Slashdot Mirror


Operational Testing of Linux Kernel 2.5.x

G3ckoG33k writes "The Open Source Development's Lab has begun operational testing of the 2.5.x Kernel: "The staff at OSDL has been involved with development and testing of 2.5 since the beginning and we've noticed that it seems to be very stable for a development tree. So good, in fact, that we think it is ready to be tested in a production environment. We have planned and begun execution of a project to test the 2.5 kernel in our data center using our production environment. The project includes lots of testing and lots of escape hatches so we don't run recklessly off the edge. We began with some of the simpler, less critical servers and, as we build confidence, are moving to the more complex servers. Today we have several servers running 2.5 and within a month we'll have most of the data center migrated to 2.5." Can anyone say Dare Devils?"

185 comments

  1. 2.5 impressions by yokem_55 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've been running the 2.5 kernel on my laptop for a couple of weeks now to get the new cpufreq support. It seems to work really pretty well. Getting pcmcia-cs to build took some work, but I finally got it up and running and the performance of this new kernel is really nice, especially for the desktop.

    --
    ...and IN SOVIET RUSSIA, beowulf clusters imagine 1, 2, 3 profit!!!! jokes made out of YOU!!!
    1. Re:2.5 impressions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      I just don't understand how people moderate the above post as "insightful"... it is "informative". Do you not know the meanings of the words?

      Moderators use Flamebait, Troll and Overrated as one big -1, and Insightul, Interesting and Informative as one big +1...

      FAAACCHhhhh...

      </Rant>

    2. Re:2.5 impressions by SuperBanana · · Score: 5, Informative
      I've been running the 2.5 kernel on my laptop for a couple of weeks now to get the new cpufreq support.

      This reminds me- one problem I've always had is that new stuff that gets thrown into the kernel isn't clearly explained- in the most basic ways. Ie, what the heck is it? I remember lots of versions of 2.4 had features and options with no help to explain what they did. Google searches don't always turn up anything handy- often they turn up lots of hits on patches or posts talking about the feature, but not describing what it actually is.

      Anyway, For those wondering what the heck cpufreq is...From a kerneltrap interview:

      JA: You also mentioned working on the x86 side of Russell King's cpufreq code. We spoke with Russell King in an earlier interview, but we didn't talk about cpufreq. What is it?

      Dave Jones: Quite a few CPUs these days allow changing of the voltage/multiplier/bus speed through software. Russell and Erik Mouw did a bunch of work on the ARM CPUs that support this feature, and started writing a generic framework for this type of technology so that he wouldn't have to duplicate code that for eg, recalculates loops_per_sec in every speed scaling.

      etc.

    3. Re:2.5 impressions by PD · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Flamebait and troll are identical moderations. There is actually no moderation for someone who starts spewing abuse at another user. It should be called "flame" not "flamebait". Flame is when you dish it out. Flamebait is when you are asking for it.

    4. Re:2.5 impressions by rgmoore · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Not quite correct. A "flamebait" is a subcategory of troll. A troll is any post that's attempting to provoke a predictable set of responses, but those responses need not be flames. If you post some types of misinformations (like a popular urban legend), for instance, you can predictably provoke calm, rational refutations. The easiest type of predictable response is a flame, though, so trolling for flames is the most commonly observed variety.

      That said, you're absolutely correct that the moderation should be "-1 Flame" rather than "-1 Flamebait". I suppose that most flames are also effectively trolls for counterflames, though.

      --

      There's no point in questioning authority if you aren't going to listen to the answers.

    5. Re:2.5 impressions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Flame" would be somewhat more accurate, but isn't any flame also flamebait?

    6. Re:2.5 impressions by PD · · Score: 1

      Not necessarily. For example, the following sentence is not a flame, but is definitely flamebait:

      EXAMPLE: The United States forces in Iraq are having a difficult time with the irregular armies, and they might wish they had listened to France and stayed home.

      See? It's not a flame, but it definitely invites flames.

    7. Re:2.5 impressions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not what he said. He said a flame is flamebait, not that flamebait was always a flame. A square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not always a square. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with him on that point, just clarifying his argument.

  2. Good for them (and Us) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've been trying out 2.5 for quite a while now with varying degrees of sucess.
    It would be great to hear from more people like OSDL that it's working well.
    Unfortunately, unless RH9 comes with module-init-tools, it will still be a pain to try out the 2.5 kernel.

    1. Re:Good for them (and Us) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      module-init-tools is suck ass. God help us if THOSE are the required module tools... they don't even support gzipped modules anymore. NOT helpful for cramped initrds...

    2. Re:Good for them (and Us) by ahkbarr · · Score: 1

      Why do you have a cramped initrd? You can even use initramfs now, can't you?

      --
      Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance. God, how I love it. - Gen. George Patton
  3. This is great.. but don't forget: by mindstrm · · Score: 5, Informative

    The reason it's not for production use isn't because it is necessarily crash prone... it's because it can break drastically between minor versions as features are added/changed.

    1. Re:This is great.. but don't forget: by ahkbarr · · Score: 2, Informative

      Not really. I thought 2.5 had frozen, right?

      --
      Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance. God, how I love it. - Gen. George Patton
    2. Re:This is great.. but don't forget: by edrugtrader · · Score: 1

      "it's because it can break drastically"

      or in other words "crash prone". i don't see what you mean.

      --
      MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
    3. Re:This is great.. but don't forget: by zapod4 · · Score: 1
      "it's because it can break drastically between minor versions as features are added/changed."

      Does that explain it?

      Finish reading the sentence; the second half sometimes explains the first.

    4. Re:This is great.. but don't forget: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wrong. Very wrong.

    5. Re:This is great.. but don't forget: by edrugtrader · · Score: 1

      prone to crashing because of something is still prone to crashing

      --
      MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
    6. Re:This is great.. but don't forget: by einhverfr · · Score: 1

      Ok-- it is not necessarily the kernel that crashes.

      The feature changes can break programs running on it. And new features may not have sufficient documentation...

      --

      LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
  4. I like 2.5... I just wish I could clear up the FB by miketang16 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've tried compiling several different 2.5 versions, and yes they're very stable, when run in normal VGA mode... but I prefer the higher res FBdev mode. Unfortunately whenever I boot into a higher res, my screen either scrambles, or totally blacks out...

    --
    -------
    "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
    -- George Orwell
  5. NOTE TO EDITORS: AC POSTING IS BROKEN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    AC posting is broken. If you aren't logged in, try clicking on a link to a story (so for a story where there are 128 of 256 comments, click on the "256" link). The reply buttons for the story and on all posts are gone.

  6. NVidia Drivers by tulmad · · Score: 0, Troll

    Install the Nvidia drivers, that's sure to break things.

    --
    "In case of emergency, break glass. Scream. Bleed to death."
    1. Re:NVidia Drivers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      oh so true, oh so true

    2. Re:NVidia Drivers by pokryfka · · Score: 3, Insightful

      one can compile and load nvidia binary module, though one needs to apply some patches

      i am using 2.5.66/2.4.20 alternatively while using nvidia binaries

      2.5 works prety well though small changes fool some user space programs

      for example since the name extension of modules are different i had to hack my debian debconf script to work properly
      also gkrellm memory monitor doesn't work (free works though)

    3. Re:NVidia Drivers by jamesh · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'm running the latest NVidia drivers with 2.5.65 and they work fine (after patching of course). The patches can be found on the internet if you look around.

    4. Re:NVidia Drivers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why, linux is broken enough on its own.

    5. Re:NVidia Drivers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ne'er a truer word has been spoken. Damn closed source crap.

    6. Re:NVidia Drivers by tulmad · · Score: 1

      I installed the drivers+patches from minion.de today along with a fresh 2.5.66 kernel. I came back to my machine 2 hours later to a black/grey checkerboard. I had to unplug the machine, since I couldn't even drop out of XF86 with ctrl-alt-f1.

      That's reason enough for me not to use 2.5.x yet.

