I will be given an Athlon 500 MHz pc soon that I want to put Slackware 12 on. Will Slackware install the kernel for 486 pcs/Pentium or will it get an Athlon kernel?

A generic Intel kernel should work fine, although I don't know what name Patrick uses for that kernel in Slack 12. It used to be bare.i or sata.i in earlier versions.

Hi,

Is that the AMD K6 2-500? Great little chip! I still use it on a small LAN as a server with Slackware 11, 2.4 kernel that's very stable. If it ain't broke don't fix it!

My only concern would be that you could have some problems with the older device support on a older system. You could possibly have to roll back to Slackware 11.

You should read the CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT, RELEASE_NOTES and UPGRADE.TXT to get some helpful information. As PV states, you should try to use one of the smp kernels if possible but I haven't compiled a new Slackware 12, 2.6 kernel for a AMD K6.

You could compile an optimize for the AMD chipset. I've done it many times without problems on other systems. I like AMD over Intel, $$ the main reason, note; 'not flame bait'.

He said it was an athlon. Athlon's a little better, and K6-3's are a little better too. All of them come in 500 Mhz speeds.

I'm still running Slackware 11 with a custom 2.6.22.1 kernel on an old pentium 100. It works great in Slack 11. I've tried Slack 12 on that pc but cannot get WEP working on my wireless card, so I've stayed with Slack 11 on that pc because of my PCI Belkin wireless G card. My only concern is that Slack 11 may not be as secure as Slack 12. Is that a valid concern?

Hi,
My bad! I was thinking the K6s'.

Hi,

The security differences between the Slackware release levels should not be a big problem. Your open without a wireless security scheme either way. You can make either as secure as you want. We just need to keep the honest people honest. If someone really wants to break then the tools are there to allow a persistent try to succeed. If you want security then wired is the way to go. Tapping is lot more difficult in a secured environment.

I've got a Server still running Slackware 10.2 with a 2.4 kernel that is stable and secure. If it works don't fix it!

What was the problem with WEP on Slackware 12?

BTW, sorry about the Atlon vs K6 post error! I had just read into the thread the k6 instead of Athlon. I do prefer AMD over Intel for the $$ reason. I've got a variety of CPU on hand but I always build using the AMD family.

well, the problem may be that Slack 12 didn't install correctly on my old pc. My pc didn't like any of the included kernels on the Slack 12 cd and I had to use my Slack 11 kernel to get it to install and then built the kernel with Slack 12 (2.6.22.1). The wireless PCI card needed driverloader to work (I paid for it last year and other modules in the kernel don't work on this pc). Driverloader didn't have a pre-built Slackware module and had to build it on my pc. It built the modules without complaining but WEP doesn't work now (did with the same kernel in Slack 11). I'm hoping that if I switch the intel motherboard with an AMD that Slack 12 will install with the default kernel on the cd.

WEP is a big security hole...you're not the first person to say that to me. Unfortunately, that is all that Verizon offers on their DSL wireless modem/routers (I have a Westell Versalink). How can I get around this? If I buy a Linksys wireless router (for example) from my local store, will it recognize the Verizon signal in my wall or do I need to use it in conjunction with my Verizon router?

Hi,

You could get another router/AP that would allow you setup a 'DMZ' scheme or just setup another AP. Yes, the Linksys could be used to do that without too much trouble. You would still use the Westell for the 'DSL" access. The versalink has a disable for the wireless. If you don't want to disable, then just make sure the dhcp pool for each is different.

I second using 11.0 for a box like that. Also make sure it has 512 MB of RAM to keep bigger apps, e.g. firefox, cached after first start.

I've recently upgraded to a 900 MHz box (hehe upgraded sounds nice in that context) and probably will get one of these now-really-cheap athlon64 boxes soon, but I've run a 550 MHz Slack 9/10/11 box without any real inconvience for some years now.

I've only tried to avoid OpenOffice as it takes a minute to load on such a box. (OK, half a minute for 1.x ) Compiling is also better done nightly heh...

Hi,

I agree the RAM would be a cheap and easy improvement. That is if the system supports the new memory. Some of the older RAM is getting harder to find. Unless of course you have access to a nice shop with a great parts bin with cheap access.

Most of my bench/development or even build machines are in the 1600-3000 AMD range. Smaller servers are in the K6 family except for a HP Intel 1.4G file server.

Now laptops are another story. Heck I've got some IBM 760s' that I still use. An old Gateway Solo 2500 as a good console. My newest is a Dell I1501 w/AMD T-64, good little laptop for the $. Got it as a certified refurbished machine. I've had it for about 3 months with no major problems. I like it!

Runs circles around my wife's HP, of course I've put more memory into the machine. She doesn't want to spend more on the HP. I'll probably get that machine when she decides to move/upgrade to the newest shiny machine. Her $$ my gain.