Since this is the case, there has to be a minimal SCSI support so that SATA drives, and anything else using libata drivers, including PATA interfaces, works as expected.

The kernel seed defaults are as follows:

[*] legacy /proc/scsi/ support

While the 2.6 kernel has moved SCSI functionality to the sysfs, there are numerous legacy packages that require this setting to be turned on. Since I prefer not to run into crashes, this setting defaults to on.

<*> SCSI disk support

Since the libata drivers are effectively SCSI drivers, it goes without saying you want to have this setting on so you can address them as such. This setting is essential, and it defaults to on.

<*> SCSI CDROM support

What is a computer without optical disk support? Usually fairly dull. Since most people want to be able to use their optical drives, this setting defaults to on. Optical drives take on the block device name, sr(x), when using this setting.

<*> SCSI generic support

This is an essential setting if you want SCSI support of any kind. This setting defaults to on.

[*] Probe all LUNs on each SCSI device

This is one of the settings that makes it possible for optical drives and USB stick drives to be accessed automatically via hal/dbus. This setting defaults to on, and is best kept that way.

[*] Asynchronous SCSI scanning

Asynchronous scanning allows SCSI devices to be scanned out of order. That allows faster drives and devices to not be held up waiting for slower devices to scan. Because of the different types of devices that get labled as SCSI, and their varying speeds of scanning, this defaults to on.

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The Serial ATA (prod) and Parallel ATA (experimental) drivers settings tree is as follows:

The kernel seed defaults are as follows:

[*] ATA ACPI Support

This setting adds support for ATA-related ACPI objects. Since I have set the kernel seed for full ACPI operation, it follows this setting would also be turned on.

[*] ATA SFF support

This setting allows for all the disk controllers to be listed. If turned off, the options end at Silicon Image 3124/3132 SATA support. Since turning off this setting severely limits your options, it defaults to on.

[*] ATA BMDMA support

This setting adds support for BMDMA (bus-master DMA) SATA adapters. As you can see, the list is large, and contains many popular devices. In order to use devices that support bus-master DMA, this needs to be turned on. In order to select any of the BMDMA devices, you have to enable this setting.

Notes on the SATA, also known as libata drivers:

As was noted above, these settings should never be mixed with the ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL drivers. Since there is an analogue for each ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL driver in the libata driver tree, there is no need to use both. Since the libata drivers are SCSI, the block device name listed in /etc/fstab would be sd(x), the standard SCSI disk nomenclature. For a general how-to on the topic of using the libata drivers, steer your browser to NeddySeagoons' Rough Guide to Intel ICH7 Chip Set. That should pretty much answer all the questions on using the libata drivers. These settings should be your defaults.

While it stands to reason, it should be said that all needed drivers in this area should be turned on, not set as modules. While there may be a few instances where using these drivers as modules is appropriate, in general, setting these as modules is a sure way to a kernel panic.

[*] Multiple devices driver support (RAID and LVM) --->

The Multiple devices driver support (RAID and LVM) settings tree is as follows:

The acronym RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. If you're not sure what that means, you really don't need RAID support.

The kernel seed default is as follows:

<*> Device mapper support

This lone setting is turned on as a silencer. Without this setting, an incomplete shutdown resulting in an automatic fsck at reboot will throw up a non-fatal error message. Turn this setting on, that message goes away. For that reason, this setting defaults to on.

< > Generic Target Core Mod (TCM) and ConfigFS Infrastructure --->

ConfigFS is a RAM-based virtual file system provided with the 2.6 Linux kernel.

[ ] Fusion MPT device support --->

The Fusion MPT device support settings tree is as follows:

LSI Logic Fusion(TM) Message Passing Technology (MPT) device support provides high performance SCSI host initiator, and LAN interface services to a host system. If you have a device that supports this, these settings must be turned on. You will also have to make other driver choices to get full support. These settings default to off.

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IEEE 1394 (FireWire) support --->

The IEEE 1394 (FireWire) support settings tree is as follows:

The IEEE 1394 interface is a high speed serial bus. If your machine has one of these devices, you have the choice of two different kernel configurations, or both on. These settings default to off.

This device causes confusion for some users. The reason for this is the ohci_hcd driver. The ohci_hcd is a USB port driver. It is not, in any way, an IEEE 1394 interface. Unfortunately, sometimes http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/ adds to the confusion. To help clear the confusion, if you see, "1394," you're looking at a firewire device, and you want to use these settings. If you see nothing, or "ohci," that's a USB port.

< > I2O device support --->

The I2O device support settings tree is as follows:

Intelligent Input/Output (I2O) is a defunct computer input/output (I/O) specification. It was used in Proliant servers from 1996 to 2000. Turn these settings on if you have one of these devices. Since they are so one shot, these settings default to off.

