Suse 9 and Kernel 2.6.1 - Copy the.config file?
 

I'm running Suse 9 and have been trying to get the 2.6.1 kernel up and running on my system.

The first time I compiled it, I set up the .config file myself. It came right up, but my network card wasn't detected. (It's PCMCIA-based. I'm running on a laptop.) The 2.6.0-test5 kernel included with my distribution detected my cards just fine, but wouldn't detect my touchpad. Figuring I could get the touchpad working myself, I copied Suse's .config file for the 2.6.0-test5 kernel into my 2.6.1 sources and compiled without any changes. This resulted in my system freezing after I selected the new kernel in GRUB.

So my question is: Am I missing something? Why didn't copying the .config file over from 2.6.0 work with 2.6.1?

Copying the .config file wouldn't have worked probably because there were enough changes that you need to run 'make oldconfig' in the new kernel's source directory. That prompts you about changes made since the kernel in which .config was generated for (i.e. for 2.6.0 to 2.6.1). By the way, I'd recommend just running through the 'make xconfig' or 'make menuconfig' yourself, and not copy distro-generated .config's. Also, this may not have anything to do with this, but .config files based on 2.4 series kernels will freeze, even if 'make oldconfig' was run. They need to have been generated with a 2.6 series kernel make.

Okay, I'll try use 'make oldconfig'. It that doesn't work, I guess I'll go back to tweaking my .config file. I was hoping for a shortcut to get my network card working. My laptop is pretty old, and whenever I make a mistake configuring the kernel, it means spending another three hours compiling it!