SOLVED - Updating kernel query

[AndrzejL]

I am glad that we could help.

Andy

[dougmack]

OK, in spite of conflicting opinions, two against one says to upgrade the kernel. I now have 2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs  (for i686)
I have a choice of  2.6.37.4-pclos1.bfs  or  2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs   (either one for i686)
(There's no point in any kind of pae--the machine has as much ram as can be installed: 2GB.)
So which?  and do I just download it like any other file from Synaptic, or what do I do with the one you tell me to choose?
Sorry to be so dense, but I've never messed with a kernel before.

Thanx to the gurus here--doug

[AndrzejL]

Dougmack... Unfortunately it's not that easy to say.

Maurice's machine is based on Intel. This means BFS should be the best option for him.

My machine has a gig of ram but I am using the a64 kernel... Why coz I have a K8 based AMD machine. It's not 64 bit machine neither it is a 64 bit kernel. It's a kernel which just supports some of the AMD architecture motherboards better. I was using BFS kernel and a64 kernel and a64 seems snappier.

Give us more details about Your gear. For example output of

Code: [Select]

lscpu
Example:

[andrzejl@wishmasbell ~]$ lscpu
Architecture:          i686
CPU(s):                1
Thread(s) per core:    1
Core(s) per socket:    1
CPU socket(s):         1
Vendor ID:             AuthenticAMD
CPU family:            15
Model:                 44
Stepping:              2
CPU MHz:               1800.000
L1d cache:             64K
L1i cache:             64K
L2 cache:              128K
[andrzejl@wishmasbell ~]$

and

Code: [Select]

lspci
Example:

[andrzejl@wishmasbell ~]$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 Host Bridge (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:10.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller
00:10.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
00:10.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx21 Integrated FlashMedia Controller
00:10.4 SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCI6411/6421/6611/6621/7411/7421/7611/7621 Secure Digital Controller
00:11.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5008 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
00:19.0 PCI bridge: ALi Corporation M5249 HTT to PCI Bridge
00:1b.0 Ethernet controller: ALi Corporation ULi 1689,1573 integrated ethernet. (rev 50)
00:1c.0 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.1 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.2 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.3 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 2.0 Controller (rev 01)
00:1d.0 Audio device: ALi Corporation High Definition Audio/AC'97 Host Controller
00:1e.0 ISA bridge: ALi Corporation PCI to LPC Controller (rev 31)
00:1e.1 Bridge: ALi Corporation M7101 Power Management Controller [PMU]
00:1f.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev c7)
00:1f.1 RAID bus controller: ALi Corporation ULi 5287 SATA (rev 02)
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon XPRESS 200M 5955 (PCIE)
[andrzejl@wishmasbell ~]$

would be good.

If Your machine is Intel based I would go for the 38.8 bfs kernel but if it's AMD K8 based I would go for 38.8 a64 kernel...

Another thing... About the kernel versions - I would go for the most recent version from repository 38.8 but You can install and test both - they will be available in Your grub. There is a chance that some of the modern equipment might work better with latest kernel versions. There is a chance that some older equipment might be problematic with newest kernels - it rarely is but sometimes it happens... Many things are to be considered / tested.

Regards. I hope I have helped.

Andy

[muungwana]

just to clarify my previous comment.

Under normal circumstances, there is no point in updating the kernel if it works with all the hardware you have.

2.6.33.7.xxx is officially declared "too old" and its oldness is blamed on some people having difficulty booting their system after updates and hence anybody using this "too old" kernel is advised to update to a more recent version, preferably the latest one.

You install the kernel the same way you install any other package on your system.

Go with the latest one because it will take longer for it to also be "too old" too. Just open synaptic, click "refresh/reload" and then search for the "kernel", and then install it and then restart your computer and the an entry to the new kernel will be on the boot up list, select it and boot to the new kernel.

Use it for a while, if you like it and if it works with everything you have then go back to synaptic and remove the old one.

