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Linux 2.4.0-prerelease is Released

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the are-ya-anxious-yet? dept.

Mark Bobak writes "2.4.0 should be ready soon. 2.4.0-test12 has been superceded by a new release, and it's not a testxx. It's 2.4.0-prerelease. Can't wait for the real thing....I can almost taste it! ;-) Available, of course, at kernel.org" And happy new years to everyone else. Hopefully holiday traffic will be light enough that we can all share the bandwidth to the mirrors. I shall download while I watch the Iron Chef marathon :)

9 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Nope, this is it. by epaulson · · Score: 4
    Here's the text of Linus' message (slighly edited to get around the "Lameness filter", which itself is pretty lame):

    Ok. I didn't make 2.4.0 in 2000. Tough. I tried, but we had some last-minute stuff that needed fixing (ie the dirty page lists etc), and the best I can do is make a prerelease.

    There's a 2.4.0-prerelease out there, and this is basically it. I want people to test it for a while, and I want to give other architectures the chance to catch up with some of the changes, but read my lips: no more recounts. There is no "prerelease1", to become "prerelease2" and so on.

    One thing other architectures will want to catch up with is the changes to handle 2GHz+ machines, which due to overflow issues caused "loops_per_sec" to become "loops_per_jiffy". And some architectures have not had much chance to synchronize with me due to other fires to put out.

    Give it your worst. After you recover from being hung-over, of course.

    Linus

  2. Re:Question: Upgrading to 2.4 by chasec · · Score: 3

    You might need to update your modutils to deal with the restructuring in /lib/modules/2.4.0. Latest release is 2.3.21. Otherwise, I've had no problems upgrading.
    -----

  3. Re:Question: Upgrading to 2.4 by pete-classic · · Score: 3

    Read the included file Documentation/Changes.

    It is there to address this exact question.

    -Peter

  4. Re:2.4.0 not in 2000, but that's ok... by be-fan · · Score: 3

    Win2K better.. Haha, that's a good one! The ONLY thing better about Win2000 is the ability to run some more games..
    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>
    Right. The fact that it is as stable as Linux, that DirectX 8 whips the hell out of anything Linux has, and the fact that the hardware support and OpenGL perfromance of Win2K still beat Linux aren't really important, are they? Not to mention the advantages Win2K has for notebooks (better power management) and all the features that the GUI has that GNOME/KDE are still lacking (they're there, but immature, and not yet pervasively used.)

    There is STILL a lot of settings that you can't change without having to reboot the computer. That's crap.
    >>>>>>
    Who cares? You only configure your computer once in awhile!

    For a "production" machine, you shouldn't have to do that.
    >>>>>>
    Therin lies the rub. You're thinking from a server standpoint.

    With Linux, the ONLY thing you have to restart for is a kernel rebuild, which is very rarely necessary.
    >>>>>>>>>>
    Except to add support for stuff that your distro maker didn't think was important to put in. For stable distros like Slack, that means ALSA, ReiserFS, firewalls, etc. Then you have the fact (that unless you use RedHat or Mandrake, which bring their own set of problems) you cannot upgrade the kernel (realistically) without recompiling!

    --
    A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
  5. This can't be! by LinuxGeek · · Score: 5

    Vaporware that really exists? What will "industry analysts" complain about now?? :)

    --

    Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain
  6. Latency improvements? by steveha · · Score: 3
    Can anyone please tell me what the status is of the latency improvements to the 2.4 kernel? Linux resisted the big, horrible, kludgy patch, but I seem to recall that there was a much smaller and cleaner patch that made nice reductions in latency. Did that make it in? If so, how big is the improvement? Thanks.

    steveha

    --
    lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
  7. Linux 2.4 isn't vaporware, honest!!! by Bonker · · Score: 3

    I'm rather torped that the 2.4 kernel was classified as 'vaporware' in Wired Mag's 2000 vaporware winners. It would be different if hundreds, if not thousands were actually using the test versions. They also applied this same logic to Mac OS X despite the fact that there are similiar numbers using the public beta.

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    The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
  8. Re:So is this the only prerelease? by bero-rh · · Score: 4

    Linus said there probably wouldn't be a 2.4.0-prerelease2 -- so I personally am looking forward to running 2.4.0-prerelease2-test13-pre7-ac2. ;)

    --
    This message is provided under the terms outlined at http://www.bero.org/terms.html
  9. Linus' explanation by bconway · · Score: 5

    Can be found on Linux Today here. It includes an explanation of what's changed since 2.4.0-test12, what to expect for the immediate future, and a Happy New Year!

    --
    Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?