Q1: Why did you choose a self-compiled kernel over a pre-built kernel?

Q2: Do you consider the machine(s) running self-compiled kernels to be your workhorse computer or an experimental box?

Q3: What distro(s) are running under the self-compiled kernel?

1: Because there is no pre built kernel in LFS.

2:currently experimental for the ultimate workhorse.

I've just started building my own, but I like the extreme control this gives. Since the kernel is the heart of the system, the ability to configure/build is a great help on a custom install.

1: I make tinyconfig to: a) learn (kernel config) b) THE100%MINIMUM .config for my VBox Vpc
2: experimental (XP netbook is my 'workhorse'==web-browserS )
3: NuTyX !!! (try it!!! Thanks tnut!!)

I have Crux and LFS on my main computer and both require you to build your own kernel. I also have Debian and for that I use the stock kernel.

In earlier days I usually built my own kernels because I was using very limited hardware and home-rolled kernels load faster. Now that I have 2 GB RAM (which I consider lavish for my purposes) I stick with distro stock kernels where they exist. It's better to do so anyway because the stock kernel may be tuned to the userspace software in the way that a home-rolled kernel wouldn't be.

When I installed NutyX on my laptop, I had to build my own kernel because the stock kernel's initramfs scripts tried to set up a framebuffer that would'nt work with my VIA video chip.

I started compiling kernels "The Debian Way" (compiling to .deb packages then installing them) because when one of my laptops was new the touchpad didn't work properly on older kernels. Nowadays I'll compile newer kernels on the Debian Sid machines mainly just because I can and in case they let things work better.

1. It sounds cliche, but to learn more what is "underneath the hood".
2. If you run exotic hardware, this might be the only way to go.
3. There are a lot of options which I don't need, yet are built into many distros kernels.
4. I guess I'm just curious and I like breaking things.

I run Gentoo at home as my main server/desktop so I guess you could say it is my main "workhorse". Though my work laptop has to run Windows. I know, pretty sad. And no, I cannot really tell a difference between my own self-compiled kernel and a pre-built kernel. I can say though that my Gentoo box has given me little to no problems with those self-compiled kernels.

Best Regards

When I was using Gentoo (and that was a few years ago) there was no pre-compiled kernel; you had to make your own. However you could use a script called genkernel which gave you a stock kernel.

It’s still that way. You can use genkernel but it’s encouraged to roll your own.

low latency , double check the configuration settings, specify the processor family, maybe just switch video drivers to the open source ones. and to turn off the really noticeable built in kernel configs.

this is my media computer

but just this last recompile/kernel-upgrade was just trying to find a compiling error for the wipi, but i believe the drivers are outdated, since i went through a bunch of make compiles to get it to compile correctly but in the end it was no good. Will have to spot a different driver file elsewhere which is expected out of wireless dongles so the whole kernel recompile

i did spot a section about newer hardware esp usb two and three where there is a difference. would be good to see that tested personally one day

q1: Removing modules and functionality I do not want or need.
Lockdown in regards of security.

Also certain features are not enabled usually. So i enable encryption and other features

q2: It is my only computer which I use on a daily basis

it is faster because I use experimental feature to compile for my ivybridge cpu instead of generic architecture. Speed improvement was in several percent for compiling libreoffice. libreoffice is my benchmark. and it was on several reruns to verify the results.

q3: gentoo ~amd64

genkernel or genkernel-next

only use I see is to generate an initramfs.
I unpacked the genkernel initramfs, changed it and repacked it. As i saw during changing to luks and lvm2, that it has some coding flaws.

I saw several guys running genkernel boxes. I would not recommend it.

Genkernel kernel is nice as a starting point as a first kernel to use. I recommend that you than optimize it by removing unneeded bloat, adding functionality, and setting the cpu architecture and the compiler cpu type correctly.