kernel 2.6.30.4

I plan on updating Suse 11.1 to the latest stable kernel, 2.6.30.4 This is something I have never tried before.

So before I blow up my computer :wink: Anyone have any thoughts and words of advice?

I just compiled yesterday 2.6.30.4 on openSUSE 11.1 and X11 crashes on start on my laptop with Intel GM45 rendering the display blank. At runlevel 3 (no X) it seemed fine, but without AppArmor of course.

The worst thing is that now with the standard 2.6.27.23-default (I downgraded from .25 to check a glitch with WiFi), when I log into KDE, the login process hangs. Iā€™ll check it this weekend, probably something overwritten in /lib/firmware.

I have only one advice, if you use AppArmor then it wonā€™t work with the 2.6.30 version (iā€™m not 100% sure but it probably wonā€™t work), other than that it should be fine but be sure to use kernel for 11.1 (that got compiled with gcc 4.3.x) and the same kernel source and kernel-headers. It should have superior hardware support and it also boots a lot faster than the old one lol!

My problem with 2.6.27 and KDE login was disc full :shame:

I finally got 2.6.30.4 to work with X, but I had to update the Xorg server and libdrm from the build service.

Still, to work with acceleration using UXA/DRI2 I needed to pass a parameter to the kernel: ā€œi915.modeset=1ā€.
GL was slower than with 2.6.27.23, and not very stable. E.g., switching to a text VT woudnā€™t redraw.

I noticed that 2.6.30.4 fixes some things, like the brightness controls in my HP 6730s laptop. But I keep having even bigger problems connecting to my wifi AP when it is set to 802.11n.

So I switched back to plain opensuse 11.1, and now GL with EXA driver seemed slower than before :O, but still faster than with UXA/DRI2 on the 2.6.20.4.

Then, I thought of testing 2.6.30.4 with EXA, reinstalled everything again and this time I couldnā€™t manage to start X with EXA, UXA nor even without acceleration. I canā€™t understand it.

Iā€™ll wait to opensuse 11.2 in november for the fancy features beyond the 2.6.27 kernel. I hope that everything will have better compatibility for my laptop.

About AppArmor, I tried to patch it into kernel 2.6.30.4 but didnā€™t work. Anyway, I could perfectly live without itā€¦

Iā€™ve warned before about this:
Kernels 2.6.30 require a lot of changes to your system, mainly new compilers and libs. Thereā€™s a high risk of instability, drivers not being compiled etc. You simply cannot just install 2.6.30 without the needed changes, and expect all to work

Well after creating this post, reading the comments and doing a little research the last few days. I decided to give into my lazy paranoid side and just wait for the kernel upgrade. As much as I want to do it, Suse is my main OS right now and I really donā€™t want to break it too badly. I may add another distro in the near future where I can play around with updating it with the latest Linux has to offer.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

Then how do we go about it?
Everyone knows that 2.6.30 adds lot of hardware support, fast boot-up time etc., then why canā€™t we have a safe upgrade option for it? Users who are willing to update their system lib for it can go for it and others can continue with 2.6.27

Hi
You might be better off trying 11.2 M5 then? At least if you have
issues there is bugzilla and the prerelease sub forum :slight_smile:

ā€“
Cheers Malcolm Ā°ĀæĀ° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.2 Milestone 5 (i586) Kernel 2.6.31-rc4-1-desktop
up 13:06, 2 users, load average: 0.28, 0.13, 0.04
ASUS eeePC 1000HE ATOM N280 1.66GHz | GPU Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME

I really want to do that. The only thing stopping me from doing that is I am running OS on my primary laptop. So will it be safe enough to upgrade 11.1 to 11.2M5?
Anyhow, my question still remain unanswered- Y not 11.1+2.6.30

Do you have anything to backup such ridiculous claims? Kernel 2.6.30 requiring new compilers, libs and big changes to the system??? Are you even thinking with your head? I run 2.6.30 and its point releases since the day they came out and neither did I had to install different compiler, nor libs nor had any problems compiling modules for it, be it VBox or nvidiaā€¦

Yes this is all on 11.1 so your claims seem very bogus to me. In fact, they are bogus as if they werenā€™t, I wouldnā€™t be running 2.6.30.4 on 11.1 due to huge changes ā€œrequiredā€ as you claim

Hi
Have a look here at lwfingerā€™s (post #4)
http://forums.opensuse.org/pre-release-beta/418075-kernel-2-6-31-a.html

ā€“
Cheers Malcolm Ā°ĀæĀ° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 2.6.27.25-0.1-default
up 5 days 23:23, 2 users, load average: 0.03, 0.02, 0.00
GPU GeForce 8600 GTS Silent - Driver Version: 190.18