      --
      "In case of emergency, break glass. Scream. Bleed to death."
  7. I'm using 2.5.66 right now... by Dr.Dubious+DDQ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've been playing with the 2.5 series off and on mainly for the USB Storage support (devices that don't seem to work in 2.4 seem to work fine in 2.5 - at least the two or three that I've tried.) For the longest time, there was always ONE of the features that I really wanted that wouldn't compile or work, either the USB, or Video 4 Linux, or something else...

    I came back and tried it again at 2.5.63. That was the first version what compiled and ran everything I used perfectly. .64 and .65 seem to have had a timing glitch that messed up my scheduled recordings (by mencoder via V4L), but that seems to be fixed again in 2.5.66, which has been working beautifully for me so far.

    I honestly expect to see "2.6.0preXX" versions start appearing in the relatively near future...

    1. Re:I'm using 2.5.66 right now... by Kourino · · Score: 1

      No. IDE is in a rather not pretty state, according to Mr. Cox. (Although it looks like we may get IDE taskfile by 2.6 now.)

    2. Re:I'm using 2.5.66 right now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IDE is pretty broken right now... no ideraid is a show stopper for me.

    3. Re:I'm using 2.5.66 right now... by tincho_uy · · Score: 1

      Funny that you should say that... I've tried 2.5.66 and it b0rks badly whan I plug my USB digital camera...

      So, in my case, it's rather USB storage that's keeping me from using 2.5.x.

      I guess I'll have to wait a bit...
  8. Daredevils? How about idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's a reason people don't use 2.5. It's the DEVELOPMENT kernel. You SHOULD NOT be using it for production use. Often things will break. Sometimes it will cause hard disk corruption. It wouldn't be the first time.

    Please, fellow slashdotters, don't be tempted to use 2.5 for your important systems. It's good that it's tested more, but if you do use it, please don't bitch and whine about how it destroyed all your data.

  9. 2.5 by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have also been using 2.5 on my desktop. I got it at first to test out the supposed desktop performance improvements, but I haven't really noticed any improvement. What I have noticed is the increase in quality of the sound drivers. The new drivers for my card can suddenly mix 2 channels together in hardware, allowing me to run XMMS or mplayer and still hear my Gaim sounds in the background or visit a Flash site, without running a retarded sound server, or having programs choke and die because they can't open /dev/dsp. If only ALSA would implement a kernel-mode audio mixer so everyone could have as many channels mixed together as they wanted. We could get rid of this rediculous proliferation of bloated, incompatible "media servers" that use complicated IPC schemes to achieve basically the same result less efficiently. Here's hoping.

    --
    main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
    1. Re:2.5 by bamse · · Score: 1

      Ironic.
      The first thing I noticed was that it MUCH faster and, oh... that there was no sound. Still isn't. Can't really get ALSA to work.

    2. Re:2.5 by glenebob · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yeah! Let's put the X server in kernel too while we're at it. NOT!

      It seems to me that media services should either become embedded in the X protocol, or standardized as a sister protocol. The problem lies in the failure to properly standardize the protocols. The actual mixing can still be done in hardware when possible, but the applications should have a very standard way of writing to the sound stream and that it shouldn't be done in kernel. I'd rather write to $DISPLAY:$SOUND_PORT than to /dev/dsp or whatever. Try going the /dev/dsp route while using a remote X server (which is how I always access my Linux box). It might sound a little... distant.

    3. Re:2.5 by Chester+K · · Score: 1

      The new drivers for my card can suddenly mix 2 channels together in hardware

      Linux is just getting that feature???

      I know I'm going to sound like a troll, but I'm rather surprised Linux on the Desktop is that far behind -- Windows has been doing it for over 4 years.

      --

      NO CARRIER
    4. Re:2.5 by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, the driver for my card is just getting that feature. In fact, the Windows driver doesn't even have it (but Windows has a kernel mode mixer so programs can still play sounds at the same time, the CPU does the mixing). Other Linux drivers have had it for some time, I understand. And I'm talking about 2 PCM streams here, as in two programs playing sounds at the same time. It has always been able to mix the microphone, line in, MIDI, CD, and other channels of course.

      --
      main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
    5. Re:2.5 by sydb · · Score: 2, Informative

      I don't understand. I run 2.4.20, standard Debian package. I am listening to the Ozric Tentacles with XMMS as I write. As I test I installed mpg321 and played an Eddie Izzard track from the command line at the same time. No problem., mixed seamlessly.

      Now, let's try more channels...

      Now, I've mixed Wagner, Ride of the Valkyries into that too. I'm kind of dizzy, but it all works.

      Maybe this is a feature of the EMU10k1 driver, or something, but it just works for me.

      Woooah my head is spinning! Stop!

      --
      Yours Sincerely, Michael.
    6. Re:2.5 by Alan · · Score: 1

      For his card. If you have a common card (ie: the sb live!) you have had this forever from what I remember, if you have some wacky card that no one has gotten around to writing drivers for (what I assume he has) then the *drivers* are behind.

    7. Re:2.5 by XO · · Score: 1

      I have noticed vast increases in desktop usability, and noticed the ability for several programs to access the sound device simultaneously. (I didn't even notice that 2.4 didn't do that, until after 2.5 started doing it.. lol )

      I've never really decided on a Window Manager/Desktop, so I've been playing with GNOME, KDE, and other older WM's and such.. I've noticed that KDE's sound server will cause any program that tries to directly access /dev/dsp to not play it's sound until after KDE is shutdown. I had KDE running for almost two weeks, and had no sound from Yahoo Messenger. After the damn thing had slowed to a halt, I ctrl-alt-backspaced on X, and then it played two weeks worth of sounds from Yahoo Messenger. Fucking DOH.

      --
      "Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
    8. Re:2.5 by PhoenixK7 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Most desktop apps at least support going through arts, esd or some other software mixer so while its kindof a crappy solution its not that much of an issue.

      I'm not sure about most of the cards available these days, but I do know that at least the SBLive (and the linux drivers, both alsa and the old oss ones) allows for hardware mixing of multiple channels (not sure how many but its way more than just 2).

      The ALSA drivers ARE of a much higher quality though. Has anyone else noticed that if you put the PCM volume all the way up on pretty much any sound card with the old OSS drivers you start getting nasty distortion (well not really nasty, but for anyone thats picky about audio its pretty nasty). Main volume is fine all the way up, and its definately not a speaker issue. Going on about the same volume level, PCM down Main all the way up vs PCM all the way up and Main down there is most certainly a difference in the quality of sound.

      I've seen this with SBPCI 128, SBLive, and on my 800MHz iBook as well, so its not even limited to one platform.

    9. Re:2.5 by Dawn+Falcon · · Score: 1

      The SBLive! has brilliant support for audio that way - entirely in hardware.

    10. Re:2.5 by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 2, Informative
      An audio mixer is hardly rocket science. It's actually a very simple thing. It just demands very low latency and very high efficiency, which the kernel can easily provide, while user-space servers have a little more trouble. There is a humongous difference between putting the X server in the kernel and putting an audio mixer in the kernel.

      Putting media services in the X protocol would probably be a good idea, but it is orthogonal to a kernel mode audio mixer. Some programs will always want to access the hardware more directly, and the server itself still needs to access the hardware. The kernel API will still be used, it needs to work well.

      --
      main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
    11. Re:2.5 by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 2, Informative

      Apparently you've discovered that the EMU10k1 driver from the 2.4 series also has this ability. Some cards have the ability to mix up to 8 streams, I've heard. If you keep opening up more mpg123s eventually you will hit a wall. The mixing was new to me since my sound card driver (ESS something-or-other) didn't have this capability in 2.4. The new ALSA driver for my card in 2.5 does. Also it doesn't have the annoying bug where every time XMMS switched songs, it swapped the left and right channels :-) The old ESS driver really wasn't very good.

      --
      main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
    12. Re:2.5 by Doug+Neal · · Score: 2, Informative

      The emu10k1 chip that the SB Live is built around can mix 32 channels together like that in hardware. the Linux driver provides support for that ability by letting you open /dev/dsp for output up to 32 times simeltaneously.

