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Linux 2.4.7 Released
Kazmat was one of the earlier people to write in with the news: "Linux 2.4.7 has just been released! Head on over kernel.org to download it or check the changelog." Remember to run lilo before you reboot! :)
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Anyone know what is actually changed (aside from the non-human-readable changelog)? Can anyone give a quick and dirty "bug x in 2.4.6 fixed" list?
for those with ieee1394 devices (in particular, DV cameras), keep in mind that due to recent "updates" to the 1394 driver things stopped working. specifically, there are issues in video1394 driver, which cause a kernel oops when using "dvconnect" program to read/send raw data to the camera. On the other hand there has been some restructuring in the 1394 code and now it at least seems to detect device insertion/removal and runs a kernel thread NodeMngr for this purpose...
anyway, hopefully 1394 stuff will be fixed by the next release (sending dv data didn't work in 2.4.6 + patches from linux1394.sourceforge.net)
It never seems to fail. I install a new kernel, and a day or two later, a new version is released. I literally installed 2.4.6 last night (maybe 27 hours ago, tops). And I'll wager that, had I not, we'd all still be waiting for 2.4.7 to come out. I'll hold off on installing it for a few days to give kernel.org some time to cool off before 2.4.8 comes out...
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"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H.L. Mencken
Perhaps Kazmat submitted even earlier than you did, although possibly by only a couple of seconds, and the both of you, along with everybody else who submitted it, sat in the submission queue for a while 'til they (Slashdot) finally got around to posting it.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Not a problem: 2.4's netfilter has modules to emulate both ipchains *and* ipfwadm.
Personally I prefer iptables though: the HOWTOish things at http://netfilter.samba.org/unreliable-guides are quite helpful.
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Pretend that something especially witty is here. Thanks.
(Yes, I know it gets said every time but people still don't seem to do it).
Go you big red fire engine!
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
I get a kick out of FreeBSD's bootloader. Not only reads the filesystem, it has a modular structure in order to add nifty bits like splash screens to the boot sequence. The kernel is itself a module it loads. Plus you gotta love the fact that it has a full-blown forth interpreter built in :)
... doubtful he'll be writing it in python tho :)
Now I just need to learn how to configure it someday. Thankfully it's like grub in that if I hose things up, I can make it boot arbitrary partitions and kernels from the command line.
Why Linux is still using that abomination lilo is beyond me. Maybe ESR should take that on for his next project
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I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
Seriously though, I found Debian a bit too staid, and before I found out about sid, woody, etc., I had picked up progeny.
... so much so that when Mandrake 8.0 wouldn't install on my notebook and had problems on my desktop I gave it a new look and haven't looked back yet.
... if you've tried using any of the other distributions' upgrade utilities you understand the pain first hand. Debian relieves that pain ... making upgrades as snappy and easy as typing two commands: "apt-get udpate" and "apt-get dist-upgrade"). Of course, on systems with diskspace enough for two installations (most these days with 40 GB IDE drives selling at less than $200) I cheat and install with Mandrake, then install debian and copy over the configuraitons I need. On my laptop I cheated with Progeny, then pointed /etc/apt/sources.list at Debian testing and did a dist-upgrade to run stock Debian testing, so even the upfront work can be eased significantly.
... upgrades and maintenance over time, which with Debian has already lightened my workload immensly.
I too found Debian too staid, back in the days when there were only two options: running the stable (but archaic) version or running the unstable (bleeding edge "your system may not boot today") version, but all that changed some time ago.
Debian has improved vastly
Debian now has three choices:
1) The stable but staid release
2) The testing release (which is more stable that most other distro's final releases, but keeps you very current nevertheless)
3) the bleeding edge unstable release.
(to give you an idea of the difference between #2 and #3, testing gives you X 4.0.3 with KDE 2.1.2 while #3 gives you X 4.1 and KDE 2.2-beta. Even unstable is usable, though from time to time packages break, which is why I prefer to run Testing instead).
I am actually using "testing" in several production environments with less stress and more solidity than I had running Mandrake 7.2, Suse (forget the exact version) or red hat.
