kernel newer than graphics card's driver.

[colt]

I want to install a newer kernel than the one that I am currently using, since my main partition is an ext4 but my kernel is too old to detect it (altoughI read somewhere that an ext4 can be mounted as a ext3 in some cases, but I don't know if these cases apply to me). No problems until there, I would try to install a kernelmanually, but I am afraid the even the oldest kernel to support ext4 would be newer than the most recent driver for my graphics card. If that it is the case, could the older driver work with the newer kernel? Can it compile a module to it or this is not possible?

Thanks in advance.

[Rubberman]

Some more information is needed. What distribution+version of Linux are you using, and what version of the kernel does it run? Finally, what is your graphics card?

[Mudgen]

It's an open source world. If you're compiling kernels for yourself, you can always compile drivers if you're willing to do the hacking. If you're expecting to have the drivers to keep up with your situation automatically, you should probably go with a mainstream distro and its package management framework.

[Rubberman]

It's an open source world. If you're compiling kernels for yourself, you can always compile drivers if you're willing to do the hacking. If you're expecting to have the drivers to keep up with your situation automatically, you should probably go with a mainstream distro and its package management framework.

Unfortunately, Linux also suffers from "versionitis". Sometimes a driver is dependent upon some series of kernel. Note that the latest 3.x kernels have had major changes in the interfaces between drivers and kernel services. As a result, some drivers have to be re-coded in order to work.

[Mudgen]

Unfortunately, Linux also suffers from "versionitis". Sometimes a driver is dependent upon some series of kernel. Note that the latest 3.x kernels have had major changes in the interfaces between drivers and kernel services. As a result, some drivers have to be re-coded in order to work.

And that is the hacking to which I refer.

[elija]

Depending on the graphics card, the newer kernel may have support for it anyway. If you want to use the proprietary Nvidia or ATi drivers then you will have to install them manually.

[Rubberman]

The nVidia web site has appropriate driver installation scripts for many kernels, including some of the newest ones. I think that the same set deals with all of them, but I'm sure there is code to determine which bits to build for which kernel. Don't know for sure. I just execute the .run file, and it seems to do the appropriate things. The only downside is that you will have to reinstall them when you install a new kernel that you want to use a GUI with.

If only nVidia supported DKMS... Then, the reinstall would become redundant.