I keep seeing loads of shit about kernel updates by recompiling, installing rpms and other stuff I dont understand. I went into yast online update selected the newest kernal update, it downloaded it and installed. Does this mean it has actually installed the latest kernel or do I need to faff around with recompilation or whatever?

Cheers

"I keep seeing loads of shit about kernel updates by recompiling, installing rpms and other stuff I dont understand. I went into yast online update selected the newest kernal update, it downloaded it and installed. Does this mean it has actually installed the latest kernel or do I need to faff around with recompilation or whatever?"

Installing by recompiling and installing a binary from rpm are two different processes. If you installed a binary kernel from a rpm then you don't need to compile the kernel. If you have any drivers that you have to compile then you do need to compile the drivers against the kernel source that corresponds to the new kernel binary you installed.

You can check to see what kernel you are actually running with:
uname -r


------------------------
Steve Stites

if you dont understand it, then you probably didnt need to do it.
unless you are looking for a speed boost, in which case... read read read compile read read re-compile read read.

This is the most awful post Ive ever had the misfortune of reading!!!! It is useless to me and doesnt answer my original question. I also never realised that only people who have intimate knowledge of the linux os and kernel coding have the right to update! Of course kernels should be updated by n00bs, they are the core of linux and updated kernels can only mean 2 things.... bug fixes and speed boosts! Which is naturally welcomed by anyone.

qwijibow, unless you can actually generate helpful and constructive posts, dont bother with these forums, or indeed, this thread! Im quite ennoyed, can you tell?

All I want to know is......is updating the kernal by yast online update the same as installing manually by rpm or recompiling from source?

your question was already answered, rather than repeat jailbait, i added to his post by saying what i did...

nope... completely different. by installing via yast or binarry or source.
binary gives you a general kernel. probably containing what you need, but no guarantee. its general, bloated, slow.

if you compile from source, you get a customised kernel, slim, fast, and small.

reply's like your are rarely tolerated, but since your new and ignorent of this forum....