LinuxDevices.com has published an article by veteran Linux author William von Hagen about changes to the configuration process in the 2.6 Linux kernel. The article is the first in a series of articles that will discuss using the Linux kernel and device drivers, etc., in embedded devices. However, the article is generally relevant to servers and desktops, too. Be aware, the author did not mention on the “migration from kernel 2.4” section of the article that you will need to download the latest module-init-tools (and the new ‘udev’, ‘hotplug’ packages if you were using these too) in order to fully & correctly migrate to 2.6.
Configuring the 2.6 Linux kernel
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Well, nothing much new in this first article, but I’m looking forward to reading the follow ups.
“The Qt toolkit is not installed by default on many Linux systems …” but “GTK2 … are installed on most desktop Linux distributions by default”.
When did that start happening?
“The Qt toolkit is not installed by default on many Linux systems …” but “GTK2 … are installed on most desktop Linux distributions by default”.
When did that start happening?
JDS and Userlinux are GTK only afaik. I’m not sure if I’d consder that many though, but your point was only a nitpick anyways.
> you will need to download the latest module-init-tools (and the new ‘udev’
You don’t need to install udev if you’re using linux-2.6 (mine works fine w/o it) as it is not even considered stable yet.
> if you were using these too
AFAIK, udev doesn’t even work with linux-2.4
Indeed.
I had to upgrade hotplug and module-init-tools though.
with regards to the new distros entering the Linux arena, featuring the 2.6 kernel, can we expect them to “fully & correctly migrate to 2.6”, or mearly ‘hack’ the process of migration and take the easy road.
i refer of course to the forthcomming mandrake 10 and fedora core 2 releases, which will, afaik, be the frist to feature this new technology in the main stream.
I’d recommend installing udev. You don’t need to use it, but check /udev and make sure all of the devices you need are appearing there. If not you need to start complaining so that things will get fixed.
True. I’m running 2.6.1 and did not install udev either.
I don’t know anything about udev. But if it runs in user space then why would it be a prerequisite to a kernel (running in kernel space)?
make xconfig is nice and it makes the job easier. But it is still not easy. It would be easier if the config procedure could make a .config based on probing your hardware for use as a starting point.
> I’d recommend installing udev.
If your distro supports udev, it works pretty well. (gentoo does and I use it on all my gentoo boxes)
BTW, are there any apt repositories for udev?
Just rocks on Slack 9.1, weeeee…..
Whyle everyone else has to wait until their favourite distro will ship the latest and greatest, with slack you can already get it on a stable and well tested platform!
And yes, kErNeL 2.6 works very nice on slackware, I encourage everyone to use it.
I agree with you a 100% Claus. If you already have a running kernel, recompiling it ain’t so bad. But, starting from scratch if a very tedious and error prone process.
It’s odd to me that most modern distributions can get a working kernel for your hardware. Why can’t that same hardware detection code be pulled out to be run at anytime?
darren
Udev works and it works quite well. I use it on Gentoo, and I assume most Gentoo users who use 2.6 do. I think the gentoo forums has a guide on how to get it up and running.
You’d need to check the documentation and tips forums.
“Just rocks on Slack 9.1, weeeee…..
Whyle everyone else has to wait until their favourite distro will ship the latest and greatest, with slack you can already get it on a stable and well tested platform! ”
Well actually with Mandrake you can download it from urpmi repositories (don’t remember if it is only in the cooker repository, I think it is, but don’t take my word). As a plus, urpmi will download also udev and stuffthe other required stuff, including Kernel sources, which are needed for NVIDIA driver. You w’ont find an easier way to try kernel 2.6.2.
And yes, kErNeL 2.6 works very nice on slackware
Are you “l33t”, yo?
Programming is one of things that has not evolved that much. Machine language->Mnemonics->Assembler->C->C++->?
What makes programming a non-trivial discipline is the notation. Everybody makes if-then-else decisions many times every day. Like when driving a car. If there was an easier way to specify the program then my grandmother could it. I think that is what James Gosling has been working on the last couple of years but he’s now back on Java at SUN. I guess it is not that easy to come up with some other way.
For those that like riddles what does this do
a=a^b;
b=a^b;
a=a^b;
It’s a swap.
It fails if the numbers you swap are the same, unless both numbers are zero.
i was using xandros from the beta programme on my laptop when the news of ndiswrapper supporting centrino came out. i tried installing it but it wouldn’t work. someone mentioned that ndiswrapper works much better with 2.6; so i decided to try and roll my first kernel
failed miserably – system wouldn’t even boot. i looked around and checked my options. put mdk10 beta 1 on the machine and then updated everything with cooker. now i have kernel 2.6.2 and kde 3.2. and mdk kernels come with ndiswrapper modules!! no need to get them either! now the centrino isn’t as useless as it was for me 🙂
Just to clear up any confusion, you don’t necessarily need to install udev to use the 2.6 kernel. I’m still using DevFS and it works just fine. If you were using a static /dev (as Red Hat does) then you should be OK, too.
Sorry, but where can i get the udev package?
I prefer debian packages, and i cant find any…
There are some at http://www.bofh.it/~md/debian/
But AFAIK these aren’t apt repositories just plain simple debian packages.
There seems to have been a lot of changes in how hardware is handled with the advent of Kernel 2.6…perhaps it’d be nice to have a nice comprehensive howto for people who are upgrading (as opposed to installing a 2.6-ready distro), explaining how these new device system works, how to configure them, etc.
I looked around and found disseminated information, but nothing that explained the main differences between “old and new” device handling. Anybody has a link?
As far as my own personal experience goes, I’ve had two hardware-related problem with kernel 2.6: my usb scanner and my CD-ROM drive (using it as a CD player). The CD-player thing wasn’t so hard: by trial-and-error I finally pointed KSCD to /udev/cdrom0 and it worked.
For the scanner, I finally learned that the scanner module is no longer necessary, and in fact it clashes with libusb. But I could not rmmod the scanner module without rmmod freezing completely (even kill -9 would kill it). I didn’t want to recompile my kernel with scanner support just yet, so I ended up renaming the scanner.ko.gz module (in /lib/modules/2.6.2/kernel/drivers/usb/image/) into XXX.scanner.ko.gz.BAK so that it would not get loaded – and now everything works! (And very well, might I add!)
Still, it took me a couple of hours of research to learn about this – and there’s still quite a few things I don’t understand…a newbie-friendly explanation of updated device handling under 2.6 would be welcome!
on m laptop, the upgrade screws up the sensitivity, and click on tap and scrolling of the trackpad.
Don’t mean to a be a wise-ass, but people do this in their volunteer time. If you’d like to see such a guide, your best bet would be to do it yourself.
Uh, not all Linux developers do their work on volunteer time. And someone more knowledgeable than me aoubt these various device handling systems would be a much better person than me to write such a guide. I was mentioning it because it seems like it would be a good idea. Then again, maybe something like that already exists, and then someone who read my post would have been kind enough to direct me to it.
BTW, I didn’t think your comment deserved to be reported as abuse. It is a valid comment, except I don’t think I have the technical knowledge to write such a guide. As they say, a little knowledge is dangerous.