[Guide] Kernel Upgrade / Fix Skylake HD530
Tofloor
poster avatar
interfacenode
deepin
2016-09-15 23:04
Author
Edited by interfacenode at 2016-9-19 11:10

Overview

Deepin ships with a kernel that is a little dated and somewhat problematic, it is not feasible for the developers to fork Ubuntu Kernel I guess for ethics reasons.
As end users we do not really need to respect that luckily so I'll be discussing how to upgrade the kernel as well as resolve the issues with HD530 GPU.

Ubuntu Kernel Repo

Let me explain a few things; Generic will support most CPU types and allow the CPU it's maximum potential.
Low-Latency will use much less power and I guess is supposed to be more energy efficient, for this let's use 'Generic'

Headers:
AMD64: 4.8-RC7
i386: 4.8-RC7

x64:
Generic Kernel
Low-Latency Kernel

x86:
Generic Kernel
Low-Latency Kernel

Download and install the headers regardless of your CPU type, next install either Generic or Low-Latency for your CPU type.

Terminal

Issue the following commands:
  1. apt-cache search linux-image
Copy the Code

Apt-cache will show you all available kernels to choose from, we want the 4.6 one. (assuming generic)
  1. sudo apt-get install linux-image-4.8.0-040800rc7-generic
Copy the Code

The name is displayed on x64 in apt-cache as of writing as:
linux-image-4.8.0-040800rc7-generic - Linux kernel image for version 4.8.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP

The "- Linux Kernel image for version 4.8.0 on 64 bit...." is the description, so it is not required to be typed.

Skylake HD530 & all new Intel integrated GPU Patching
SOURCE: https://github.com/linuxenko/ubuntu-skylake-i915-video-fix

Issue the following commands in Terminal:
  1. cd /tmp && wget https://github.com/linuxenko/ubuntu-skylake-i915-video-fix/releases/download/v1/20-intel.conf
Copy the Code

Then issue:
  1. sudo cp 20-intel.conf /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf
Copy the Code

Finally, reboot and you'll be able to use the 4.6 kernel with the HD530 GPU working fully.

The HD530 patch must be applied each time kernel is upgraded.


4.8-rc7
This is a greally huge upgrade compared to '4.4.0' which Deepin ships with.

By 4.8 a lot of optimizations have been made across the board that make this the strongest kernel.

All HW support has been greatly improved; although it is not a final release it is a release-candidate which means that it "could be" final, and would in theory be good enough.

My feelings about it are good



Reply Favorite View the author
All Replies
es02
deepin
2016-11-29 16:22
#1
https://bbs.deepin.org/post/131499
We've been always very open to patches, so our kernel (currently 4.4) contains very patches that ubu ...

Looking forward to this a lot. One of the problems with just updating the kernel the way this guide does is you then have to re-compile a lot of your software to run on the new kernel, it'll be nice for Deepin to remove some of that hassle for us

I notice the most recent update has taken us from 4.4.0-2 to 4.4.0-3, do we have any plans to move off the 4.4 kernel any time soon, if so what kernel should we expect? 4.6 or 4.8?
Reply View the author
es02
deepin
2016-11-29 20:30
#2
Hmm, looks like the new Kernel should be 4.8.10 :: https://github.com/linuxdeepin/deepin-kernel/commit/79021839b13a3f772e07c2e45729361a314a0751
Reply View the author
bigbruno
deepin
2016-12-24 02:32
#3
I think Deepin kernel update is very slow and Linux kernel updated is very important for hardware support.
Reply View the author
interfacenode
deepin
2016-09-15 23:17
#4
Edited by interfacenode at 2016-9-15 15:19

If you use Intel integrated graphics, to check if you need this patch do the following in terminal:
  1. sudo apt-get install vlc
Copy the Code
Then play any video, and try to minimize VLC.

If the image of the video remains even if VLC is minimized the GPU is not working correctly and must have this patch.
Luckily upgrading the kernel and applying the HD530 patch takes only about 5 minutes or so.

The patch can probably be applied to the kernel Deepin ships with, after applying it you must reboot for it to take effect.
Reply View the author
infuscomus
deepin
2016-09-16 07:55
#5
why an ubuntu kernel and not debian kernel?
Reply View the author
interfacenode
deepin
2016-09-16 14:54
#6
https://bbs.deepin.org/post/31499
why an ubuntu kernel and not debian kernel?

Because Ubuntu is based on Debian and has a significantly larger user-base; due to the large amount of data-collection happening with Ubuntu the kernels released by them are generally better than the stock ones you will find in apt-cache.

Anyway, for all intents and purposes a Debian kernel is an Ubuntu kernel
Reply View the author
makkon
deepin
2016-09-16 19:05
#7
Edited by makkon at 2016-9-16 09:37

The last Deepin kernel Deepin 4.4.6-4  upgrade to version 4.4.9 and 4 patch.
Ubuntu kernel  upgrade to version 4.4.21  from 2016-09-15 and patch Ubuntu.
When will the current  version kernel in Deepin?
Thank you for understanding.
Reply View the author
interfacenode
deepin
2016-09-16 22:58
#8
Edited by interfacenode at 2016-9-16 15:01

I'm not sure, I don't develop Deepin in any official capacity.
You can manually update the kernel as described though; this is really probably your best bet
Reply View the author
interfacenode
deepin
2016-09-19 14:14
#9
Once kernel 5.0 is released; I'll revisit this but for now 4.6 is a pretty good halfway point.

If anyone decides to take the plunge and use 4.8RC6 branch please leave experience feedback!
Reply View the author
es02
deepin
2016-10-19 17:48
#10
https://bbs.deepin.org/post/31499
Once kernel 5.0 is released; I'll revisit this but for now 4.6 is a pretty good halfway point.

If a ...
es02@greyhat:~$ uname -a
Linux greyhat 4.8.0-040800rc7-generic #201609182130 SMP Mon Sep 19 01:32:13 UTC 2016 x86_64 GNU/Linux


Worked so far like a charm. I've tested in VLC and that's worked nicely. The next test will be some games later but it looks like your instructions have worked beautifully.
Reply View the author
es02
deepin
2016-10-26 16:32
#11
https://bbs.deepin.org/post/31499
Worked so far like a charm. I've tested in VLC and that's worked nicely. The next test will be s ...

After further testing I ended up rolling back.

I lost wifi (or at least DNS over wifi), Steam and apt
Reply View the author
HualetWang
deepin
2016-10-27 19:43
#12
We've been always very open to patches, so our kernel (currently 4.4) contains very patches that ubuntu kernel owns obviously
The problem is that some new fixes from the newer kernel are getting very hard to back port (like the one you mentioned in the title), so we've decided to adopt a newer kernel version and will make it available to you guys very soon.

Thanks.
Reply View the author