How is the Kernel upgraded? I give up! Libranet.
 

Apparently the best kept secret on the Net this.

Installed Libranet 2.7 need to upgrade the Kernel before I can install nForce2 drivers (I think). And if I don't I want to do it anyway, the whole point of this is practice.

So I have downloaded the latest stable release which appears to be 2.4.22 from kernel.org, I think I have got that bit right : (

I clicked on it, some kind of console popped up and now I have essentially a HUGE text file which I assume now requires adding to the kernel I already have?

This is were I am totally stuck, I simply am not grasping what I am supposed to be doing. Every guide, however simplistic it is supposed to be ends up loosing me.

I really need a basic as it can possibly get set of instructions on what I do with this file.

This is driving me mad, and here I am thinking getting a dual boot with XP would be the hard part. DOH!

Newbie is an understatement!!!! :newbie:

The kernel you downloaded has filename ending with .tar.gz or .tar.bz2, right? It's kernel source, you need to unpack it and compile. But first place it in an directory it may be unpacked. Then
tar zxvf filename.tar.gz
or
tar jxvf filename.tar.bz2
A directory will be created. Enter it.

The compilation is usually:
make xconfig
make deps
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install

When you run 'make xconfig' a configuration program will be run. Read help and choose everything you need (the default config won't run on all machines). If you're not in X, use 'make menuconfig' or 'make oldconfig' instead.

After 'make modules_install' is done, you need to copy the kernel (from arch/i386/boot) to /boot and change your LILO/GRUB configration to point to it.

The desctiption was quite brief. If you have doubts, write.

Quick addition - when you copy the kernel, give it a meaningful name other than the one used by your current kernel, for example:

cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz.2.4.22

Mara - Excellent, that's exactly what I need, some basic pointers, you should do a website.

Musrum - Change name, I get ya, nice one.

Fingers crossed. :Pengy:

You're in luck - Libranet makes compiling kernels exceptionally easy! Have a look at the option in adminmenu - it says something like "compile kernel" (I don't have a Libranet at the moment so I can't be sure). Going this way will save you many steps, in fact the only thing you'll need to do is selecting the actual kernel options - adminmenu will take care of all the making, moving and will even make an entry in the bootloader for you.
So basically, all you have to do is untar your new kernel source into /usr/src and make a link to it. Like so:

# cd /usr/src
# tar xjf linux-2.4.22.tar.bz2 <--- or whatever your kernel is called!
# rm linux <-- don't be afraid, this just removes the link :)
# ln -s linux-2.4.22 linux <--- now point that link to your new source

then go to adminmenu and continue.

But do some more reading so you know what you're doing! Libranet has a good mailing list, and a forum. Linuxquestions.org have a good kernel compiling howto floating somewhere. It will show you the manual way, but you can relate this to Libranet, and enjoy its advantage :)

OK. This O/S hates me!

Downloaded the Kernel patch-2.4.22.bz2 to the desktop. Clicking it brings up Ark (This seems to be basically Win Zip/Rar like Windows) and I extracted the file to the Desktop. Now I have a 30Mb text file called patch-2.4.22. So now all I have to do is Cut or Copy and Paste that file into - Root Directory/Usr/Src? Trouble is I have NO write permissions for this folder, DOH! Were have I gone wrong? Why is it blocking me out? Is this some kind of administrator setting ala Windows?

Also can't extract directly to the folder, same error.

What's my next move? Please tell me you all had this much hassle on the first day of use, it will make me feel a bit better.

Bit of a side question were is the option to up the screen res? Would help if I could get it above 1024.

On the plus side I got dual boot to work, I have sound, Internet access and Opera is up and running, so today wasn't a total waste.

agree that upgrading kernel is abit tricky . But don't worry , if you fail , try once more , fail again , try once more , if you fail a gain , then ...... you just like me ^o^ , me have enough of this , after trying 3 times , I decided to use Auto Up2date from Redhat and I succeeded :p

Don't panic, it's OK :)
First of all, I didn't realise you were using a patch. The instructions I (and everyone before me) gave you related to installing a new version of the kernel. Frankly, I have no idea how to use a patch - I've never done it, I'm afraid. Why are you so keen to upgrade your kernel, i I may ask? It seems your system is working, I would respectfully suggest it would be better to leave the kernel alone until you've got some more understanding of how things work...

access to /usr/src: nothing has gone wrong, it is supposed to be this way! You need to login as root to access this directory. You also need to be root to do anything with your kernel, anyway. Also, you won't be able to do all this from KDE. Eventually you'll need to drop to the command line, I'm afraid!
So to move the file you downloaded, open a terminal, type su - when prompted for password, enter your root password. Then you can copy the file:
#cp patch-2.4.22.bz2 /usr/src

But once again, I'd suggest leaving this alone for now... there's plenty of other things for you to explore first :)
Screen resolution: in KDE, try Control Center -> Perpherals -> Display

PS. Mozilla is much better than Opera :)

ok , I'm doing it , hope it won't crash this time.

Yeah you are right, I didn't realise there was a difference, at kernel.org I clicked on the 2.4.22 which is a 5Mb patch (I thought it was small) you have to click on F for the full source (It's 28Mb, that's more like it).

Why am I doing it, why not? Seemed like a good idea at the time, just wanted to see how it works. I don't suppose I really need to. If I don't I will have to put the nForce2 driver on myself, so I will probably be back with a whole new set of stupid questions to test your sanity.

Peripherals/Display how the hell did I miss that?

And Opera is better.... : )

$ make modules
make -C kernel CFLAGS="-D__KERNEL__ -I/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/include -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wno-trigraphs -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe -mpreferred-stack-boundary=2 -march=i686 -DMODULE -DMODVERSIONS -include /usr/src/linux-2.4.22/include/linux/modversions.h" MAKING_MODULES=1 modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/kernel'
make[1]: Nothing to be done for `modules'.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/kernel'
make -C drivers CFLAGS="-D__KERNEL__ -I/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/include -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wno-trigraphs -O2 -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe -mpreferred-stack-boundary=2 -march=i686 -DMODULE -DMODVERSIONS -include /usr/src/linux-2.4.22/include/linux/modversions.h" MAKING_MODULES=1 modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/drivers'
make -C block modules
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/drivers/block'
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `modules'.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/drivers/block'
make -C cdrom modules
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/drivers/cdrom'
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `modules'.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/drivers/cdrom'
make -C char modules
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/drivers/char'
make -C drm modules
make[3]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/drivers/char/drm'
make[3]: Nothing to be done for `modules'.
make[3]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/drivers/char/drm'
make -C pcmcia modules
make[3]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/drivers/char/pcmcia'
make[3]: Nothing to be done for `modules'.
make[3]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/drivers/char/pcmcia'
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/drivers/char'
make -C hotplug modules
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.22/drivers/hotplug'
......
and alot more
any solution plz :(

Could it be you just never specified anything to compile as a module when doing "make config"?

I'm also a newbie with same/similar problems. I've downloaded the Kernel-HOWTO and followed the steps, but I would like to actually know what I'm doing so: can anyone tell me what is bzImage and what is vmlinuz? As I get it, these are both ( compressed ) kernels, but I'm obviously wrong :(

nibbler, usually it's the same. The file created during compilation is bzImage, but when copying it to /boot the name is usually changed to vmlinuz. But that's only tradition. You don't have to change it.