Puzzled n00b...

[mckinnej]

Hi,

First off, I've been doing Linux for years, so I'm not "exactly" a n00b. I've just never used Debian before. I've been having some "issues" with my current distribution, so I thought I'd give Debian a try. I did a network install of 3.1r2 and it ran without a hitch. The installer wasn't pretty, but it worked, which is the most important thing. At this point I ran into two things that puzzled me and resulted in rejecting Debian, perhaps prematurely.

First, it didn't seem to properly recognize my monitor, so I was looking at icons the size of postcards. Not a big deal. I can edit the X config and install the drivers. It was just an irritant considering most other distributions don't seem to have a problem in this area.

Second, and the final nail in the coffin, was a real puzzler for me. When it was booting up, I noticed it had installed the 2.4 kernel. I jumped to the conclusion that Debian had not moved up to the 2.6 kernel. That was unsatisfactory, so I wiped the drives and started over with a new distribution.

Normally I wouldn't look back in a situation like this, but there were some things about Debian that I liked and made me reluctant to ditch it. The question of the kernel version puzzled me so much that I started doing some investigating and found a lot of references to the 2.6 kernel in Debian. Ulitmately that has landed me here and I'm hoping to find some answers.

So (finally) here are my questions. Does Debian have the 2.6 kernel available, but for some reason has the 2.4 as a default? If so, how do I force the install of 2.6? Is it a parameter for the installer or what?

TIA for you help!

[techieMoe]

Does Debian have the 2.6 kernel available, but for some reason has the 2.4 as a default?

You've answered your own question. As far as I know, that's exactly the case.

If so, how do I force the install of 2.6? Is it a parameter for the installer or what?

I'm pretty sure there's an option, I just don't know it off-hand. Perhaps our resident Debian guru, antidrugue, will pop in and help. Hang in there.

[jonantice]

I'm not a guru but...
The first thing I do when I install a Debian distro is install an updated kernel. All you have to do is download the kernel-image package of the kernel you want. Just do a search and see what's available. I use wajig for my package management so all I would do is

wajig search kernel-image

If you don't have any kind of package manager other than apt-get then

apt-cache search kernel-image

should give you a list of the kernel images available. After that an apt-get install kernel-image-[whatever version] should get you set.

[Bubo]

Hi

To install the 2.6 kernel from the net install cd just pass:

boot: linux26

at the very first boot prompt presented after booting from the cd.

Bubo

[brokndodge]

the great thing about debian is that your not really stuck with the generic kernel that will boot on anything. the one on the cd will boot on anything from a i386 on up. once your install is complete, use apt-get or if you installed x then you can use synaptic untill you learn your way around and search for kernel image, probably 15 or 20 kernels will pop up, pick the one that best matches you proc.

[craigevil]

You also might want to try the Etch/Testing netinstall since it installs the 2.6 kernel by default if I'm not mistaken.

[mckinnej]

Lots of good help here and quick too! Obviously I need to hang out here more often!

[mad_oracle]

Not sure if this will help or not, but...

I have an AMD 64, and wanted 64 bit support, so I went with the Debian Etch/Sid (testing/unstable) distro of Debian. By default it uses the 2.6.15 kernel. I am assuming that Testing/Unstable uses 2.15 kernel by default, but again I can only speak for the amd 64 kernel.

Hope that helps.