whats the advantage of the 2.6 kernel?

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11-22-2004, 10:46 PM
helios17

whats the advantage of the 2.6 kernel?

I currently have knoppix 3.6 on hda and xandros on hdb. Because I let xandros control the boot sequence via lilo, it only gives me one choice of kernel boot. it is currently booting into 2.4.27 kernel. I have not yet installed the 3d drivers for my new nvidia fx 5500 and before I do, I want to know if there is any real difference between the two offered kernels in knoppix 3.6. Currently, I have everything working with the 2.4 kernel, but I am a practitioner of "If it aint broke, fix it until it is" philosophy. Is there any real advantage to the 2.6 kernel? AND...any little secrets I might need to know about when I do this nvidia driver install?

thanx

helios
11-22-2004, 10:58 PM
CrashedAgain

There are some advantages to the 2.6 kernel, some discussion of it here: http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11985
You can edit your (xandros) /etc/lilo.conf to add a boot option to boot knoppix with the 2.6 kernel then rerun lilo (from xandros).

Add an entry similar to your present Knoppix entry:

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.6
label="Knoppix26"
root=/dev/hda5 (wherever your knoppix is)
initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.6
append(same as your other knoppix entry)
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11-22-2004, 11:07 PM
Markus

Re: whats the advantage of the 2.6 kernel?

Quote:

Originally Posted by helios17

I currently have knoppix 3.6 on hda and xandros on hdb. Because I let xandros control the boot sequence via lilo, it only gives me one choice of kernel boot. it is currently booting into 2.4.27 kernel.

You can add another section for the 2.6 kernel in lilo.conf and run lilo to update it.

Quote:

I have not yet installed the 3d drivers for my new nvidia fx 5500 and before I do, I want to know if there is any real difference between the two offered kernels in knoppix 3.6.

Some people say 2.6 is faster but I haven't noticed anything. 2.6 has some newer hardware support if you need it.

Quote:

Currently, I have everything working with the 2.4 kernel, but I am a practitioner of "If it aint broke, fix it until it is" philosophy. Is there any real advantage to the 2.6 kernel? AND...any little secrets I might need to know about when I do this nvidia driver install?

Don't use nvidia myself, but you have to do something like this: http://www.desktop-linux.net/debkernel.htm or just search this forum for nvidia.

The point of adding the other kernel to lilo is that you should always have one kernel that works if you mess the other one up. Not that important when you can chroot from the knoppix cd though.

EDIT: And again a slow post by me :(
11-22-2004, 11:31 PM
helios17

thanx guys

I appreciate you taking the time to explain this to me in detail. I keep these posts pasted and saved into text files so I can reference them later. you guyz rock.

btw, knoppix 3.6 hd gives me two kernels to choose from. is that normal? I mean, does suse for example come with two kernels?

helios
11-23-2004, 12:54 AM
CrashedAgain

Re: thanx guys

Quote:

Originally Posted by helios17

I appreciate you taking the time to explain this to me in detail. I keep these posts pasted and saved into text files so I can reference them later.

I find knotes is convenient for doing this.

Quote:

btw, knoppix 3.6 hd gives me two kernels to choose from. is that normal? I mean, does suse for example come with two kernels?
helios

It is rare to have two kernels in a distro. I think Knoppix did it because the 2.6 was considered very experimental when it was first included.