      Simple :)

    13. Re:2.5 by the_2nd_coming · · Score: 1

      have they fixed the responce time of sound events? when I play dvds on my debian instal, I have to lower the arts responce to 8milliseconds and you end up getting blead over on to the next event and reverberations and if you put it to the minimum level to stop that the sound is noticably out of sync with the video.

      --



      I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
    14. Re:2.5 by the_crowbar · · Score: 1
      To play mplayer I use something like this in KDE:
      $ artsdsp mplayer some_file.mpg

      The KDE folks say it doesn't work for every app, but it does for many of them.

      HTH

      the_crowbar

      --
      Have you read the Moderator Guidelines
    15. Re:2.5 by Pharmboy · · Score: 1

      Windows has been doing it for over 4 years.

      Keep in mind that in spite of what people want you to think, most people who use Linux don't use a soundcard anyway. I have well over a half dozen boxes with Linux on them. One has a sound card. Most people STILL use Linux commercially, in a server environment. Mixing audio hasn't been as high on the list of things to do as say, iptables, journal file system, etc.

      The question is whether this should be done in the kernel (Linus), in X, or in hardware (emu10k like SB, etc). It appears they finally decided 'the kernel'. Its Linus' decision.

      While windows IS more advanced on the desktop (mainly what i use) it is not as secure as Linux CAN be on the server. (linux is now all i use on servers) In my opinion and experience, that is.

      That said, Linux appears to be more popular on laptops than desktop, as a percentage of each market. (if its 2% of desktops, its 3%+ of laptops) Lots of people running it on laptops because it takes less resources than windows. An old p200 with 64mb of ram is fine. Most people dont use that feature so much on laptop. Hense, the need for this feature hasn't been on the top of the list of things to do.

      The beauty of Linux is that it is work in progress. And it always will be.

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    16. Re:2.5 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The new drivers for my card can suddenly mix 2 channels together in hardware

      Linux is just getting that feature???


      No.

      I know I'm going to sound like a troll...

      Actually, you sound like the average Windows user on Slashdot. You know little or nothing about Linux, but you still have a strong opinion about it. :)

    17. Re:2.5 by Chester+K · · Score: 1

      Keep in mind that in spite of what people want you to think, most people who use Linux don't use a soundcard anyway. I have well over a half dozen boxes with Linux on them. One has a sound card.

      That's one more with a sound card than I have. ;) I use Linux on a couple servers, I have no need for sound cards in those.

      --

      NO CARRIER
    18. Re:2.5 by kubalaa · · Score: 1

      You can also try "-vo sdl:arts"

      --

      "If you look 'round the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you." -- Quiz Show

    19. Re:2.5 by kubalaa · · Score: 1

      Are you sure that's not arts? When I use arts instead of esound I get all kinds of delays and skipping.

      --

      "If you look 'round the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you." -- Quiz Show

    20. Re:2.5 by the_2nd_coming · · Score: 1

      yeah it is arts, but it is also esound. nothinbg works well, adn I was all patched up with the preept and low latencey shit.

      --



      I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
    21. Re:2.5 by kasperd · · Score: 1

      Most desktop apps at least support going through arts, esd or some other software mixer so while its kindof a crappy solution its not that much of an issue.

      I tried playing TuxRacer with sound through one of those daemons. But I found that the sound would be delayed. It might have been less than one second of delay, but it was obviously far too much and was actually very confusing.

      --

      Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
  10. New features? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone want to earn some karma by giving a list of what big new features are going to be in the next kernel?

    1. Re:New features? by LucidityZero · · Score: 1
      Anyone want to earn some karma by giving a list of what big new features are going to be in the next kernel?


      1. Working sound modules
      2. Improved Tux-racer support
      3. Duke Nukem Forever
      4. A new front-end to "make menuconfig"
      5. iptables4D - world's first premeditative firewall

      --
      Sig.i>
    2. Re:New features? by stor · · Score: 1

      Hi!

      The following links should tell you what you want to know:

      Dave's Post-halloween document and The Kernel Status Page

      Cheers
      Stor

      --
      "Yeah well there's a lot of stuff that should be, but isn't"
    3. Re:New features? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't need any karma added however, I'dd like to comment on some of your questions.

      1. Working sound modules

      Since in the beginning ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) was added, technically the quality, flexibility and the support of your audio hardware has improved.

      There has been much more development moves on the side of modules however. The new module interface has been included which demands modules to follow a certain procedure to announce themselves. I believe these changes were chosen during last OLS because the developpers were seeking a way to do hotplugging and signalling with respect to ACPI sleep modi etc.

      Then theres the not-yet-included small-devfs which halves code size on devfs. (It is default in Andrew Mortons 2.5.xx-mmX tree.

      So when using modules, you should read parts of the documentation directory of the linux-kernel tree in order to act upon the changes made to modules, module-init-tools and perhaps even on small-devfs. (seriously.)

      2. && 3. Tux racer and duke nukem forever

      Linus now and then syncs with DRI and DRM development so when code with respect to your hardware has improved significantly since 2.4.xx you might see some improvement. But I would not know really, I am not a gamer.

      4. A new front-end to "make menuconfig"

      'Aunt Tilly' and 'Penelope' comfig did not make it because it was supposed to depend on stuff not yet used during Linux kernel compile currently. Moreover, the question really asked however was: Do we really want Aunt Tilly to compile her kernel without knowing what she is really doing? For now, the answer must be: No we do not. Penelope however is smart enough to either ask the geek behind her to help her or learn to do it herself.

      However, some additional alternatives to make menuconfig have been added: ie. gconfig

      4. iptables4D

      Ask your linux vendor about interfaces regarding iptables I guess..

      5. Other stuff added to linux kernel to make your life brighter and prettier.

      Sysenter/Sysexit support. (depends on SEP instruction on any processor beyond PPro)
      It will switch between userspace and kernelspace between 1.20 and 2.00 times faster. It uses a technique called 'the trampoline' ;) Especially noticably when using newer glibc versions (ie. glibc 2.3.2)

      Newer process-scheduler by Ingo Molnar. It can scale the size of the timeslice and is much nicer on desktop systems.

      Scalability improvements.
      If you are lucky enough to have a NUMA box or another kind of box with say more than 8 processors, you will see that your 'time make -j bzImage' has improved significantly. This work is due to the linux kernel scalability effort. (Consists of members from IBM, RedHat, HP etc.)

      Not Yet In kernel but Very Promissing:
      ReiserFS 4.
      Atomic transactions, plugin based (need encryption? load a plugin), databaselike structures, and pretty names like 'dancing trees' make your filesystem fly. Hans Reiser is promissing speeds which will come much closer to platter speeds. (Yummy)

      IO-scheduler work. If you thought IO-scheduler work was done.. You were so wrong :)
      Jens' deadline scheduler was an improvement allready. There has been a paper presented since suggesting processes when requesting some data most likely want more data immediatly afterward. This inspired the anticipatory IO-scheduler. CFQ is a fair scheduler for all you people who want to use your linux box in multimedia production (ie. multitrack recording) environments because it will allow fair scheduling and obey yout production demands with respect to low latencies. While you're at it enable Preemtion too. It will lower your latencies even further. Thanks to Victor Yodaiken?

      Overhead is still pounded away on rmap-vm, the smarter way of accounting where your memory pages went.

      Things Linus would still like is some smart auto tuning of the 1001 tunable knobs wrt vm, schedulers, networking etc.. Different loads benefi

  11. 2.5 is pretty good but... by Fnkmaster · · Score: 5, Informative
    Yeah, it seems to run very well, the preemption patch is fabulous, new scheduler and whatever other magic made it into 2.5. Subjectively, X feels more responsive on my older hardware (okay, it's a PIII 650 but still a generation behind the times), which is running Mandrake 9.1 with KDE 3.1 now, on the 2.5.66 kernel.


