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This is a very general guide for those wanting to re-compile there 2.6 linux kernel for the first time. ----------------------------------- 1st... Why would you want to re-compile your kernel ? ------------------------------------ a) its a right of passage, if you are comfortable re-compiling a kernel, then you are well on your way to becoming an experianced linux user. securety. do you know what a root kit is ? (http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/) root kits need to load themselves into your kernel as drivers. you can stop them by hard compiling all the drivers your computer needs into your kernel, then dissableing driver module loading. (also there are things like SELinux (securety Enhanced), but that goes beyond the scope of this tutorial. c) Performance. Most Operating sytems are optimised to run well on all the latest Pentium and Athlon chips. you can change this to optimise the kernel highly for your Processor d) You need to upgrade your kernel, but dnt want to wait for your distro to release a new one. e) your curiouse about how it all works. -------------------------------------- great... so whats a kernel ??? ------------------------------------- the kernel is the heart of the operating system, it controls all your hardware. drivers for the kernel can either be compiled into the kernel, or as seperate modules which can b loaded or unloaded. for example.... my on board nework card will always be in my computer, so i compile it hard into the kernel. however, i may consoder getting a new sound card in the future, so i compile the sound card drivers as modules, which an be unloaded, and replaced when i update my hardware. for more info, see kernel.org ------------------------------------- Okay, lets start... download a plain vanilla kernel ------------------------------------ (assuming you have already installed a compiler) step one, you need a kernel source code package. go to https://www.kernel.org/ and click the "F" link of the latest 2.6 kernel version. at the time of writing this this is 2.6.10 (F gets full source code, other links give patches) Patches tweak source code for things like support, securety or performance, but again is beyond the scope of this tutorial. extract the doanloaded kernel to somwhere like /usr/src/linux-<version>/ --------------------------------------- Getting a base configureation --------------------------------------- We are going to use a kernel configureation that we know works ( the one you are using right now) so that we dont need to configure all areas. have a look in the /proc/ folder for a file named config or config.gz is a file named config exists, copy it to your /usr/src/linux-<version> folder with the command "cat /proc/config > /usr/src/linux-<version>/.config" if the file is named config.gz then use "gzcat" instead of cat. (and dot miss the dot '.' in the /.config) if neither exist in /proc then have a look fir a file named Config in your /boot filder (you may need to mount /boot first) cave a look inside it, it should hav a format similar to this # Tulip family network device support#CONFIG_NET_TULIP=yCONFIG_DE2104X=mCONFIG_TULIP=m# CONFIG_TULIP_MWI is not set# CONFIG_TULIP_MMIO is not set# CONFIG_TULIP_NAPI is not setCONFIG_DE4X5=mCONFIG_WINBOND_840=mCONFIG_DM9102=m# CONFIG_PCMCIA_XIRCOM is not set# CONFIG_PCMCIA_XIRTULIP is not setCONFIG_HP100=mCONFIG_NET_PCI=yCONFIG_PCNET32=mCONFIG_AMD8111_ETH=m# CONFIG_AMD8111E_NAPI is not set copy it to the kernel directory and rename it to .config ---------------------------------- configureing !!!!! ----------------------------------- cd into the kernel directory, and run the command make oldconfig this will adapt the config file from a different kernel vwersion to match the current version. if you aer asked any questions, answer with the default by simply hitting return. now run the command make menuconfig You can navigate this menu with the direction keys, the return key to enter a menu, and the space key to change the highlited value. [ ] means no, or do not compile [ M ] means compile as a module (which can b loaded or unloaded