With debian the trade off is doing the work up front (its installation is nowhere near as easy as Mandrake, for example, though it has improved dramatically) vs. doing it later (when it is time to apply those security patches or upgrade
The real payoff
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
"GRUB, on the other hand, reads the filesystems directly"
I can? Man I'm L33T3R than I thought.
Trolling is a art,
(P1): arch/i386, arch/ppc, arch/sparc? These are all very confusing
(P2): gzip or bzip2 - this is a sort of browser, right? There are too many choices.
(P3): I couldn't find an icon for this "lilo" thing - it wasn't under the "foot" menu.
(P4): It said I was eaten by a grue, and I can't continue configuring it. What's a grue?
In all seriousness, great job to Sun for their Gnome Useability Report earlier today. This post is in honor of their hard work - hopefully Sun won't ask them to investigate kernel build process usability until they've rested up a little :)
Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and
I have to run lilo, since I use "make bzImage", rather than "make fairly-well-crafted".
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"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Geez. I read your post and went abso-fscking-loutely cold. What scared me is I know a few Maclots who might actually post something like this. Don't give me any more heart palpitations, K?
BTW, my next thought was "Gooood troll, buddy."
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
Well, It *is* getting better and easier.
If you're interested in seeing what all this nonsense is about, get your hands on a brand new distro from somewhere (Linuxiso.org or cheapbytes or a magazine) and try it again.
I've done a *lot* of installs. Took me a year of occasionally farting with it to get X running on Slackware a few years ago. Now, RedHat and all the others set up like a dream. USB works. Sound works - Good, easy DVD - well, I guess that's about 6mos away.
Sometimes, I try a distro and it fails on my hardware - C'est la vie. I try another distro. Right now, RedHat is running great for me - 2 months ago, it was Caldera. All the time, I've kept Windows without a problem.
Now I've been using Linux exclusively for weeks. It has, for me, finally surpassed Windows in usability. (I *do* miss NoteTab Pro, though...)
Cheers,
Jim in Tokyo
MMDC Mobile Media
-- My Weblog.
FreeBSD's boot loader will load anything with no messy configuration scripts. Just install and boot. Too easy.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
No.
Here is the situation as best I understand it right now:
- The specific problem is with the VIA *686B southbridge. [* = wildcard; I'm not sure what's out there.]
- That southbridge is part of the KT133A chipset, but on some boards is used with a mixed chipset (i.e., a northbridge from another company).
- Alan Cox firmly believes that the problem is a bug in the chipset rather than a bug in the kernel.
- Alan reported within the last week that he now has contacts inside VIA, so he is now showing optimism that they will tell him what needs to be done to program around the bug.
- Many people report that with various 2.4.* kernels they get a bootable system if they compile for i686 optimizations rather than with Athlon optimizations.
- Some people get a bootable system that way, but still get random oopses after they have been running for a while.
caveat lector: IANAExpertOnThis; it's just what I've derived from playing with a 686B-based board, following the LKML, and exchanging e-messages with several other individuals who have played with the board as well.Notice that Alan had a VIA-specific patch in 2.4.6-ac4, but that was for a different problem; he reports that he did not expect it to fix the Athlon-optimization problems, but will try to address those when he can find the time.
Meanwhile, I have to agree with another replier who says buying a board with the VIA *686B southbridge is a bad risk right now. I hate to scare business away from VIA if they are in fact actually working with Alan on this, but I also hate to see people drop $US100++ on motherboards that they can't use.
BTW, some of these boards are quite nice, so you might consider postponing a new purchase rather than shopping elsewhere, if that fits your needs.
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Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
More people running the latest kernel means more bugs found, faster. Folks being l33t benefits us all.
Oh give me a BREAK!
It could be like that growing number of programs that have to come up with 'funny' release names... this one could be Linux 2.4.7: The Lunatic Fringe.
Actually, I would have been editing /etc/lilo.conf if it weren't for how easy it was to install grub on progeny (or was it the default?)
I tried to wade through the grub documentation, but it didn't make any sense until I saw the menu.lst that progeny put on my machine. It actually works pretty well. I'm not sure that it's any better than lilo, but the menu.lst does look a bit cleaner than lilo.conf.
