Suggestions for kernel upgrade?

Darkenedes · 09-04-2004, 04:45 AM

I'm running Slackware 10 with 2.4.26 now and want to upgrade to 2.6.x. Are there any stability issues with any of the 2.6 versions? I have the 2.6.8 source downloaded but I'm wondering which kernel would be best for me. My hardware is supported in 2.4 even though I need to run hotplug to detect my network card and usb printer. I haven't figured out how to add these without hotplug yet. It slows down my bootup time significantly.

I'm only about a month into Linux and finally decided to compile a custom kernel so I hope this goes smoothly. Any suggestions or comments are welcome. Thanks.

win32sux · 09-04-2004, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Darkenedes
My hardware is supported in 2.4 even though I need to run hotplug to detect my network card and usb printer. I haven't figured out how to add these without hotplug yet. It slows down my bootup time significantly.

just see what modules are getting loaded and uncomment them in your /etc/rc.d/rc.modules file...

Darkenedes · 09-04-2004, 09:46 AM

I've been looking for the modules, but after hotplug runs it doesn't list what it actually loaded while it's booting. Is there a log anywhere I could check? I've looked through rc.modules and nothing is listed for my network card, yet hotplug can get it to work. It must be using a module that's listed for a different card. Do I even need to know which modules I need before I compile my kernel?

Sorry for being such a n00b.

SBing · 09-04-2004, 10:02 AM

You could run

$ lsmod

Which would show you which modules are loaded

When you compile the kernel, you can choose which things are built into the kernel or built as a module (or not at all) - so it is essential to know which modules you require.

Don't worry if you get it wrong, so long as you follow the guide, you won't overwrite your current kernel - you can always boot to that and ask for help!

Good luck!

Steve

Darkenedes · 09-04-2004, 11:15 AM

Thanks. Here's what it gives me:

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted
snd-pcm-oss            37736   0 (unused)
snd-mixer-oss          12504   0 [snd-pcm-oss]
printer                 7744   0
snd-ens1371            11364   0
gameport                1420   0 [snd-ens1371]
snd-pcm                56072   0 [snd-pcm-oss snd-ens1371]
snd-timer              13604   0 [snd-pcm]
snd-page-alloc          6328   0 [snd-pcm]
snd-rawmidi            12740   0 [snd-ens1371]
snd-seq-device          3888   0 [snd-rawmidi]
snd-ac97-codec         49500   0 [snd-ens1371]
snd                    30852   0 [snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-ens1371 snd-pcm snd-timer snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device snd-ac97-codec]
soundcore               3396   6 [snd]
tulip                  40352   1
crc32                   2880   0 [tulip]
parport_pc             14788   0
parport                23336   0 [parport_pc]
uhci                   24444   0 (unused)
usbcore                59308   1 [printer uhci]
ohci1394               24112   0 (unused)
ieee1394               42276   0 [ohci1394]
pcmcia_core            39972   0

Tulip is my network card driver. I have a Linksys card. I just found a support page on their site that tells you how to compile it in your new kernel:

Code:

Recompile Kernel Method:

Log in to your Linux box as root, admin, or super user.

Obtain the Tulip.c driver from the Linksys disk, or by downloading the latest version of it as described above. 
Move the old version of the Tulip.c driver to safe location and copy the new version of the Tulip driver over the old one:

(the mv command below should be typed on one line, not two):

mv /usr/src/linux/drivers/net/tulip.c
/usr/src/linux/drivers/net/tulip.old

cp tulip.c /usr/src/linux/drivers/net

Consult the documentation that came with your Linux distribution to recompile the kernel. 
Be sure to reboot the system after recompiling.

So that shouldn't be a problem anymore.

Now, can I build all of those modules listed into my new kernel and get rid of hotplug at bootup?

Cedrik · 09-04-2004, 12:15 PM

Using hotplug does not replace the modules compilation, you have to compile module if you need it with or without hotplug.

Instead, if you don't want hotplug, you have to disable it in kernel config, and maybe disable the /sys feature too (you may even need to delete /sys directory if it exists). Be sure to disable udev feature too by chmod -x /etc/rc.d/rc.udev if it exists.

For my part, I recommend using hotplug + udev with a 2.6 kernel, it is my humble opinion though.

shilo · 09-04-2004, 01:18 PM

To address your original question, don't use 2.6.8. It was updated almost immediately to 2.6.8.1. The only big concern with 2.6.8.1 is that CD burning is broken. So if you want to burn CDs, use 2.6.7. Otherwise, go for 2.6.8.1. 2.6.8 had someproblem that led to an immediate release of 2.6.8.1.