at any time) [ * ] means hard compiled into the kernel if you dont usderstand somthing, you can read the help on any section. not all items can be compiled as moduls, but most can. Have a look round, read, experiment. one thing tomake sure of, is that under FileSystems section, the support for your file system is selected as * not M (ths is vatal to booting, unless you build an initrd-image, which is beyond the scope of this tutorial.) Now have a look at ProcessorType --->> Porcessor Family. this is probably defailted to i486 or i686. if you dont know what processor you have, run this command in a different window cat /proc/cpuinfo You can greatly improve compile time by removing support for devices toy dont have. these are mainly in the Device Drivers section. if you dont need or use firewire, dissabl that... dont use your parrallell port ? dissable that. do you have a gigabit ethernet connection ?? no ? dissable. You are free to tweak and change as much or as little as you want. you may want to systematically read every help section and decide wether or not to change it. you might want to play it safe and only alter the processor optimisation. do as little or as much as you feel comfortable with. when you have finished, ecit out all the way, and answer yes to saving. ----------------------------- compiling ----------------------------- you ONLY need to backup IF the kernel vrsion you are compiling is the same as the kernel version you are currently using. cp -r /lib/modules/<version> /lib/modules/<version>-backup run the following command make bzImage &&make modules &&make modules_install bzImage is name of the kernel file. --------------------------- Installing. --------------------------- copy the kernel to the boot directory cp /usr/src/linux-<version>/arch/boot/i386/bzImage /boot/myNewKernel.bz ---------------------------- Edit grub.conf or lilo.conf ---------------------------- Open /boot/grub/menu.lst with a text editor find the section that looks like so... title Gentoo Linux root(hd0,0) kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.9-gentoo-r14 root=/dev/hda1 vga=791 apic initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.9-gentoo-r14 and add anouther copy of it, if there is an initrd line (like there is here) remove it. and edit the kernel line so that th path given is to /boot/myNewKenrel.bz also edit the title line to somthing like "myTestKernel" and if you are using fedora or redhat (maybe others) you will need to fix the root= option. dont leave anything on the root option like LABEL=/ that redhat puts there, reploace it with your REAL root device... if you dont know your real root device, open up /etc/fstab and look for the line which has a plain '/' as the second option... like this /dev/hda1 / reiserfs noatime 0 0 do the same with /etc/lilo.conf if you are using lilo. After editing lilo's config file, you ill need to re-oinstall lilo with the command "lilo" make sure the Timeout=# value in grub or lilo gives you enough time to select your kernel. ------------ End ------------- A well compiled and configured kernel will be slightly faster, less bloated, and slightly faster booting. when grub first starts, the first thing it has to do is de-compress the kernel, a smaller kernel will e-compress a little faster. Also, all the text that apreas on screen before the init scripts take over (the lines that end in [ OK ]) is ouput from the kernel's built in drivers amungst other things. removing built in drivers that you dont need will incrace the speed of this phase of booting too. Dont Expect miricles... you have done extremely well if your first kerneleven boots. you rpobably will not notiice and performace increaces, maybe benchmark programs will display improvment. for lightning fast system, you would also need to re-compile the whole system (see lInuxFromScratch or Gentoo at DistroWatch.com ALSO, dont be surprised it you fail the first time... Almost everyone fails the first time (think of Neo making that first jump in the Matrix !) If anyone wants to add more advanced info to this thread i would be greatfull. especially for things like SELinux / Boot-Splash / Patching

