Fedora Core 2: Solution without compiling kernel

[oldsk00l]

@cabrilo

Compiling the kernel took me less than 5 minutes. I don't see what the problem is. If you are going to run Linux, run it with the philosophy it was designed for. Don't sit there and cry foul because something as trivial as compiling a kernel takes too long, and you need to have your precious rpm. Dare I say, that I (a heathenous one of the cult of the damned...er gentoo) compiling the kernel is as easy as working with the device manager in windows. Root out support for your hardware, stay away from known problems, and you're set. You also have a much smaller/faster kernel from it if you have your gcc flags optimized.

[reyawn]

alrighty...I'm a semi-new to linux and have a few limitations to work with here.

I don't have the kernel source and compiling utilities installed simply because my test hard disk doesn't have enough room. I wish I could, but I don't. Is there any way I could install the nvidia driver without rebuilding the kernel? I have Fedora Core 2 with the patch/mod thing listed in this thread installed, and am wondering how you guys are doing it.

Whenever I try to run the nvidia installer, it always says it doesn't have a match for my kernel...does this mean I am screwed, or am I doing something wrong?

[oldsk00l]

I'm wondering if its your kernel sources not being installed

[Caetzar]

I ran into some trouble here... I downloaded the smp version from the Linuxant site and installed it but then on rebooting it halted at:

Freeing unused kernel memory: 180k freed

Do I need to install both? I tried rpm -e <linuxsmpkernel> and it of course removed it. I only have one kernelsource which doesn have smp in it (linux-2.6.5-1.358).

Any ideas? I have booted using the non smp kernel to do this of course.

Thanks.

[Boba Fett]

Originally Posted by cabrilo

If you are as lazy as me and you just LOVE rpm's, here is a solution to all of your problems:

http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader...ernel-i686.php

"They are identical to the Fedora kernels, except for the removal of problematic CONFIG_4KSTACKS, nostack and 4G/4G patches."

I am using one right now. glxgears is giving nice results!

Thanks for sharing!!

Although I wouldn't say that I'm lazy it's a great solution!!

The more "easy" Linux gets, the more people will use it

[skynetop]

I installed the RPM and it seemed to clear up my dead locks. But now if I want to run a screen saver my Xwindows crashes but I can log back in so its a little more stable.

I am not sure if it has to still do with the Nvidia driver with my Quadro NVS 200 card,
but if they are working on one maybe it will clear up my issues.

Any ideas?

[LordMorgul]

Originally Posted by oldsk00l

@cabrilo

Compiling the kernel took me less than 5 minutes. I don't see what the problem is. If you are going to run Linux, run it with the philosophy it was designed for. Don't sit there and cry foul because something as trivial as compiling a kernel takes too long, and you need to have your precious rpm. Dare I say, that I (a heathenous one of the cult of the damned...er gentoo) compiling the kernel is as easy as working with the device manager in windows. Root out support for your hardware, stay away from known problems, and you're set. You also have a much smaller/faster kernel from it if you have your gcc flags optimized.

Please try to refrain from the elitist attitude that compiling the kernel should be necessary.. it is not necessary or even beneficial to many users -- especially those interested in putting Linux to work for them with minimal effort in working on Linux. This attitude, while traditionally correct about Linux, is no longer valid or admirable.. lets move beyond it. Maintaining the validity of the RPM database is unquestionably beneficial... whether that benefit outweighs simplicity of doing the kernel build directly is up to each user and you should not assume your own decision is better for another. In a similar manner, it is beneficial to build the kernel using the gentoo-sources and working within the ebuild structure... nevertheless it is also fine to abandon it and build the kernel directly as well.

and just an aside to the above... it did not take you 5 minutes to compile the kernel, it may have taken you literally 5 minutes to configure it if you're familiar with it.. but even using distcc and ccache you could not have possibly compiled it in 5 minutes without big iron type hardware -- why do I pick on this 'figure of speech'? - because this is a technical forum and I think that statement is just too patronizing.

[toracat]

I entirely agree with the LordMorgul's view on compiling the kernel. By the way, whenever I need to compile the kernel on an older Pentium machine, it takes 2 hours and 20 minutes.

toracat

[cabrilo]

Originally Posted by oldsk00l

@cabrilo

Compiling the kernel took me less than 5 minutes. I don't see what the problem is. If you are going to run Linux, run it with the philosophy it was designed for. Don't sit there and cry foul because something as trivial as compiling a kernel takes too long, and you need to have your precious rpm. Dare I say, that I (a heathenous one of the cult of the damned...er gentoo) compiling the kernel is as easy as working with the device manager in windows. Root out support for your hardware, stay away from known problems, and you're set. You also have a much smaller/faster kernel from it if you have your gcc flags optimized.

Different users, different needs. I compiled kernel several times and I know that it's not hard. In fact, I just recompiled kernel on my Slackware 9.1 machine. However, Fedora is running on my everyday-computer. Compiling a kernel would involve doing backups (I know that there is no real risk, but info is way too important), and possibly having the machine inoperable if there are glitches to be fixed - and as you know, there often are.

Cabrilo

[Caetzar]

Hi,
Back to the Fedora Core 2/nvidia solution; in the case of recompiling where is the 4stacks option which I can change? I looked a few times in the .config file as well as in xconfig and couldn't see it. (If you can let me know of a good way to search for kernel options that might be useful for the future too!)

Alternatively, for the RPM installation, can anyone see where I may have gone wrong? The reboot stopped at: Freeing unused kernel memory: 180k freed (Please see my previous post, potentially on the previous page).

Thanks for any information.

[oldsk00l]

I dunno

Personally I have found it very valuable to keep a knoppix cd handy nearby. Thus negating the need to backup in case of a kernel problem.

[pete777]

Thank you!

I downloaded the precompiled rpm with 8kstacks and it works great.

I am running:
AMD XP 2000+
GEForce MX400

I get a glxgears of almost 8000.

Pete