[KERNEL][ICS] ** CTCaer Kernel ** v2.8.2 [UKSM][UV/OC][Triple Buffering][RAM Hacks]

[CTCaer]

CTCaer Kernel ICS version v2.8.2


*Light. Fast. Triple Buffering. More Total Ram. Entropy*

Updated: 8 September 2013

Features:
Based on Lupus kernel .587/.13 sources
Compiled with Linaro 4.7.3
CWM by DoomLord
Works with stock wifi modules
Overclock to safe 1.4 GHz with Qualcomm's frequencies for less battery drain (max is 1.6Ghz)
Deep undervolting with aire's values
15MB more total ram
Triple Buffering like jellybean
Auto rooting with latest superuser 3.2 binaries
Init.d support (fixed double triggering, even when using install-recovery.sh method)
Dual Recovery. TWRP (volume keys), CWM (power key)

Kernel/Memory Optimizations:
UKSM (saves 20-65mb ram)
Optimised Low Memory Killer
Random Entropy generator fixes and tweaks
frandom + replaced random/urandom with frandom/erandom
Compaction for LMK
Better Memcopy/Memove
Tiny RCU for smaller memory footprint
CPU group schedulling
Cleancache
Better pmem
Kernel Samepage Merging (Can't be used in the end)
Optimized and faster Swap and Zram
Thumbee support
ARMv7a optimizations
lowered vfs cache pressure
Optimized cpufreq/governors
And more tweaks for a smoother and faster Kernel
Script to clean unused ramdisk files after boot, to free up ram (9mb)

File systems:
ntfs, ext2/3/4, filesystems support
jbd2 journaling for ext fs
CIFS, FUSE and Usb OTG Storage
512KB SD read ahead (faster reads without hogging the cpu and ram)
sd-ext support

Other:
Updated LZO
2 way call recording
Google's Snappy Compression and Decompression
Better WiFi range and enabled channel 14
0% battery patch by Bazoocaze
Working ADB and usb in Recovery, plus rooted shell
Usb network tethering
Key reset

Governor Schedulers :
Ondemandx
Performance
SmartassV2 (tweaked+fixed scheduling) [Default]
Superbad (tweaked)
lulzactiveV2
Badass

IO Schedulers :
Noop
SIO [Default]
ROW (experimental)
BFQ
CFQ
deadline

For more, check changelogs from post 2.




Info about some mods:

1.4Ghz Overclock + UV. Kept Qualcomm's frequencies table as proved to have less battery drain for some reason.
The undervoltaging is max -50mV on most frequencies, as to avoid error corrections from low voltage (errors in calculations increases drain a lot) and also to avoid cpu halts. Needs further investigating for lower values.
Now using aire's values, the best for battery for over a year.

11mb ram freed from camera and adsp pmem. This came from many tests that showed that when taking 8mp pictures, 720p video (w/ or w/o stabilizer), playing 720p video with hw decoding and hw audio decoding audio, the used pmem was max 42MB for camera pmem and 6MB for adsp. Can be freed 7-8Mb more but didnt do it for stability reasons under multimedia multitasking.
That also shows us that the stabilizer lag in camera doesn't come from the pmems. I'll try to check the camera sources and see if it's driver related.
If you find anything strange with anything that use the camera or the DSP tell me and please provide logcat logs.

Triple Buffering. At last some JB goodies to us using stock. This gives great UI and game Frame rates (tested). It uses the normal mode (as we don't have the vsync sync pulse like JB, which also auto disables it when not needed), and that means that it doesn't introduces slight lag to input. In games if you see something strange though please reply in this thread.

Random Entropy Generator. Fixes and tweaks to random generator. And also to binfmt_elf, no more entropy depletion through using shell, scripts and generally any binary. Say no to blocking random, and enjoy a smoother UI.
Now with frandom for 50x more performance.

Governors/IO scheds. No bloating here. Kept only the best for battery and performance.
The default ones are the highly optimized. If you have some tweaks for all schedulers that will increase battery and performance (always in balance), don't hesitate to tell me.

