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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! :)

21 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. ieee1394 appears to be horked by ultrapenguin · · Score: 4

    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)

  2. If you've got 2.4.6, download the patch by Goonie · · Score: 4
    And save yourself time and bandwidth.

    (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?)
  3. Kernel Build Process Usability Review by ethereal · · Score: 4

    (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

  4. Re:Can we dedicate a linux release? by Azghoul · · Score: 3

    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.

  5. Re:lilo? by iCEBaLM · · Score: 5

    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

  6. Way ahead of you! by MartyJG · · Score: 4

    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
  7. Re:wghat/? by dimator · · Score: 3

    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))"
  8. Can we dedicate a linux release? by molo · · Score: 4

    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.

    http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/07/20 /1 228200

    --
    Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
  9. wghat/? by acm · · Score: 4

    hrmm... recompile the kerknel while i'm drunjk or wailt till tomoror moringnig..? Ahh wtf, whats teh worst that coudl happen?

    1. Re:wghat/? by MrRudeDude · · Score: 4

      I have never successfully built a kernel sober. Odd but true fact.

  10. Informal test suggests improvement by knutroy · · Score: 3

    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!

  11. Re:vmware breaks by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 3

    here's a fix: vmware patch for linux 2.4.7

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    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
  12. Re:Athlon Problems by KidSock · · Score: 3

    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

  13. The VM by KidSock · · Score: 5


    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.

  14. vmware breaks by willamowius · · Score: 5

    2.47 breaks the compilation of the vmware modules. If you need them, wait for an update from vmware until upgrading.

  15. XOSL by cbr372 · · Score: 3

    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
  16. something else that should be said by gtx · · Score: 3

    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
  17. Re:Umm... Do you EVEN know what you're talking abo by gtx · · Score: 4

    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
  18. Ahhhh! by V50 · · Score: 3

    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

  19. From the changelog by gnovos · · Score: 4
    -final:
    - me: fix ptrace and /proc issues with new core-dump permissions
    - 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!


    ...ducks! :)

    --
    "Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
  20. Kernel Review service by The+Ultimate+Badass · · Score: 5

    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.

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    Denial isn't just a river in Italy