Another test release of Linux’s next incarnation, 2.6 has been released today. The full release is available here as well as a patch for those who prefer it. Check out kernel.org for details.
Linux 2.6-test2 Released
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
ever marching forward…. 🙂
just got it running on my laptop. works alright. had to get a special xfree driver for my touchpad. pcmcia is handled differently. i did not notice all the super speed improvements yet.
For those of you who don’t wish to download the tar.bz2 file:
http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.0-test2
The speed of LK development is awesome. The 2.6 release will be groundbreaking in terms of hardware support, stability and speed. I’m using the last 2.5, 2.5.75, and I’ve not had a single issue with it and it completely outperforms the Vanilla 2.4 kernels.
i might be offtopic, so sorry, but :
i am running test1 but sometimes the machine starts some
hard disk io and it blocks the mp3 playing for some time
(~1 sec).
it also happens when i’m listening to mp3’s and switching between tabs in mozilla. but if i keep on switching for long enough then the hickups (little blocks in mp3 playing)
stop.
i haven’t encountered this under 2.4.21.
can it be because of the new IO scheduler?
It’s exactly because of that.
Con Kolivas is trying to solve that issue, you can follow the discutions here, http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel
This is due to linus interactivity patch, meaning it takes awhile for things to get their proper interactivity bonus so things may chop alittle at first. If you are using XMMS it’s also due to the sucky nature of xmms, both xmms and mplayer have had issues with the new interactivity patch introduced in 2.5.64, try some xine based UI (Totem?) and compare, smooth like a babys butt.
I just got test1 to compile and boot a couple days ago…
Have test2 running nicly here
With test1 mouse froze for about 5secs during GDM login, but now everything is good
And sound sounds
much better compared to 2.4 
First check to see if you have DMA enabled on your drives. That’s usually the problem for people when it comes to responsiveness and stability under linux… Most vendors ship kernels that dont enable DMA by default and many users dont bother enabling the kernel option that makes linux use DMA by default. use hdparm -d /dev/hd<letter>.
But, that’s probably not the biggest issue… tho it does help to ask anyways.
As for what would best help the issue:
http://people.redhat.com/mingo/O(1)-scheduler/sched-2.6.0-test1-G6
That’s an update to the O(1) scheduler that hasnt yet made it into test1 or test2 that should fix the mp3 playing issue. apply it, test it, use it, love it. I’m testing it right now and have yet to see any biggies, but i havent been using it very long. I’m also using test2.
If nothing fixes it under 2.6, you could hack around the issue by renicing xmms or whatever you use to -2. Or you could use a 2.4 kernel, but what’s the fun in that?
I patched all the cool performance patches into 2.4, and set up a DVD system. man….I turned the latency on aRTs all the way down and not a crackle!!! and the DVD playback looked so good in Xine!!!
I tried to compile the pcmcia-cs package for the 2.6 kernel series (test1 & test2) and I always get an error about a missing modversions.h. Does anyone know how to get pcmcia-cs working with kernel 2.6?
Hello, long-time reader, first-time poster.
Can you tell me, where can I look for all the cool patches for 2.4? In the past I have read about desktop-specific patches, performance, etc.
I appreciate any help you can throw my way…
Rock on
try
http://members.optusnet.com.au/ckolivas/kernel/
Many people say wonderful things about these patches.
Con Kolivas’ kernel is the basis for the Gentoo kernel which everyone keeps raving about; they’re very similar. It truly is fabulous – the fastest Linux I’ve ever run (and I’ve tried plenty on my PC). Part of that is due to compile-time optimizations, but the kernel itself is definitely very nice.
I tried to compile the 2.6-test2 on my redhat 9 system. First I did a ‘make xconfig’. Then a ‘make bzImage’. There were no errors at all. But when i tried to compile the modules with ‘make modules’, I got errors from char/riscom.c && char/riscom.h. Is that becose I still use the 3.2 GCC? Please help, becose I really want to try this beast.
You need to also install mod-init tools for this to work
Do you know where to find those mode-init tools. I had no luck with google.
http://people.redhat.com/arjanv/2.5/RPMS.kernel/
there u are.
cheers
I’ve been running 2.4.22 for awhile, and I had accelerated X working just fine (This is a Gentoo box, btw). I had agpgart as a module, and xfree-drm emerged to use the radeon driver.
How do you get accelerated X working w/the newer kernels?
“Can you tell me, where can I look for all the cool patches for 2.4? In the past I have read about desktop-specific patches, performance, etc.”
http://wolk.sourceforge.net/ <— try this.
I’ve been using the ck sources for 2.4.20. and they are fantastic. Con Kolivas writes or maintains the best patches around. And the Gentoo kernel is very similiar.