The kernel upgrade conundrum
 

My oldie but goodie Inspiron 3200 laptop has been running Suse 9.3 without a hitch for ages. Recently I decided to add wireless to it. I found that the version of ndiswrapper shipped with 9.3 freaks out and refuses to work with the Belkin WinXP drivers. To update to a more recent version, I need linux kernel 2.6.16 or better. Simple, really. I downloaded 2.6.27.6, configured and built it, copied it to /boot, and added a line to grub so I could choose between the 2.6.27 bzImage, or boot 2.6.11's vmlinuz in case something went wrong. Well, something DID go wrong. For whatever reason, 2.6.27 tries to load modules from /lib/modules/linux-2.6.11.blah.blah instead of it's proper dir, which is there and all the correct modules are accounted for. Can't find anything in sysconfig where it specifies this. Maybe i need to build a different initrd for the new kernel? HELP!

Welcome to LQ!

openSUSE-9.3 is too old. The easier way should be to upgrade or use the latest *buntu. Yes, you do need to make a new initrd...

well, duh!
 

LMAO - of course it's old. 266mhz and 144mb can't handle a much newer OS. Or should I say, a much newer OS can't handle such limitations....

Not that I care. It runs oo.o, alows me plenty of on the go play time with qt development tools (I'm learning to build GUI's) And battle time with C. (C code. C code run. Run, code, run.... PLEASE?!?)

Oh yea, and it was $50 2 years ago and came with a new battery, port replicator, and LAN card. At some point, it'll be replaced by a tablet, but for now it does the job. (I've got the desktop for when I need dual core madness) It's staying SuSe because I like it that way.

Anyway, configuration and build docs for initrd are.... where, anyone?

I'm used to installing kernels in rpm form. That way you can install multiple kernels along side each other and choose which one to boot at the grub screen. The prebuilt rpms are ready to go.

But I don't know if you can find any for 9.3 that are as new as 2.6.27.

You can build your own rpms with checkinstall.

Did you do a "make modules_install" ???. As for the initrd, I have never used one on one of my own kernels - I know what I want, and it gets compiled in - so I can't help there.

What was the previous kernel version you had on Suse9.3?

There have been numerous changes in udev and some major changes in the kernel too around 2.6.12, 2.6.16, 2.6.21. If your kernel is pre-2.6.18 you will need to update some kernel utilities (udev, module tools) and this may all require you to change your libc as well.

clearly, yes.

That one. ^^^

*Sigh* It sounds like I'll have to buy a differnet PCMCIA card with native linux support. Either that or drag the old plow horse behind the barn and shoot it. Oh well, a Lenovo tablet does sound dreamy, yummy and such....

You can try one of the kernels from the repos found here:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/

Don't know if any will work on your Inspiron, but it can't hurt anything to try some out. The /HEAD directory has the newest kernels.

As someone who ran Suse 9.3 and treid to use a Broadcom-based card, getting one with native Linux support is definitely the way to go. For me, at least, it was worth the extra $50.

Oh. $50 might not be worth it then.


Well then. First, why are you compiling a new kernel instead of a new ndiswrapper?
Second, if you were compiling a new kernel, why not be ambitious and go for the bcm43xx driver?
Third, and someone may have to correct me on this, if you're compiling your own kernel, and if you compile the modules into the kernel, do you really need an initrd?

Just a crasy thought.