Key reset. You can reboot your phone when kernel halts or something brought your phone to its knees by pressing
Power + Home for 5s. Don't do it just for restarting it fast! This does not good to your filesystem because they can't sync,
so you can lose changes made the last seconds. Also after initiating it you don't have to press both buttons for the remaining 4s.
In 2.8 the combination is Power + Home + Volume Up for 5s.

Twrp and Cwm differences. TWRP and CWM are both recovery apps but use different apis.
CWM use nandroid backup and TWRP uses it's own.
CWM uses and old recovery API (v2) and TWRP use the newest recovery API 3
That means that you can't use a backup made with cwm in twrp, and vice versa.
In TWRP, some flashable zip will not work, until they have a newer update-binary (that supports API 3).
(That's the one provided by Team Win: update-binary-3)

If you want other info, again write here. And last but not least the kernel version number 0.8a doesn't mean that's beta. The kernel right now is highly optimized and working. The version just means that I'll try many things more to make our phone better.

Thanks:
wedgess for his great Lupus kernel sources.
aire and vdsirotkin for their great kernels that i used for many months at both GB and ICS.
DooMLoRD Well you all know why
thomas1991_12 and championswimmer for help and twrp binary accordingly
And to all Freexperia Project members for their great patches and fixes to our phones.




Changelogs
Click the link to view the changelogs or go directly to post 2



DISCLAIMER for sharing outside xda:
It got to my attention that the kernel is shared in many boards outside xda
and especially in many Asian ones. It's fine to make a complete copy of OP and changelog,
I don't mind, but you have to provide a link to this thread.
Also, the most important, please use my links for kernel binaries. If you don't do this, I can't see usage stats of my kernel.
That's why I use mediafire. It's fast, supports multiple connections, no wait time and is usable in every country.

Downloads and Sources:
Main Version:
CTCaer Kernel v2.8 1.4GHz + UV
or
CTCaer Kernel 2.8.2 UKSM special version
The special version may not work for you, cause of lower voltages. After 20 sept, i'll do proper releases.


Vdd Version:
DISCLAIMER: I will not provide help on reboots and bootloops on 1.6GHz + VDD control version.
It's here for people that need 1.6ghz and voltage control only. Default speed is 1.0Ghz.
CTCaer Kernel v2.8 1.6GHz + VDD control



If you want to use usb storage, ntfs and more you can flash these modules (if not, they are optional):
Modules for CIFS, NTFS, FUSE and USB Storage v2 ** Updated **
The updated modules bring: Updated cifs,fuse,ntfs,usb-storage and adds nls_utf8 for Unicode support, plus oprofile for people that want debugging.



CTCaer Kernel needs stock wifi modules. If you changed them, flash this:
Stock .13 WiFi modules
If you came from a kernel that you had to flash custom modules, use the flash zip above to have the stock ones again.
Some kernels, like Lupus, change the modules on their own, by just flashing the kernel and powering on the phone.
The original with Lupus are moved in /system/lib/modules.old.
Info for going back from Lupus
Many thanks @arcatarc for providing the flashable update zip.



Old Versions:
CTCaer Kernel v2.7 1.4GHz + UV
CTCaer Kernel v2.7 1.6GHz + VDD control
CTCaer Kernel v2.6 1.4GHz + UV
CTCaer Kernel v2.6 1.6GHz + VDD control
CTCaer Kernel v2.52
CTCaer Kernel v2.51
CTCaer Kernel v2.5
CTCaer Kernel v2
CTCaer Kernel v0.8a
Modules for CIFS, NTFS, FUSE and USB Storage v1



And as per GPL here are the forked sources:
https://github.com/CTCaer/CTCaer-ICS-Xperia2011
For v2.7,2.8 check v2.8 branch, because currently, I don't have time to push commits one by one.
For compiling, I used Linaro 4.7.3 and ctcaer_urushi_defconfig (1.4GHz+UV) and ctcaerVDD_urushi_defconfig (1.6GHz+Vdd)


If you liked my kernel click THANKS!

