Hi,

I'm planning to install Slackware-current on a core duo sata laptop. I
will use the sata.i kernel, and afterwards recompile the kernel to
enable SMP.

Will it suffice to change
# CONFIG_SMP is nor set
to
CONFIG_SMP=y
in the config file?

Are there any other options you would recommend to enable? Would it be
better to move directly to a 2.6.x kernel?

Thanks in advance.

Sergio Reyes-Peniche.

sreyesp@gmail.com wrote:
> I'm planning to install Slackware-current on a core duo sata laptop. I
> will use the sata.i kernel, and afterwards recompile the kernel to enable
> SMP.
>
> Will it suffice to change
> # CONFIG_SMP is nor set
> to
> CONFIG_SMP=y
> in the config file?

If you start with the config file for the sata.i kernel that is the change
which gives you SMP. Once you have done that change you should start with:

make bzImage

The file /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage should then be copied to
your /boot directory and you should configure lilo to use your new kernel.

However, before booting your new kernel you also must make sure that all
your modules are for SMP, do not mix non-SMP modules with an SMP kernel!

make modules
make modules_install

The above installs all modules that comes from your kernel source. You
might also have to recompile some other modules that does not come with
the kernel source or that you have newer versions of than the ones with
the kernel source. Check the ALSA modules and the DRM modules if the ones
from the kernel source are good enough.

> Are there any other options you would recommend to enable?

Depending on how much RAM you have and if you have any plans to buy more
RAM you might want to set HIGHMEM also. As with SMP you should not mix a
HIGHMEM kernel with non-HIGHMEM modules.

regards Henrik
--
The address in the header is only to prevent spam. My real address is:
hc8(at)uthyres.com Examples of addresses which go to spammers:
root@variousus.net root@localhost

Henrik Carlqvist wrote:
> The file /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage should then be copied to
> your /boot directory and you should configure lilo to use your new kernel.
>
> However, before booting your new kernel you also must make sure that all
> your modules are for SMP, do not mix non-SMP modules with an SMP kernel!
>
> make modules
> make modules_install
>
Actually I'm planning to make packages of both kernel and modules, and
use upgradepkg to install them.

> Check the ALSA modules and the DRM modules if the ones
> from the kernel source are good enough.
>
Where should I check for new DRM modules? The laptop has an Intel 950
display adapter (945 chipset) and I know the linux support for this one
is fairly recent.

If I want to try out a 2.6.x kernel, are the config file options very
different? In slackware-current there isn't a sata kernel config from
which to start.

> regards Henrik

Thanks for your help.

Sergio.

sreyesp@gmail.com <sreyesp@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Will it suffice to change
> # CONFIG_SMP is nor set
> to
> CONFIG_SMP=y
> in the config file?
>

Just making sure I'm not reading what you are saying wrong - you don't
plan on modifying the .config file with an editor and then recompiling?
You need to use one of the make config/menuconfig/xconfig options.

- Kurt

>> Will it suffice to change
>> # CONFIG_SMP is nor set
>> to
>> CONFIG_SMP=y
>> in the config file?
>>
>
> Just making sure I'm not reading what you are saying wrong - you don't
> plan on modifying the .config file with an editor and then recompiling?
> You need to use one of the make config/menuconfig/xconfig options.

Why not? (at least in this case)
Just make sure that after "make" the CONFIG_SMP is still 'y' .




--
damjan

On 25 Jul 2006 18:09:23 -0700
sreyesp@gmail.com wrote:
> Actually I'm planning to make packages of both kernel and modules, and
> use upgradepkg to install them.

I would recommend that you use installpkg instead of upgradepkg
for the case anything goes wrong with your newly compiled kernel.

> If I want to try out a 2.6.x kernel, are the config file options very
> different? In slackware-current there isn't a sata kernel config from
> which to start.

There is a config for sata.i (2.4.32). Take a look in kernels/sata.i/

--
Mikhail

sreyesp@gmail.com wrote:
> Actually I'm planning to make packages of both kernel and modules, and
> use upgradepkg to install them.