FWIW, I put in the comment because I felt someone had to. Looks like it cost me some karma.
And yes, lilo vs. grub may one day become the next emacs vs. vi. But really, who cares?
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Can it be confirmed this is an issue related to the Via *b Southbridge and Athlon CPUs only? I've been eyeing the Gigabyte dual Socket370 VIA board and hope I'm not stepping into sometihng slick and smelly.
thx,
-'fester
-'fester
The Bastille iptables firewall in 2.4+ distributions is good to go, out of the box (so to speak). It's slick - even does IPsec VPN through NAT for one client behind the firewall. I use it to firewall my work Thinkpad into my company. Invisible to the 'net, too.
I'm running cups and webmin, so I edited the cfg file to lock down several listening ports from external sources, but it was easy.
Yes:
# First Entry: Windows 2000
title Windows 2000 Professional
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
-- iCEBaLM
I'm not sure that it's any better than lilo, but the menu.lst does look a bit cleaner than lilo.conf.
Oh, it is. LILO stores the physical address of the first sector of the kernel image and boots off that, if you screw with the partitions even a little bit it'll cause the dreaded "LO" syndrome.
GRUB, on the other hand, reads the filesystems directly, no running it after every kernel compile, hell, you can even launch the uberleet GRUB command prompt and boot stuff you haven't defined ahead of time, it's extremely flexable and saved my ass a few times.
In conclusion kids: GRUB > LILO.
-- iCEBaLM
This post powered by Mozilla
Linux 2.4.7? I can beat that... I'm running on Linux 7.1!
So there!
(for those of you who don't know I'm joking - one of us needs help)
insignificant sig
Actually, Iwill offers several mainboards with the ALi north/south bridges. I plan on buying one for my next motherboard (damned Via incompatibility...)
If you don't want to spend the $120 for a KA266 (average price offered on pricewatch) then you can try looking for an ECS K7AMA, which also uses the ALi MaGiK chipsets (and also has support for PC133 SDRAM). The ECS K7AMA is about $70 on pricewatch.
You're the guy they made this for!
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python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
Yes the VM is fix0red up. 2.4.5 was an abberation. 2.4.6 was great. and 2.4.7 is even better.
Not an altogether bad idea, but remember that the kernel maintainers are programmers at heart, not activists. I can imagine Linus right now saying something along the lines of "Let the activists activate, I'll keep writing code."
and I just upgraded to 2.4.6 on two machines yesterday.
Well, that's progress for you. At least it keeps on coming.
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I wonder if Linus, Alan and the whole linux-kernel crew would consider dedicating this version of the kernel to Dmitri Sklyarov. It would be a great way of bringing attention to a subject that we know hits home at least to Alan Cox.
0 /1 228200
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/07/2
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
hrmm... recompile the kerknel while i'm drunjk or wailt till tomoror moringnig..? Ahh wtf, whats teh worst that coudl happen?
I have experienced random freezes and semi-freezes (that defrosts after a few seconds) in the last three releases (2.4.4 - 2.4.6) when memory gets tight. I guess it's too early for me to tell whether this situation has improved in 2.4.7, after just a few hours of uptime. However, my informal test suggests an improvement.
The test was, on a P200MMX 64MB RAM 64MB swap, to launch Netscape Communicator 4.77, Mozilla 0.9.2, Galeon 0.11.1, Opera 5.0 and Limewire 1.6 ("heavy" Java application) simultaneously. This was done from within the already voluminous XFree 4.1 and Ximian GNOME (not running Nautilus). I also monitored the happening with a GNOME Terminal running "top". Everything was fine, although there was quite a bit of swapping going on. I therefore launched XMMS 1.2.5. The sound was smooth as long as I did not return to the screen with the four browsers. But I had to return to open a few web pages as simultaneously as possible in the different browsers.
I probably should have ended the test at this point - my HD LED was lighting up the entire neighborhood. However, I launched the GIMP 1.2.1. Confident that this was a manageable task, having no more swap and 1700 kB of memory, Linux 2.4.7 went on starting the GIMP. I admit there were quite a few glitches in the XMMS MP3 playback by this time and eventually, the system came to an effective halt, thrashing like crazy.
