The dawn of a new Linux era with kernel 2.6....IMHO

[Drift3r]

Here is a nice article that detials all the cool stuff that will be coming in kernel 2.6. Full scale development and testing is now under way and it should arrive in about maybe 3-4 months baring any major bugs. IMHO I can't wait for it's arrival and adoption by distro makers. This new kernel will and shall focus not only on the servered but also most importantly will add major improvements for the desktop. For example you will be able to read and write in ntfs partitions, and also another big improvement will be the full inclusions of the new and very much improved schedulermn, pre-emptive patch, very muched improved acpi and acm support for laptops, and other very nice goodies like full support for 64-bit chips, reiserfs-4, ALSA sound server implamentation into the kernel, etc....Needless to say that the day when kernel 2.6 arrives it will be a very big day indeed, but IMHO the biggest day is when distro makers start using the patch and putting out up-grade rpms for user to upgrade to kernel 2.6.

http://www.kniggit.net/wwol26.html

Click on the above to read all the juicy detials.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

For example you will be able to read and write in ntfs partitions

Woah, when did that happen?

Agreed on all points though, I've been meaning to build a 2.5 or patched, new 2.4 kernel lately, but I had some trouble with getting them going and I haven't had much time to try again.

 

[Nothinman]

The same was said about 2.4, there's always bad-ass stuff going into the Linux kernel =)

 

[Cogman]

Yep, and unlike windows, the gerneral Linux comunnity knows whats going in and out of the kernel.

 

[sciencewhiz]

Reiser4 isn't in the 2.6 kernel. I did hear that major improvements have been made to NTFS writing, but I don't know if it is really ready.

I'm going to wait till pre1, then start my playing around with it.

 

[Nothinman]

Reiser4 isn't in the 2.6 kernel.

They've probably trashed it and started another rewrite already anyway :/

 

[pac1085]

I'm running 2.6.0-test1 currently, its running great except the only gripes I have are 1) no nvidia nic support (im sure this will come from nvidia when 2.6.0 comes out....) and 2) ALSA sucks. MP3's in xmms skip when i click back or forward buttons in firebird, OSS never did this ALSA seems overly complicated. OSS was very easy, 1 kernel module, insmod it, and your set. With ALSA you need libraries to build applications with support for it, special mixers, etc (and it takes like 10 kernel modules!) Oh well.

 

[MGMorden]

I'm looking forward to the better laptop support code myself. Normally at home I have 2 boxes (one Linux and one WinXP Pro) on a KVM, but for the coming semester I'm trying to pack really, really light, so I'll be roughing it with just a laptop from August till December. It would be nice to be able to take that laptop with me as a Linux system, but so far the only distro I've even gotten to work in the thing is Knoppix, and then none of the power options work (it's an HP Pavilion ze4115).

 

[Nothinman]

I recently put Debian on an Inspiron 4100 and it works alright, I havn't tested the battery life too much but the apm module works, suspend works, etc.

 

[sciencewhiz]

ACPI doesn't seem to work so well in 2.4.x kernels, so you might try APM (if you aren't already). Also, my friend had to use a 2.5.x kernel to get his new fujitsu laptop working completely, so you might try the 2.6.0-test1.

As far as I know, Knoppix doesn't have any special software that you can't get elsewhere, try using another distro and loading the same modules and software. That is what I did to get my thinkpad working in debian. It worked in RH, and I just loaded the same modules.

 

[MGMorden]

Originally posted by: sciencewhiz
As far as I know, Knoppix doesn't have any special software that you can't get elsewhere, try using another distro and loading the same modules and software. That is what I did to get my thinkpad working in debian. It worked in RH, and I just loaded the same modules.

I would, but most of them hang when booting the install kernel. I REALLY wanted to install Redhat on the machine, but regardless of what options I passed I'd get a kernel panic when booting the install CD. Mandrake and Slackware do the same. Knoppix will work IF I pass the nopcmcia and nomre (I think that's the one) options. I'm assuming that if Knoppix works Debian would as well, but I haven't tried it. Lots of people seem to have trouble with Linux and this laptop (well, the chipset on the mobo is the trouble, but I can't swap that out). From what I've heard though support is better in 2.5 (and hence 2.6), so I might go ahead and do a hard drive install of Knoppix again and then compile 2.6.0-test1. I'm not one to use that bleeding edge of a kernel, but if it works then that's better than nothing.

 

[Spyro]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I recently put Debian on an Inspiron 4100 and it works alright, I havn't tested the battery life too much but the apm module works, suspend works, etc.

Now that's interesting. I think I'll probably try that. As for the linux kernel.... Well it just gets better and better,,,, I would've tried out one of the 2.5.xx's but they seemed like too much trouble (and nvidia doesn't officially support them, yet).

 

[Nothinman]

I'm assuming that if Knoppix works Debian would as well, but I haven't tried it.

I wouldn't assume that, Knoppix is based on Debian but that doesn't mean the kernels are the same.

 

[Drift3r]

Originally posted by: Spyro

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I recently put Debian on an Inspiron 4100 and it works alright, I havn't tested the battery life too much but the apm module works, suspend works, etc.

Now that's interesting. I think I'll probably try that. As for the linux kernel.... Well it just gets better and better,,,, I would've tried out one of the 2.5.xx's but they seemed like too much trouble (and nvidia doesn't officially support them, yet).