[ ] Macintosh device drivers --->

The Macintosh device drivers settings tree is as follows:

If you have need of this support, turn this setting on. This setting defaults to off.

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[ ] Network device support --->

The Network device support settings tree is as follows:

< > IEEE 802.15.4 drivers --->

--- Ethernet driver support --->

USB Network Adapters --->

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Wireless LAN --->

WiMAX Wireless Broadband devices --->

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[ ] Wan interfaces support --->

Notes on this group of driver settings:

As a general rule, it is better to set your network device drivers as modules. While wired NIC devices tend to not care whether their drivers are compiled into the kernel or set as modules, most wireless devices will not operate unless their drivers are set as modules.Don't just turn settings on to turn them on. The results of lspci -n are concrete. If they indicate a certain device driver, use only that driver. It is a waste to turn on drivers for devices that don't exist.

The only exceptions to the above are 8139CP and 8139TOO. In many instances, the driver listed in the Debian page comes through as both. In this case, modularize both, find out which one loads, and turn the other one off.

Most of the wireless drivers shown above require < > Generic IEEE 802.11 Networking Stack (mac80211) support under Networking support ---> Wireless ---> to be turned on as well. See page 7 for details and options.

Finally, for network speed, if your driver allows you the option to use MMIO, go ahead and turn that on as well. It helps speed things along.

[ ] ISDN support --->

The ISDN support settings tree is as follows:

ISDN feature submodules --->

*** ISDN4Linux hardware drivers ***
Passive cards --->

Active cards --->

< > CAPI 2.0 subsystem --->

[ ] Active Eicon DIVA Server cards --->

< > Siemens Gigaset support --->

All of the listed devices are ISDN input cards for your computer. These devices are used in lieu of an external ISDN modem. If you have one of these devices, these are their drivers. These settings default to off.

< > Telephony support --->

The Telephony support settings tree is as follows:

These settings allow you to use the "magicJack" USB VoIP phone device. If you have one of these devices, and wish to use it under Linux, these are the settings you desire.

I have seen many people set these settings thinking they will do something with the modem. This is a fairly common mistake. While it doesn't really hurt things, it is better to keep these settings turned off unless you have one of the devices that use these drivers. These settings default to off.

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Input device support --->

The Input device support settings tree is as follows:

[ ] Mice --->

[ ] Joysticks/Gamepads --->

[ ] Tablets --->

[ ] Touchscreens --->

[ ] Miscellaneous devices --->

Hardware I/O ports --->

The kernel seed defaults are as follows:

[*] Provide legacy /dev/psaux device

According to < Help >,"say Y here if you want your mouse also be accessible as char device 10:1 - /dev/psaux." Since there are some packages that like /dev/psaux, this defaults to on.

(1024) Horizontal screen resolution
(768) Vertical screen resolution

If you're using a digitizer, these settings define the X/Y resolution of the digitizer with respect to the screen. Contrary to popular belief, these settings have no effect on any devices other than digitizers/pads. If you have a standard mouse or touchpad, these settings are ignored. These settings are as they were from the original make defconfig. Since they are effectively moot unless you have a digitizer, I see no reason to change them.

<*> Event interface

According to < Help >,"Say Y here if you want your input device events be accessible under char device 13:64+ - /dev/input/eventX in a generic way." Since evdev support is a part of X, having this setting turned on is a very good idea. This setting defaults to on.

<*> PS/2 mouse

The PS/2 port remains very popular, despite all efforts to try to change that fact. Most motherboards still have the PS/2 ports in their port clusters. Even laptops contain this interface, albeit slightly hidden. The synaptics touchpad is a PS/2 device, as is the standard laptop keyboard. Because the PS/2 port remains as ubiquitous as ever, this setting defaults to on.

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Character devices --->

The Character devices settings tree is as follows:

Character devices are special files like block devices. They transfer data one character at a time. Terminals, serial ports, and modems are all considered character devices. The kernel seed defaults are as follows:

[*] Legacy (BSD) PTY support
(64) Maximum number of legacy PTY in use

These settings are another group of silencers. Without these settings, starting a terminal session will result in the non-fatal error: "Out of pty devices." Set up in this fashion, you can open 64 terminal sessions without seeing the error. The number is adjustable. These settings have defaults as shown above.

[*] HPET - High Precision Event Timer

The High Precision Event Timer is a hardware timer inside most modern computers. It is used, among other things, as a means of synchronizing multimedia streams. This setting defaults to on.

<*> Hangcheck timer

The hangcheck timer checks for system hangs. When one is found, either a message is printed, or the system is rebooted. This setting is turned on just in case there is a system hang, and you need a way out.

