The Kernel and how it can be your friend

[Guest Bratag]

Ok folks as a long time Mandrake user I have been silently (mostly) reading these boards for a while and the thing that I see over and over again is problems with hardware that for the most part could be solved by recompiling the kernel.

 

For those new to linux I know the idea of recompiling the kernel is a scary prospect - but trust me its not that bad. :shock:

 

First check out tlpd.org - it has some great howto's on doing it.

 

Secondly , and I know I will probably get flamed for this, go BACK to a native kernel - yes the mandrake kernel is all well and good to start - but what you will find more and more is that patches and new functionality are added much later to the mandrake kernel or do not patch into the mandrake kernel. Check out kernel.org for the latest stable and dev kernels.

 

Thirdly create some boot disks - or at least have the install CD's handy - worse case scenario you can use them to boot off and recover your system (the better idea though is of course to keep your old stable kernel around to boot off)

 

Finally Dont be afraid to try the 2.5.x series of kernels - they may not be as stable and they do require some work (new module tools) but they have a great deal more functionality than 2.4.x.

 

Mandrake is a great distribution and I use it always - but there comes a time when you have to leave the nest :). As I said a lot of the problems I see here are directly related to badly configured kernels or kernels without the correct support compiled in.

 

Keep at it people - I have yet to find a piece of hardware that I couldnt eventually get linux to at least recognise.

[Steve Scrimpshire]

I can't even boot a Mandrake 2.4.x kernel on my box because of my Kadoka MoBo with an AMI BIOS. Something in their config. And in 9.1 they've even screwed up their initscripts. I had to hack them to get my network card to work (which worked in 8.1) without giving me a kernel oops. I've been using a compiled kernel from kernel.org for a while. I *still* am no pro at compiling kernels. I'm forever forgetting a module or option in the kernel and having to go back and re-compile. Eventually, I'll have the right .config file to use...lol.