Linux Kernel 2.6

[Spleeze]

This is probably a stupid question, but im a linux newb. Now, i hear that the new kernel is snappy and quick compared to the old one... but i can't compile a new kernel, unless i have a detailed, and i mean detailed, guide. So are there any distros out there that have the new kernel already... So i could have it when i install. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

They should all have binary packages of it, try installing one of those instead. All you have to do on debian is apt-get install module-init-tools kernel-image-2.6-<arch>. And then fight with alsa..

 

[Crusty]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
They should all have binary packages of it, try installing one of those instead. All you have to do on debian is apt-get install module-init-tools kernel-image-2.6-<arch>. And then fight with alsa..

And by fight he means spend hours trying to figure it out...then just give up!:Q

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Only a wimp would do such a thing.

 

[Crusty]

Haha, I ran out of time to finish my "project" so I had no choice...the computer had to work somehow, and it wasn't going to work with ALSA.

 

[Armitage]

I banged my knuckles up beating a 2.4 kernel into a 2.2 series distro because I badly needed a bunch of stuff that 2.4 offered and 2.2 didn't (> 2GB files comes to mind). It was a PITA. 2.6 doesn't have the same urgency for me, so I'll wait until a distro is released with it already integrated.

 

[Spleeze]

Thats' what im saying guys. I don't think that I'm prepared to install any kind of kernel. Is there a distro yet that uses the 2.6 kernel? That is my question.

 

[JustMike]

Mandrake 10 Beta has the 2.6 kernel, otherwise wait until there's an official release of your distro.

 

[TerryMathews]

There wern't a lot of kernel support changes going from 2.4-2.6 like there were 2.2-2.4. I know at least for Debian Woody (3.0), a 2.6 kernel is a drop-in replacement if your system is running bf2.4 and the latest versions of the base-system packages.

EDIT: 2.6 is a lot snappier. If anything, the amount of responsiveness goes up the less physical RAM you have. I'm not saying that machines with less RAM are more responsive (That would be crazy), but that the difference between before and after is greater. One of the major changes to the 2.6 scheduler allows for better swapfile usage and paging.

 

[mrweirdo]

What about Fedora? Does anyone know if its upgradable to 2.6 since it comes with 2.4. I hope there is a binary rpm out there somewere for the upgrade. I realy dont want to try and compile it and go through the setup process as i tryed that once before back with redhat 8 and i completly botched my system had to wipe the hard drive and reinstall now i am scared to even atempt it

 

[Armitage]

I've heard that the second release of Fedora will have 2.6 kernel, and should be out in march or april.

 

[Zelmo3]

Compiling shouldn't be all that daunting, really. The kernel comes with VERY detailed step-by-step instructions on how to set it up. Just have one terminal open for reading the instructions, and another for performing the steps.

 

[Kadarin]

Agreed on some of the above points. Any distro is "upgradeable", if you know how (and there's lots of documentation available on the web). I'm in Gentoo, running 2.6.1, and it's significantly faster than 2.4. In fact, my home Gentoo box is a lot "sharper" and "snappier" than the Fedora box I've got in my cube at work doing RADIUS and other misc. crap.

 

[chsh1ca]

The most work you might need to do to upgrade the kernel is installing the new module-init-tools package, and it can coexist peacefully with modutils, making a dual kernel system trivial. The module-init-tools package and the need for a patch to my NVidia drivers have been the sole issues I've seen so far.

 

[drag]

Yep. If you realy desire to run a new kernel you should realy look into compiling it yourself. It's not as hard as it seems at first and is completely safe as long as you have entry in your boot loader menu for the kernel version you know works.

The latest kernel is 2.6.2, and Nvidia's drivers are now 2.6 ready with no need for the patch.