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March 07, 2004

Linux Kernel 2.6.3 Part 2

Okay ... so I decided to take another look at the 2.6.3 kernel.

I got it to work. :D

Apparently, even though IPtables reported that it was turned off, the fact is that it was really running. I downloaded a program called Firestarter from Sourceforge and used it to configure my firewall settings. After doing some testing in the 2.4.x kernel, I rebooted into the 2.6.3 kernel and gave it a go. Success at last.

A couple of thoughts on the new 2.6.3 kernel:

1. I'm really digging ALSA. The mixer settings more much more robust than OSS. As a result, my audio sounds MUCH better. I'm using a SB Live! MP3 card, which was detected with no problems at all. Alsaconf is a great utility.

2. I'm waiting to see exactly how fast this new kernel really is. I haven't noticed that much of a difference as of yet. I'm sure that'll change down the line.

3. The new xconfig utility is completely different than previous versions. The jury is still out on that one.

4. I completely screwed up my initial attempt of compiling the kernel that I downloaded from kernel.org. So, I cheated and used the config from the RPM available from RedHat. I just made a few corrections, like NTFS and Athlon support, and recompiled. It worked like a charm.

5. I used to be afraid of compiling the kernel. I think that in order to get past that issue, you really need to do it a couple of times to get the hang of it. Now that I've done it a dozen or so times with the 2.6.3 kernel, I really feel comfortable with it. After all, it's really just a couple of steps:

make clean
make mrproper
make xconfig
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install
mkinitrd /boot/kernel#.img kernel# (you usually name it with the kernel version)

Once this process has completed, you just need to move a couple of things:

mv /boot/System.map /boot/System.map.bak
cp /usr/src/kernel#/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage# (you usually name it with the kernel)
cp /usr/src/kernel#/System.map /boot/System.map

Finally, you just need to edit your boot loader ... in my case I use Grub. The example below shows my grub config with the 2.6.3 kernel:

title Linux 2.6.3
root (hd1,0)
kernel /bzImage-2.6.3 ro root=LABEL=/ hdc=ide-scsi rhgb
initrd /initrd-2.6.3.img

BTW ... this is a great resource for leaning how to compile the 2.6.x kernel. It's a complete re-write of the original kernel how-to. Good thing too, that old one was REALLY out of date.

Posted by ed at March 7, 2004 12:55 PM

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