Introduction

"Voodoo 2" is what we are calling the next generation of the Voodoo kernel for Darwin / OS X. It's not a release number, it's not a version number.

The current kernel is based on xnu 1228.12.14 ( = Darwin 9.7.0 ).

Testing details

Testing for this kernel will be done in phases. In the alpha phase, the Intel-specific sections will be tested first, as this amounts to 60% of users and only 40% of the total source code changes.

In the next phase, AMD-specific changes will be tested.

Once alpha testing completes, the beta phase will begin. There may or may not be any Release Candidate.

Estimated Time of Availability

Currently there is no ETA because of lack of manpower.

Alpha 3

Alpha 3 is now available from the Downloads section. All known issues (except Terminal.app kernel panic from alpha1) have been fixed. Please test and update your bug reports so that they can be marked as Verified.

Note: System.kext has been removed from the alpha archives.

Alpha 2

Alpha 2 is available which fixes TSC-related panic and slow system/timer response. No other changes have been made in this release.

Known Issues

There is one known issue appearing in Alpha 2: if the measured CPU frequency is slightly less than the multiplier times fsb frequency, but remainder is higher than 75% of the busFreq, the kernel will not detect this and incorrectly set the multiplier one less than actual (because of rounding down due to integer division). This issue has been fixed and will appear in alpha3.

Another issue we have encountered is that using the System.kext bundled in the zip file might cause your system to fail to boot even in single-user mode, failing with "cannot find driver for platform ACPI". Do not use the bundled System.kext from either alpha1 or alpha2. Use a stock 9.7.0 kext.

Alpha 1

Alpha 1 of the Voodoo kernel is now available from the Downloads page. This is for Intel users only - the kernel does not contain any AMD CPUID emulation, nor any opcode patcher. AMD users try at your own risk. No bug reports for AMD will be accepted during for the alpha 1 kernel.

Known Issues

Currently there is a known kernel panic (14 = page fault) which occurs when opening the Terminal.app shortly after rebooting. Probability of the KP occurring diminishes as system uptime and usage increases. The panic seems to be related to a machine check exception, and its possible source is the new SpeedStep / realtime clock algorithm.

Although moving back to the old clock algorithm (used in Voodoo 1.0) should ideally fix the problem, this has intentionally not been done for the alpha 1 kernel, to collect feedback on the types of systems on which this issue occurs and trying to find a better workaround.

Bus ratio path changes

In Alpha 1, all bus ratio paths except path 6 (Apple/Intel) have been removed. The exception is a "faill proof" path which is used if the stock Apple path cannot be used. Together, these two paths should support all CPUs (including AMD and possibly under VMware). Note that Nehalem (Core i7) is natively supported now.

If your Intel system does not boot up, try booting with -timetsc boot option. Please report any timing inconsistencies and audio stuttering. Include your CPU family and model number (can be found from CPU-Z or CPU-X).