    This is however still a DEVELOPMENT kernel. I put that in big letters because it's very, very true. Lots of kernel modules won't compile still. Documentation for what has changed is somewhat spotty, and it took me some time to get everything working decently. And getting a system that can boot into 2.4 or 2.5 seems quite difficult with the new modutils package (or at least I haven't gotten it working yet - have to reinstall modutils RPM if I want to boot into 2.4).


    Also there's a major bug with ext3 right now in 2.5.66 - if your computer doesn't shut down cleanly, the journal recovery in 2.5 seems completely broken - I have to reboot into 2.4, let the 2.4 kernel do the journal recover, do a clean shutdown, and THEN boot back into 2.5. Pain in the ass, especially since I've had two hard crashes since I upgraded to 2.5. Also 2.5.66 doesn't compile out of the box with default config. Had to patch one file with a patch from LKML.


    So in short, 2.5 may be more stable than usual devel branches, but don't delude yourself about what you are getting into. If you want the latest and greatest in performance for your desktop machine, give it a try. But I wouldn't run even a low uptime-requirement server with it yet.

    1. Re:2.5 is pretty good but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      JFS is also broken in 2.5.66. It WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY EAT YOUR DATA if you run it long enough (this can be mild load, for only 10 minutes or so)

    2. Re:2.5 is pretty good but... by XO · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Slashdot requires you to wait 2 minutes between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.

      It's been -438 seconds since you last successfully posted a comment

      Well, there goes that really long comment that I had just made.

      --
      "Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
    3. Re:2.5 is pretty good but... by jhunsake · · Score: 1

      Hit reload, dumbass!

    4. Re:2.5 is pretty good but... by Kourino · · Score: 1

      Preempt isn't such a big thing anymore compared to the massive scheduler and i/o scheduler improvements that have gone into 2.5.

      Documentation for 2.5 changes is here courtesy Dave Jones.

  12. Re:I like 2.5... I just wish I could clear up the by DaveAtFraud · · Score: 2, Informative
    Try pulling down the XFree86 source and recompiling it against the 2.5 kernel headers. Seems to work fine on my dev box at home (Tyan Tiger MPX mobo, 2 x 1900+ Athlons)
    [dave@bend ~]# X -version

    XFree86 Version 4.3.0
    Release Date: 27 February 2003
    X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 6.6
    Build Operating System: Linux 2.5.61 i686 [ELF]
    Build Date: 04 March 2003
    At some point I'll rebuild X aginst the current (2.5.66 for the moment) dev kernel. Its hard enough keeping up with the various kernels so I only recompile X when I have to.
    --
    They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
    Ben
  13. Not really that daring by ahkbarr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    These are folks who don't include every driver and feature available. They probably won't be running preempt, which has been at times problematic. You can get a very stable 2.5 series kernel by being prudent.

    All in all, my experience at running 2.5 has been positive, and my only problems have really been with features not likely to be used by folks running special purpose servers.

    --
    Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance. God, how I love it. - Gen. George Patton
  14. 2.5.x by Dante · · Score: 3, Informative

    I've been running 2.5.x on both my station at work and at home. For the most part it's been pretty stable.

    I've run 1.3, 2.1, 2.3 and now 2.5 kernels as they came out and 2.5.5x and on have been a pleasure. I had a 2.1.x kernel eat my file system, I've had nothing like that so far.

    Now the caveat: don't run a 2.5.x kernel unless your willing to lose everything, backup regularly! and most important because I don't think anything bad will happen, be prepared to write bug reports correctly! READ THIS AFTER DOWNLOAD! linux-2.5.x/Documentation/BUG-HUNTING

    --
    "think of it as evolution in action"
  15. 2.4 Scheduler backport? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One of the major things I'd like to try with 2.5 is the new scheduler. I know many distributions have this backported but I'm running a stock kernel and would like to patch it. Is the backport fairly stable for 2.4? And will it add anything to performance?

  16. configuration? by SHEENmaster · · Score: 1

    I tried to switch from 2.4.x to 2.5 on my iBook, "make xconfig" was completely fubar. If it wasn't such a bitch to build, I might not've gotten sidetracked.

    2.4's xconfig isn't perfect, but it does a reasonable job of noting prerequisites.

    To be fair, I tried this on an Apple iBook, which is not Linus's target box, and I got sidetracked after a few compile attempts.

    --
    You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
    1. Re:configuration? by tarzan420 · · Score: 1

      I have had similar issues, even when I could compile it, It refused to boot.

  17. Re:I like 2.5... I just wish I could clear up the by urmensch · · Score: 1

    I think he's talking about the console frame buffers - shouldn't really make a difference whether you have X or not. in fact I did what you said and I still had the same problems miketang has(with both vesa and rivafb drivers).

  18. Deactivating swap forever... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The biggest problem I have is when I shut down the computer it hangs at deactivating swap forever.

  19. Not for long... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "we've noticed that it seems to be very stable for a development tree."

    And, in other news, Kernel developers worldwide learned that the development tree was too stable and announced sweeping changes to the VM, IDE, and Scheduler modules.

    Said one developer, "it's not bleeding edge unless someone is bleeding. It pains me to think that we've actually got this thing stabilized with an odd-number dev version. We normally don't go for that until we go to the even-number release versions, usually at a x.y.5 or x.y.6 release."

    1. Re:Not for long... by XO · · Score: 1

      Strangely enough, that's all happened in the last 40 releases of 2.5.

      It's been MORE stable with all these changes than it was BEFORE. :P

      --
      "Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
    2. Re:Not for long... by oxfletch · · Score: 1

      That's mainly because multiple large corporations constantly run benchmarks on big-assed machines and kick the living snot out of the 2.5 kernel, report bugs and fix them. Every frigging day, every kernel release. And the fact that people like Andrew have far too much talent for their own good ;-)

      2.6 *will* rule the world.

  20. Tread carefully on any kernel release... by Ho+Kooshy+Fly · · Score: 4, Informative

    Having gone through high cpu/disk load crashes over multiple kernels, I would suggest a good test plan before embarking on any new kernel.

    Our most recent experience with 'stable' kernels (specifically drivers in our case) was the default kernel in RH 8. It had some very subtle issues with Intel's GigPHY/MAC chipset that caused crashes only under specific high load every three to four days. Crashes were not repeatable in specific time frames but would eventually happen. I suggest finding a characteristic set of applications/loading of disk/mem/CPU applications and then test out your favorite kernel under all those circumstances. Many programs that run huge FFTs or other number crunching applications are many times too specific to cause failures. We in this example used a program to calculate huge FFTs while doing looping network file transfers to test without issues... nothing beats the real thing!

    Also don't think that even 2.4.x series kernels are above this... as I stated earlier even a heavily patched 2.4.18 kernel could be your downfall... so maybe a 2.5.x kernel is okay but beat the crap out of it before putting both feet in.

    -Ho

    1. Re:Tread carefully on any kernel release... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hi Ho

      How much?

    2. Re:Tread carefully on any kernel release... by Kourino · · Score: 1

      Bottom line: never upgrade kernels immediately on ANY production machine. (Never do it unless you absolutely have to, in fact.) Case in point: 2.4.18 through 2.4.20 released with bugs in ext3, notably the journal=data bug.

    3. Re:Tread carefully on any kernel release... by XO · · Score: 1

      I have a machine running 2.4.20, that requires a physical power off about every 3-4 days.. haven't got a head anywhere near it to check it out, either.. too lazy to move on, since a power cycle just fixes it.. i guess that's the same reason people just run windows, eh?

      it never did that under 2.2.18 .. but 2.4.x is just not very stable on any of the hardware i've tried it on. i'll be loading my laptop with 2.5.x as soon as i figure out -how-...

      --
      "Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
    4. Re:Tread carefully on any kernel release... by BrokenHalo · · Score: 1
      ...running 2.4.20, that requires a physical power off about every 3-4 days..

      Really? maybe you should report that as a bug. My 4 machines haven't been rebooted since 2.4.20 came out except for 2 days ago when we had a freak lightning storm and I took everything off-line :-). I've found 2.4.20 to be completely rock-solid with no evident leaks.