 

[CTCaer]

Changelog:

Older:

v0.8a:
*Initial Release.

v0.9 (renamed to v2):
*Added 1.6Ghz (UVed)
*Removed Ondemand
*Added OndemandX cpu scheduler
*Added CFQ i/o scheduler
*Removed autoroot
*Changed ro.secure to 0 for rooted ADB on default
*More ram (because of ramdisk's reduced size)
*Fixed Kernel Samepage Merging startup.
*Reduced freq to 1Ghz for kernel booting (to avoid 1.6ghz's drain). Comes back to 1.4Ghz for at bootanimation.
*Some more ramdisk changes

v2.5:
*New logo. SE strikes back with energy logo
*Deep undervolting. Thanks to Intuki for providing aire's values
*Fixes to binfmt_elf. No more random entropy depleting through using cat, ls and well every binary and script.
*Random entropy generator tweaks. I scream more UI smoothness
*Enabled cpu group scheduling
*Better pmem (updated to 2.6.35.x. For full changelog: pmem patch)
*Removed unused modules and some non-usefull debugging for a lighter Kernel
*Fixes to memory leaks on the networking side
*Fixes to android binder
*Usb network tethering support
*Added ipsec tunneling support
*Fix to cpufreq. Now you can see available frequencies through /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies
*Removed KSM because after so many days nothing in our phone calls it
*Tweaks to ramdisk for faster boot

v2.51:
*Reverted pmem code to stock to fix broken adsp for videos. Sorry about that :/
*Known bug on 2.50-.51: Unstable 1.6ghz because of low voltage.

v2.52:
*Added 1.5ghz and stabilised 1.6ghz more
*Changed PATH variable at boot end so busybox is not taken from /system/bin or xbin
*Increased 720p vidc default input buffer for smoother video playback
*Fix a race in pid generation that causes pids to be reusedimmediately
MIUI compatibility:
*Added MIUI shelld service (stock based roms are not affected by this), thanks to stillka
*Reverted binder patches

v2.6:
*Split kernel to 2 versions:
1.4GHz with Undevolting
1.6GHz with Vdd (voltage) control
*More Undervolting to lower frequencies for even better battery for main version. (3 days test showed 1% per 7hours with gsm+wifi on+widget updating every 1 hour)
*Stabilized higher frequencies.
*frandom implementation inside kernel. No need for module. It's 10-50 times faster than random/urandom
Replaced random and urandom with frandom and erandom. No need for apps to do that and it's done at boot so no app or process use the old ones.
(For ramdisk modders: the script is in /sbin/bootrec. You need it for frandom replacement before android boots.)
*Enabled bfq i/o scheduler cgroup
*Fixed PATH variable for good. Now it will report the right busybox in scripts and apps that can't use their own path.
*Tweaked cgroup values for background apps and more
*Enabled memory suspend deep power down. (This will do nothing for roms that can't use it, or without a script calling it)
*Enabled scheduler tunables (like sched_latency_ns, sched_wakeup_granularity_ns and more). Here's a good read about them: sysctl scheduler tunables
Tuning them will provide some more boost to your ray. Have in mind results are different from system to system and different workloads.

v2.7:
*Default scheduler is now SIO for nand and sd
*More total ram (4MB)
*Tweaks and fixes to msm_fb and mdp, for optimized and faster rendering plus less ram usage.
*Optimizations in memory management
*Updated LMK to the latest aprl-2013 version and added some tweaks
*Updated to a more optimized Compaction
*Optimizations to RCUTiny
*Optimized smartassv2 and added Boost pulse
*Added ROW scheduler, thanks to @kast
Experimental!
(Also some optimizations from the k3.4 version are missing for now)
Any benchmark on SIO vs ROW are welcomed.
*Performance optimisations on SIO and Deadline i/o schedulers
*Updated CFQ i/o scheduler
*Reordered functions in input driver for faster touch responce
*Removed Superbad and Lulzactive to lessen the kernel threads and free ram
*Kernel decompressor optimazations to Lzo
*Added Reset by pressing Power+Home keys for 5s
Only use it when you have to. (example: kernel halt) Don't make it your new reboot way!
*Made vibrator worqueue's priority higher to lessen the lag in big cpu load
*Added compact mem per node
*Fixed performance calculation in vidc (video codec)
*Enable Fsync
*Protect a proccess from killed by LMK far too many times
*Fix to suspend power management
*Fixed init.d support not working when having install-recovery.sh for int2ext and other scripts
*And more performance and memory optimizations..

