[Gllug] Re: Kernel

[Doug Winter]

On Fri 16 Jan Murray KDE wrote:
> Can I tell if another stock kernel has the same
> support that I already use?  Or what I would gain/lose
> by upgrading?  

Unless you have some really weird hardware, any Debian stock kernel is
likely to work on your system.  The boot kernels have more built in,
rather than compiled as modules, particularly disk systems, to try to
make sure they can find the disks you wish to install on.

You may need to load additional modules for your soundcard and so forth.
It's a good idea to keep a copy of your dmesg from a working kernel,
because that'll identify your hardware for you:

    # dmesg > dmesg.2004-10-16.bf-2.4.working

If you find your soundcard doesn't work after a reboot, the old dmesg
will tell you what it is, without you having to open the case :)

ALWAYS ALWAYS make sure you can choose your old kernel when you reboot.
Debian kernel install plays well with lilo, but make double-sure you are
happy you can boot your old kernel.

Before rebooting with your new one, read /etc/lilo.conf and ensure all
the files listed in image= and initrd= lines really exist.

They are often symbolic links to files in /boot.  When you list them, us
the -L switch to ls, to ensure the target exists:

    # ls -lL /vmlinuz.old

It's always a good idea to have removable boot media (cdrom, floppy)
around too, just in case.  It's very irritating to render your computer
unbootable :>

> As I have a Pentium 1 with MMX, going for the 686
> package would have been bad!  I assume 386 is always
> safe, and that using a 586 or 686 version will mean we
> take more advantage of the newer processor features,
> so it might be a tad faster (compared to the 386
> version, all else being equal)?

That's it.

Cheers,

Doug.

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