So freezes are gone, good old thrashing is back... I hope.
Cheers!
here's a fix: vmware patch for linux 2.4.7
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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Farg, and I just bought a mobo with VIA for my new Athlon CPU...
Well, it's pretty hard not to if you're gonna use AMD. Notice 2.2 is quite stable with these boards. In fact someone on the LKLM told me there were no problems with 2.2. Obviously Windows users are getting away with it (Then again, reporting blue screens would be pointless).
Does this at all fix the problems when using the K7/Athlon optimziations on VIA boards
No. The VIA problems are believed to be a harware issue. The VIA chipset is suspect. New buyers should beware not to buy boards with the VIA chipsets. Does someone have an accurate list of the chipsets believed to be errant?
There was a post from the 2.4.6 release announcement that I found interesting. Strangely the "drivers" mentioned are obviously Windows drivers but the fact that software claims to fix the problem and the bios update are worth investigating.
Re:Troubles (Score:1)
by dlapine (lapine @ uiuc . edu)
The fix is simple. Grab the latest the via drivers set, 4in132 and install it. There may also be a bios update that fixes this problem as well.
The problem was: copy 100 megs in 1 or more files at a time from one ide drive to another drive. system locks hard, requireing a reset at least, and sometimes a power cycle. You know that its fixed when it doesn't do this again.
Small tip: grab and install the via busmaster drivers 3011 as well, selecting the miniport option. This lets windows "see" the correct info about your harddrives (i.e. IBM DTLA 305020 is reported as such and not "drive type 47") without any performance hits.
These files are available at:
http://www.viahardware.com
All I want to know is wheather or not the VM is stable. From what I understand it has been the source of instability and deadlock. I know Linus, Rik van Riel, Andrea Arcangeli, and others have been hunting for the source of the reported problems and did find some potentialially serious bugs but it's been difficult to reproduce the problem which as the programmers here know greatly complicates finding a fix. I'm getting some of this from the last paragraph of the Kernel page at lwn.net and there's an intersting thread in the lk mailing list here: Re: VM in 2.4.7-pre hurts.... Anyone have any insight into this particular problem? And I wonder if Linus will drop the issue and turn his attention to the imminent 2.5. I think that would be a mistake.
I was wondering what the reasons were behind not /proc fs. It seems like it
including a low-latency patch; either ingo's or
andrew's. I always apply Andrew's patch before I
try a new kernel. It does help quite a bit. Newer
versions also include support for reiserfs and are
configurable via the
would be a good thing to include nowadays.
my 2% of $1.00 for today
I reinstalled Red Hat 7.1 and as soon as I get it to compile, I'll be running kernel 2.4.7!!! Gotta love linux, no paying or waiting for service packs! Woohoo!!
2.47 breaks the compilation of the vmware modules. If you need them, wait for an update from vmware until upgrading.
You might want to check out XOSL (Extended Operating System Loader). It pretty much rules over GRUB and LILO. It's GPLd, has a graphical interface that reminds one of Norton System Commander, yet the menu-driven options reveal features that System Commander didn't have.
It's a breeze to use and allows all the regular stuff - password protection, multiple partitions, as many OS's as you want, different OS labels, plus, there's no need to reboot or restart (ie lilo -s) to add new OS entries. You can do it all from the system menu and it will take effect immediately. A very good system.Cedric Balthazar Rotherwood
Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform +
Cedric Balthazar Rotherwood
Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform +
System Admin. for Solaris
if you're system is working fine, and nothing is broken, and you cannot really think of any good reason to update your kernel... you probably should just leave it alone. using the newest kernel won't make you any more 1337. don't upgrade until you can see a good reason to.
(although, i'm guessing that 90% of you already know this, there's probably hundreds of people rushing to download the new kernel just for the sake of doing so. give a hoot. don't pollute.)
"I hope I don't make a mistake and manage to remain a virgin." - Britney Spears
"I hope I don't make a mistake and manage to remain a virgin." - Britney Spears
being a long time subscriber to 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' i just thought i'd point out that i haven't upgraded to 2.4.7, and my machine still works just the same as it did yesterday... beautifully. it's been running beautifully for... 323d 10:09.45 now.