    5. Re:Tread carefully on any kernel release... by XO · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I really should get a monitor on it.. I did get one to it once, and it had OOPS!ed in the NFS server in the kernel.. I figure that's what it's probably doing.. but I hardly ever mount it's NFS share, so it hasn't bugged me too much

      --
      "Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
  21. Question by RedBear · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There are those of us who like to mess with our Linux systems but aren't exactly experts and probably never will be. Some of us would really like to dabble a bit with the new 2.5 kernel on our personal systems, but we'd rather not hose our system in the process. Is there anyplace out there where someone periodically puts together a "semi-stable" version of the development kernel, that us dabblers can download and be reasonably sure that it will be free of such things as major filesystem bugs?

    Everyone says, don't run the development kernel if you don't know what you're doing, and of course any particular 2.5 kernel grabbed off of kernel.org can be majorly broken, right? So it would be really cool if one of the real kernel developers could put together something inbetween the 2.4 "stable" kernel and the 2.5 "careful!" kernel. There are just so many cool new features in 2.5, like that huge improvement in interactivity that could really make the desktop more usable, but those of us who aren't experts are really leery to just grab the source and start compiling, because who knows what might be broken in any particular development sub-version.

    Does anyone make a habit of doing this "semi-stable" thing with the development kernels? Failing that, are cool things like that interactivity improvement being backported to the 2.4 kernel already?

    1. Re:Question by naelurec · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't this end up being the 2.6.0pre releases? While it would be great to load up 2.5 to try out, I think it would be very difficult to determine a certain release as "stable enough" to give it a more stable rating than a previous or future version of the kernel. If you want to try out latest kernel, best thing to do is to setup a development box to test out the kernel (read: a system where if it gets completely trashed, you won't be losing critical/important data) --- next best is dual boot, but you *may* run the risk of data corruption/deletion on your other setup.

    2. Re:Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      If you follow the mailing list (mandatory if you want to run a development kernel, of course) just stay a few versions behind. Download the latest 2.5, but don't install it. Read the list for a couple of weeks. If nobody mentions any show-stopping bugs in your version, you're probably safe to go ahead with the install, and you'll know what to expect from others' posts. DON'T post incessant questions to the list asking whether each new version is OK to run - just watching for bug reports gives you enough information, and doesn't annoy the ML.

      This strategy comes from (but probably does not originate with) the FreeBSD-STABLE community.

    3. Re:Question by Tailhook · · Score: 1

      I used Debian Woody for 2.4 experimentation. Debian provides a system called kernel-package. You build the kernel into a package and install it. This doesn't remove your old kernel. You configure LILO (or whatever) to allow the operator to select the kernel version. Reboot. If things get hairy you just boot into the old kernel.

      --
      Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
    4. Re:Question by spencerogden · · Score: 1

      From what I understand, due to differences in the modutils package, dual booting the 2.5 kernels with the 2.4 kernels is a little harder than in the past.

      I would recommend checking out the UML kernels which are released a few days after the main releases. You can run the new kernel inside a stable environment with it own root. See if it works with your workload. If its stable there you might trust it enough to boot into it.

    5. Re:Question by dsb3 · · Score: 1

      The parent post refers (in part) specifically to file system bugs. Just booting into a different kernel with the boot loader does nothing to protect your disk against corruption if the fs goes haywire.

      Something like user-mode-linux may be better suited than running an unstable kernel on live partitions... having your old kernel binary around is no solace if your new, experimental one just hosed your disk.

      --

      Slashdot? Oh, I just read it for the articles.
    6. Re:Question by oxfletch · · Score: 2, Informative

      I actually *do* try to do that in the -mjb tree already ... I collect bug fixes, performance improvements, and diagnostics tools (so if it does break, you can find what went wrong).

      Staying one kernel release back will help you too ... ie we're on 2.5.66 now, so run 2.5.65-mjb2 (the latest 65 version). And don't turn on preempt (it's broken in my tree by something I did).

      The interactivity tweaks are against the O(1) scheduler, so won't do you much good in 2.4 .. unless you run 2.4-aa or something.

      If you're going to upgrade from 2.4 to 2.5, make sure you compile import support in (not off, or as a module), and turn VT console support on explicitly. Those are the usual tarpits for new 2.5 people.

    7. Re:Question by DaveAtFraud · · Score: 1

      An easy work around for the new modutils package is to just make sure that everything your system has to have in order to boot up and run is built into the development kernel you're playing with. That is, not a module. That way, you can leave modutils alone, let the development kernel boot and then modprobe any "optional" modules in after the system has booted. Examples of optional stuff would be things like sound, "other" file systems, etc.

      Come to think of it... if some functionality is required to boot up and/or run, why have it as a module anyway unless you're building kernels for multiple systems that have different configurations? Its gotta be there so you might as well build it in.

      --
      They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
      Ben
  22. Re:NOTE TO EDITORS: AC POSTING IS BROKEN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ACtually it is, wuckfit.

    In the example I gave above, I had to click on the "128" link. Clicking on the "256" link brings up the error.

    Thanks for playing. You give the best blowjobs 3V@R.

  23. Answer by BlowChunx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    vmware.

    If it hoses your virtual machine, you are out nothing. If you aren't up for the kernel screwing up your*real* machine and having to reinstall everything, leave it alone.

    2.4.xx is perfectly fine. You really aren't missing anything. You'll get it soon enough, without the pain. Besides, anticipation makes you appreciate it more.

    1. Re:Answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      at > US$299.00 vmware is not for everyone...

    2. Re:Answer by DenOfEarth · · Score: 1

      so does that mean that all things that are in the 2.5 kernel will go on to start the 2.6 kernel?

    3. Re:Answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      6818X-84WD1-01KDK-3JN9X

      Now it's for everyone!
      ---
      bmouse

  24. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by iabervon · · Score: 3, Informative

    You should only use a development kernel in a production environment if you've already tested it extensively and found it to have no problems with your particular load on your particular hardware with the options you're using. Of course, if you're OSDL, you can actually do this sort of testing, but practically everyone else doesn't have the spare hardware and test suites necessary.

  25. Re:I like 2.5... I just wish I could clear up the by DaveAtFraud · · Score: 1

    I always keep the console REALLY simple (e.g., you could put it up on a monochrome, 25x80 text monitor) so I didn't even think about console frame buffers. I think one of the reasons I ended up pulling down the X source and compiling it was that 4.1 whigged out against 2.5 at some point and I decided I may as well bring X up to current. That would have probably been about when X 4.2 came out so its a while ago. Once I got bit with the "keep current" bug, I went to X 4.3 when it was released.

    --
    They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
    Ben
  26. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Don't sweat it. Many ppl here use MS windows and are plenty use to lots of downtime, crashes, and loss of data.

  27. 2.5 more reliable than 2.4 for me! by jamesh · · Score: 2, Informative

    I've been running 2.5.xx on my home server since xx was >30ish. not really by choice either. 2.4.xx (for all xx) is grossly unstable for my combination of hardware. I got ide irq timeouts which brings the machine crashing down often before it had finished booting. It would run in uniprocessor mode but what's the point of that!!!

    I have one problem with hostap (wireless access point drivers) and my sound card sharing an interrupt which causes a crash occasionally, but if i don't load the sounds drivers it never crashes.

    My hardware is:
    ABIT BP6 mb using onboard ata66 ide
    2 x Celeron 400 (SMP kernel)
    TV card
    sound card
    NVidia gfx card
    wireless card
    network card

    1. Re:2.5 more reliable than 2.4 for me! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The BP6 is an extremely buggy motherboard and has caused many of us countless hours of trouble. (I threw mine in the closet).

      Your increase in stability with 2.5.x is interesting, but does not waver from the fact that the BP6 was a flaky board depending on which manufacturing run/revision you ended up with.

      I eventually bought a Tyan board with some PIIIs.

