* Marino Fernandez <mjferna@yahoo.com> [030619 16:37]:
> So here is my first question. What is /boot/initrd.gz for anyway?. Do I need
> it?.
No, you usaly don't need it. As you might noticed you can compile
drivers as loadable modules or direct into your kernel. If you compile
somethin as a module, you can't use this module to boot, only after you
have allready bootet and acces to the modules...
Unless you use something called "initial ramdisk" (initrd), which
stores the modules.
Knoppix, Debian and other distributions use this, to compile as much as
possible, because they need to run on every hardware.
Since you know pretty well, what hardware your kernel needs to support,
you can drop quite a lot from the kernel, so it gets small enough, and
no longer needs initrd.
> My second question is about the xfs patch. Before compilation I tried to patch
> another kernel I was playing with, before compilation (2.4.20)... uuuhhh!...
> should I do it after compilation?.
Okay, do you know what a patch is? It adds some features to the kernel.
So if you patch your kernel after you compiled it, does it make any
sense to patch it?
> I don't even think there is a patch for 2.4.21, and if there is,
> somebody let me know....
According to ftp://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/patches/2.4.21/README
(found by googling for xfs patch linux and following some links), the
coresponding patch has not been released, yet.
> Do I need that patch. I use ext3 only, and I have no plans to use
> anything else.
Again you should be able to answer your question: If you don't use xfs,
why do you want xfs-support?
> My third question is... well, so far everything works, my laptop is in one
> piece... but I really do not notice any difference... So, why should I use
> this kernel?.
This is a question, which nobody can answer you. I prefer a "never
touch a running system" policy, and didn't upgraded any machine but
one. I updatet that machine, because the 2.4.21 kernel supports the
ide-chipset direktly.
> Finally, how do I get my kernel customized for 686... just to know!.
Run make {menu|x}config, go to "processor type and features", and you
may choose your prozessor type.
Yours Sincerely
Alexander
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