Slashdot Mirror
Linux 2.2.18 Released
If you haven't heard yet, another version of the Linux kernel has hit the mirrors. This is the first release to the 2.2 tree in quite some time, so it's probably worth updating on those machines which can afford a reboot. There's a whole bunch of changes, most notably the backport of USB code from the 2.4 tree, so all those neat-o USB devices you get over the holiday season won't be gathering dust.
- A.P.
--
* CmdrTaco is an idiot.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
I wasn't really talking about splitting off the source tree, just providing different source files. linux-2.2.18-i386.tar.bz2 is worth just as much to an Intel compiler as the entire tar ball. The source tree remains one, but for the purposes of smaller downloads, you only need to download the source of the architecture you're on.
And I'd love to delete some savegames et al from my machine because it would mean that the machine that I run Linux on could play games. The system is pretty stripped down bare-bones.
Pardon my naivete about things kernel-based, but I've noticed that the tar.bz2 file for the entire kernel is now a whopping 15+MB. That's a big file to download if you don't keep sources around with which to patch or are downloading a new kernel for the first time.
Would it be appropriate or even possible to break out all the architecture-dependent files into separate packages so that you could, say, download the source that would compile on Intel's chips only? Or is the the source so closely linked as to prevent this (I for one always delete all the architecture-dependent stuff after I'm done compiling, except for that of whatever machine I'm on).
Is USB storage supported now? The USB patches for 2.2.17 explicitly mention that usb-storage is not supported for 2.2 kernels. I have a USB zip disk, accessing it under 2.2.8pre21 and doing a large transfer would reboot the machine :-(.
Anyone know?
> I use it exclusively. VA has had no trouble with using it on Sourceforge. I have never lost any data.
Really really really freakin good for you. Most owners of firestone tires are still in one piece too. On the other hand, unless you just recently upgraded to the most bleeding edge version of ReiserFS, don't hit suspend on that laptop -- causes unrecoverable filesystem corruption. But hey, my fault right? I should have used the latest version even when that was the latest version, the fact that a bug may get caught in the future is no excuse to not use it now, right?
I may come back to ReiserFS in a couple years. I've been burned too badly with it now.
--
I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
This was with the stock kernel and stock ReiserFS that came with SuSE. You're saying I get what I deserve for using Linux? Couldn't agree more. tah-tah.
--
I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
> Are you sure that ReiserFS did it and not a buggy laptop BIOS? That sort of thing is pretty common due to crappy APM implementations.
... you tell me. Linux never properly updated the clock on resume (FreeBSD did fine). ReiserFS being journalled is not happy when the clock goes wacky, but corruption isn't an acceptable failure condition. I believe this is a documented problem and fix in ReiserFS.
Sony VAIO PCG-F480 laptop
Ok, I could deal with corruption, but it was *irreparable* corruption, and the repair tool (which made much noise about being "alpha quality" -- also unacceptable, to have recovery as an afterthought) hosed the entire *partition* when it failed. It wasn't backed up because I hadn't yet put valuable data on it, but I'm not sure what to expect even with backups now...
Moot point now, Linux is no longer on my laptop, though I still plan to run it on a server if its nfs3 support is solid.
--
I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
It may not be apparent from the changelog, but there are also some important fixes to NFS version 2 (along with the v3 updates mentioned elsewhere) in the 2.2.18 kernel.
If you are using NFS at all with a 2.2.x kernel, then you really should upgrade. Yes, even if you're using NFSv2 over UDP.
Props out to trond, dhiggen, hjl, ac and all the guys on the NFS list.
P.S. Oh yeah, upgrade your NFS-utils too.
This is the first release to the 2.2 tree in quite some time, so it's probably worth updating on those machines which can afford a reboot.
I know, the slashback article talked about the ability to avoid rebooting, but it dosen't support SMP. Wouldn't the mission critical machines be the ones not needing a reboot, and usually having multiple processors? Maybe I missed something here.
Canon wasn't releasing programming info last time I checked. Just got an Epson 1200U photo. Excellent picture quality and speed. Works well under linux
I use it exclusively. VA has had no trouble with using it on Sourceforge. I have never lost any data.
Actually, I've lost a *lot* of data with ext2. I've lost a lot of time, too. I had to fly to Boston one time because of ext2. Someone just turned off a system and the drive got corrupted.