    2. Re:2.5 more reliable than 2.4 for me! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah. I had that same motherboard recommended to me by an ex-friend. It became my worst nightmare. In the end, I found out that the motherboard had the capacitor problem. Replaced the motherboard and will never listen to that person again.

    3. Re:2.5 more reliable than 2.4 for me! by jamesh · · Score: 1

      people say this, but i've had nothing but good fortune with mine. I attribute this to several factors:

      . I don't overclock it, and have never overclocked it
      . I don't run Microsoft software on it
      . I use a good quality power supply
      . I keep it cool. Not water cooled, or super fans. it's just got the oem fans in it and a few other case fans to evacuate the hot air. (no probs even in ambient temp of 40 celcius)
      . quality memory.
      . dumb luck.

      If you _ever_ overclock a mb/cpu, you risk damaging components. permanently. It might not show up straight away though.

      That being said, the revision after mine had a documented (not by abit afaik though :) problem with an out of spec capacitor. Replacing this improved reliability for some people.

    4. Re:2.5 more reliable than 2.4 for me! by mountain_penguin · · Score: 1

      hmm i had similar probs but found the answer ..... set plug and play os support to false in bios
      thats it
      also with that board make sure you cool the northbridge as this make a big difference

  28. How about Linux native games? by antdude · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Are there any improvements for Linux native games like Quake series, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, etc.?

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  29. Anticipatory Scheduler by Pegasus · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm running 2.5.65-mm4 on my home box because i wanted to find out whats all the excitement and nice numbers about the new scheduler. After i got all the modules right, i did some tests ... and was a bit dissapointed. You see, it's not all that faster ... it just feels different. Yes, programs do load somewhat faster, but at the same time doing a ls -l in my home dir was kinda slower that with excellent WOLK patchset for 2.4.18. On the other side, i was completely able to browse my large inbox (~20k mails in maildir) while checking md5 of the latest knoppix iso on the same disk.

    I have a lot of expectations of the Alan/Andre team with their ide work ... i just can't wait to test the 'fixed up' promise driver and ide tcq code! Right now ide tcq on promise is somewhat borken. If ide tcq shows some numbers, that would be the last argument down for scsi vs. ide in our servers...

    1. Re:Anticipatory Scheduler by Nicopa · · Score: 4, Informative

      Your expectations were wrong. The new Linux won't make things faster, it will just (as you put it) make things feel different for interactive processes. The idea is to be able to work without one second pauses when a background process is performing some heavy task.

    2. Re:Anticipatory Scheduler by oever · · Score: 1

      Yes, programs do load somewhat faster, but at the same time doing a ls -l in my home dir was kinda slower that with excellent WOLK patchset for 2.4.18.

      This weekend, I compiled 2.5.66 on my Celeron 400 MHz laptop and I have a similar experience: X felt much more responsive, but accessing files could be reeeeaaallllyyyy slow. Sometimes accessing a file could take 5 seconds! Also starting X took longer.

      I was pleasantly surprised with the hardware mixing of PCM streams. Bye bye arts! I'm wondering though if I need to recompile aplay, since it uses 100% CPU infinetly after playing a sound. I've solved it now by replacing 'aplay' with 'echo'.

      --
      DNA is the ultimate spaghetti code.
    3. Re:Anticipatory Scheduler by hacker · · Score: 1
      I too am seeing *MAJOR* slowdowns in performance when using 2.5.66 or anything after 2.5.64-mm1 (.64-mm1 is hands-down the most responsive out of any 2.5.xx kernel series to date).

      Since -mm1, the rest have gotten more and more and more sluggish. Now with 2.5.66-mm1, it takes rougly 3-4 seconds for an xterm to open with a ctrl-alt-b keystroke in sawfish. With 2.5.64-mm1, it's instantaneous. 2.5.66-mm1 (or alan's patch or straight 2.5.66) also seems to "miss" my keyboard shortcuts to launch applications, like an xterm, and I have to hit them several times before the first instance will launch, then about 10 seconds later, 3-4 other copies will launch too. Not fun for apps that don't lock well.

      I can also reproducably hard-lock any 2.5 kernel running with the USB visor module by simply plugging in my USB Palm handheld, hitting HotSync on the handheld, and then tapping Cancel on the handheld about 2 seconds later. I've tested this hundreds of times, and I can reproduce it 100% of the time. This is a major blocker for me, since I was going to be using the 2.5 series in a product that works around USB Palm devices. The same process on 2.4.21-pre6 does not exhibit these symptoms. Greg Kroah is aware of it already, though there doesn't seem to be any resolution yet.

      I'll wait until they get the responsiveness that was in 2.5.64-mm1 back into the 2.5.66 series before I go whole-hog over to it.

  30. Re:Hm.. duplication... by miketang16 · · Score: 1

    Perhaps I'm not the only one, maybe I'll post this to the kernel developers. I was just afraid of bothering them with some bug that was due to my idiocy.

    --
    -------
    "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
    -- George Orwell
  31. Re:Bugs? by sloanster · · Score: 2, Informative

    Nah - the whole purpose of ntfs on linux is to share data with windows, especially on a dual boot setup - no production linux server is going to be using ntfs for anything serious.

  32. Modules/drivers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i always get a QM_Modules : Not implemented when i do a modprobe... anyone has a clue? jsrlepage@hotmail.com

    1. Re:Modules/drivers by sloanster · · Score: 1

      You may want to go to ftp.kernel.org, look in /pub/linux/kernel/people/rusty/modules, and grab module-init-tools-0.9.11 from there.

      Follow the directions and you'll be good.

    2. Re:Modules/drivers by Zippy+the+Pinhead · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The kernel modules sytem was revamped, and is much nicer. But loading modules is now so easy to do, it would've been more hassle to emulate the old interface than to write new utilities.

      The new module-init-tools are under:
      ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/peop le/rusty /modules/

      If you're running an RPM-based distro, you can get the latest modutils.src.rpm from there and use rpm --rebuild to recompile it. Bonus: it still has the old modutils, so you can dual-boot.

      If you're running Debian Sid, you can apt-get install module-init-tools.

    3. Re:Modules/drivers by SurfsUp · · Score: 1

      The kernel modules sytem was revamped, and is much nicer. But loading modules is now so easy to do...

      Oh? In what way?

      --
      Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.
  33. Not really daring by ChaoticCoyote · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I've been running the 2.5 kernels since about 2.5.30 -- on my primary workstation, no less. In other words, my livelihood is depending on a development kernel.

    It works. For me, I've had almost no trouble, save for some difficulties with the radeonfb driver not liking my DFP when it's attached to the DVI. Overall, though, performance is excellent -- though I do keep studious backups in case soemthing "goes wrong."

    2.5 is really a solid pice of work. Yes, it had bugs; follow the kernel mailing list, watch what people say, read the patch lists, and skip releases that seem a bit flakey.

  34. Re:NOTE TO EDITORS: AC POSTING IS BROKEN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    actually, if you're logged in and viewing at -1, you DO still see the reply links. if you're browsing whilst logged out, you don't. this may not be so much of a break as it is an anti-trolling device.

    good countermeasures?
    how about a slashdot proxy page (easy to do in php) that adds the "reply" links in there for you. also have it filter ads, while you're at it.

    regards,
    joe_bruin

  35. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by sloanster · · Score: 1

    The idiots are the ones who moan about 2.5 being unstable without ever testing it themselves.

    It's not for joe 6-pack yet, leave that to the vendor release of 2.6 - but for those who know what they are doing, the 2.5 kernel is getting to be pretty useful for everyday work, and provides some improvements over the current stable kernel.

    I've been running 2.5.66-mm1 for 4 days now, and it's been surprisingly stable on a box that is doing 24x7 service -

  36. Re:Hm.. duplication... by urmensch · · Score: 1

    I don't think it could hurt - what's the worst that could happen? They ask you to check your kernel config and tell you if you made an "obvious" mistake. I would just make sure this bug is still valid. I haven't tried the frame buffer @ high res since 2.5.58. I'll try again in a day or so just for kicks.

    Is there a reason you are trying to get this to work? I like high res consoles too, but usually end up in X with two terms per desktop.

