Kernel decisions???

[southpaw]

Hello folks,
my question, as you've probably guessed, has to do with choosing a kernel for my install. The pc I'm currently installing Slackware 10.2 on is an aging
Compaq Persario 5000 w/
*667MHz Intel Celeron w/ 256k L2 cache
*256Mb pc100 SDRAM (2x128Mb)
*WD 20Gb 5400rpm HDD ATA100
*Integrated graphics & audio chips (Intel 815 chipset)
*Samsung 52x CDROM
*Plextor 52/24/52 CDRW
Thats about the gist of it. Anyway, I was wondering if I should stick with the default 2.4 series kernel or should I go with a 2.6 series kernel???

Basically I will be using this pc to become proficient on Slackware...

[oz]

They both work pretty well with Slack, but I'd stick with the 2.4 kernel if it were me. It's the default and it just works.

[St. Joe]

Basically I will be using this pc to become proficient on Slackware...

If you are wanting to become proficient you might as well build your own kernel. And to this end it would probably be in your best interest to use the 2.6 branch. It is plenty stable enough for a desktop environment. To do this you should follow the Slackware Book section Selecting And Compiling a Kernel.

Slackware also comes with precompiled kernels you can use.

[TheBigPhish]

the becoming proficient thing is correct, but i would agree w/ ozar in the sticking with the 2.4 kernel for a while. Granted the work it takes to custom compile a loaded kernel for your system will make you rather proficient rather quickly, i think that the tinkering would be better done on the stock 2.4 kernel that 10.2 installs with....atleast until he learns the ins & outs of compiling and transitioning.

[Nephroth]

Compiling a kernel is necessary to become "proficient" it's sort of like building your own lightsaber, it's something you just need to do

I disagree with the sentiments of many forum-goers here though in that I think that it's necessary to move to the 2.6 kernel. 2.4 is getting pretty dated and the more people who err on the side of caution to continue using it, the longer we will be stuck with people developing for it. (bad thing)

There is a generic 2.6 in the testing directory of the second install disc, you might learn transitioning by using that. Transitioning from kernel to kernel is not that hard, what's hard is getting your own kernels to compile. And even that isn't that hard, it's just time consuming making sure that you have everything you'll need compiled in some form or another.

[southpaw]

Yeah, I've compiled my kernel many times with Gentoo, but of course thats a little bit easier just "emerge gentoo-sources" then "cd /usr/src/linux" and then "make menuconfig", and you're in. Although the second and third steps I just mentioned seemed to apply to Slackware as well, I was considering getting the latest kernel. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I guess I could "wget" a kernel from "kernel.org", then untar it in "/usr/src/linux", and from there I could just rtfm or any tutorial that has to do with upgrading your kernel???

[kern]

I'd use 2.6, simply for the fact the 'ide-cd' module kicks 'ide-scsi' scsi emulations ass.

you're right just get a new 2.6 kernel and build it..

or just use the packages on the 2nd slackware CD and you're done, no need to touch the kernel ever again, the next time you update slackware patches , the kernel will automatically update too, just setup your /etc/rc.d/rc.modules properly to call the proper modules (pats default kernel has a huge module tree with support for a lot of things)

[bryansmith]

You could try installing one of the 2.4/2.6 kernels (I prefer 2.6 because I have had better hardware support with them) and then compiling one of your own so you can boot into both.

Bryan

[oz]

It doesn't cost anything other than some of your time to experiment with both of them and then decide for yourself which kernel you want to use.

[edit: oops... it looks like bryansmith and I are thinking along the same lines, but he's quicker than me on the keyboard!]

[lestoil]

I run SLW10.2 on P233 with 484MB ram and ran install with test26.s kernel . Then when install was done I inserted cd2 and, as root, ran 'mount /mnt/cdrom'>cd /mnt/cdrom>'ls'>'cd 2.6.13'>'upgradepkg *.tgz'>cd /. Then 'umount /mnt/cdrom'. This way got new fast kernel w/o time consuming config wc failed for me too many times.
There is always the option to later use newer kernel with the 2.6.13 config file as hardware changes require or to make kernel smaller. Happy Slacking.