I have done Slackware packages for both kernels and modules. My kernel
packages usually have contents looking something like this:

install/
install/doinst.sh
install/slack-desc
install/new_kernels/
install/new_kernels/advansys/
install/new_kernels/advansys/bzImage
install/new_kernels/advansys/config
install/new_kernels/advansys/System.map.gz install/new_kernels/aic79xx/
install/new_kernels/aic79xx/bzImage
install/new_kernels/aic79xx/config
install/new_kernels/aic79xx/System.map.gz
....

The doinst.sh script checks which kernel is currently installed and then
installs the appropriate kernel with support for a SCSI card if needed. I
have modified my /boot directory a little, it looks like this:

ls -lg /boot
total 1871
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root 15 Jan 3 2002 System.map -> bare/System.map
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 609166 Sep 3 2003 System.map-ide-2.4.22
drwxr-xr-x 2 root 128 Aug 14 2004 bare
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 512 Jan 3 2002 boot.0300
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root 11 Jan 3 2002 config -> bare/config
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 38645 Sep 3 2003 config-ide-2.4.22
-rw------- 1 root 26624 Aug 14 2004 map
drwxr-xr-x 3 root 80 Aug 14 2004 old_kernels
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root 12 Jan 3 2002 vmlinuz -> bare/bzImage
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 1226706 Sep 3 2003 vmlinuz-ide-2.4.22

By putting the kernel with its file in a subdirectory (above it is the
bare directory) the install script knows it should use the bare kernel.
Once the install script has copied the new kernel it also runs lilo.

My doinst.sh script for kernel upgrades looks like this:

-8<----------------------------------------------
#!/bin/bash

kernel=`file boot/vmlinuz | colrm 1 31 | xargs dirname`

if [ -d install/new_kernels/$kernel ]; then
mkdir -p boot/old_kernels
if [ install/new_kernels/${kernel}/bzImage -nt boot/${kernel}/bzImage ]; then
mv boot/$kernel boot/old_kernels/${kernel}.`date +%y%m%d`
cp -rp install/new_kernels/$kernel boot
gunzip boot/${kernel}/System.map.gz
# Doing this more than once might help against "volid read error" from
# removable discs
lilo -r .
sleep 1
lilo -r .
sleep 1
lilo -r .
fi
rm -r install/new_kernels
else
echo New kernel for $kernel is missing!
fi
-8<----------------------------------------------

When doing Slackware packages with modules it is important to remember
that /lib/modules/*/modules.* should not be included in the package.
Instead doinst.sh should run depmod to update those files.

>> Check the ALSA modules and the DRM modules if the ones from the kernel
>> source are good enough.
>>
> Where should I check for new DRM modules? The laptop has an Intel 950
> display adapter (945 chipset) and I know the linux support for this one
> is fairly recent.

My experience mostly comes from Slackware 9.1 where the DRM modules came
from XFree86 which had more recent versions of those modules than the DRM
modules that was included in the kernel. Check the sources for X.org if
your DRM modules seem to be newer than the ones included with your kernel.

regards Henrik
--
The address in the header is only to prevent spam. My real address is:
hc8(at)uthyres.com Examples of addresses which go to spammers:
root@variousus.net root@localhost

Henrik Carlqvist wrote:
> My doinst.sh script for kernel upgrades looks like this:
>

Thank you, I'll give it a try.

Sergio.

Mikhail Zotov wrote:
> On 25 Jul 2006 18:09:23 -0700
> sreyesp@gmail.com wrote:
> > If I want to try out a 2.6.x kernel, are the config file options very
> > different? In slackware-current there isn't a sata kernel config from
> > which to start.
>
> There is a config for sata.i (2.4.32). Take a look in kernels/sata.i/
>
I meant a 2.6.x sata config. Anyway, I looked at kernels/test26.s and
kernels/huge26.s and it looks like both have the sata options on. The
2.6.x kernel in testing does not (only as modules; same with reiserfs,
which I like to use), so I think I'll try test26.s or huge26.s

Thanks.

Sergio.

Damjan <gdamjan@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Why not? (at least in this case)
> Just make sure that after "make" the CONFIG_SMP is still 'y' .

More than just the .config file is modified during the make config
process. I haven't messed with the kernel source in years, so
I don't remember where or why off the top of my head.

- Kurt