Just because it isn't in the kernel does not mean that it's not stable. Just because something is *in* the kernel does not mean that it *is* stable.
Are you sure that ReiserFS did it and not a buggy laptop BIOS? That sort of thing is pretty common due to crappy APM implementations.
Myself, and the rest of my department have run stock ReiserFS (SuSE 6.4, 7.0) on our various Toshiba laptops without a hitch. I actually suspended mine a few times today.
When I first installed it, I went around hitting the reset button all the time, completely amazed at the stability.
I've been burned many times by ext2, and I probably won't ever be going back to it. It was great when I had no other choice (unless I wanted to use UMSDOS, shudder) and it was fast, too, but it doesn't quite satisfy me with larger hard drives and more data.
I love being a half-block from Philips Hall, where (I believe, anyhow) >a href="http://www.ibiblio.org">ibiblio (aka metalab, aka sunsite) and their kernel mirror resides. Avg. speed of download: 1.5 MB/s ...
>=)
"Oh, I hope he doesn't give us halyatchkies," said Heinrich.
Yea, but there's no difference between using a Live! and a cheap soundcard with clean-sounding circitry. Linux doesn't use any of the acceleration features on the sound card, and for the money, there are a lot of cards that have cleaner sound, sans 3D hardware.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Oh please.
;)
.90-beta(still undercooked), (btw, I switched distros several times in a month when I left RedHat)
When was work started on nt5?
>>>>>
Around 1996/7. Knowing MS, NT5 and NT4 were in parallel development for the last months of NT4's release. I remember ZDNet having Beta copies around '98 or so.
It was just released early this year.
>>>>>
Believe it or not, NT5 took longer to release than kernel 2.2!
OTOH, I first started running linux in mid 1997.
>>>>>>>
So? You don't count. I'm talking about the general public. NT5 was in development LONG before MS even knew about Linux, much less considered it a threat. Hell, OS/2 was probably stronger on their radar at the time (tounge in cheek
I can't believe it's been over 2 years and noone's worked on a linux port of Halflife!
>>>>>>>>>
Strangely, QuakeII is ported, so a half-life port should be a chinch? And since it is such an easy game for today's hardware to run, Linux should have no problem with it!
Yeah, you, might have heard of nt5 before you heard of linux.. but then a friend of mine just got into computers 2 months ago, he runs winME and heard of linux only a few weeks ago.
Don't generalize for the rest of us.
>>>>>>>>>.
Stranglely, I did. But that was because I heard about NT5 when Linux still hadn't gotten halfway through 2.0.
ah, in case you haven't heard linux started in 1992, I first *heard* of linux back in '94 when I was getting a catalog selling slackware cd's. I finally got to install a copy (albeit "monkey" or "mini"-linux) in 1997
Since then I've used RH 5.0, RH 5.2, RH 6, mandrake 6, mandrake 6.2, and suse (I dunno.. 5?)
>>>>>>>>>
Slack 3.5, RH 5.0, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2 Slackware 7.0, 7.1, Mandrake 7.0, 7.1, Suse 6.4 (for 5 minutes before I got scared off), Stampede
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Actually, I'm underwhelmed by Win2K. It takes more memory, it runs slower, and it is less stable (for me) than NT4. NT4 only crashed on me twice, but Win2K has crashed at least a dozen times, usually running OpenGL code (RivaTNT, det3)
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Unless there is something wrong with them to begin with, they shouldn't improve your XMMS performance. Decoding an MP3 is entirely CPU, and the only thing the soundcard does is send a stream to the speakers. I don't even know what the point of running such a great soundcard under Linux is. Its not like there is any API that takes advantage of it outside Windows-land.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
You mean 29M, don't you? The kernel hasn't been 2.9M for a LONG time.
PS> Did you know that the Mozilla source is 300MB? Sinful! Its like emacs, except with crappy fonts.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Halflife is NOT based on Quake I. Don't even get me started on the reasons why HalfLife could not be Quake I. (Ex. No chrome mapping, limited lighting effects, less 3D accelerator integration, etc). Secondly, Quake I has already been ported. The main hangups would be that HalfLife uses a very customized version of Quake II. What in god's name ARE you talking about?
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
I was just talking about MP3 playback, which would be fine on any OS. I mean you can go and get a sound card with some high quality circutry (hint, Ensoniqe AudioPCI ain't it) and it would be no different from an SBLive on Linux. Second, BeOS supports up to 24 seperate audio channels, so if you ever find a card with 24 line outs...