  37. What I did by DaveAtFraud · · Score: 2, Informative

    Regardless of whether you use lilo or grub, you can have the option of booting multiple kernels as long as you have room for them in /boot. When you install a new, development kernel, edit the appropriate boot loader configuration file to make sure you can still boot to a stable kernel (e.g., 2.4.X). I have only had a couple of instances where a new development kernel either wouldn't boot or was unstable once it did. I documented the bug, in a couple instances helped test the patch and could always drop back to my stable kernel while things didn't work. Also, once you get a development kernel that seems stable with your rig, that joins the stable production kernel in your boot configuration. If nothing else, putting "milage" on even a less than current development kernel helps since there *could be* a lurking time dependent error (haven't hit one but could happen).

    So you end up with usually three and sometimes a few more kernels to choose from when you boot:

    1) stable production (2.4.X)
    2) seems to be stable development
    3) current development

    When a "current development" kernel seems to be stable, it becomes your new "seems to be stable" dev kernel and you can drop the old "seems to be current" version. Just be sure to weed out old kernels from /boot so you don't fill the partition.

    Unless your rig is a completely stock retail box, chances are your specific combination of peripherals and software are unique. So there is no guarantee that your specific configuration will be stable with a development kernel. The beauty of it is, that's a question only you can answer.

    --
    They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
    Ben
  38. Re:NOTE TO EDITORS: AC POSTING IS BROKEN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its easy enough to work around CmdrVlad's er um I mean CmdrTaco's little trick by manually crafting your own "reply to" URL.

  39. Re: hardware audio mixing by TeknoHog · · Score: 1
    It depends on the card. My laptop has a four-way sound card which has worked on all fours with Linux since 2.2.14 or so. It means you can't generalize it at all. It doesn't mean 2.5 is always better than 2.4.

    Funnily enough, the card could be used with an Amiga style tracker.. except that modern trackers do the mixing in software so there's no need.

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  40. Mixed results by be-fan · · Score: 4, Informative

    Interactive performance - Pretty sharp. I/O background load really doesn't put much of a burden on foreground stuff, but then, 2.4 + preempt patches didn't either. Resizing is weird. Resize slowly, and the effect is like kernel 2.4 (canvas lags behind window frame). Resize fast, and the effect is like OS X, the window frame lags while the canvas catches up. Both kinda suck. CPU background load (MP3 compression) causes the machine to feel like an XP machine -- big 10-15 pauses.
    CD drivers - They suck. Certain CDs (Evanescence's Fallen) will cause the CD drive to go into spasms. This doesn't happen under 2.4.
    I/O scheduler - Gimpy. Under heavy CPU load (the aformentioned MP3 compression) starting an app that isn't in cache will take tens of seconds.
    Compile performance - awesome. I use Gentoo, and I've noticed big improvements.
    Power management - Mediocre. APM is alright. ACPI sucks. Causes weird beeping noises when I try to load the "processor" module. It's probably a fault of my Inspiron 8200's fsck'ed DSDT, so I won't bitch, but WinXP has no problem with it.
    Stability - Surprisingly good, for development code. A far cry from 2.4, crashes maybe once a week, but much better than the 2.5.20-something releases, which once hosed my entire partition when I burned a bad CD...

    --
    A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
    1. Re:Mixed results by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      and don't forget to pray for the Kuwaitis hit by Iraqi missiles and suicide bombers.

    2. Re:Mixed results by cpeterso · · Score: 1


      did you report these kernel bugs in the linux-kernel mailing list? I bet someone is interested, especially for features that worked fine in Linux 2.4.

    3. Re:Mixed results by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which would be precisely zero persons to date.

    4. Re:Mixed results by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't know about others, but resizing... The only time I noticed that it was on NVidia 4.x drivers, they suck in 2D. Oh yes, and mozilla with it's ultra fast resizing.

      So if you have NVidia that's NVidia problem not X. Version 3.X worked fine, XFree version works fine

    5. Re:Mixed results by be-fan · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's not an NVIDIA problem. I'm using the same 41.x drivers in both, and in kernel 2.4 (which I'm running as I type this) the drawing of the window contents in Konqueror lags behind the drawing of the window frame (which is smooth). It leaves a big grey area between the contents and the frame while resizing. In 2.5, the window contents don't draw any faster, bu tthe window-frame lags (jerky motion) as well, so there is no jerky motion. Note, this doesn't happen with most KDE apps, just some like Konq.

      --
      A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
  41. testing kernels by thule · · Score: 1

    One of the nice things about Linux (or other free unices out there) is that it is soo easy to try out different kernels. You can try the devel code, if it doesn't work out for you you can easily go back to the last known good.

    For the more conservative, just stick with the productized Linux disto's.

    1. Re:testing kernels by Outlet+of+Me · · Score: 1

      Provided it doesn't hose your partition. :-)

  42. Re:I like 2.5... I just wish I could clear up the by cymen · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I used to keep the console simple too except I've always had problems with this Dell Inspiron 4000 and display corruption when switching back and forth from console to X Windows. Recently I installed Slackware 9.0 and it uses the vesa fb by default (even for X!). I've been using it for a while and no display corruption at all. It works wonderfully and as a side benefit I get a nice big 1024x768 console fulling my LCD instead of some little odd looking 640x480 centered portion.

    I'm a convert to the fb world. Of course I had to move X off of that vesa fb to the ati 128 driver but it was a pretty neat installation setup.

  43. Re: Your .sig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Please pray for all those who will die in this war, both Iraqi and American. Each human life has the same worth."

    What about the UK troops the Americans have been so adept at killing in so-called "friendly-fire"? do we pray for them too?

  44. GOATSE LINK ABOVE by m0rph3us0 · · Score: 1

    Goatse link above masked by CGI

    1. Re:GOATSE LINK ABOVE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What are you talking about?

      I did not find the page the previous poster put down but it just links to debians website.

      I think you sir are a troll and moderators should take note.

    2. Re:GOATSE LINK ABOVE by Per+Wigren · · Score: 1

      That was not a Goatse-link! That was just a link to a equally nasty picture on rotten.com.. Keep your facts straight!

      --
      My other account has a 3-digit UID.
  45. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by G27+Radio · · Score: 1

    OK, you read the beginning and the end of the summary. The part in the middle mentions "The project includes lots of testing and lots of escape hatches so we don't run recklessly off the edge." This is good planning--nothing really suprising since most smart companies do the same thing when they go through a major version change (or install a Service Pack in many cases.)

    However, your warning should be noted by anyone thinking of doing such a thing without properly assessing the risks and making the necessary preparations. It's a very risky thing to do if you don't have a clear idea how the new kernel and subsequent changes will affect your system.

  46. Re:Check out these benchmarks by sneakybilly · · Score: 0

    Damn you for having an 8CPU to test this on.

  47. 2.5.66 can't see my 60GB DeskStar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I would love to be using 2.5.66 for some USB stuff I need but it won't mount root from my DeskStar drive. Strangely it works from an old 2.5G Big foot. What's up with that ?

  48. Don't Use Odd Numbers by abcxyz · · Score: 2, Funny

    You've got to stay away from odd numbers, remember all the problems with everybody's 3.0 4.0 7.0 8.0 releases?

    Oh no, those were the even numbers.......

  49. Re:Check out these benchmarks by lgftsa · · Score: 1

    The parent uses a redirect from debian.org to an image which I can't really explain, 'cause I really didn't spend long enough looking at to comprehend.

  50. Argh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "we think it is ready to be tested in a production environment"

    Wow. There are people outside of the bozos in my shop who think it's okay to test in production!

    Bah.

    Walk in a minefield and one day you'll lose a leg.

  51. Drivers by Unregistered · · Score: 1

    I've been testing 2.5 since about .40 and it's great. Excpet for drivers. They still aren't there for me so i haven't sued it much on my main boxes. I have dome other boxes running .47 and it's running great. I can't wait for it to go to 2.6

  52. Re:I like 2.5... I just wish I could clear up the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... fulling my LCD instead of some little odd looking 640x480 centered portion

    You do know that is configured in your BIOS, right? A simple setting change will make even the 640x480 full up the whole screen.

