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Bundle of problems: display/airport/2.6.5 kernel



Hi everybody,

I am running Sid on an 800mhz ibook. I've downloaded the development 2.6.5 benh kernel (thanks for all the good work, ben) from ppckernel.org, I believe the exact model is 2.6.5-r3.

Problems:
1. The kernel helps solve my display problems, but creates network problems.

I was ecstatic to discover that installing the 2.6.5 benh helped solve my display problems. By installing dri-trunk, xlibmesa-gl, and xlibmesa-glu, and using the configurations instructions I found here: http://seb.france.free.fr/linux/ibookG4/iBookG4-howto-4.html, the LCD monitor runs fine.

Unfortunately, the kernel does not seem to recognize my ethernet card or my airport card. When I try to do the appropriate modprobes, the modules file comes up barren. My system is unhappy there is no "modules.dep" file for it to read -- one did not come with the kernel. Is Airport support incorporated into the kernel?

Naturally, my impulse was to download the source and create a new kernel that would include my desired modules. That leads to problem #2.

2. Compilation of the 2.6.5 kernel fails on the account of binutils.

I don't recall the exact error message, but the error message from my makefile says that I must have a certain edition of binutils installed -- but my binutils package is more current than the one they desire.

After searching the online documentation on this problem, I've concluded it may be a bona-fide bug and beyond my troubleshooting capabilities. I obtained the source from kernel.org -- do I need to get the source from ppckernel.org?

I figure the next step will be to use a 2.4 kernel with the appropriate changes involved and keep my fingers crossed that it will not nuke my screen. The kernel I use is from the benh tree, it is the ibook-specific kernel from the benh tree.

This leads to the next problem:

3. The 2.4 kernel nukes my keyboard.

Naturally, the response to this will be to compile my own 2.4 kernel. I sincerely hope the kernel supports FBDev, so my XFree86 does not freak out again. I think regressing to 2.4 is a less than satisfactory solution -- is there another route?

Potential solutions: can anyone point me to a file of modules that can be kludged into the current modules directory for my 2.6.5 kernel? The plan is to use these auxiliary modules to obtain working airport/ethernet drivers.

Another potential solution: do I need to mess around with my network config files to pass the right driver-initialization commands into the 2.6.5 kernel?

Thanks in advance.

-Marc



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