I wasnt shure if i should post this here or in the install/boot forums.
I been meaning to try the newest 3.x kernel, and i of couse want to do it on my favorite distro, openSUSE.
Is there a way i can install and use the 3.x kernel in my 11.4 installation that does not require me to build/compile the kernel?
Can i add a repository or something where i can “just install” a 3.x version of the desktop kernel?
e.g. zypper install kernel-desktop-3.0.x
Any help much appreciated.
On Wed, 31 Aug 2011 02:46:02 +0000, ErnestoRD wrote:
> Is there a way i can install and use the 3.x kernel in my 11.4
> installation that does not require me to build/compile the kernel? Can
> i add a repository or something where i can “just install” a 3.x version
> of the desktop kernel?
> e.g. zypper install kernel-desktop-3.0.x
Not at this stage, unless someone has built it in OBS and put it in a
repository there.
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
This repo
Index of /repositories/Kernel:/HEAD/standard
But you may need to consider your graphic card situation
For the latest available stable kernel (3.0.3 at the moment) add the Kernel:stable-standard repository and update with YaST or zypper.
# zypper ar "http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/" "Kernel:stable"
# zypper mr -r "Kernel:stable"
# zypper up kernel-desktop
I really recommend this for a desktop machine. The graphics and wireless drivers have improved considerably since the 2.6.38 kernel – for most purposes the use of closed source graphic drivers is now redundant.
If you want to walk on the wild side the 3.1rc builds appear in the Kernel:HEAD/standard repository
Thanks for your answers guys.
Im not too concerned about the graphics card, since its an intel built in. no nvidia, ati or anything fancy.
What i am a bit concerned about, is my broadcom wireless card.
so i just follow the steps kindly provided by eng-int, reboot and select the proper kernel from the list. Right?
When you switch to the new kernel repo
You may be required to uninstall broadcom-wl drivers, if you have them from Packman. If not, you should be fine. There is much better broadcom support in v.3>
And you will not need the ‘wl’ driver.
If you are using ‘wl’ now, post install of the kernel you will need to do the following
sudo /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware
sudo /sbin/modprobe -rv b43
sudo /sbin/modprobe -v b43
If you are not sure what driver you currently have, post for us:
/sbin/lspci -nnk
eng-int wrote:
> The graphics and
> wireless drivers have improved considerably since the 2.6.38 kernel –
> for most purposes the use of closed source graphic drivers is now
> redundant.
Is there a live build of 11.4 somewhere with kernel 3.x for me to test this?
Or could i simply build my own with the stable release kernel added?
Chris Maaskant
@Chris: a thing you could consider is moving to openSUSE Tumbleweed. Search the forums for “Tumbleweed” and you’ll find everything you need. Tumbleweed atm serves
glosscomputer@Knurpht:~> uname -a
Linux Knurpht.laptop 3.0.3-42-desktop #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Aug 25 02:17:07 UTC 2011 (026eef6) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Knurpht wrote:
> @Chris: a thing you could consider is moving to openSUSE Tumbleweed.
> Search the forums for “Tumbleweed” and you’ll find everything you need.
> Tumbleweed atm serves
No i don’t want a rolling distro, i like it stable 
I just made a live iso from the standard kde live iso with the stable kernel
repo aded.
Just tested it in virtualbox and it works
Chris Maaskant
Chris Maaskant wrote:
All i want is to see if the nouveau drivers are realy as good like you said.
All i need nvidia drivers for are desktop effects and HD movies.
Thanks, rayH
eng-int wrote:
> I would be interested in your impressions. The general advice given
> here is to go straight to the closed-source drivers, but I prefer to use
> a newer stable kernel.
Chris Maaskant
Hi!, normally i do use the wl driver for my wireless card, however, the pc im doing the kernel upgrade is a brand new install of opensuse 11.4, without any aditional drivers installed yet.
after i do the kernel upgrade ill test to see if the wireless works “out of the box” (i mean without having to install aditional drivers).
Just finished upgrading the kernel…
followed this instructions (thanks eng-int)
zypper ar “http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/” “Kernel:stable”
zypper mr -r “Kernel:stable”
zypper up kernel-desktop
successfully installed kernel-desktop-3.0.4-1.1.i586.
the broadcom wireless card is detected without any aditional drivers, but it doesnt detect any networks.
Should i install the broadcom-wl driver?
SOLVED!
Just installed the package b43-firmware, and now wireless works perfectly, without having to use the broadcom-wl driver from packman
BTW, maybe its just me, but the pc seems faster with this new kernel, and the touchpad works perfectly now. with 2.X kernel it dint work properly, it had trouble detecting taps as clicks, i had to use the buttons. not anymore!
Great news
Enjoy
Chris Maaskant wrote:
> I will post back when i’ve tested the dvd on real hardware.
Close but no sigar.
It failed to detect my dual monitor setup.
But that might be because of my build because the normal live distro does it
right.
Playing a simple 3d game like foobillard send the system crawling.
And HD movies played well but not 100%, the movie stutters a little.
Desktop effects on the other hand worked perfect.
I can’t realy say how much of this is due to my build of the live distro.
So i just have to wait until some guru makes a proper one
As much as i like opensource software on my system, i can’t say the nvidia
drivers has caused me any trouble at all.
I play HD movies, play 3d games every now en then (but that’s not essential
to me because i have windows 7 installed allongside opensuse just for games)
even games with wine, work with very high resolution graphics with the gimp
(images around 2GB) and i can’t get this system to it’s knees.
Chris Maaskant