Sky2 hang kills ltsp

[Robert Arkiletian]

On 8/12/06, Hendrik Boshoff <hfvb at ing.rau.ac.za> wrote:
>
>  Hi devs
>
> I sent a message on 31 July ("LTSP network freezing in Dapper") to
> edubuntu-users regarding problems I had with my 40 seat Edubuntu lab hanging
> unpredictably.
>
> That message was met with a deafening silence.
>
> I since found entries in my syslog mentioning sky2 and hung hardware. My
> system is up to date and running kernel 2.6.15-26-686 smp.
>
> On search, I discovered bug # 41634 reported on 2006-04-26, which exactly
> corresponds to my problem. However, the bug is shown as unconfirmed, of
> medium importance and low urgency. I added a comment to the bug report.
>
> In the case of the school lab I installed, this bug is a showstopper. The
> server needs to be rebooted up to five times a day, in the middle of some
> class. This takes five minutes or so, then everyone has to log back in and
> start afresh. Do I need to explain how frustrating it is? Losing network
> connectivity is a nuisance on a laptop or desktop; in an Edubuntu server, it
> hits the one critical point on which everything depends.
>
> I convinced the school to convert from Windows to Linux due to its
> stability, and told them to have patience with little problems in Edubuntu
> Breezy, because Dapper was going to be so much better. Now I have a hard
> time making good on my promises, and explaining why Dapper is, well,
> unstable.
>




You must have the Marvell Yukon2 nic probably on board your motherboard.
Marvell just recently (after much back and forth with OSDL) released specs
to kernel dev Stephen Hemminger under NDA. Even still the driver in kernel
2.6.17 seems to have issues. It's a work in progress. This is a known
problem. My current advice to anyone using Linux "Don't buy/use Marvell
Yukon2 nics". Your solution would be to disable the nic in the bios and buy
a known stable nic like some Intels or 3coms. Also remember if you already
have lots of devices on your pci bus a gigabit nic can potentially saturate
your pci bus. That's why gigabit nics are usually put in pci-x or pci-e
slots.




OK, maybe it is still better than what they had with Windows 98, but it is
> definitely not satisfactory.
>
> So how do I go about escalating the importance of fixing this bug?
>
> Or does anyone know a workaround? Are there network cards that use other
> drivers than sky2?
>
> The following still appears on the Edubuntu page at Distrowatch.com:
> "Edubuntu is a partner project of Ubuntu Linux, a distribution suitable for
> classroom use. The aim is that an educator with limited technical knowledge
> and skill will be able to set up a computer lab, or establish an on-line
> learning environment, in an hour or less, and then administer that
> environment without having to become a fully-fledged Linux geek." Maybe this
> should be toned down. It definitely inflated my expectations.
>
> And yes, I know that Edubuntu is a community project, and that I did not
> pay for it. So I hope at least that reporting this problem will help improve
> a system with great potential. Thanks for any help.
>
> Regards
>
> Hendrik Boshoff
> hfvb at ing.rau.ac.za
>
>
> --
> edubuntu-devel mailing list
> edubuntu-devel at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-devel
>
>
>


-- 
Robert Arkiletian
Eric Hamber Secondary, Vancouver, Canada
Fl_TeacherTool http://www3.telus.net/public/robark/Fl_TeacherTool/
C++ GUI tutorial http://www3.telus.net/public/robark/
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