RTAI kernel disconnects Internet

Have you installed firmware-realtek ?

packages.debian.org/wheezy/firmware-realtek

Also firmware-linux and firmware-linux-nonfree

You may need to install the later version of firmware-realtek from wheezy-backports or Jessie if you get messages saying there is further firmware required.

It is nothing to do with the kernel, because the hardware uses modules, just presumably that you don't have them installed in /lib/modules for that kernel and your initrd.img was not built when they were in the system.

If you do lspci -k, you should get a print showing what module is in use for your NIC, eg

If you look in /lib/modules/3.4.9-rtai/modules.dep
you should find a line similar to

dmesg | grep 'eth0' should also show you kernel messages to see what is happening at boot with the NIC

eg
regards

I solved my problems completely. First off you need to understand that a lot of these versions of Linux are really old and the reason they are not supporting these lan cards or my touchscreens is because the kernels are older than the components. These builds work fine if you are using an old PC that you found in the garage, but if you go out and get new hardware then you may have problems.

I got new hardware consisting of the following:
1) Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2H motherboard which has onboard lan ($49.99 from Frys - don't go there horrible service)
2) AMD FM2+ 7650K quad core processor ($102.88 also from Frys, again don't go there, still horrible service)
3) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 8GB 1600MH (2x4gb) memory ($59.99 from Frys, absolutely don't go there, horrible service)
4) WD 500Gb SATA drive (extra drive in closet) (free)
4)Microsoft ergonomic keyboard (alright, this came from the garage) (free)
5)Logitech trakball (also a garage item) (free)
6) ACER T232HL touchscreen LCD monitor ($311 from staples with coupon)

The two problem areas I had were the onboard lan and the touchscreen working whenever I tried the iso distributions using the older rtai kernels. The problem is not the kernel itself, but the underlying Ubuntu 10.xx or the Debian Wheasy, which are both old builds. Understand that Ubuntu 10.04.xx was built in April 2010, that is why the 10.04 in the name.

To fix my problem, I chose to load a newer version of Ubuntu 14.04 (64 Bit version) and then insert a newer version of the rtai kernel into the system. I chose Ubuntu 14.04 as my base system because when I initially loaded Ubuntu 14.04 all my hardware worked which meant that Ubuntu 14.04 had all the drivers( i..e. linux modules) to support my hardware. I followed the instructions contained in the attached file on how to take my Ubuntu 14.04 build with the generic kernel and rebuild it with the rtai kernel. The rebuild used the 3.10.32 version of the rtai kernel. The goal was to use the basic Ubuntu 14.04 system which has all the drivers (i.e. modules) that would run my hardware, and while keeping those good qualities, insert the rtai kernel so the result would have the realtime capability necessary for linuxcnc. I have not yet verified that linuxcnc will run on this kernel.

The rebuild instructions where fairly good, but in a couple of places they assumed I was smarter than I really am, so I had to figure out why some commands did not work. I added my own comments into the instructions where there were things I did not know. I have completed the instructions to the point where I rebooted my system and I have Ubuntu 14.04 running with the 3.10.32-rtai kernel and all my hardware works. I did loose the higher resolution on my monitor, but I would guess that is a simple fix once I figure out where to set the screen resolution. The one problem I was hoping to avoid was if somehow my hardware conflicted with the rtai kernel, then I would be screwed. Luckily no conflicts occurred and it seems my main problems were simply that the older system versions did not have the right drivers (i.e. modules) to support my hardware.

I am going to be interrupted by other work so it will be a week or so before I can work the next step of figuring out how to load linuxcnc onto this system and see if it will work with the 3.10.32-rtai kernel.

The driver I think people are missing for their lan is the R8169. When I load earlier rtai versions the driver that was listed was the r6168 on my system. I fixed all my problems by loading ubuntu 14.04 (which had all my drivers working) and then rebuilt it with the 3.10.32 rtai kernel. I still have not figured out if linuxcnc will work with the 3.10.24 rtai kernel, but I think I am making progress.

I now have my display resolution back. It seems that when I installed the rtai kernel the install loaded some generic display driver for my AMD radeon onboard display. After searching for AMD radeon display drivers for linux on the internet, I instead went to "system settings", "Software & Updates" and then I clicked on the "additional drivers" tab on top on the page. Under this tab I found proprietary video drivers for the AMD which I loaded and that fixed my resolution problem. There is an "open source" driver for the AMD display, but in linux not everything has to be "open source". AMD does make display drivers for their display devices and these drivers are going to be proprietary; and that is ok. Although AMD display drivers are proprietary and AMD is not going to release the source code for their display driver, they do provide it to you for free and I did not have to open the tray on the CD player and insert a quarter.