  53. computer brain implant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    computer brained rats learn chess
    http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?new sid=882

  54. Re: Brillo Boy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Touch your sack, not Iraq!

    (Funny even though it makes you pronounce Iraq completely wrong.. it's supposed to be more like Ee-roq, rather than Eye-rack.)

  55. TROLL! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Stop Windows bashing. I'm using WinME right now and I've had no probl

    1. Re:TROLL! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but you have to turn on the computer to really have fun with it. Otherwise, using it for a bookend is not much use. But then again, the real problems will never manifest themselves.

  56. Re:I like 2.5... I just wish I could clear up the by kd5lsx · · Score: 1

    You do know that is configured in your BIOS, right? A simple setting change will make even the 640x480 full up the whole screen. Not all systems support that. For instance, my HP Pavilion laptop doesn't allow it, while my Toshiba Satellite that a had a few months ago did.

  57. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The 2.5 series is reasonably stable most of the time. It's certainly a bad idea to download the latest version and run your mission-critical application on it, but it's reasonable to monitor the kernel list and run the best one so far-- the list tells you what experience people have had, often with opinions about what is the most stable version. It's late enough in 2.5 that people who have some problem with 2.4 that 2.5 addresses can start planning to migrate.

  58. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by buffy · · Score: 1

    No, no, no. It's fine if someone ELSE tests it under production! ;P

    -buf

  59. Re:DARR DUBILS! DEER DABILS! DIR DEBILS! by bazmonkey · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry I don't have mod points to give. This isn't off-topic, it's funny.

  60. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by JPriest · · Score: 1
    I am using a fresh install of Mandrake 9.1, I killed it not longer than 10 minutes ago

    I boot up the working system, try to install kvirc from the SuSE RPM, mentions need to satisfy dependency and install kvirc-something-or-other, I click yes. Never installs I never get another error.

    Go into KDE control panel, click around in the styles section, kde begins locking up. I start closing stuff. kicker is starting to lock up also. I try to run a terminal from quick launch and get an error to the effect of KDE init cannot find .... executable. I log out of kde, and it puts my in a shell. I try to run startx and get startx not found. I run reboot, it boot back into a shell (was configured for autologin). I log in, run startx, no go, log in as root try again, no go. I give up and boot into windows.

    --
    Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
  61. Re:I like 2.5... I just wish I could clear up the by cymen · · Score: 1

    More importantly this merely expands the 640x480 to 1024x768 resulting in lots of fuzzy stuff. The labs at school run their 15" desktop LCDs at 800x600 instead of native 1024x768 and it looks about as fuzzy. I think they do it for accessability reasons but at least they don't lock down the control panel so it can be set to 1024x768 (with cleartext) if one so desires!

    But those fuzzies just weren't worth it. I'd much rather have a *real* 1024x768 console.

  62. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Yeah. Obviously, you did something that you knew was not going to work. Kind of like installing a bunch of NT4.0 dlls on an XP box and expecting nothing to go wrong. It is doable, but not really recommended as it will destabilize the system.
    Personally, though, I do think that sys admin is one of the major weakness of the distros (if not THE major one). Just as the distros made install easy, they should now work on making admin easy.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  63. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by JPriest · · Score: 1

    The only package I installed was kvirc. For some reason it quoted kvirc as the needed dependency, I didn't look into it, I just ckicked OK because I was reading something.

    --
    Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
  64. April Fools? by dual_base_33 · · Score: 1
    You are putting an 'unstable' kernel into production?

    Should we be yelling "April Fools?" :)

    --
    sigs are natural, sigs are good, not everybody has one, but everybody should...
  65. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by oxfletch · · Score: 1

    Bollocks. 2.5 is more stable than 2.4 now, apart from a shedload of broken drivers. Try actually stressing the 2.4 VM.

  66. Re:I like 2.5... I just wish I could clear up the by JJahn · · Score: 1

    In fact on a Dell Inspiron 4000 you can just hit Fn+F7 to change between scaled and regular text modes. But FB is still better :)

  67. Re:I like 2.5... I just wish I could clear up the by kasperd · · Score: 1

    800x600 instead of native 1024x768 and it looks about as fuzzy. I think they do it for accessability reasons

    I'd expect a better result from using 512x384. But it is not easy getting a computer produce that resolution. I tried on a laptop running RH7.3 without any luck.

    I'd much rather have a *real* 1024x768 console.

    So would I. And then a nice large 12x24 pixels font so we get 85*32 chars on the screen. Just a few more chars but at a 50% better resolution than we are used to.

    --

    Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
  68. ah....this is no april's joke? by scheuri · · Score: 1

    right, sorry...was mislead for second or two....;)

  69. Never had interactiveness problems with 2.4.16+ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I run 2.4.19 with Ingo's O(1)-sched-patch, but I never had any interactiveness-problems while compiling or encoding mp3 or compiling (even with make -j2/3 ... )and browsing or reading mails/... - also my xmms doesn't skip, to be honest, never has in the past year or so.
    Maybe because I'm running my slow K6-2-500, that doesn't saturate the IDE-disk when encoding mp3.
    Maybe because I compiled about anything I use (X, xmms, aterm, ...) for myself and I don't use GNOME or KDE.
    Upgrading from XFree from 3.X to 4.X has been a great leap, too, and I am almost perfectly satisfied with the "performance" in 4.2

    Adding memory is always a good remedy, too

  70. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by awx · · Score: 1

    Happy April the First.

    --
    Feel that power? That's mah MOUSING FINGER
  71. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just use Redhat instead of Mandrake. It's a lot more robust.

    Or optionally, don't install packages from other distros (unless you really know what you are doing).

  72. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by Tomster · · Score: 1

    Not true! I had a co-worker once whose older brother's nephew went to school with this kid who was running Windows 98 and it had uptimes of DAYS!

  73. Think I'll just wait... by BrokenHalo · · Score: 1
    for 2.6 to hit the streets. Though the 2.4 scheduler sometimes has me crawling up the wall in frustration (e.g. compared to BSD), I don't want to go down the road of playing with development kernels on my production machines again. Been there a few years ago when I had to pursuade a recalcitrant framebuffer device to work. Hats off to the kernel development crowd and all, my sysprogging skills were not gained on *nix in the first place, and now I've jumped into other disciplines I would rather build on what they've done.

    All the same, I hope they release a stable 2.6 soon :-)

  74. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by Moloch666 · · Score: 1

    Before my Linux days I had ran Win98 SE for 2 years straight without reformatting and no serious problems. It had it's fair share of lockups mostly from gaming. Even then uptime sometimes reached almost a month every once in awhile. But hell, it ran fast and I could laugh at my friends that had to reformat monthly. I think it had a lot to do with the hardware. It's a p3 500 with an Abit BE6. Yes one of those mobo's with the bad capacitors. Either I got a good batch or this thing is going to die any minute. I'll cry when that happens, this machine has been rock solid with anything that I've thrown at it. It's now running Gentoo Linux and will sit next to the TV playing divx files and DVDs.

    --
    Understanding is a three-edged sword. -- Kosh Naranek
  75. Re:DARR DUBILS! DEER DABILS! DIR DEBILS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Damnit! It's just like last time! Try again, I guess.

  76. Re:Daredevils? How about idiots. by JPriest · · Score: 1

    I agree RH is nice, I was using RH 8.0 with apt-rpm before installing Mandrake. To me it feels the least beta of the major Linux distros.

    --
    Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
  77. Re:DARR DUBILS! DEER DABILS! DIR DEBILS! by teamhasnoi · · Score: 1

    Maybe I should get that tooth fixed.

  78. It's late, but lemme clear it up: by mindstrm · · Score: 1

    The point is, if you run a certain version, it will probably be quite stable, and not at all crash prone
    but the next version out may be VERY crash prone...

    because it's a devlopment kernel.