bit-torrent is P2P.you download a .torrent file, and open it with your torrent client.Then your computer downloads the fileyou want from as many other people as it can find who are also downloading that file.whilst simultaniusly downloading, your computer is also uploading the portion you have to several over people.ther download accellerators just make sumultanius connections to the download server.which generally just annoys whoever's job it is to read system logs, and rarely imporves download speed, unless the server is under high stess, making things wore for other downloaders.

Ubuntu is those who who are scared of the keyboard lolLast time i looked at debian, it used a complicated installer.most users needed to use knoppix to install a debian system.Ubuntu is much more friendly to newbies.

I have an AMD64 cpu supporting a feature called AMD PowerNow!Behind its fancy name, its just a APCI interface that allows an ACPI compliant OS to set the cpu to one of 6 Predefined frequencies and voltages.Untill i learn how to use profesional DVD authoring software, ive had to temprerily install windows along side my gentoo Linux.but i cant find anything about ACPI in the controll panel or anything ???im new to windows, in Linux the interface is /proc/acpi if then helps.

maybe this thead pust ubunto over the edge... lol i wonder if my order will get shipped... if i knew the next version was to be released in april i would have waited untill then.

I have nothing againsed Bill Gates as a person. just the poor quality software, legal abuse and lies that come out of his company.Bill gates personally donates huge amounts of money to charity, which in the real world is more important than computer security.I would like to see Microsoft go down the same path as Apple mac.in the space or OS-9 or OSX they completely turned around their poor OS, and brought it into the *nix family.

The x86_64 architechture is fully compatable with the x86 opetating systems.if anything, 32bit is still considered more stable, 64bit is fairly new.Has anyone recieved there cd's yet ?how long did it take ?

This Topis is ALWAYS at the top of this section of the forum.nothing new is being said.and like some poeple have said many many times, Changing your IP is does by your ISP, your IP will always be within the range of IP's registered to your ISP.they can always trace you, changing your ip is pointless.so im gonna kill this thread (If anyone wants to talk about changing local area network ip adresses, subnet masks, or any other kind of IP other than the your Internet Ip, then PM me and i will re-open this thread)

Most Home internet users have dynamic IP address'Meaning they may change every time you reboot your computer or router.For most internet use, you dont need to worry about your IP, but if like meyou need to ssh into your home network from work or university... OR run quake servers somtimes to play againsed your friends... then you probably know how annoying dynamic IP's really are.Maybe you want to run a public webserver from home ?getting a non computer savvy fiend to remember and type "connect 103.213.7.* " usually probes way more complicated than it should be.ANYWAY... if this is true for you, go and have a look at dynDNS.orgthe basic service is completely free.Sign up for an account, pick a domain (many are available)and for people with non static IP addresses, downlload and install the dynDNS client.every time you start your computer, the client test to see if the ip has changed, and automatically relays a change to dynDNS, and the update is dont instantly.and unlike other sevices, you dont have to have an annoying sub domain.for Example to name just a few of the domains available....AnythingYouLike.homelinux.net (also .com and .org)AnyThingYouLike.homeunix.net (also .com and org)AnyThingYouLike.homeIP.net (also .com and .org)AnyThingYouLike.Is-A-Geek.net (also .com and .org)AnyThingYouLike.homeFtp.net (also .com and .org)AnyThingYouLike.GameServer.net (also .com and .org)AnyThingYouLike.Kick-*bottom*.net (also .com and .org)

thats fine. the mouse is a real invention. it has a wheel sensor on the bottom (or now laser) it has buttons ans scroll wheels. it uses a protocol. all of which have been desgned. what annoys me, is then someone starts looking through a patent database, and patenting whatever isnt already there... for example patenting logic. you cant patent AND OR XOR NOT its just blatently obviouse, and has been used by everyone for centuries.

i would ery strongly advise againsed Gentoo as a first Linux distro ! For hardware... Linux support for wireless network cards and pci modems is patchy, lookup compatability before you buy any of these. for software... just no. Gnu/Linux runs GNU/Linux software. you can sometimes emulate certain windows applications like office, but the emulator is far from complete. part of migrating to linux is also migrating all your software. no more windows media player, no more internet explorer, no more Ms Paint. instread you use the *nix equivilents.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/HP-TouchPad-Needs-68-Weeks-for-Additional-Shipments-142584 http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/HP-TouchPad-Needs-68-Weeks-for-Additional-Shipments-142584 miscosft has filed a patent for the 'IsNot' operator (thats the '!=' operator to c/c++/java programmers and '<>' to visual basic porgrammers.) i sometimes the the news on ani-software parent sites. Microsoft also have patents like 1)the *nix sudo sommand (used in linux / unix for decades, but never in windows) 2) timed double clicking. im not against real patents for real inventions.. but you should NOT be able to patent prior art OR the obviouse. what you guys think about the possability of software patents in europe ?

