Thanks I'll try that.

I was running Ubuntu for a while, (because I could install it without partitioning, and I wasn't sure about
deleting some stuff I had and I couldn't afford to buy a harddrive.) and nouveau didn't seem stable.
It was easy to lock up depending on if you use and effects in KDE.

By the way I decided to check and and slackware 14 has everything that is needed for 3.6 so now I'm up to 3.6.11

Greg just released new 3.0, 3.4 and 3.8 branch kernel updates which amongst other things fix a security issue that has been lurking in there since 2.6.36. The fix is already in 3.9 and I expect that Ben will have a new 3.2 out before too long.

It depends on your card, the version of the kernel and nouveau drivers and mesa and libdrm.

I used to compile my own kernels, when I started with Slackware in the 3.x days, downloading the latest one, going through the config screen-by-screen... I even did a presentation on it once to a LUG. But eventually I decided that compiling my own kernel was far more trouble than it was worth, especially when I forgot a driver I needed, and maybe 5 years ago I started using the stock kernels...and they work great. Standard configuration means upgrades are much easier, too. For a while the one option that kept me compiling my own was "Probe all LUNs on SCSI devices," because my flash card readers wouldn't work correctly without it, and the stock kernel had it turned off, but even that issue has been resolved.

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I personally upgrade my generic 'fat-free' kernel whenever a stable version is released.

Hello,

My vote : "as soon as a stable version appear". https://lqo-thequestionsnetw.netdna-..._lq/icon12.gif https://lqo-thequestionsnetw.netdna-..._lq/icon14.gif

Regards
Philippe

Never really been a -current kind of guy. I stick to the generic kernel included with the latest stable release and I'm quite content.

i change kernel from default ( so far - download from kernel.org last stable source and compile new one) mostly if i have problem with current, default - i e if it works not good, not see me device \ devices \ hang up and so on.
if all works from the box, i do not touch it. times ago, when i was young and want to find troubles for my ass, i also recompile kernels for experience and so on, now - not. if all work - that is good for me
unfortunately default kernel in slack 14.0 not see my huawei G2800 phone as mass storage device. 13.37 see, 14.0 not. thinking about that and maybe, change the kernel for eliminate that problem

Thank you for posting this link! I read this page a long time ago, but didn't know where. I tried to find it again a few weeks ago, but I remembered the wording of the first line slightly wrong and spent hours looking in vain.

I feel better now.

Edit: Oh, and I compile a new kernel only if there is hardware support I need and cannot get otherwise, such as for the GMA 600 gpu in a tablet I put Slackware on a few months back. Otherwise I keep whatever Pat decides on for the version I'm running (either 14 or current, depending on the machine). His judgement in these matters is far more informed than mine.

The kernel that ships with Slackware is the one that PV + co + betatesters have tested for interactions with the rest of the Slackware system.

Using a different kernel means throwing all that testing out the window, producing a system which is more likely to have problematic interactions.

Stability is important to me, so I stick with the tested kernel.

I avoid the problem of hardware incompatability by doing a little research before buying my hardware. I buy only hardware which is known to work well with the kernel of the Slackware release I intend to run on it -- a practice stolen from the best business practices of the enterprise computing industry.

Ah, yes, but what if it's a really good deal? To me, saving a few hundred bucks on a machine that has less than perfect support with the shipped kernel is worth the hassle of fiddling with a custom compile. I'd like to avoid it if possible for exactly the reasons you stated, but sometimes when I'm in the market for hardware I find a deal too good to pass up.

In the case of the tablet I mentioned, for instance, I saved about $400. For me, that was a good enough incentive to throw enterprise business practices out the window.

Okay, I can relate. As a kid growing up in silicon valley, there was a lot of allure to picking out the guts for an i386 and a 20MB hard drive from weird stuff warehouse and assembling it in a cardboard box for a $40 linux server. I kept a dozen cheapy ne2000 ethernet cards in a drawer so I wouldn't have to worry about figuring out which driver to use for networking. Whatever was already in the machine came out, and an ne2000 went in.

Nowadays, there are enough old computers floating around looking for a good home (which, in the case of servers, probably ran linux for the last four years anyway) that it only makes sense to buy hardware if you want something high-end, or a mobile device like your tablet.

Ah, the cardboard box computer. I've run a couple of those myself!

But you're right, for most desktops and servers it makes no sense to use half-supported hardware. I build those myself, so I can choose what goes in them. It is only for things like my tablet and a few newer, bleeding edge laptops that I have done it in the past.