Unofficial user repositories/Repo-ck

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Details

The repo contains generic packages as well as CPU-specific packages for the linux-ck family. It also contains packages for chromium-scroll-pixels^AUR for each arch.

CPU Type	Package	Details
Generic	chromium-scroll-pixels	Current stable version of chromium browser patched to maintain the --scroll-pixel functionality allowing users to set the speed of their wheel mouse's scrolling functions.

Many ARCH users are familiar with the concept of a generic kernel package. The official ARCH kernel is available in two flavors (either i686 or x86_64) which are generic packages in that i686 will work with any compatible x86 CPU and x86_64 will work with any compatible x86_64 CPU. Users have a choice between the corresponding generic linux-ck packages or CPU-specific and optimized linux-ck packages:

CPU Type	Group Alias	Details
Generic	ck-generic	Compiled with generic optimizations suitable for any compatible CPU just like the official ARCH linux package. This is true for both Intel and AMD processors.
Intel	ck-atom	Intel Atom platform specific optimizations. Intel Atom CPUs have an in-order pipelining architecture and thus can benefit from accordingly optimized code.
	ck-core2	Intel Core 2-family including Dual and Quads (Core 2/Newer Xeon/Mobile Celeron based on Core2).
	ck-nehalem	Intel 1st Generation Core i3/i5/i7-family specific optimizations.
	ck-sandybridge	Intel 2nd Generation Core i3/i5/i7-family specific optimizations.
	ck-ivybridge	Intel 3rd Generation Core i3/i5/i7-family specific optimizations.
	ck-haswell	Intel 4th Generation Core i3/i5/i7-family specific optimizations.
	ck-p4	Intel Pentium-4 specific optimizations (P4/P4-based Celeron/Pentium-4 M/Older Xeon).
	ck-pentm	Intel Pentium-M specific optimizations (Pentium-M notebook chips/not Pentium-4 M).
AMD	ck-kx	AMD K7/K8-family specific optimizations.
	ck-k10	AMD K10-family specific optimizations including: 61xx Eight-Core Magny-Cours, Athlon X2 7x50, Phenom X3/X4/II, Athlon II X2/X3/X4, or Turion II-family processor.
	ck-barcelona	CPUs based on AMD Family 10h cores with x86-64 instruction set support.
	ck-bobcat	CPUs based on AMD Family 14h cores with x86-64 instruction set support.
	ck-bulldozer	CPUs based on AMD Family 15h cores with x86-64 instruction set support.
	ck-piledriver	CPUs based on AMD Family 15h cores with x86-64 instruction set support.

CPU-specific optimization are invoked at compilation by selecting the corresponding option under Processor type and features>Processor family or by setting-up the .config file accordingly. These changes setup make specific gcc options including the $CFLAGS.

Setup

1) Add the following to /etc/pacman.conf (I placed my entry at the bottom of the file):

[repo-ck]
Server = http://repo-ck.com/$arch

To sign graysky's key, do the following:

# pacman-key -r 5EE46C4C
# pacman-key --lsign-key 5EE46C4C

2) Refresh via

# pacman -Syy

That's it. To see the contents of the repo, just search as such:

$ pacman -Sl repo-ck

Installation Examples

Use the ck-X group and select the desired packages for installation. There are 6 groups corresponding to the 13 package sets: ck-generic, ck-atom, ck-core2, ck-nehalem, ck-sandybridge, ck-ivybridge, ck-haswell, ck-p4, ck-pentm, ck-kx, ck-k10, ck-barcelona, ck-bulldozer, ck-piledriver

# pacman -S ck-generic
:: There are 7 members in group ck-generic:
:: Repository repo-ck
   1) broadcom-wl-ck  2) linux-ck  3) linux-ck-headers  4) nvidia-304xx-ck  5) nvidia-ck
   6) virtualbox-ck-guest-modules  7) virtualbox-ck-host-modules

Enter a selection (default=all):

Alternatively, simply direct pacman to install the packages directly:

# pacman -S linux-ck linux-ck-headers

How to Determine Which CPU Optimized Package Set to Select

Users unsure which package set to use can always install the ck-generic group which will drive any compatible CPU. For those wanting CPU-specific optimized packages, run the following command (assuming that base-devel is installed):

$ gcc -c -Q -march=native --help=target | grep march

The resulting value is what gcc would use as the march CFLAG. Refer to the table below for a mapping of this value to the correct group.

Brand	Group	March
Intel	ck-atom	atom
	ck-core2	core2
	ck-nehalem	corei7
	ck-sandybridge	corei7-avx
	ck-ivybridge	core-avx-i
	ck-haswell	core-avx2
	ck-p4	pentium4, nocona
	ck-pentm	pentm, pentium-m
AMD	ck-kx	athlon, athlon-4, athlon-tbird, athlon-mp, athlon-xp, k8-sse3
	ck-k10	amdfam10
	ck-barcelona	barcelona
	ck-bobcat	btver1
	ck-bulldozer	bdver1
	ck-piledriver	bdver2

Note: Users are encouraged to add additional entries to this table based on their experience.

Additional links can be used to help determine which package set to select:

• http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Safe_Cflags/Intel
• http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Safe_Cflags/AMD
• http://www.linuxforge.net/docs/linux/linux-gcc.php
• http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/i386-and-x86_002d64-Options.html

How Much Faster Are the CPU Optimized Packages

The answer is not that much faster. Extensive testing comparing the effect of gcc compile options on resulting binaries have been conducted by others with varying result from no change to rather significant speed ups.

• phoronix labs
• Kernel patch for more CPU families offers measurable speed increases.

Readers are encouraged to add to this list.

How to Enable the BFQ I/O Scheduler

Since release 3.0.4-2, the BFQ patchset is applied to the package by default. Users must enable the BFQ scheduler to use it; it is dormant by default.

Globally (for all devices)

Add elevator=bfq to boot loader Kernel parameters.

Note: Users building the PKG from the AUR have an option in the PKGBUILD itself to globally use the BFQ as the default I/O scheduler.

Selectively (for only specified devices)

Direct the kernel to use it on a device-by-device basis. For example, to enable it for /dev/sda simply:

# echo bfq > /sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler

To confirm, simply cat the same file:

# cat /sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler
noop deadline cfq [bfq] 

Setting this way will not survive a reboot. To make the change automatically at the next system boot, create the following tmpfile where "X" is the letter for the SSD device.

 /etc/tmpfiles.d/set_IO_scheduler.conf 

w /sys/block/sdX/queue/scheduler - - - - noop

Package Trivia/Repo Statistics

• Various package sets are compiled via a Bash wrapper script for makepkg. The script is publicly accessible at graysky's github repo.
• Repo statistics are available (popularity of packages, which CPU is most popular, # of downloads, etc.).

Note: The statistics are not updated daily but do give a snapshot of the data.

Troubleshooting

Forum Support

Please use this discussion thread to voice comments, questions, suggestions, requests, etc. Note from graysky, "I can add other CPU-specific builds upon request. I just wanna be sure people will actually use them if I take the time to compile them."