Re: Debian vs. Fedora on Laptops

[bob@proulx.com (Bob Proulx)]

Ryan D'Baisse wrote:
> 1. Woody versus Sarge.  Any idea when Sarge will be released?

Any day now.  If you had asked that question six months ago the answer
would have been any day now too.  :-/

> Any major benefits over Woody?

Yes.  Every release will almost always have many benefits and many
advocates for it over the previous release.

> 2. It sounds as if I am going to have to get comfy with compiling the
> kernel, regardless of which distro I'm on.

If you need a special driver then yes you will need to compile your
own kernel.

> Are there any texts out there similar to "Compiling the Kernel for
> Dummies?"

You will want to read this guid.

  http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/system/kernel-pkg.html

The entire newbiedoc guide here is worth reading.

  http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/

> My biggest fear is disabling something that some other piece will
> need - OR - enabling something that some other module will have a
> conflict with.  It would be great to have something that detailed
> each, and every, possible option available.  Any suggestions?

Start with a copy of an official distro kernel config file.  That will
get you going with something reasonable.  Then modify the parts that
you need.
  
> 3. Several people have referred to kernel 2.6, which is great, but I
> am wondering about the release.  I am currently on Fedora and using
> kernel 2.6.5-1.358 and it works well for me.  My problems began when I
> allowed yum to install kernel  2.6.9-1.6_FC2.  That's when all of my
> ACPI problems began.  How can I tell what version of the kernel
> "woody" ships with?

Woody ships with a very old but very stable linux-2.4.18.  That might
be too old for your new hardware.  It is easiest to run the 2.6 kernel
from sarge.

You seem to have a common misconception.  That the kernel requires a
particular distro.  But for any given distro you can run any one of a
number of kernels.  Just like anything else on the system you can mix
and match as you need.

For kernels in particular you can have many in /boot.  If one does not
work then just boot the previous kernel.  Or one of the others as you
desire.

Bob