Add this repo in YaST->Software Repositories and install the kernel in YaST->Software Management (click on the “Versions” tab below the package list):
[noparse]http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/[/noparse]
The old kernel will stay installed and you can still boot it by choosing “Advanced Options” in the boot menu.
Of course if there is an update in that repo which you install, your oldest kernel will be removed, so you may want to remove/disable the repo after installing the kernel or change the multiversion config in /etc/zypp/zypp.conf if you want to keep the kernel from your installed openSUSE version for safety reasons.
Running thumble weed or just install the latest kernel in 12.3 ( or 13.1)
Tumbleweed still has 3.11.6, so it makes no difference in that case really.
Which option is most likely to cause me less issues ?
12.3 maybe, because it’s already out since 8 months and most bugs should be fixed with online updates by now?
But I guess you should fare well with 13.1 as well.
Or will this kernel appear soon, in any stable openSUSE release ?
Supposedly in 13.2, which will be released in abour 8 months.
13.1 contains 3.11 and will stay on 3.11 during its lifetime, openSUSE’s policy is to only provide security and bugfix updates but no version upgrades.
The thing I value most is gaming., Thats also the reason why I build this pc.
AMD phenom II X4 HD5750
And I of-course need to run steam.
With that gfx card you could of course also use the proprietary fglrx driver to get the best performance: SDB:AMD fglrx - openSUSE
I am already using the latest amd catalyst beta drivers. ( this is adviced by Valve )
I think I will use, the keep old kernel too, method.
This has worked for me already in the past.
( when yast did this automaticly )
It did add the option to the boot screen, and the list became quite long after a while, so I can see why they did not turn this on any-more by default.
I thought you were speaking about the improvements in the radeon kernel driver, those you won’t notice of course if using fglrx.
I think I will use, the keep old kernel too, method.
This has worked for me already in the past.
( when yast did this automaticly )
It is done automatically, that’s what I was saying.
But the default is only to keep a maximum of 3 kernels (latest,latest-1,running). And since most of the time latest==running, only 2 kernels are kept in practice.
I wanted to suggest editing /etc/zypp/zypp.conf to maybe change this, otherwise you would only have 3.12.x kernels soon (no problem of course, if they work).
To keep the 3.7.10 (if you’re running 12.3) kernel as well, add f.e. “oldest” to the “multiversion.kernels” option there.
Or if you disable the purge-kernels service ("sudo systemctl disable purge-kernels.service), no kernel is removed anymore.
You can always call the /sbin/purge-kernels script yourself (or run “sudo systemctl start purge-kernels.service”) if you want to clean up (this respects the setting in /etc/zypp/zypp.conf), or remove kernels manually in YaST->Software Management (click on the “Versions” tab below the package list).
It did add the option to the boot screen, and the list became quite long after a while, so I can see why they did not turn this on any-more by default.
As I said above, it is turned on by default. But only 3 (in practice 2) kernels are kept.
And if you use grub2, those additional kernels only show up when you select “Advanced Options” in the boot menu, so the standard menu won’t become crowded.
To be clear to all, there were no improvements to the radeon kernel driver*. All the big hoopla was related to a change in behaviour of the cpufreq governor (specifically, the ondemand governor.) In kernel 3.12, it (the ondemand governor) behaves differently then what it did in the past. The result is that performance in 3d applications can increase over what you’d formerly see when using the ondemand gov. – those with beefy graphics adapters can see very, very healthy performance increases, whereas those with piddly grahpics cards, not so much. The key words in the last sentence were “using the ondemad gov”. You see, if one had really cared about performance, they’d likely have already been utilizing the “performance” gov., and they would have **already **realized that extra performance that was available to them. Meaning, ondemand in 3.12 finally allows the system to produce essentially the same performance that can be extracted when using the performance governor. Meaning, there was no inherent performance increase in the graphics driver. none. zero. zip. The training wheels have just come off the bike per se.
The same “benefit” (and I use that term lightly) will also be seen in the case of using the ondemand gov inconjunction with the prop. drivers.
there are almost always ongoing improvements, but the context was in terms of fps performance impovements in games etc.
Btw, this change has been backported and included in 13.1’s kernel 3.11.6. So no need for installing kernel 3.12 for that.
You could just upgrade to openSUSE 13.1 and stay with its default kernel.
Just to be clear, as this could be misunderstood maybe:
With “default kernel” I don’t mean kernel-default here, but the standard, included kernel. So either kernel-default, kernel-pae, or kernel-desktop (or any other variant) should include that change in 13.1.
Exactly, I disabled cool and quiet in my bios. ( which gives the same result )
This because Croteam told us so, about 8 months ago. ( Croteam makes serious sam 3, which has a native Linux version )
They also claimed their game should run a tiny bit faster on Linux, when the drivers were fixed. ( compared to directX on windows )
Some people thought Croteam was just blaming others for problems with their game, but they were 100% right.
For people who use the opensource drivers the performance boost is quite amazing.
This at first totally surprised, about everybody.
Then the guy from phoronix did some digging, and found why 3.12 improved the frame rates.
The closed source drivers also benefit from this,but not as much as the opensource drivers.
One nice example why steam to Linux is not just good news for gamers.
I did not know they back ported this. So 13.1 here I come.
I first need to make up my mind though.
I might change the partitions of my two 500 gig hard disks.
The first time I installed suse ( it was not yet openSUSE back then )
They advised to add an fat 32 partition, for easy file swapping between the two os.
( this mostly because back then, ntfs was only experimental supported on Linux )
Currently I still have this extra partition although its a ntfs partition.
I am thinking about not using an extra partition anymore.
One easy way to achieve this,would be to install 13.1, and tell the installer to use the entire disk.
Lets start with downloading 13.1, and to stay in style, use a torrent.
For those wondering, bit torrent was written to distribute Linux distro’s.
Edit: just found out I have 10 more days to think about it
I already was, but not sure if I am already good enough with Linux, to use tumbleweed.
The big advantage of my pc being dual boot, is clear though.
If I mess up one os, I always have the other one, to go on the internet and look for solutions.
And Tumbleweed is not like factory bleeding edge.
Thanks for making me doubt again.
I have been considering Tumbleweed before.
One, its a rolling release.
Two its more up to date, which is very interesting, because there is allot of progress, for gamers and other people to whom performance is important.
Its funny, I had already given up hope, about gaming on Linux.
But now we have people working on debugging tools for games on Linux.
I just installed 3.12.0-1.1 from Index of /repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard and find that the ATI proprietary driver is now broken. I’ve been using fglrx-13.11.beta for several weeks and it worked well until this kernel upgrade.
Yeah, apparently the fglrx driver doesn’t work with the final 3.12.0 kernel yet, despite of: [Phoronix] AMD Catalyst Beats NVIDIA To Linux 3.12 Support](AMD Catalyst Beats NVIDIA To Linux 3.12 Support - Phoronix) (it seems it did work with some 3.12 pre-release version though)
That makes sense. In any case, now is not the best time to start with Tumbleweed (IMO, not worthwhile). It’s coming up to the time when it has always re-based onto the new release (i.e. 13.1), so you may as well install standard 13.1 anyway.
Many (?) TW users will upgrade/downgrade to 13.1 packages. There is usually several weeks delay before TW repo starts to fill, then often with a kernel upgrade. Although TW and 3.12.0 seems to be running well on my notebook with intel graphics, I will soon “zypper dup” to 13.1 final, and back to 3.11 kernel for a while I guess.