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Most likely a driver issue. The 24 channel support is (for the present) limited to Pro-level cards that actually support that many *seperate* (not mixed) streams. Of course, the game_audio kit is being released (as in they have sample source on their website), which should allow these new "prosumer" cards to use their multi-channel capabilities. Check out game audio and 24 channel support here.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
>>I can't believe it's been over 2 years and >>noone's worked on a linux port of Halflife! >Strangely, QuakeII is ported, so a half-life port >should be a chinch? And since it is such an easy >game for today's hardware to run, Linux >should have no problem with it! Half life is based on Quake 1 not Quake 2. Porting the engine over while not overly difficult for peope experienced in porting 3d games(say... Loki) it would still be a large project. And probably not worth the expense for Sierra/Valve to order. Keep in mind that Half Life is a very old game, and although it's still popular, it's probably not generating a lot of new revenue from it's sales.
treke
I wouldn't chastise them too much either. The developers the wrote the drivers have left creative, but probably just to get a higher paying job. Their contracts with creative probably prevent them from working on the drivers now. If they are continuing to build on the emu10k chip then it is completly possible that they are adding things that are covered by licenses that would prevent them from releasing this, much like Nvidia's situaton. I think we should thank them for what they have given us, and consider the future as it appears. A few details on why specs aren't available would be nice though.
treke
Linus and Cox supply you with a completely free operating system. Linux is better than M$ because it is released when the code is mature, not when it is marketable. The best part about Linux is that if you don't think development is moving fast enough, all you have to do is stop trolling on /., pop up an Xterm, cd to /usr/src/linux, and speed up the development process yourself.
I've never been part of the kernel development effort except to do some testing and to report bugs, so it would be completely inappropriate for me to try to do something like that.
What I do want to do is make it easier for more users to participate in the testing process, in part so that a wider variety of configurations gets tested quicker, and so that novice users can be guided along in the steps needed to provide a meaningful bug report.
I've seen lots of reports saying "it doesn't work" or "this driver doesn't work" without really providing enough background info, and hopefully this would make it easier to capture and archive that.
Really all you'd need to know to participate in the use of this is to build your own kernel - all! - or hopefully to apply test patches. Then you'd fill out a web form.
Kernel developers who didn't want to participate wouldn't have to, or maybe we could post summary information in some helpful way to the linux-kernel list.
Michael D. Crawford
GoingWare Inc
-- Could you use my software consulting serv
This is a really notable advance. It takes linux nfs from junky v2 userspace to fast state-of-the-art v3 kernel support.
The kernel has a stripped down version of the driver from opensource.creative.com. Last I checked, the kernel(2.4.0-test1x) had version 0.6 of the emu10k1 driver, which is probably a snapshot from last July or August.
Since then the mixer has changed to use the ac97 module, and work has begun on a multipurpose mixer/effect-loader to take advantage of the more advanced features. There's also an assembler for writting dsp effects, and a few other miscellaneous utils.
If you do not need any of this stuff, then the kernel driver should be just fine.
BTW, creative's employees did write the original driver, but it is now maintained by the opensource community. Creative has completely forgotten that Linux even exists
I would not praise creative too much. Yes, it was a big step for them to opensource their drivers, but alot has changed since Nov '99.
They never released any official document on the card (only the source-which was missing many features), all the employees responsible for getting it opensourced have left creative, and creative now refuses to release any new info on the card. Questions the developers have asked are usually is replied with "oh, you're going to need to sign a NDA" (that's when there actually is a reply)
To make matters worst, creative is milking the emu10k1 for all it's worth and are continuing to release new cards based on it. They add new features without telling the linux guys how to support it. (which in some cases renders the card semi-useless)
I somehow doubt that future generations (based on the emu10k2, or whatever) will be support under Linux. Creative is a Very Windows-centric company. To them, any other OS is simply not worth supporting.
--
dB
Tell me what makes you so afraid
Of all those people you say you hate
If they are better, though, I'll be sure to get them to improve my xmms performance.
Tell me what makes you so afraid
Of all those people you say you hate
Tell me what makes you so afraid
Of all those people you say you hate
Also, if you have a win32 box nearby, you can try downloading it with FlashGet and opening up 10 sessions getting different sections of the file. I'm not saying that's good for all the mirrors if everybody opens up 10 connections, I'm just saying that you can get an unfair advantage over the single-connection people once the server starts restricting bandwidth to individual connections. I used it to get Red Hat 7 and CounterStrike 1.0, and it works damn well.
