Using an old kernel
 

Hi,
I know this is an odd & noob question but i want to use linux my old laptop.
So i want to know about kernel and distro relation.
I have an old laptop that has an amd cpu and a nvidia gpu.
But nvidia gpu can not usable properly because it is a deprecated gpu. (304.137 7150m)
In nvidia driver page says that it can only usable with 4.13 kernel.
I want to use Debian based distros but there isn't any distro with 4.13.
I know i can use older versions but they will stop supporting.
So i thought is it possible to install a linux distro (network install) without installing xorg server and after install changing kernel with 4.13 kernel. (later i will install xorg and xfce)
So is it possible or not? And if it's possible how?
Thanks from now and sorry for my bad English : )

I suspect most here will tell you the same.....that you should always use the very newest kernel possible for your own safety.....

(I often use 2- and 3-series kernels for specific situations. This lot will probably call me an idiot for doing so.)


Mike. :hattip:

You can try a distribution that's designed for older hardware, they do exist. antiX is one, there are more.

Hi Mike,
I did all your posts but i couldn't.
Probably my fault but some of those too complicated for me for now. But 90 percent i did.
So i want to more quicker and more simpler than that. Sorry about that but i'm a newbie : )

Hi jsbjsb001,
If i'm not wrong antix's minimum kernel is 4.19.
I want to use 4.13 maximum.
So it doesn't solve the problem.

antiX uses a 4.9 kernel

Hi @anticapitalista ,
As you say Antix uses 4.9.235-antix.1-amd64-smp kernel
I installed Antix Full and tried to install Nvidia driver.
It gave me an error that was stop the x server than install.
I stopped x server with "service slim stop" command.
After stopping x server i tried Nvidia driver again and it installed without an error.
When i tried reboot to OS the X server couldn't start.
Now it gives this error:
https://imgbox.com/g/qG5Ta8HINr
Do you know how can i handle this?
Thanks from now

The problem isn't just that you need an old kernel, you also need a no longer supported nvidia driver and an old version of xorg.
From what I gather, on Debian systems (including antiX), that was jessie-based (antiX-16), which is no longer supported.

You can install Debian 10, download linux 4.13 and build it for that machine, I don't think that this will be problematic, because 4.x is standard for Debian 10 anyways. Nevertheless I do not get it why you have to do that. Can't you just use the backports-repo and use the nonfree-firmware? What kernel-module or firmware exactly is this nvidea-card using and why is it not possible in later kernels?

Hi,
I did that. From backports it couldn't install the driver. I couldn't run properly the Nvidia 7150m.
I can install any latest distro but when installation ends and reboots screen is unrecognisable. Like this
When reboot again in boot menu i can add "nomodeset" to boot parameters, system opens almost perfectly but this time you can not pass above 1024x768 resolution.
Max resolution is 1024x768.
Later i did a research for this driver. It can only usable with max 4.13 kernel. Now with Antix i installed that driver but now it's like this. It says wrong ABI. As i understood i must downgrade the x server's version.
The only i didn't try Nouveau driver. Those website says it can only usable in 2D, not 3D. I accept that. I don't want play games with this notebook. I will almost only use it for web surfing, office programs, gimp and coding.
Is it possible or not? I mean Nouveau can do those or not, is it worth to try again? Or do you say use that machine for server like things, do not use x server and desktop environment : )

This is a dedicated GPU, from the time of the first nForce 630 from 2007 (for Amd-K8/Intel-P4), you need to use it because the CPU doesnt have its own graphics.

CentOS 7 uses Linux 3 until the end of 2024 and perhaps it works. Try with a live-cd.
Anyways this is nonfree-contrib and when wayland/xorg crash with it now .... even if it works, the next problems are most likely coming soon. Better use the lower resolution like you already described and get a new device or use an old distro out of support and compile the stuff you use yourself.

This is like the topic with haswell-cpus on motherboards that didn't get new firmware for 3 years and are now unusable -> you will put so much time into it and get a crappy solution that is not worth it.

Have you tried the option suggested in the error message? Try putting to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ a configuration snippet containing

Hi,
I tried but couldn't. When i wrote this to terminal "nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/" Antix gave me en error that says it is a folder.
When i wrote this to terminal "nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d" nano opened with an empty file.
When i dive into xorg.conf.d folder there was only synaptics configuration file.
You can see in here
I couldn't understand what should i do

Yes, sure, that's right. Maybe I wasn't clear enough. You should create a new file under /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ say /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/01-nvidia.conf or something like this (the name doesn't matter as long as it ends in .conf).

I don't see where you have said what nvidia device you are using.
Nouveau will work with older nvidia devices that nvidia has dropped support for. Won't perform as well, but it will work.

If that's a nForce 630, that works fine with a modern kernel with nouveau. I had one of those until the motherboard died this year. It worked with kernel 5. I don't recall where it was, perhaps kernel 5.3

Oh I see that now.
https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/CodeNames.html
That's in the NV40 family.
https://nouveau.freedesktop.org/FeatureMatrix.html
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/unix/legacy-gpu/

Info
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Nouveau