Now, the only thing I have left to do is figure out how to install linuxcnc on my Unbuntu 14.04 x64 with a 3.10.32-rtai kernel. Can not wait to get linuxcnc up and then modify the gui to make use of my LCD's touchscreen capabilities. I still plan on having some physical buttons (like emergency stop) on my cnc vertical mill upgrade, but it will be cool to design virtual buttons within the linuxcnc display.

Dear geoffs:

Here is the output.


lsmod output from working kernal.

fast1@fast1:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by
bnep 19107 2
rfcomm 59026 0
bluetooth 356727 10 bnep,rfcomm
parport_pc 32114 0
ppdev 17423 0
intel_rapl 18676 0
x86_pkg_temp_thermal 13936 0
intel_powerclamp 14415 0
nouveau 992203 4
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 45939 4
coretemp 13352 0
kvm 400782 0
ttm 85965 1 nouveau
drm_kms_helper 49282 1 nouveau
drm 249595 6 nouveau,ttm,drm_kms_helper
crc32_pclmul 13006 0
snd_hda_codec_realtek 60189 1
snd_hda_intel 43526 5
snd_hda_codec 169866 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
i2c_algo_bit 13316 1 nouveau
aesni_intel 18196 0
snd_seq_midi 13132 0
ablk_helper 13357 1 aesni_intel
snd_rawmidi 25198 1 snd_seq_midi
mxm_wmi 12893 1 nouveau
snd_seq_midi_event 14475 1 snd_seq_midi
cryptd 19821 1 ablk_helper
snd_hwdep 13276 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_seq 55716 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_pcm 90501 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
wmi 18827 2 nouveau,mxm_wmi
snd_seq_device 14137 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
lrw 13127 1 aesni_intel
aes_i586 16995 1 aesni_intel
snd_timer 29023 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
psmouse 97680 0
snd 61383 21 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_hwdep,snd_seq,snd_pcm,snd_seq_device,snd_timer
video 19330 1 nouveau
xts 12778 1 aesni_intel
soundcore 12600 1 snd
serio_raw 13230 0
gf128mul 14503 2 lrw,xts
snd_page_alloc 18398 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
mei_me 18234 0
shpchp 32265 0
mei 71468 1 mei_me
lpc_ich 16987 0
mac_hid 13077 0
lp 13359 0
parport 40945 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
hid_generic 12492 0
usbhid 47442 0
hid 92101 2 hid_generic,usbhid
alx 32016 0
mdio 13559 1 alx
pata_acpi 12886 0
fast1@fast1:~$


lsmod of real time kernal

fast1@fast1:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by
fuse 64267 2
bnep 17186 2
rfcomm 36117 0
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 30386 4
bluetooth 166348 10 bnep,rfcomm
rfkill 18403 3 bluetooth
snd_hda_codec_realtek 53766 1
snd_hda_intel 25789 5
snd_hda_codec 79439 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
parport_pc 21896 0
ppdev 12591 0
snd_hwdep 12911 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm_oss 39969 0
snd_mixer_oss 21708 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_midi 12745 0
snd_pcm 69181 4 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_rawmidi 22279 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 13125 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 43338 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer 22188 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 12981 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
appletalk 26884 0
coretemp 12771 0
crc32c_intel 12625 0
ipx 26267 0
p8023 12405 1 ipx
snd 46731 22 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
nouveau 726542 3
ttm 54921 1 nouveau
drm_kms_helper 26601 1 nouveau
drm 169993 5 nouveau,ttm,drm_kms_helper
aesni_intel 17746 0
cryptd 14126 1 aesni_intel
i2c_algo_bit 12648 1 nouveau
aes_i586 16648 1 aesni_intel
i2c_core 23097 4 nouveau,drm_kms_helper,drm,i2c_algo_bit
mxm_wmi 12468 1 nouveau
power_supply 13320 1 nouveau
soundcore 12891 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 12842 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
aes_generic 37067 2 aesni_intel,aes_i586
wmi 17148 2 nouveau,mxm_wmi
evdev 17099 7
button 12818 1 nouveau
shpchp 30674 0
video 17461 1 nouveau
psmouse 67176 0
microcode 17386 0
serio_raw 12734 0
lp 12767 0
parport 35208 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
ext4 270189 1
mbcache 12899 1 ext4
jbd2 54294 1 ext4
crc16 12328 2 bluetooth,ext4
sd_mod 43403 3
sr_mod 21529 0
crc_t10dif 12333 1 sd_mod
cdrom 38893 1 sr_mod
usbhid 39608 0
hid 72252 1 usbhid
ata_generic 12440 0
ata_piix 25279 2
fan 12595 0
thermal_sys 17699 2 video,fan
xhci_hcd 80023 0
libata 152992 2 ata_generic,ata_piix
scsi_mod 125436 3 sd_mod,sr_mod,libata
ehci_hcd 43561 0
usbcore 124257 4 usbhid,xhci_hcd,ehci_hcd
usb_common 12339 1 usbcore
fast1@fast1:~$


Thank you so much for your interest and help.

Fayette Sims