New kernels on old machines
 

I was told thats its possible to make modern kernels work on old machines using a special method...can anyone tell me how to do this?

Example, I have a Celeron 500, 64 RAM linuxbox that I have Mandrake 8.2 running on - how would I get that box up to Mandrake 10?

Thanks

Zace

Compile the kernel for that processor.
Its not voodoo or sorcery, if thats what you meant.

It's possible that I am completely misreading your post, but the age of the computer and the age of the kernel are independent - you could install an older version of Linux on a brand new machine, or a newer version of Linux on an older machine. There really isn't any special method other than to simply perform the upgrade, and a Celeron 500Mz with 64Mg of RAM would be perfectly serviceable. If all you're looking for is to upgrade the kernel, you would want to download the desired version from www.kernel.org then configure it and recompile. There are several threads here at LQ that describe the recompiling process in great detail; I would recommend taking a look at the ones written by DaOne. -- J.W.

Once I compile the new kernel on the machine, how would I go about...oh say installing the new Mandrake 10 on it? Would it be any different than just putting the image CDs into the CD Rom drive?

Sorry if these are newbie questions...but...heh...I'm still learning...

J.W.:

I have tried many more modern kernels with different distributions of Linux, and with the exception of Knoppix, none of them installed. I always got weird install errors. As soon as I bumped down to Mandrake 8.2, it all installed fine.

What are the "weird install errors"? Along these lines, have you done a search of LQ for similar issues? Perhaps other members have posted comments that match your situation. .

Along these lines, are you also upgrading your basic distro? As an example, I suppose it may be possible to have the latest kernel work with packages that came out in say 1998, but you probably would be better off upgrading the entire software suite you've got to the current Mandrake release. -- J.W.

Assuming that your location of NOVA means No. VA; very cool, I grew up in Fairfax County

Weird install errors mostly covers stuff like not recognizing the CDROM drive, not be able to compile, etc...

To get around this, I simply bumped that distro on that computer back to 8.2 and it worked fine...so yes, I would be wanting to upgrade to the new software packages as well :).

Haha...and yeah - NOVA means northern virginia :). I'm in Fairfax County as well - senior at West Springfield High School, and I live just off Old Keen Mill Road :). I hope that brings some memories.