Actually 2.5.xx series is for development and kernel hackers. It was never meant for the "masses", that is what the 2.6 kernel is for and why Nvidia never support the 2.5 version. Of course when 2.6 kernel comes out they will support that as it is for the masses to use and implament. You see odd numbered kernel releases are all experimental versions meant for testing by kernel programmers and the even number kernels are the refined versions meant for daily use in a production enviroment.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: Drift3r

Originally posted by: Spyro

Originally posted by: Nothinman
I recently put Debian on an Inspiron 4100 and it works alright, I havn't tested the battery life too much but the apm module works, suspend works, etc.

Now that's interesting. I think I'll probably try that. As for the linux kernel.... Well it just gets better and better,,,, I would've tried out one of the 2.5.xx's but they seemed like too much trouble (and nvidia doesn't officially support them, yet).

Actually 2.5.xx series is for development and kernel hackers. It was never meant for the "masses", that is what the 2.6 kernel is for and why Nvidia never support the 2.5 version. Of course when 2.6 kernel comes out they will support that as it is for the masses to use and implament. You see odd numbered kernel releases are all experimental versions meant for testing by kernel programmers and the even number kernels are the refined versions meant for daily use in a production enviroment.

I'm sure he's well aware. The last few 2.5's have been pretty solid though.

 

[kylef]

If, by "dawn of a new Linux era" you mean greater mainstream adoption of Linux, I think you are mistaken. For several reasons, I don't think the 2.6 kernel will have any effect whatsoever on Linux desktop adoption. In order for that to proceed at a faster rate, distributions need higher quality application support and better system management utilities.

If I want to change my monitor's refresh rate in X and the XF86Config utility craps out on me, I'm left with editing the /etc/X11/XF86Config file by hand and entering ugly things like "modelines". This is unacceptable for 95% of the population that might want to use Linux.

Installing Linux distributions has gotten progressively easier over the years, and RH9 has got to be one of the slickest installs I've seen yet. But there are still problems. If your hardware isn't installed properly by the install utility, that's tough. Getting them to work requires Herculean efforts that involve finding and compiling custom kernels and "insmoding" kernel modules. This too is an unacceptable way to configure devices. Kudzu helps, but only to a point.

And why aren't all distributions shipping with DevFS enabled now? RH9 leaves about 1200 device nodes listed in the /dev directory, all but 20 of them inoperable on any system. Want to use your USB device you just plugged in? Good luck figuring out which device it is! I had to run "dmesg" to see what device my USB mass storage device the driver decided to use... and then I had to manually insert a line in /etc/fstab to get it to mount properly.

Look, I agree that things are progressing. But don't delude yourself that cool features in the Kernel will make Linux gain ground in the mainstream. Linus already mentioned this about two years ago, when he stated that the Linux kernel was as good as it needed to be for mainstream support. What he implied by this statement was that the distributions are what need the most work.

The fact that you can read and write NTFS partitions is great... if it's truly easy to mount them (my usb drive wasn't). ALSA sound drivers are great too, if they're installed automatically and work correctly (my GameTheater XP didn't).

Last but not least... we can't let our eyes glaze over in euphoria over 2.6 if our X drivers continue in the state they're in much longer. Nvidia's drivers cause my system to hang far too often, and ATI's drivers are almost a joke. BOTH of them are way too hard to install (although ATI once had a nice utility that did all the hard work for you... but this seems to be gone now).

 

[Nothinman]

Nvidia's drivers cause my system to hang far too often, and ATI's drivers are almost a joke.

nVidia's drivers work flawlessly for me, have for as long as I can remember.

BOTH of them are way too hard to install (although ATI once had a nice utility that did all the hard work for you... but this seems to be gone now).

Sorry but I have no pity for someone who can't download and one run script.

 

[Bremen]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Nvidia's drivers cause my system to hang far too often, and ATI's drivers are almost a joke.

nVidia's drivers work flawlessly for me, have for as long as I can remember.

Consider yourself lucky. NVidia drivers caused my computer to hang with two different cards (course I shouldn't buy cheap Jaton boards anyway, but thats another story).

 

[sciencewhiz]

Originally posted by: MGMorden

I would, but most of them hang when booting the install kernel. I REALLY wanted to install Redhat on the machine, but regardless of what options I passed I'd get a kernel panic when booting the install CD. Mandrake and Slackware do the same. Knoppix will work IF I pass the nopcmcia and nomre (I think that's the one) options. I'm assuming that if Knoppix works Debian would as well, but I haven't tried it. Lots of people seem to have trouble with Linux and this laptop (well, the chipset on the mobo is the trouble, but I can't swap that out). From what I've heard though support is better in 2.5 (and hence 2.6), so I might go ahead and do a hard drive install of Knoppix again and then compile 2.6.0-test1. I'm not one to use that bleeding edge of a kernel, but if it works then that's better than nothing.

I assume that you looked at this page: http://www.hussar.demon.co.uk/linux/hpze4125.htm.. He was able to get it working with 2.4.21. Knoppix installs with 2.4.20, whereas Redhat uses 2.4.18 to install. Debian also uses 2.4.18 (if you use the bf2.4 kernel), otherwise it uses 2.2.20 (I think). I'm not sure what any of the other distributions use to install.

The problem is the ATI chipset, so you could go through the changelogs of the kernel to figure out what changes have been made to that area.

 

[Nothinman]

Consider yourself lucky. NVidia drivers caused my computer to hang with two different cards (course I shouldn't buy cheap Jaton boards anyway, but thats another story).

Well I've used them with 2 different cards without problems myself, a GF3 original and now a GF4 4600.