Tell me what makes you so afraid
Of all those people you say you hate
Tell me what makes you so afraid
Of all those people you say you hate
Tell me what makes you so afraid
Of all those people you say you hate
Anyone else have problems with finding linux compliant USB devices?
Even the samurai
have teddy bears,
and even the teddy bears
Even the samurai
have teddy bears,
and even the teddy bears
get drunk
Get the optimizing compiler here. Then tweak arch/i386/Makefile for the required compiler flag. At least that's what I'm doing on my K6, running 2.2.18 OK.
--
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
I currently run 2.2.17 with the IDE patch set - this allows my VIA MVP3 to work in UDMA mode.
I'll have to wait for the IDE patch for 2.2.18 before upgrading. Pity as I want to try out USB at some point, and 2.4.0-test wasn't too stable on my hardware last time I tried it.
Maybe the IDE patches will make 2.2.19, but as there are IDE chipsets out there that can't implement DMA safely, I doubt wether this will happen.
I'm holding fire until it appears in a stable kernel release, before it goes onto live systems.
P.S. Service Pack 1 installed without a hitch. Didn't really need it though.
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
By the way, can we say FUD?
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
You're joking right? I haven't had to reboot my box since I installed it (barring a video card upgrade once).
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Hey look! 2.2.18 is out! Here's the full kernel source! Copy and paste it from your web browser! Oh yeah, and I got first post.
That's lameness.
I rebooted so many times, now look at MY version number!
E:\>uname -a
'uname' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
E:\>ver
Microsoft Windows 2000 [Version 5.00.2195]
Want to hear my story about stability?
I install Windows 2000 on WHQL hardware.
I went to change the default wallpaper, and Win2k locked hard, having to hit the reset button.
I hit "use current" in Internet Options to set the homepage, it froze solid, with the sound making the same stupid windows "ding" stuttering in an infinite loop. Hard reboot.
Oh, I installed SP1, and now black and white pages being printed out on my out-of-the-box supported printer take over a minute PER LINE.
There is no way for me to fix this, I haven't got a fucking clue what Microsoft did to cause this. When I try to "uninstall" SP1, it says "Setup will uninstall the Service Pack 1 but will not uninstall the Service Pack 1" and I hit OK and it exits. I did choose to backup files so that I may uninstall it later. Now for me to print, I need to reinstall Windows 2000 (takes over an hour) and not install SP1.
And they charge money for this.
The difference is, USB was not backported by Linus or Alan. It was backported by someone who wanted to get their USB devices working properly without waiting for 2.4 to come out.
Who says they would have worked on other components of 2.4 if they hadn't been working on this? They were scratching their paritcular itch.
I've never used linux on a mac before, but here's something to look for:
/usr/src/linux/configs. If that directory exists on your machine, copy one of the configs there into /usr/src/linux, and run a make oldconfig to just update the config options that have changed.
I believe Linux PPC is based on Redhat. Redhat likes leaving default config files in
If that dosen't work, maybe someone else has an idea.
to an early /. story -- 2.2.18 fixes the CPUID "bug" that causes problems for Linux on the Pentium IV.
Never meant half of the things I said to you. So you know, there's a half that might be true - G. Phillips
'mirrors' points right to www.kernel.org!
Alan Cox has pointed out that backporting is a wonderful tool for finding bugs and reviewing code. Makes a lot of sense, and if it means a more stable 2.4 in the long run, it's definitely a worthwhile investment.
Many of us would be happy if 2.4 was still another year away if it's better architected as a result.
Well, first of all, this isn't a security kernel release.So no need to upgrade for that reason.
But speaking of security updates; there really isn't any difference between running Linux and MS-windows servers, regarding security updates. In both cases, the sysadmin has to subscribe to his vendors security lists, read them, and apply the patches.
It is very easy, to apply new patches to eg. a Red Hat Linux box: get the files as described in the security mail. Instructions are provided in the mail, but in most cases, one just do a 'rpm -Fvh [filename]' This will update the system, if the program is installed.
There is even a program, that automatically fetch and update all the needed rpms for you.(this may require some setting up).