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I2C support --->

The I2C support settings tree is as follows:

I²C (I2C, Inter-Integrated Circuit) is a multi-master serial computer bus invented by Philips that is used to attach low-speed peripherals to a motherboard, embedded system, or cellphone. The System Management Bus (abbreviated to SMBus or SMB) is a simple two-wire bus, derived from I²C and used for communication with low-bandwidth devices on a motherboard. This device will show up in lspci -n. When you turn on this support, set it as a module, since X loads it as a module.

The kernel seed defaults are as follows:

<*> I2C device interface

These devices have existed for quite some time, and have shown themselves in almost every lspci -n I've ever seen. Since the device is going to show up in your lspci -n as well, this is a gentle reminder to be on the lookout for an I²C device.

[*] Autoselect pertinent helper modules

If you're going to turn it on, you might as well turn it all on. That's the thinking behind this setting's being turned on.

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[ ] SPI support --->

The SPI support settings tree is as follows:

The Serial Peripheral Interface Bus or SPI is a synchronous serial data link standard named by Motorola that operates in full duplex mode. If you have the above device, turn this support on. Since this is a one shot sort of device, these settings default to off.

PPS support --->

The PPS support settings tree is as follows:

PPS (Pulse Per Second) is a special pulse provided by some GPS antennae. If you have need of this operation, turn them on. These settings default to off.

PTP clock support --->

--- GPIO Support --->

The GPIO Support settings tree is as follows:

General Purpose Input/Output (a.k.a. GPIO) is an interface available on some devices. The list of those devices is above. If you have one, turn it on here. I have yet to run into one in any of the .configs I've set up. For this reason, these settings default to off.

< > Dallas's (sic) 1-wire support --->

The Dallas's (sic) 1-wire support settings tree is as follows:

1-wire Slaves --->

1-Wire is a device communications bus system designed by Dallas Semiconductor that provides low-speed data, signaling and power over a single signal, albeit using two wires, one for ground, one for power and data. If you have need of this support, turn on the required settings here. These settings default to off.

< > Power supply class support --->

The Power supply class support settings tree is as follows:

Basic support for this option is hardwired into the kernel. The above options allow you to set for specific hardware. I have a feeling these are best set as modules. These settings default to off.

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<*> Hardware Monitoring support --->

The Hardware Monitoring support settings tree is as follows:

The kernel seed defaults is <*> Hardware Monitoring support. This main setting is turned on as a reminder to you to check for the presence of hardware monitoring devices in your machine. These settings are best turned on as modules, since lm_sensors loads them as needed, as modules. While the CPU temperature sensors jump out at you, the devices listed here do not show up on lspci -n. You need lm_sensors installed in order to find out what you need to select here.

--- Generic Thermal sysfs driver --->

The Generic Thermal sysfs driver settings tree is as follows:

This setting allows for generic mechanisms for thermal management. It's always sounded like a good idea to me. This setting, and its sub-setting default to on.

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[ ] Watchdog Timer Support --->

The Watchdog Timer Support settings tree is as follows:

Turning on the main setting and selecting one of the devices in the sub-settings creates a special device that monitors the computer, and forces a reboot after a certain period of time if it senses a lockup. While anyone can use this, it's really important to production servers. The watchdog devices usually show up with lspci -n. These settings default to off.

Sonics Silicon Backplane --->

The Sonics Silicon Backplane settings tree is as follows:

The Sonics Silicon Backplane is a mini-bus used on various Broadcom chips and embedded devices (USB). It is turned on automatically by the b43 and b44 Broadcom drivers. It needs to be set as a module, or its associated devices will fail. It should not be turned on if using the broadcom-sta wireless driver, as this can cause slow wireless operation, or stop it completely. This setting defaults to off.

Broadcom specific AMBA --->

The bus driver for Broadcom specific Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture. My assumption is it's a part of some other new Broadcom devices. These settings probably get turned on as modules by devices in other places, but if you know you have one of these devices, these are its settings.

Multifunction device drivers --->

The Multifunction device drivers settings tree is as follows:

As the name implies, the above listed devices perform multiple functions. I have no idea what those functions are, but I have a feeling that you will know if you have any of the above listed devices. If so, these are the drivers for them. These settings default to off.

--- Voltage and Current Regulator Support --->

The Voltage and Current Regulator Support settings tree is as follows:

This framework is designed to provide a generic interface to voltage and current regulators within the Linux kernel. This is another one of those things I see and wonder why it was done. Having the kernel in charge of such things as these just seems like a not so good idea. For that reason, these settings default to off.

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< > Multimedia support --->

The Multimedia support settings tree is as follows:

[ ] Video capture adapters--->

[ ] Memory-to-memory multimedia devices --->

[ ] Radio Adapters--->