v2.8:

• Team Win Recovery Project is here
• Dual ramdisk TWRP (volume keys) and CWM (power key)
  For differences between TWRP and CWM check "Info about some mods" in OP
• Made TWRP more holo, fixed reboot into TWRP and fixed mass storage in TWRP.
• Added script to remove unused ramdisk files after boot to free ram
  (cpio 7,8mb. Images/other 1.5mb)
• Fixed init.d for every method for good
• [/B]zram now really uses snappy compression/decompression
  Really fast zram and no lag when switching apps
• 3rd button key reset: +Volume up.
  No more random reboot from pressing the keys accidentaly
• Use max freq for CSI (camera serial interface) -> new bandwidth: 250 MB/s (2000Mbps)
• Use max freq for Jpeg encoding unit -> 147.4Mhz to 153.6Mhz
  Faster jpg encoding
• Added Badass governor
• Rebased WiFi signal levels to more real-world limits
• Kernel panic auto-restart 30s
• Enable als at boot, to reduce battery drain and washed colors when booting
• Increased Cpu freq to 1024mhz in recovery
• Reduced default vm swappiness to 20
• More silent binder
• Suspend optimizations and bugfixes
• Enabled Battery show health
  Before it always showed GOOD. Now it can show GOOD, OVERHEAT, DEAD, OVERVOLTAGE, COLD

 

[PablooRupertooo]

Yay! New kernel for ICS... Lemme' try it. downloading~

 

[Csacsifiu]

:good:

What's the min. frequency?

 

[dreezz]

:good:

What's the min. frequency?

122 :good:

flashed it, and testing.

 

[Csacsifiu]

122 :good:

flashed it, and testing.

Then i download it.

 

[jrchan01]

This kernel is Fast but I Think this would be a lot more faster of the OC would go up to 1.6Ghz even though its not Battery friendly

 

[CTCaer]

This kernel is Fast but I Think this would be a lot more faster of the OC would go up to 1.6Ghz even though its not Battery friendly

I'll consider it. I'll maybe add one with 1.6ghz or with one capped at boot at 1.4ghz. Will see

 

[PablooRupertooo]

How i wish their is interactiveX & CFQ. ehehe

 

[arcatarc]

From the features it seem a really good kernel(i like the fact it use stock wifi modules too),tnx,but i have some questions:
1)It is undervolt embedded in kernel?
2)Can you make a version without autoroot (or can i modify your ramdisk to use in my rom)?
Tnx in advance and keep the good workin..

 

[Abyssmal]

Sweet candy, baby! Sounds AWESOME! Flaaaashing immediately! OMG, LOL!

 

[knightthgink]

Triple Buffering=project butter?

 

[Abyssmal]

OK flashed, looks promising. I am on Zelly Cream and superuser doesn't start. What now?

EDIT: Cleaned dalvik, cache, fix permissions, cleared data on superuser app. SuperSU also not able to update binary. Sorry if it's a stupid situation.

 

[jrchan01]

I'll consider it. I'll maybe add one with 1.6ghz or with one capped at boot at 1.4ghz. Will see

Thank you

 

[rushland]

seems interesting
but i cannot access Mass Storage when my Ray on standby
now i'm using zelly cream as my ROM

back to old kernel for a while

 

[arcatarc]

R: [KERNEL][ICS] ***** CTCaer Kernel ***** [Linaro][UV/OC][Triple Buffering][RAM Hack

OK flashed, looks promising. I am on Zelly Cream and superuser doesn't start. What now?

