Which 2.3 kernel do I use?

Abbadon · n00b Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 13

Ok, I'm fairly new to this Linux stuff. But I want to install a 2.6 kernel on my U60. Which one do I get.

The more details the better for this newbie.

Thanks.

Headrush · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:31 am Post subject:

Abbadon · n00b Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 13

Which gentoo-sources?

There are several and all are masked for one reason or another. Mainly misssing keyword and ~sparc keyword.

Should I go for the latest?

2.6.15???

Thanks.

Headrush · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:59 am Post subject:

If you just do

Abbadon · n00b Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 13

Actually it won't as they are all masked. But I can handle that.

Headrush · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 3:07 am Post subject:

Abbadon · n00b Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 13

Headrush · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 3:26 am Post subject:

Reaper450128 · n00b Joined: 06 Nov 2005 Posts: 3

I'm not exactly a Gentoo expert myself, but I have been doing some work with masked packages lately myself (atheros wireless card on my laptop) so I think I can guide you on how to get a set of sources. Of course, this comes with a standard warning: Packages are masked for a reason, generally because they haven't been proven totally stable in the circumstance they are masked against, so be prepared to deal with the possibility of problems, particularly with something as critical as the kernel. I did some searching on gentoo-portage for the current releases of a couple of kernel sources, and since you want a 2.6 kernel, even the vanilla-sources (the non-Gentoo enhanced kernel sources) of 2.6 are masked on Sparc. You can get 2.4.32 as a non-masked package with emerge vanilla-sources, but in order to get a 2.6 here's what you need to do:

1. Create /etc/portage/package.keywords if you don't already have one.
2. Add the line "sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-2.6.15-r1 ~sparc" to this file. This will unmask the 2.6.15-r1 version of gentoo-sources for you, and only this version. If you wanted to try the 2.6 vanilla-sources, use "sys-kernel/vanilla-sources-2.6.15.1 ~sparc" instead. Neither of these is the absolute newest version, but they are the ones most proven stable on other architectures based on the keywords masked.
3. Try your emerge again. It should get the files this time.

You probably should look at the bugs listed for both of these on www.gentoo-portage.com before you start, just so you know what you are getting into. As I stated earlier, these are masked for a reason, so be prepared to have problems if you choose to bypass the masking protection.

Headrush · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 3:44 am Post subject:

Reaper450128, nice walk through but I think he knows this part.

One thing to remember, there is a huge difference between something marked ~sparc and something hard masked. Hard masked packages are know to fail, have issues, or have major changes. ~sparc are generally very safe and usually don't cause many major issues, kernel or otherwise.

chance2105 · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:48 pm Post subject:

The U60 works well with 2.6.14 and 2.6.15, vanilla or gentoo-sources. Any 2.6 kernel versions prior to that .. well, work, sorta, if you don't mind instability (eg, machine locking).

Reaper450128 · n00b Joined: 06 Nov 2005 Posts: 3

Like I said, I'm not an expert. How does hard masking work? All the gentoo-sources and vanilla-sources packages with a 2.6 version have ~sparc if sparc is listed at all in their keywords on the portage site, which type of masking is that? I thought this was regular masking, but I'm fairly new to Gentoo myself. I have it running on 3 machines right now but none of them are the least bit "exotic". They're all are regular x86 Intel-based systems, so I haven't had too much experience with package masking until I decided to dual-boot it on my laptop.

6D7474 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 08 Sep 2005 Posts: 135

the "normal" masking is ~arch - you have just to modify /etc/portage/package.keywords
hard masking, as Headrush mentioned, is much more serious (it probably just won't work...) - you have to edit /etc/portage/package.unmask to unmask it..
example:
http://www.gentoo-portage.com/app-text/ghostscript-esp
even if you use ~sparc, you'll be only able to install 7.07.1-r10 and not 8.15.1...