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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.
... I was thinking "I don't need this kernel upgrade, 2.6.3 has been working great for me..." I find in the changelog:
[IRDA]: Add stir4200 driver.
doh... finally added support for one of my usb-irda dongles.
Damn.
FLR
The name of this release amongst the core developers was "Heathen Chemistry.". Alan Cox came up with it - it's was inside joke about british pop/rock phenomenon.
Odd. I'm still stuck on my 2.4.xx version. I tried to upgrade a few distros to 2.6 and things didn't go very well (kernel panic)
It seems to me that the number of users who have picked up 2.6 x compared to the number that picked up 2.4 from 2.2 has greatly diminished on many of the distro mailing lists. From this it seems that either the migration is uglier than anticipated, or that more people are just willing to sit back and wait for their distro to provide them with all their needs.
Who will be the first to ship kernel 2.6 by default?
Wonder if we'll see reiser4 in 2.6.
You can test it now, but it is very experimental.
Maybee they'll merge it with 2.7
2.6.4-rc1 ChangeLog:
d .org/msg58421.html
[libata] catch, and ack, spurious DMA interrupts
Hardware issue on Intel ICH5 requires an additional ack sequence over and above the normal IDE DMA interrupt ack requirements. Issue described in post to freebsd list: http://www.mail-archive.com/freebsd-stable@freebs
Since the bug workaround only requires a single additional PIO or MMIO read in the interrupt handler, it is applied to all chipsets using the standard libata interrupt handler.
Credit for research the issue, creating the patch, and testing the patch all go to Jon Burgess.
---------
Woo, this is very exciting. If you had problems with SATA & ICH5... this probably fixes those problems.
all it needs now is some love and it'll be ready for my machine.
Its kinda funny, I run windows on one of my machines, and I'm constantly installing patches. Not to mention my 3 BIG patches the ones that cost me a hundred or so dallors. My 98 - 2000 patch and my 2000 to xp patch. The process is still the same, the only difference is the linux changes come bit by bit instead of in a bulk jump on a cd. Personally, i would rather get my updates in small increments. That why I can pick and choose what updates I want. If 2.6.4 doesnt add anything I need, maybe I'll hold off to the next one. And besides, it beats spending cash.
What else than "incremental patches" does Microsoft deliver, especially in the days where there is no week with new IE and OE exploits being announced and eventually (after months) being fixed?
The reason why "Windows is still the desktop OS of choice" is just because it comes preinstalled with any vanilla PC you can buy out there. Because it will run the games people copy from their friends. Because it runs Microsoft Office.
If Microsoft released Office for Linux I'm more than sure that numerous offices will switch to Linux and if it's just to escape the virus race which cost them plenty of time, money, and nerves.
26th release is the wrong answer!
First of all, for Linux uneven numbers are development-versions.
Second the 1.X versions stopped at 1.3
Third, version 1.0 surely was not the 10th major release
However, this truly is the forth Service Pack for the Linux 2.6
I don't even know of anyone running 2.4 anymore actually. I mean, why not upgrade?
I finally got around to compiling 2.6.3 last night; ran into some issues.
its much more responsive than 2.4 for desktop use
The desktop is definitely more responsive, but (at least for me) at the expense of everything else. MPlayer, xmms, and anything that's remotely timing-intensive is unusable (xmms actually skips while playing MP3s, and Mplayer prints the message "Your computer is TOO SLOW to play this file" when playing anything I've got. Note that everything works fine under 2.4.)
I went through the various mailing lists looking for suggestions, with no luck; every suggestion is OK (checked drive DMA, kernel settings, X nice level, etc.) - interestingly enough, one post I read said to try glxgears.. I did, and it runs better under 2.6 - constant frame rate, regardless of what else I'm doing, whereas in 2.4, even moving the mouse drops the frame rate.)
So it's back to 2.4 for me. I'll probably try 2.6.4, to see if the situation has improved, but for the mean time, I'll stick with 2.4.
...why kernels are still not offered up via torrents yet?
Seems like it would help a lot.
Right now, I can't even connect to a use mirror. Grrr.