I think its probably the fan bearings.if the bearings are slack the flades can start spinning off-center, and get held off center by the centripetal forces. which may be why powering off fixes it.if you are comfortable handling such a device, replaceing the fan is easy,,but be warned... inside a pc power supply are some very very large capacitors hooked up to main voltage, it one retains chage and you short it, it will hurt alot !more expensive but safe option, replace the psu.

:Pmy ISP deleted it !!maybe they dont like gif'si will try again encoded as a png.thanks NilsC

yeah... i got it working. thanks

does anyone use tripwire ?unline normal scanners, instead of scaiing vor virii finger prints, it takes md5sums of all your system files, and stores them in an excrypted database.if any of them change, you know your are infected.its great becase it will detect any channge, even the ones made ny virii that are not in any virii database.

it just takes your wor for it.why would a windows user want to sign themselves up as a linux user.

its not a spam site.its well known in the linux community. it doesnt look pretty because like it says, its just a counter, its only interest is estimating linux use around the globe.

on an unrelated topic....mocrpscopic^earthling...how come your linux counter badge shows up like that, but my linux counter badge shows up as "user posted image"also, mine is white.. how did you et your gold ? i assume you made it yourself ? i just got ine from the counter page.back on topic.....Ok.. thats good then !i saw the open source cinerella, but on gentoo linux for 64bit, it is labeled as hard masked and "too broken to fix" i un masked it, but like the warning said, it didnt compile. i have a 32bit chroot encoronment within my 64bit OS... so i will try installing cinerella on 32bit.(note: ive probably spelled cinerllerra wrong, so blame me if you google for it and find nothing)

an abstraction layer that maps win32 api's to corresponding X11 api calls etc etc.and anouther word for mapping one set of api's to anouther is emulate.the definition is very fuzzy...its only not an emulator becasue it doesnt have to translate the raw x86 machine code.

on average i get hit by a probe on problem ports every 3 to 5 minutes..which is much greater than the download time of the service packs.anyways. turns out the windows software is useless for dvd writing

Befre i start, i would like to apologise.. this is pretty much just a rant. i suddenly feel the need to vent some frustration. I am a Linux user. I have bought a DVD writer.. and unfortunatly the Linux software for writing DVD video's from other formats is very confusing and complicated... deplexing, multiplexing, avdio and video streams dancing about and forever intertwining etc etc. bundled with the DVD writer is a program called myDVD. it claims to be an easy program for converting any video files into a dvd that you can play on your standalone dvd player. also, it bundled many nero applications which claim to do similar. so after 3 years of using linux... i decide i should give windows a chance to shine. problem #1: windows will not install without without first formatting linux... evebn whne linux is on a different disk. so i had to take my machine apart, and unplug all disks with nay trace of linux. problem #2: windows douesnt detect my dvd dirce correctly... and im trying to keep my windows machine off the network. i only want to install dvd software, no virus scanners spayware / adware removers... so no internet. problem #3 after installing my bundled FULL versions of my dvd authoring software... i am then informaed that... so now... i need to BUY a dvd authoring porgram so i can use the codec for use on my dvd authoring program. what a con ! ive gone crying back to linux. and unplugged the windows disk. AGH !!! it should NOT be legal to sell hardware with bunldles software that *claims* to be able to do somthing.. but fails to mention that you will need to pay extrafor a 3rd party codec.

thanks...i tempreily re-connected windows to the netwok and let it update my cdrom drivers.im behind a router, so hopefully im still viirus clean.

the dropdown box for address has United Kingdom listed.. and it accespted my UK address fine. so i would assume so.

I gave up and installed a second hard disk.i will try to move the filesystem from the old slow disk onto partiton 4 with knoppix.ive never liked windows, but im very suprised at how poorly it handles partitons.