;
and even if using the newest kernel makes you 1337 TODAY, just think 10 years down the line when i pull out my crusty AMD and show the kids my 2.4.6 kernel. then they'll all be like "whoa, that guy's old school, he must be 1337 as fuck!"
"I hope I don't make a mistake and manage to remain a virgin." - Britney Spears
"I hope I don't make a mistake and manage to remain a virgin." - Britney Spears
Why so hostile?
Personally, I can't see what the problem is. I'd never performed firewalling of any kind until I got a decent network connection 2 weeks ago. Coming from zero knowledge about firewalls to writing some effective iptables rules really wasn't difficult at all. As far as I saw, the documentation I read made it very clear that ipfw/ipchains was legacy support, and iptables was the firewalling system. I even managed to get NAT working despite not knowing what NAT was 2.5 weeks ago.
It just ain't rocket science, and I can't see why it's so confusing. If you don't like Linux, instead of complaining about it - why not go back to using FreeBSD?
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
Reading the Fine Manuals might have cleared up your confusion on that score...
In any case, here's the short answer: iptables is the standard on 2.4.x and henceforth. Period, end of discussion. The ipchains/ipfw user and api interfaces are provided for the usual legacy support reasons, but the iptables code is still doing the lifting.
Ugly, but you can only change so many things before the major distribution vendors start sending you dead squirrels by surface post in appreciation for making their lives more difficult.
News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters? Like hell.
Life was going nowhere for me, until one day a friend directed me to get help. "Who should I see" I asked. Rather than suggesting a doctor, analyst or other orthodox methods, he directed me to the Linux PrePatch Cycle of happiness and relief. An unbeliever, I doubted him until, that is, I patched my kernel to 2.4.7-pre5 and then: ;)
-pre5: - Andrea Arkangeli: softirq cleanups and fixes, and everybody is happy again (ie I changed some details to make me happy
Yes! Happiness entered my life! The sun was shining, birds were singing. And then came -pre6 and my life was forever changed, I became a firm believer:
-pre6: - Tim Waugh: parport drievr documentation, init sanity
My sanity was restored, initialized like I had never been able to do. Yes friends, the Linux Prepatch Cycle changed my life, it can change yours -
I downloaded this 'Linux' 2.4.7 like you told me to and after figuring how to unstuff a 'tar.gz' file all that I have are about 8000 files! And none of them seem to be installers!
How am I supposed to use this 'Linux' everyone here seems to be talking about if I can't install it on my PowerMac 6100? And now you are telling me to run 'LILO' before rebooting? I don't have a 'LILO'! And why do I have to reboot to run this 'Linux'?
Is this some evil Wintel only program? Can someone find me the Mac version of 'Linux'? For that matter can someone tell me what Linux does? Is it a Word Processor? A browser? A Graphics program? HELP!!
Stupidity Disclaimer: That was an attempt to be funny. I know what Linux is. I've run it before. I use a Mac. I was making fun of some computer newbie's posts I've seen on some message boards.
--Volrath50
Well Athlon users don't have much choice as the VIA chipsets are used in most mobo's Even new boards with teh AMD 760 are not using the AMD southbridge - they are using the VIA one...
Top Most Bizarre/Disturbing Error Messages
- me: fix ptrace and
- numerous: IDE tape driver update for completion handlers
- Ben Collins: ieee1394 GUID cleanups
- Jacek Stepniewski: nasty deadlock in rename()
Whew, good thing Jacek was able to get that deadlock into this patch!
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
2.4.7 is not only a dramatic improvement over 2.4.6, it is a whole new paradigm in linux computing. I urge any linux users to update with all haste. You simply must not miss out on the transition, or you will be left behind. From now on, we won't be asking "Got 2.4.6?" No, now it's "Got 2.4.7?"
The minor changes to USB will definitely rock your world, and you'll love what "initialize page->age" will do to your swap cache. I think Linus said it best, when he said "semaphores are not good swap handlers."
Remember: 2.4.7, a quantum leap forward.
Denial isn't just a river in Italy
But has anyone gotten GRUB to boot NT partitions?