#7813 HIGH 8.2.0 (: devel_ext3 should pull a kernel that doesn't require 3dnow

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#7813: devel_ext3 should pull a kernel that doesn't require 3dnow
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   Reporter:  cjb     |       Owner:  dsaxena             
       Type:  defect  |      Status:  new                 
   Priority:  high    |   Milestone:  8.2.0 (was Update.2)
  Component:  kernel  |     Version:  not specified       
 Resolution:          |    Keywords:                      
Next_action:  code    |    Verified:  0                   
  Blockedby:          |    Blocking:                      
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Comment(by dsaxena):

 Replying to [comment:5 cjb]:
 > > Easy answer is to update Dilinger's build scripts to spit out a second
 kernel RPM with 3dNow disabled.
 >
 > That's okay with me.  We'll need to update the build scripts to pull
 that kernel, too.

 The kernel KConfig scripts automagically enable 3DNow if the Geode CPU is
 selected and
 making it not so, while trivial, is not the right solution:

 * No other CPU acceleration options are configurable in the kernel and
 we'd be diverging from this by adding a change to our Kconfig scripts.

 * More importantly, if we just build an image w/o 3DNow support and stuff
 that into the ext3 image, we don't make use of the 3DNow acceleration for
 certain operations when running from USB.

 Instead, I've added a new defconfig target 'olpc_qemu_defconfig', that
 will build a kernel for a generic Pentium/MMX CPU that qemu supports. This
 kernel does not work on OLPC HW, but this is no different than what Fedora
 does with with their regular vs Xen kernels. We will have to pull this
 kernel into a third image that we build (os<build_number>.qemu?) as it is
 meant only for emulation and not for running on real XO HW.

 This approach allows users booting from USB or SD to continue getting
 improved performance from the accelerated features while providing a way
 for emulation to work.

 How difficult is it to add a new os image target to the build system? It's
 basically the
 ext3 target with a different kernel RPM.

 I'm still fleshing out the build script patches, will post when done.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/7813#comment:6>
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