Slashdot Mirror
Linux Kernel 2.6.4 Released
justinarthur writes "The Linux kernel version 2.6.4 has been released at 03:16 UTC. Included in the changes from version 2.6.3 are fixes to XFS support, Wide Area Networking, USB connectivity, and IEEE1394 connectivity. To download a copy, it is recommended that one utilizes a Linux Kernel Archives mirror. Linus Torvalds' announcement to the Linux Kernel Mailing list concerning this release is available here." Reader k-zed points out that Linux 1.0 was released in March 1994, ten years ago.
If you need to apologize in advance for a post it may have not been a good idea in the first place. ;)
i guess linus wouldn't make a statement about it now, since there's the lawsuit going on
I think the fact that SCO hasn't actually shown it bears more weight on it having not been removed. It's hard to remove something that isn't there, and it effectively isn't there unless SCO can actually show it to somebody.
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
Some people are waiting for their distros to ship 2.6, but I think 2.4 is works for most users, there is no urgent need to upgrade.
This doesn't mean 2.6 won't be a success, I am sure it will be, but I think it means we have left the 'revolution' and joined the 'evolution'.
Maybe you mean the desktop experience? That's provided by KDE/GNOME/fluxbox whatever, and it's very clear what innovation is going on there if you look at KDE 3.2 vs KDE 1 (for example).
There is a high proportion of posts here (when I'm writing this, at least) highlighting the difficulties of upgrading the kernel to 2.6.4. Surely, until there's an easy and foolproof way of doing this, the up-take of linux as a desktop OS is going to be slower. Whether microsoft do a better job in windows is debatable, but the bottom line is, it takes 30 minutes to install a service pack (which can change any functionality in windows, so it's a comparable procedure), and after the upgrade, 99.9% of machines function fine.
It's things like this that puts "normal" people and companies off using Linux on the desktop. To linux guys and developers it's not a big deal, but imagine if you were some granny somewhere - it'd scare the pants off you and if something went wrong, nigh-on impossible to fix.
It's the robustness and cohesion of linux that needs addressing. Once that's attained to a sufficient level, system-wide upgrades can be effected. When I say robustness I don't mean operationally (there's no doubt nothing is more robust), but when it comes to doing anything to the OS. That's when the "fun" starts :-P
Again, this isn't pro-microsoft and anti-linux. This is just an immediate reaction to seeing the posts trickle in to this discussion.
Finally, someone got a versioning scheme that held true and made sense. If only all "Version 2" software worked this well, we'd be blessed and probably have robots serving us Coronas and margaritas while we graze on a 7 layer dip and chips.
Incremental improvements inspired by others is not innovation. What great new features have Microsoft ever introduced to the world? It has to be more than a couple to claim the status of "consistently innovating".
Things like ReiserFS? Major sections of the kernel have been completely rewritten since 1.0. The scheduler, the module loading system, the /dev handling (static /dev to devfs to udev), the network subsystem. Anybody even remotely familiar with the kernel wouldn't make the claim you are making.
That's a straw man argument. People don't claim that open source automatically makes something perfect.
Desktop OS of choice for some people. It's certainly not the desktop OS choice for me.
Zealots of any kind aren't objective. But people who use and develop Linux at home or work are not automatically zealots as you seem to be implying.
2 is clearly the tar-baby of versions.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Actually you're wrong. I need the dongle to speak with my LG G4050 phone from Cingular because they claim it has data capabilities through irda, but there's nothing supporting that. Sure windows detects the device, but that's as far as being helpful as it goes. I even have IrComm2k (another GPL project) because the virtual IR com port support from the windows driver doesn't work correctly. Closest thing I can do is open a terminal in windows connected to that com port and try hit-and-miss ATA commands. No support for viewing the actual protocol in progress.
I want to run it in linux because it will give me messages in log files and such (and I could probably crank up the debug level to see whats going on). I've had to patch my kernel up to this point for support for it. Now it's just built in.
I just wish I could get some better information out of it from the windows drivers and non-exsistant utilities. Until then I'll use Linux and it will be extremely helpful.
Sure I'm a windows user... but sometimes the way it treats me like I'm a two legged gimp goat, urks me and stands in my way of learning things.
FLR
The CD/DVD thing doesn't make sense. They should've been there under /dev/hd{something} if you use IDE. Note that you might've had ide-scsi in use under 2.4, but that's not the way to go in 2.6 - you can access them directly.
Can't answer the USB question, other than to say that the only problem I've had with 2.6 is that my scanner can only be used by root, not by any users. Although it should fix the problem, I can't get the usbfs to recognize the devmode= option no matter what I do.
--RJ
Try installing the hotplugging stuff and configure it to set the proper permissions on your scanner device. Or, alternatively (this is far less secure, but if you're behind a firewall, it's probably not a big deal), set up saned and have it run as root, then access the scanner through saned instead.
I'm sure the Kernel people were serious about USB and IEEE1394 from the start. The problem is that they can get things to run perfectly on their own machines and other people will still have problems. How do you check for problems on hardware you don't have access to? I guess all they can do is releace a stable kernel and wait for the bug reports to come in.
Losing faith in humanity one person at a time.
No, I did the same. For me, it's accumulation of little issues. my touchpad, wireless, and other stuff I forget about. I'm sure I'll try again soon enough, but doing so eats time. It's not as though 2.4.25 has been anything for me to be disappointed about.
In times like these, it is helpful to remember that there have always been times like these. - Paul Harvey
As long as PC-unskilled people have to relate to [for them] uncomprehensible things as 'devfs', 'fstab' etc. etc., they'll shun/hate Linux.
Like Debian GNU/Linux 'apt-get upgrade'? Any good modern Linux distribution does include a smooth OS update path. But upgrading from kernel 2.4.x to kernel 2.6.x is not something most people are going to want to do. It is not the equivilent of a "service pack." It is much more akin to an OS upgrade. Few expect that to go without a hitch... even on Windows.
It's things like this that puts "normal" people and companies off using Linux on the desktop. To linux guys and developers it's not a big deal, but imagine if you were some granny somewhere - it'd scare the pants off you and if something went wrong, nigh-on impossible to fix.
So when Windows breaks, Granny is capable of fixing it? Give me a break. She's lucky if she is able to format her harddrive and resinstall without a hitch.
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
How is this a troll? I honestly don't care. I use Linux at home. Does it matter to me if my entire block uses Linux? No. Does it matter to me if my mother uses Linux? No. I. Don't. Care. If people can use Linux to solve their problems, great. Fantastic. If Windows is a better tool for others, good for them. Why should I give a damn what operating system they use? I don't care if my neighbour uses Linux any more than I care if they prefer Ford over Chevy, or they prefer teflon cookware over stainless steel.
Frankly, I want to know why people have this deluded idea that Linux must be everything to everyone. Maybe Linux will never be newbie-friendly... big deal. If they really don't want to use MS, they can buy a Mac and use OS X.
They're a hell of a lot younger than the Windows GUI, but IMO, they're at Windows 98/ME level of user friendliness and gaining quickly on XP and Mac OS X.
I dont think so. I have a dual-boot laptop running XP-pro and linux with KDE3.2. IMHO, KDE 3.2 is way better than XP-pro. KDE has long overtaken windows as far as user friendliness is concerned.