And if you want really easy upgrades, then pay a minor amount, and get priority access,web instructions and a nice graphical userinterface, for automatic security upgrades (Red Hat Network). As an ordinary web-surfer, this would basically mean, that you can forget about following security lists.
Regarding the hacking as described in:
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/122
"It's a story of great incompetence," said the hacker, a 25-year-old Dutch man who calls himself "Kane." "All the data taken from these computers was taken over the Internet. All the machines were exposed without any firewalls of any kind."
This has less to do, with security upgrades, than sheer incompetent network designing, and administration. Really basic stuff, like NAT/Masquerading, firewalls etc, would likely have prevented that hack.
just after the slashback with Two Kernel Monte comes the announcement for a new kernel threatening to obliterate uptimes around the world. :-)
-------------------------------------------
I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.
-- Dr. Seuss
is different than both 2.2.17 and 2.4.0. I tried to post a patch to fix it here, but amusingly, slashdot's lamness filter rejected it.
.. whatver/everything, especially kswapd, in 2.2.16 and 2.2.17. It seems to have gone away with 2.2.18.
The two big things I like about 2.2.18 (I've been running the -pre kernels) is that they include a working, and version 3, NFS client, and the VM seems more stable. I used to get "VM: do_try_to_free_pages failed for"
________________________________________
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
Yes, the Creative open-source drivers for the SB Live!/512 are very different than the current ones included in the kernel sources, and use an extra ac97_codec module, in addition to the emu10k1 module. I've extensively tested both, and I'd say that both performance and quality _sound_ better. I've also found the ones included in the 2.2.18 kernel to be a bit buggy, in addition to being outdated. Starting and stopping a .wav file with the 2.2.18 drivers often causes a small burst of static, which is simply unacceptable.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
Want to help? Write crawford@goingware.com I know how to code in a variety of languages, but I don't know squat about designing a database schema.
I thought something like this would be helpful after I subscribed to the linux-kernel mailing list for a while to report a bug in 2.4.0 and work with the kernel developers to get it fixed. The bug got fixed, but I sure got a lot of mail and it was a little hard getting the fix nailed down.
Michael D. Crawford
GoingWare Inc
-- Could you use my software consulting serv
This is good news..
I was wondering about the disadvantages of open source systems.
The problem is in security bugs (as in Red Hat) with people who are not IT professionals. One incident is the one at University of Washington Medical Center where a hacker gained access to thousands of medical records and confidential patient data. The start was with a Linux server in the Pathology Department:
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/122
The frequent updates are great, but I am thinking that some updates are starting to resemble those of Internet Explorer; in the IE case, less than 5% of users have the time or awareness to update their browsers and operating system. In Linux, a minority will face this problem, but it seems that it is the same issue.
I know that this is a bit different than the above topic, but I think that this problem will be more apparent with time.
- A.P.
--
* CmdrTaco is an idiot.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Let me just say that the NFS (network file system) support in 2.2.18 is vastly improved over the previous kernels. Alan rolled in the patches that most distros had been adding to the 2.2 kernel, fixed their bugs, and made me a very happy man. NFS v3 support is there for the taking, folks... enjoy.
Tell me what makes you so afraid
Of all those people you say you hate
The man wrote (most of) an operating system. If his socks were any higher, he'd be wearing pantyhose.
Who do Linus and Cox answer to?
Themselves. I think you're forgetting that this is a free operating system. In the "Real World" we answer to whoever's writing the paycheque. It's mildly nauseating to see people download their free iso and then complain about release dates.
I'd like to see some sort of body set up that has soveriegnty over Linus and Cox,
Okay, these people, who are working for free, aren't meeting you're timeline. You're solution is not to write a cheque or organize some other funding effort to encourage the development process or to pitch in yourself, but rather to demand some sort of "linux police force".
If you want to complain about customer service, I suggest you call your Sun sales representative
2 1337 4 u!
Keep in mind before upgrading that if you're running ReiserFS (as you should be =) ), the latest 2.2.17 won't patch correctly, be it 2.2.18 + patch or 2.2.17 + patch + 2.2.18 patch. These should be out imminently, however, so keep an eye on their web site. Also, be sure to check out opensource.creative.com for the latest EMU10K1, as the drivers are far more recent than the ones included in 2.2.18, and a great bit better, I've found. This is definitely worth the upgrade, for no other reason than the USB backporting, as well as the AGPgart and DRI drivers.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?