you heard me

2.5 is already out, its in development. The next stable release will most likely be 2.6 or 3.0 (rumors)
Read more about the kernel at www.kernel.org

Since it was brought up, I will comment on it..

I usually run the stable kernels, but for fun, since I had to do a clean install on everything the other day, decided to try the latest unstable kernel: 2.5.34

Works like a charm, and had no problems with anything afterwards. Been very stable for me, and has alot more options than the 2.4.x series. But I am not suggesting anyone who is not prepared to have their distro crash try this, I am simply saying that it is working, and good, for me.

Cool

that sounds really good. What's the coolest option which the 2.4 series lacks?

Not very much as far as my setup goes, but instead for me what it did was put everything in better placement. I have complete hardware support in both kernels, so for me it's wasn't much of hardware support issue, just wanted to give it a shot.

As far as cool options though, I like the alsa addition.

Cool

i just tried 2.5.9 and i couldn't do a make xconfig, i could do a make menu config. im gonna try the kernel that precedes 2.5.9 because i cant live without the help buttons in make xconfig

make menuconfig (it's all one word)
also has Help files for every option!

sorry, make menuconfig and its menuconfig that worked, xcongfig didnt.

ahhh, sorry, hehe I guess I read your first post the wrong way...the last part can have two meanings,

one is, you cannot live without the help buttons which make xconfig has

and the other is, you cannot live without the help buttons which make xconfig doesn't have.

when I quickly read it I understood the first meaning,

np

also, using 2.5.8 i couldnt use xconfig either. (rearange the order it'll make sense)

Masterc, how did you install 2.5.34, i cant seem to get it to make a bzImage file. right now im trying zImage.

zimage didnt work

Hi, I made bzImage with 'make bzImage'

It's an unstable kernel, and might not work on all systems. I really do not suggest using it unless you are ready for crashes, freezes, and other unexplained problems with your system. 2.4.19 supports most of the hardware out right now.

But if you are really going to use the unstable kernel, why 2.5.8 and not the latest and greatest unstable - 2.5.34?

If you are having problems with make xconfig you might want to see if you are actually able to do it with other kernels. But as zlinuxz said, you can do everything in menuconfig that you can in xconfig, the help files are still available.

And I ran into problems as well during make bzImage, but it was on something I didn't need, pcmcia, so I just took it out of the kernel completely.

Cool

i wanted to see if the alsa drivers in the kernel would get the sound on my laptop to work

So why not the newest one then? If you are going unstable, why be conservative? Go for 2.5.34 rather.

Cool

I fiddle with the 2.5.x series every once in a while, had problems getting 2.5.8-11 to make a bzImage too, got 2.5.25 to compile and run right, although evidently the floppy driver was wackoo kazoo at the time, I just though I had left out vfat support... again!

I've never gotten a 2.5.x to compile support for my scsi card, a weird one, an initio. It just dies in the make, or the make modules.

I've gotten the 2.5.x wireless stuff to all line up right just once, and there's cool stuff there when you get to play with it.

I got about an 8-10 MB/sec higher hdparm out of whatever beta goop they have for the Highpoint 366-74 series ATA66-133 drivers.

What do I want to see before they drop da'bomb on 2.6? USB 2.0, working Bluetooth, easy to line up 802.11b device support, more working firewire... but I'm a gadget freak, I could care less about things like software RAID and LVM and such.

Cheers,

Finegan