Configuring the 2.6 Linux Kernel

An anonymous reader writes "This article is the first in a series by William von Hagen on using the new Linux 2.6 kernel, with a special emphasis on the primary issues in migrating existing drivers, applications, and embedded Linux deployments to a Linux distribution based on the 2.6 kernel. Bill is the author of Linux Filesystems, Hacking the TiVo, SGML for Dummies, Installing Red Hat Linux 7, and is the coauthor of The Definitive Guide to GCC (with Kurt Wall) and The Mac OS X Power Users Guide (with Brian Profitt)." This looks to be a good series for anyone planning to migrate to Linux 2.6, and having done just that myself, I'll attest to wanting more documentation along the way.

Comments

Do it the easy way : Get Manadrake 10-beta2

[Anonymous Coward]

Mandrake 10 will be the first major distro use Kernel 2.6. Download the beta here.

Easy to install, just download the ISOs, burn to disk, reboot and the installer will appear.

Make sure to REPORT ALL BUGS, unless you want to see the LG incident again.

Re:Do it the easy way : Get Manadrake 10-beta2

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but Mandrake 10 has a lot of other new stuff, that is optimized for Kernel 2.6. Here are some other reasons to try Mandrake 10.

XFree86 4.4 (better GUI)
KDE 3.2
NPTL
Mozilla 1.6
And most improtantly, Improved Usabillity

Kernel 2.6 is like a new engine, but the experiance is a lot nicer when you get a whole new car to go with it.

slackware users out there

[mfivis]

I found this sticky at linuxquestions.org's forums to be most helpful in doing an easy and straightforward 2.6 compile on a slackware system. LinuxQuestions.org

Re:They need a tutorial on this stuff?

[forlornhope]

copy your /boot/config-2.x.y to the source directory as ./.config and then make oldconfig. It will go through all the old options setting them and present you with only the new options. Its a text only interface, but its pretty simple to choose between y/n/m/? and each option is pretty self explanitory. I think you can also step back a version using the same method, but Im not sure about that.

ITS AN ADVERT!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

This is just a very loosly disguised advert for TimeSys Linux

Nothing any monkey cant work out in about five minutes (and if they cant they should not be cross compiling for embedded devices)

Since most people dont RTFA this isnt a problem, if you are one of the many... dont bother - its S**T

Re:2.6 breaks KVM support

[The Irish Jew]

I've used a KVM w/ both 2.6.0 and 2.6.1 and have had no problems. The trick was to use "IMPS/2" as the mouse protocol instead of "Auto". That, along with your ZAxisMapping option should be all you need to get it to work. Assuming of course your KVM is ps/2.

Re:Default

[Torne]

The default x86 kernel config always used to be Linus's machine; I don't know if this is still the case. =)

2.6, X, and stuff

[NixLuver]

The 'GUIFication' of the Linux kernel is interesting, but not mandatory. Make menuconfig still works, so you don't have to have X. Also, most of the bells and whistles related specifically to application space can be de-selected, so runaway featuritis is at least controlled.

The 2.6 kernel is noticeably faster on my dual Athlon 2100+mp, at the user interface; X is faster than I've ever seen it before; the realtime scheduling is awesome.

In short, as soon as you can reasonably do so, I recommend you migrate to the 2.6.x kernel.

Re:2.6 breaks KVM support

[Nerant]

There is a 2.6 Input Drivers Faq . It covers some of the more common issues, including some KVM problems.