[dougmack]

lscpu:
Architecture:          i686
CPU(s):                1
Thread(s) per core:    1
Core(s) per socket:    1
CPU socket(s):         1
Vendor ID:             AuthenticAMD
CPU family:            6
Model:                 10
Stepping:              0
CPU MHz:               1198.024
L1d cache:             64K
L1i cache:             64K
L2 cache:              256K

[doug@localhost ~]$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 741/741GX/M741 Host (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS AGP Port (virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge)
00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS964 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 36)
00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (rev 01)
00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AC'97 Sound Controller (rev a0)
00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet (rev 91)
00:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: Trident Microsystems 4DWave NX (rev 02)
00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Lite-On Communications Inc LNE100TX (rev 20)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV44A [GeForce 6200] (rev a1)

OK, that's what the commands produce.  You can see this is a fairly old machine.  There is only physical socketing for two mem chips, and the biggest
you can get for this mobo is 1GB, so there is one of each=2GB.  Certainly not any kind of 64 bit cpu! (I have been tempted to upgrade the
whole machine, but I have other things to spend money on at present.) 
Thanx for whatever you decide, I'll try it.  The remainder of the question:  just select one in Synaptic and apply?

--doug

[Old-Polack]

dougmack:

Were I you, I'd go with the 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs kernel. It's both generic and fast.

On the possible upgrade of the whole machine issue, I would guess that by now you know that SIS chips are generally problematic in Linux. This is because the people at SIS simply don't support their products under Linux, so what we have is pretty much all reverse engineered. When you reach the stage where you seriously consider new hardware, avoid SIS and VIA chip sets as much as possible. Ask here, when the time comes, and we'll give you answers based on what has given us the most trouble free results, with Linux in general, and PCLinuxOS in particular.

[dougmack]

OK, I selected 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs, just as you suggested.  It appears to be working.  I've rebooted a couple of times.  Music still plays.  The internet
still works.  Konsole access still works. uname -a agrees that 2.6.38-pclos1.bfs is running. Everything seems to be copacetic. The boot screen at the top says "Boot PCLINUX 2011"  What do I have to do to delete the old kernel?  (I'd like to clean up the boot screen.)  The way /boot/grub/menu.lst reads right now doesn't make sense to me, but so long as whatever the magic does, it doesn't louse up the multi boots, all will be well. 

Thank you for the assistance.  --doug

[muungwana]

As far as the package manager is concerned, the kernel is like any other package, you install one the same way you install any other package and you remove one the same way you remove any other package.

Go back to synaptic, select the kernel you want to remove then mark it for removal and click apply and it will be removed.

[Old-Polack]

OK, I selected 2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs, just as you suggested.  It appears to be working.  I've rebooted a couple of times.  Music still plays.  The internet
still works.  Konsole access still works. uname -a agrees that 2.6.38-pclos1.bfs is running. Everything seems to be copacetic. The boot screen at the top says "Boot PCLINUX 2011"  What do I have to do to delete the old kernel?  (I'd like to clean up the boot screen.)  The way /boot/grub/menu.lst reads right now doesn't make sense to me, but so long as whatever the magic does, it doesn't louse up the multi boots, all will be well.  

Thank you for the assistance.  --doug

If you open a terminal and issue these commands;

[<you>@localhost ~]$ ls -l /boot/vmlinuz          <Enter>

[<you>@localhost ~]$ ls -l /boot/initrd.img          <Enter>

it will show what kernel and initrd image the default links point to.

Here you can see mine point to the last kernel installed. This was done as part of the installation process so I didn't have to do anything to have the first boot menu item automatically point to the newest kernel as the new default kernel.

[dougmack]

Did that, and verified.  The new kernel appears to be working fine.  After letting Synaptic remove the old kernel, I found that there was still an
"extra" boot section (into the new kernel) at the end of /boot/grub/menu.lst.  there does not seem to be any need for this, so I commented it out, and everything works fine, with only the Linux 2011, the failsafe, and the 2 other os's showing on the boot screen.  Thanx for all the assistance.
Gradually I learn.  --doug

So, SOLVED, again!

[Old-Polack]

Did that, and verified.  The new kernel appears to be working fine.  After letting Synaptic remove the old kernel, I found that there was still an
"extra" boot section (into the new kernel) at the end of /boot/grub/menu.lst.  there does not seem to be any need for this, so I commented it out, and everything works fine, with only the Linux 2011, the failsafe, and the 2 other os's showing on the boot screen.  Thanx for all the assistance.
Gradually I learn.  --doug

So, SOLVED, again!

The extra section at the bottom is for when you later install an even newer kernel. It will also add a stanza below that one, and also then become the default. Should it fail, the stanza you commented out won't be available to boot the present kernel unless you uncomment it. It has a definite purpose.