EDIT: Cleaned dalvik, cache, fix permissions, cleared data on superuser app. SuperSU also not able to update binary. Sorry if it's a stupid situation.

That's why i don't like autoroot,try deleting(if you can)superuser apk and bin,reboot...

Inviato da me!

 

[CTCaer]

How i wish their is interactiveX & CFQ. ehehe

It was in my intentions to add CFQ but forgot to re add the kernel flag. Have in mind that cfq maybe is one of the most configurable io scheds but bfq does a better job in fairness (because it's an improved cfq).
As for interactiveX I'll review it.

From the features it seem a really good kernel(i like the fact it use stock wifi modules too),tnx,but i have some questions:
1)It is undervolt embedded in kernel?
2)Can you make a version without autoroot (or can i modify your ramdisk to use in my rom)?
Tnx in advance and keep the good workin..

1) Yep to avoid reboot problems. (even in stock voltages and configurable vdd for example, my ray reboots.)
I'm open though to suggestions about levels. In the next days I'll play a little with the current_now and try some new voltages until i find the
sweet spots before the error corrections begin. Also if for example 750mV has the same drain with 800mV I will keep the 800 one for stability. No need for extreme undervoltaging.

2)Well to be true I didnt wanted to included but many ppl need that feature from the kernel. If will remove it? Dont know yet.
But for sure you can edit the ramdisk. Just comment out the autoroot service in init.rc or delete the autoroot.sh in /sbin.

Triple Buffering=project butter?

Yep. Well almost. It's what the project butter is based off.
Until now (testing it for 8days) it does a good job and the UI feels a looot better.
Need some tests from games though. I heard that triple buffering made some glitches in xperia T JB. If it's kernel related maybe i can add the patch to our sources.

OK flashed, looks promising. I am on Zelly Cream and superuser doesn't start. What now?

EDIT: Cleaned dalvik, cache, fix permissions, cleared data on superuser app. SuperSU also not able to update binary. Sorry if it's a stupid situation.

Well it's not. The superuser is the latest 3.2 and does not have update ability (the button that says update is cosmetic and version informative). The autoroot script is copying the superuser and the su. You are ready to go.
Also no need for wipes. If something doesn't work it has nothing to do with caches.

EDIT:-------

seems interesting
but i cannot access Mass Storage when my Ray on standby
now i'm using zelly cream as my ROM

back to old kernel for a while

Can you describe a little your situation?
When the screen is off and you connect the phone to pc the sd doesnt show up?

 

[arcatarc]

1) Yep to avoid reboot problems. (even in stock voltages and configurable vdd for example, my ray reboots.)
I'm open though to suggestions about levels. In the next days I'll play a little with the current_now and try some new voltages until i find the
sweet spots before the error corrections begin. Also if for example 750mV has the same drain with 800mV I will keep the 800 one for stability. No need for extreme undervoltaging.

2)Well to be true I didnt wanted to included but many ppl need that feature from the kernel. If will remove it? Dont know yet.
But for sure you can edit the ramdisk. Just comment out the autoroot service in init.rc or delete the autoroot.sh in /sbin.

Many tnxs,my friend.....i'm testing it(with modded ramdisk)for now it seems to be my next kernel....

-------------EDIT-----------:
If you want i can upload my modded version(No autoroot,No init.d support,basically stock optimized ramdisk+CWM)...

 

[Abyssmal]

Well it's not. The superuser is the latest 3.2 and does not have update ability (the button that says update is cosmetic and version informative). The autoroot script is copying the superuser and the su. You are ready to go.
Also no need for wipes. If something doesn't work it has nothing to do with caches.

Superuser FC. SuperSU does not update. Disabled superuser, rebooted, enabled, rebooted and it's NOT working.

 

[CTCaer]

Superuser FC. SuperSU does not update. Disabled superuser, rebooted, enabled, rebooted and it's NOT working.

Ok. Gonna remove mine too and test it again. Give me some minutes to figure out whats wrong.
Btw you all have problem with superuser?