Re: kernel update
Hi Joe, Hi Clive.
On Wed, 2004-09-15 at 19:03, Clive Menzies wrote:
> On (15/09/04 12:29), joe udder wrote:
> > Hello.
> >
> > I've just managed to install debian ppc on a powermac g4 (stable). indeed
> > an interesting experience.
> > I would like however to upgrade to a more recent kernel on my machine, like
> > 2.4.27, but searching the archives of this list gives me nothing to work
> > with really..
Here: Debian unstable on a Powerbook G4.
I usually build my own kernels, which even for a Debian beginner, that I
still am, might be manageable. I wrote the necessary steps for that down
on
<http://www.geocities.com/wolfgangpfeiffer/kernel.html>
But I never succeeded to compile 2.4.27 here. If my guess is right
something's wrong with the possibility to set this kernel for
AGP_UNINORTH, and there might be other issues with it, too. (IIRC even
2.4.26 didn't compile here ... )
More on that here:
<http://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2004/08/msg00457.html>
<http://lkml.org/lkml/2004/8/27/303>
But I have a working, self-compiled 2.4.25-ben1 kernel.
Getting 2.4.25-ben1:
rsync -avz rsync.penguinppc.org::linux-2.4-benh /home/<someuser/kernelbuilddir>
after replacing <someuser/kernelbuilddir>, above, with an appropriate
directory for your build.
And then simply running the steps as described on
<http://www.geocities.com/wolfgangpfeiffer/kernel.html>
But are you sure you want a 2.4 kernel? Making your first "make
menuconfig" could mean some work, and if you are already at it, why not
getting the latest 2.6 one? There might be some issues with 2.6.8, but
2.6.7 might be safe, or perhaps even the 2.6.9-pre-version from
http://www.kernel.org/mirrors/
Others knowing more than I do might come in here on that ...
And as we're already at it: This page might help for a kernel compile,
too:
<http://lists.debian.org/debian-powerpc/2004/05/msg00143.html>
And I'd have a look at the complete thread, especially Benjamin
Herrenschmidt's emails ...
> > I assume that the process is a little more complex than just download from
> > kernel.org and "make oldconfig". :)
> >
> > My question is if anyone else has done this and can give some hints or
> > pointers on the process?
> >
> > Thanks.
> Hi Joe
>
> For my g4, when running woody, I followed the guidance at:
> http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/system/kernel-pkg.html
>
> Once you become familiar with aptitude and apt-listbugs, you can run
> sid, which provides the latest kernels as debian packages. I'm
> currently using 2.6.7.
>
> As far as the installation goes the latest sarge (testing) installer
> rc1, worked well on my G4 and is a lot smoother/easier than the woody
> installer. It has the additional merit of being fast (c.45mins). Sarge
> will shortly be the stable distribution; the main downside of testing is
> that security updates take longer to be available. Sid (aka unstable)
> receives updates much quicker but you need to be reasonably familiar
> with debian, else you run the risk of having a broken system from time
> to time. That said, I start using sid some 6months after installing
> debian, my first (and only) Linux distribution, and have not had a major
> breakage since; just the odd minor glitch.
I can only second the above: And I don't see a big difference in
stability between 'testing' and 'unstable', except that the updates are
probably sooner available in 'unstable': When I started with debian I
had the stable version for the first few months, for learning purposes,
and then quickly moved first to testing, and then to unstable, IIRC ...
I don't think I ever regretted this move to unstable ...
But I'd reckon with problems in in case you decide for testing/unstable:
In an any case I'd surely install apt-listbugs: With that package
installed you will be presented the latest bug-reports for the packages
you want to upgrade(/install ?): Extremely useful, tho' no complete
insurance against a broken system.
BTW: I had problems with Woody, also. Not being 100% sure whether the
former are the result of mistakes I made in my configs, or whether
they're really the result of bugs in a package. But in the end, this
probably, too, was a reason I switched to unstable ... :)
Good luck
Wolfgang
>
> YMMV
>
> Clive
>
> --
> Byte-Night 2004 ... helping the young homeless .. please visit:
> https://www.bmycharity.com/clive
--
Please allow me inviting you to have a look at Clive's footer, just
above these lines. Thank you.
Reply to: