I have a new client that needs some embedded work done in a 2.4 kernel environment. They are planning a migration to 2.6 so the work I do needs to work in both environments. This is a kernel driver (to begin with) so the differences between 2.4 and 2.6 are not necessarily trivial.
Not six months ago, I pitched a bunch of old CDs, including everything I had that was 2.2 and 2.4. So now, here I am needing it.
I have found mandrake 9.2, which is a 2.4 distro to my certain knowledge and I am downloading it now.
My specific problem, though, is this. I need the kernel sources, I need the gcc C and C++ development tools. I do not know how easy it will be to find all of these things anymore. I am pretty sure I can obtain what I need for Mandrake, though I need to root around some ftp sites to be sure, but I would like to have some choices.
Is redhat 8 a 2.4 kernel? I see tutorials on compiling 2.6 for it, but at the time 2.6 was new, so perhaps it shipped with 2.4?
My client is presently using a customized vendor-supplied distro. Since what they use is targeted for the embedded environment, I don't want to try to use any variant of it for development; I'd probably get into all kinds of tool chain problems. One of my later tasks for this client, I think, will be to provide for them a customized 2.6 distro. Presently I am looking at arch linux as the starting point for that.
But for now, I need a 2.4 distro that retains sufficient support that I can install enough tools to develop a kernel driver on it. Does anyone here who is still using 2.4 have any recommendations?
