Building a kernel

Hi there.
I am building a kernel so I can use RTAI to run emc2 here and I am using instructions from:
wiki.linuxcnc.org/emcinfo.pl?Debian_Lenny_Compile_RTAI

And I have come across this line:
Power management and ACPI options ---> ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) Support ---> Dock ---> enabled [*]

I cannot figure out what the asterisk refers to. I also do not understand why I need to enable "Dock".

Can anyone here help me clarify any of this? Thanks.

Yes I have been noticing that it just seems turned on. I guess that is what bugged me
and why I posted my question. I cannot figure out why I get stuck with it. I'm trying to configure
a kernel with as little of what I don't need as I can. But it is hard for me to figure out what I don't
need. Turning off "Dock" seemed like a no brainer to me.

From what little I can gather it seems "Dock" has something to do with docking stations?
Why I *need* that on a desktop system I don't know. But whatever right?

I did decide shortly after I left my post to just let it go. But it is still bugging me. I'll live though.
I keep on getting hit by the IPIPE. I know I need that, and the last time I went through the menu
I couldn't find the thing!

I'll get this whole kernel configuration thing eventually. Thanks for your help.

Much appreciated! I am on my way to check it out now. The other day I think I found where that
other page of instructions came from.

www.lara.unb.br/~phsantana/data/files/te...HowTo_RTAI_Linux.pdf

Looks very similar to me. But I haven't checked out your link yet. I can use all the help
I can get. So thank you.

I'm also trying to build a kernel to solve my latency problems on Acer Travelmate 5720. I tried to on VESA graphics, and apply SMI issue modification. That did not solve my problems. So I tryed to build a custom kernel.

I've used the methodology detailled in www.lara.unb.br/~phsantana/data/files/te...HowTo_RTAI_Linux.pdf adapted to build on the latest RTAI patch.

Here's the adapted procedure for rtai-3.8.1, Kernel 2.6.32.20 :

Prerequisities :
su -
aptitude update && aptitude safe-upgrade
aptitude install \
kernel-package \
build-essential \
dh-make \
module-assistant \
ncurses-dev \
zlib1g-dev \
dh-kpatches \
fakeroot \
autoconf \
dctrl-tools

Download and decompress Kernel :
cd /usr/src
sudo wget ftp://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-2.6.32.20.tar.gz
sudo tar xzf linux-2.6.32.20.tar.gz
sudo mv linux-2.6.32.20 linux-2.6.32.20-rtai
sudo ln -s linux-2.6.32.20-rtai linux

Get RTAI from repository :
cd /usr/src
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.gna.org:/cvs/rtai co vulcano

Kernel Patch over RTAI
cd linux
sudo patch -p1 < ../vulcano/base/arch/x86/patches/hal-linux-2.6.32.20-x86-2.7-03.patch


Get kernel config :
cd /usr/src/linux
cp /boot/config-`uname -r`./.config

Modifiy it:
sudo make xconfig

Kernel compilation
time make-kpkg clean
time make-kpkg --initrd --append-to-version -rtai --revision r1 kernel_image kernel_headers kernel_source

Wait for hours...

Kernel install
cd /usr/src
dpkg -i linux-image-2.6.32.20-rtai.deb
dpkg -i linux-headers-2.6.32.20-rtai.deb

Reboot over the new installled kernel.... and that hangs. It apperars the initrd is not built in the previous process... I have no idea about the reason why the ramdisk is not generated, since the "--initrd' option is on the make-kpkg command line. Any suggestion?

To work around, i generated ramdisk with the commande :
update-initramfs -u -v -t -k 2.6.32.20-rtai

It booted up.

RTAI compilation
cd /usr/src/vulcano
make xconfig

Default config should be ok for emc2.Save and quit. Next, do :

make
make install
reboot

RTAI tests :
cd /usr/realtime/testsuite/user/latency; ./run
cd /usr/realtime/testsuite/user/preempt; ./run
cd /usr/realtime/testsuite/user/switches; ./run
cd /usr/realtime/testsuite/kern/latency; ./run
cd /usr/realtime/testsuite/kern/preempt; ./run
cd /usr/realtime/testsuite/kern/switches; ./run

Unfortunately, RTAI tests were not ok. Any idea about improvement?

I'm no kernel building pro but I have found this method helpful in the process. I'll use one thing I needed as an example but you can use whatever you like.

cd /usr/src/linux

Be vague:
$ grep -i ipipe .config

Get specific results:
CONFIG_IPIPE=n

Use it:
$ find -type f -name Makefile | xargs grep CONFIG_IPIPE

./arch/x86/kernel/Makefile:obj-$(CONFIG_IPIPE) += ipipe.o

Then in menuconfig use / to bring up the search, paste in CONFIG_IPIPE

See how to get there then navigate over and use the help feature to see if it is
what you are looking for, want etc.

I never did get make xconfig to work here. Menuconfig is a bit better so that might not be such a bad thing. I hope this helps you out some. It sure has helped me!

I still need to go through it all again one more time. I missed this gizmo called "evdev" or something, oh well! I need to be persistent.