Kernel 2.4.x or 2.6.x ?

M

I am using Redhat. I want to rebuild the kernel. But I am confuse about the

source files. Which one do I chose newer 2.4.xx or newer 2.6.xx?

P

Complie the new 2.6 kernel but before you use it on a redhat 9 machine read the artical "migrating to kernet 2.6" this gives you a few setting that you have to change. I would recommend a new installation say the PCQ linux 2005 or fedora core 3 as it will deal with lot of other issus also.

N

Upgrading to the kernel 2.6.xx from 2.4.xx:
HowTo Upgrade To The 2.6 Kernel *kerneltrap.org/node/view/799
Upgrading RH9 to 2.6.xx *www.fearthecow.net/index.pl?section=guest&page=kernel
Migrating to Linux Kernel 2.6 *thomer.com/linux/migrate-to-2.6.html

Hope this helps

G

Thanx to both of you!!

D

I would highly recommend using a 2.4.x kernel. They are older but tried and tested, atleast on the RH9 platform. 2.6.x will just feel out of place on RH9 since RH has a bad habit of customizing its kernels

U

If you want to play about with the features & enhancements of 2.6 ... go ahead!

But yes, most probably any features you will need will already be present in 2.4

P

Come on guys the 2.6 kernel is much much better than the 2.4 serie it has a better 0/1 schedular that makes the system more responsive It has good support for the new hardware like SATA and NCQ things like suppoer for the dual memory arch in the amd 939 pin cpu etc. Thus it makes a lot of sense upgrading to the 2.6 series of kernel. Also read the change logs to see the real changes you will be surprised. Even a 486 m/c benifits from the 2.6 kernel.

D

pradeep, i know 2.6 is much more advanced than 2.4 BUT RH9 was designed for 2.4 so 2.6 will make it feel a lot out of place. I was on RH9 for quite sometime but 2.6.2/2.6.5 gave me a lot of problems after compilation. So I finally moved to Fedora

I came to know 2.6.8+ kernels have some bugs regarding CD-Writers.

Kernel 2.4 are also good but they are almost an year old. I have to do more hardwork to get my digicam detected in 2.4

In stead of upgrading the kernel in an old distro, will it not be better to install a more latest distro?

B

No, will anyone change the whole system if all he need is a new cd drive?

It isnt geeky but foolishness to change the distro every now and then. You are giving excessive work to the hdd. And so the life of hdd could be reduced or MBR could get corrupt. So if you dont need it dont change it.

I am not saying about changing the OS every now and then. FC3 is the latest one, but I am still using distro based on FC1. But here the person is using RH9. Now there are 3 distros after that and a lot of upgrade must have gone into getting out 3 new versions. Besides functionalities, there must have even be some security upgrades.