I'm with Cedrik on the hotplug+udev. People complain about the boot time, but it is far from slow. I'd rather take an extra couple of seconds to boot than have stuff not work right.

I think you can skip those Tulip driver instructions. I have network card that uses the Tulip driver, adn it just works. It's an option you choose when you are compiling your new kernel. It is included as a module, by default, so there is no need to do anything other than "modprobe tulip" if the driver isn't loaded.

suslik · 09-04-2004, 02:35 PM

In my experience:

Benefits of 2.6.x:
+ Much snappier KDE/Gnome
+ Hotplug runs faster (8-30 seconds)
+ Easier to use usb hot-plug devices.
+ Bluetooth support is much better.
- Ppl report problems with SCSI_IDE/CDROM's, burning issues

Benefits of 2.4.x
- It works by default.

EDIT: IF you just wanna try 2.6.x , use the 2.6.7 in /testing on Slack 10, CD2

XavierP · 09-04-2004, 02:46 PM

The 2.6.7 kernel is available as a slackpak which you can get through the slackware website - I am running it and have had no problems with it.

Darkenedes · 09-05-2004, 12:03 AM

Ok, I got mostly everything working now, except it tells me at bootup that dma is turned off on my harddrive, so I must have missed something when compiling. hdparm won't turn it on, so I probably missed support for my chipset somewhere.

I'm going to recompile, but following DaOne's directions, make install backs up my 2.4.26 kernel image to /boot/vmlinuz.old, which is where lilo is pointed for it. If I follow the same directions, will it replace vmlinuz.old with the badly compiled up 2.6, or will it still be 2.4 linked there? Or should I just run make uninstall from the 2.6 source directory and just start fresh? I think I might like to start with the default 2.6 .config, not mine transferred from 2.4.

Thanks for all the help so far.

suslik · 09-05-2004, 04:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Darkenedes
Ok, I got mostly everything working now, except it tells me at bootup that dma is turned off on my harddrive, so I must have missed
something when compiling. hdparm won't turn it on, so I probably missed support for my chipset somewhere.

I'm going to recompile, but following DaOne's directions,
make install backs up my 2.4.26 kernel image to /boot/vmlinuz.old, which is where lilo is pointed for it. If I follow the same directions, will it replace
vmlinuz.old with the badly compiled up 2.6, or will it still be 2.4 linked there? Or should I just run make uninstall from the 2.6 source directory and
just start fresh? I think I might like to start with the default 2.6 .config, not mine transferred from 2.4.

Thanks for all the help so far.

1. DMA:
do a "hdparm -i /dev/hdYOUR_LETTER_HERE" and check where the * is located.

2. "make install"
The best way is to remove all the guessing. Rename the kernel by hand to something like vmlinuz-ide-2.4.24 and adjust you /etc/lilo.conf with this now "old" enrty.

3. "make uninstall"
I would stay away from anything that removes backup working kernels automatically.

4. Old/New kernel.config
Go with a blank if you switch from 2.4.x to 2.6.x. There are lotsa things that are "discontinued" in 2.6 which you can enable by loading your old config.

SBing · 09-05-2004, 04:33 AM

I really don't like using 'make install' in /usr/src/linux so I can't help you there -

However, I just

# cd /usr/src/linux (assuming you've updated the symlink to usr/src/linux --> linux-2.6.8.1
# cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/testing/
# vim /etc/lilo.conf

add

image = /boot/testing/bzImage
root = /dev/hda2
label = testing
read-only

# lilo

This way, you'll have a new addition to your lilo menu called 'testing'

That way, you can plug away to your hearts content with the testing kernel and still boot to your default 2.4.26 (27 now?)

Someone else can probably help you with 'make install'

Darkenedes · 09-05-2004, 07:23 AM

I got it fixed. I made sure I enabled the right IDE chipsets this time and now dma works fine. Everything's much faster now.

Before I recompiled, I checked /boot, and make install had already backed up my 2.4 kernel to /boot/vmlinuz-ide-2.4.26 as well as my system.map. I edited lilo.conf to use /boot/vmlinuz-ide-2.4.26 rather than /boot/vmlinuz.old and then just recompiled 2.6.7. Thanks everyone for all the help.

One last question, and something I've been wondering about open source in general.. after you've make install'ed something is it safe to delete the source files? The kernel source is hogging up most of my free space.