Real Time Kernel, Responsiveness?

[nikgnomic]

@oldtux

Is it OK for me to keep using the real time kernel

RT kernel is not needed for most use-cases

Do I need a realtime kernel to use realtime scheduling? | JACK Audio Connection Kit

Do I need a realtime kernel to use realtime scheduling?

No. Realtime scheduling is available on all Linux systems no matter what kernel they use, and current versions of JACK use it by default. A kernel built with the realtime patches (an “RT kernel”) is needed only if:

• You want to run JACK with very low latency settings that require realtime performance that can only be achieved with an RT kernel
• Your hardware configuration triggers poor latency behaviour which might be improved with an RT kernel

Most users do not need an RT kernel in order to use JACK, and most will be happy using settings that are effective without an RT kernel.

Realtime scheduling is provided by package realtime-privileges and realtime user group

@oldtux

I read here in different posts that real time kernels pose a security risk

There is a security risk to consider when optimising a system for realtime scheduling

@JesseSteele

rtcqs output:

Spectre/Meltdown Mitigations
============================
[ WARNING ] Kernel with Spectre/Meltdown mitigations found. This could have a negative impact on the performance of your system. See also https://wiki.linuxaudio.org/wiki/system_configuration#disabling_spectre_and_meltdown_mitigations

Warning: Using mitigations=off will make your machine less secure! Use with caution! For more information on the risks see https://meltdownattack.com/

To work around the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities several mitigations were built into the kernel. These mitigations can have a negative impact on the performance of your machine

@Aragorn

PCLOS is a (non-curated) rolling-release GNU/Linux distribution that still uses sysvinit

Quote edited after comment in post #11 from @Aragorn

SysVinit 3.10 Released - phoronix.com

While most Linux distributions are running on systemd as the init/service manager, SysVinit is continuing to be maintained

But sysvinit^AUR has not been updated to latest version

SysVinit - ArchWiki
Warning: Arch Linux only has official support for systemd. [1] When using SysVinit, please mention so in support requests.

itsfoss.com 14 Systemd-Free Linux Distributions

To compare sysvinit and systemd performance with RT kernels I would suggest check out AV Linux MX Edition with Liquorix Kernel