Kernel

Kernel

SkillFishOS ships a custom linux-tkg 7.0.11-skillfishos kernel, built from Frogging-Family/linux-tkg with BC-250 patches.

What's in it

• BORE scheduler, GCC -O3, 1000 Hz, NTsync + fsync — for gaming responsiveness.
• BC-250 userpatches:
  • GPU clock range unlocked 350–2230 MHz (stock is locked to 1500). Actual clocking is done by the GPU Governor and Tuning.
  • 40-CU unlock (opt-in via amdgpu.bc250_cc_write_mode=3 — see Compute Units (40-CU)).
  • The cosmetic "RDSEED is not reliable…" boot spam silenced.

Three flavours

Flavour	-march	Target
main	znver2	AMD BC-250 (Zen 2)
generic	x86-64	ordinary PCs & VMs
slim	znver2	BC-250 only, lean module set

All three are the same source/patches; they differ in compiler target and module coverage. The slim build trims the module set to what the BC-250 actually uses.

Install / update

The full kernel image is ~152 MB, which exceeds the GitHub Pages 100 MB limit, so it's published as a GitHub Release asset and installed through a thin wrapper:

sudo apt install skillfishos-kernel

The skillfishos-kernel package is a few KB; its postinst schedules an out-of-band systemd-run unit that waits for the dpkg lock, downloads the real .deb from the Release and installs it.

⚠️ The full kernel .deb must never be dpkg -i-ed from inside another package's postinst — that deadlocks the dpkg lock (exit 100). The wrapper sidesteps this with the out-of-band unit.

Switching kernels & cleaning up

Use the Kernel Manager app (skillfish-kernel-manager) — see Apps. It lists every installed kernel with its flavour, size and running/default badges, lets you set the permanent GRUB default or boot one once, and can completely uninstall a kernel (image + headers + modules) so they don't pile up. Guardrails: it never removes the running kernel or the last remaining one, and it moves the GRUB default off a kernel before removing it.

Build it yourself

See Building from Source and the kernel-build/ recipe in the repo.