Linux 2.6.39-3 kernel

I have previously announced compiling of this kernel:
http://bkhome.org/archive/blog2/201107/2639-3-kernel-recompiled.html
http://bkhome.org/archive/blog2/201107/linux-26393-compiled.html

There has been a lot of recompiling. Fortunately now it is automated (see script bk-build.sh).
Some notes:

1. PAE enabled
2. Minimum Pentium Pro (i686) CPU
3. ISA bus not supported
4. Voluntary preemption (not full preemption)
5. usb-storage patch

I have removed earlier PETs. The PET is now in the 'common' repo for use by all puppies (23MB):
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/pet_packages-common/linux_kernel-2.6.39-3-pae-i686-w5.pet

The sources are uploaded here:
http://bkhome.org/sources/kernel-2.6.39-3/

A note on point 4. The .config file had full preemptible kernel, which is supposed to give snappier responses. However, using this kernel, I sometimes noticed hesitations, more so than with previous puppies. All previous kernels I have compiled have been configured with voluntary preemption -- which as far as I know will give full attention to the window that is in focus and be less likely to allow other apps to take time away from that.

Another difference with this .config is that it has "cgroups" turned on, and that I think affects scheduling, I recall reading somewhere. I don't know if that is causing the problem that I have observed.

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Comments

No. 3
Username: Sage
No ISA bus is a big problem for folks using old boards. There are quite a few that retained the final ISA slot right up to Barton compatibility (Barton is as good as the present technology gets and Wary demands - extra cores are part marketing hype, part engineered demand from the world's most worthless OS). Those board/slot/card cominations enable superb analogue sound output from a certain, mainly genuine SB, sound cards. Their on-board amp is sufficient to (over?)fill an 8ohm pair of speakers into a moderate-sized room, say up to 3x4feet and perfect for most home-offices. Aficionados will attest that digital sound cannot match good analogue, neither theoretically nor aurally, apart from several A-D, D-A and back-again conversions. What to do?

Re ISA sound
Username: BarryK
"But is there anyone with such an ISA card and over 4GB RAM? Except for a person with such hardware (unlikely?), there is no problem, they just use a Puppy with a different ISA-friendly kernel.

Indeed!
Username: Sage
"Who needs 4Gb with Puppy?! Best ISA boards only have 3 RAM slots so would have to make do with 3Gb. Personally, 192Mb seems overkill with your recent innovations... Might be useful for some specific guidance on which kernels with which versions, possibly how to deprecate to a suitable kernel and where to find it/them? Wasn't Wary originally targeted for 'older' kit. Of course, 'older' takes different connotations on different continents.

2.6.39.3 kernel notes
Username: pemasu
"Thank you of feedback. I have learnt much more about compiling kernels just by reading your feedback. I have also reconsidered about ISA. Although I will in the future concentrate to the newer hw, I wont let ISA out. Old hardware support is Puppy trademark. I wont spoil that. PAE kernels are expection. There just isnt any benefit to use PAE kernel with old hardware. PAE kernels are clearly directed somewhat new comps with RAM 4-8 Gb. Yes, there is us/those who still want to use Puppy.

install?
Username: p310don
"Ok, I've downloaded the .pet above. How do I get the kernel to work? I just installed as normal with PPM, but don't see any difference, same ram, hardinfo tells me 2.6.33.2 is running still..... Any help?

WARY alpha
Username: GCMartin
"Hi @p310don The newest WARY, in test, is aimed to provide the same WARY to run on ANY PC since PentiumPro which has from 256MB to 64GB of RAM. Essentially, the same WARY is to be used on all PCs no matter how little or how much RAM you put on your PCs. I think Barry intends to have a single WARY to cover most of the world's computers. On the ISA issue, I do not take issue with anyone here, but, when Barry suggest using an older WARY for ISA, and the newer WARY for NON-ISA, should his publishing that be a sufficient indicator? I think that's seems consistent with how the industry has addressed things in the past. Just a thought on a method so that all are aware of intended platform usage while respecting the intent of the distro developers.

ISA support
Username: 8-bit
"When you talk about ISA support, and using another version that supports it, I am throwing a case at you. I have a desktop PC with both sata drives and ISA drives installed. The ISA drive contains all my Puppy installs and the sata drive is still Windows only. So in my case, are you saying that with the new kernel, my ISA drive would no longer be supported? In other words, if I installed a Puppy version using the new kernel on the ISA drive, it would be useless to me.

ISA card support answer to 8-bit
Username: pemasu
"I think that doing says more than speaking..... [b]Polarpup[/b] introduces [b]QT 4.8.0[/b] libs included Puppy. Now Polarpup has also [b]gstreamer[/b] libs inbuild. Polarpup-003 has also new [b]2.6.39-3 kernel. [/b] Polarpup-003 has been made using [b]12.7.2011 woof [/b]so it has boot time usb detection fixed. First multimedia-music apps using Gstreamer are Clement, Minitunes and Qmmp. [b]Kernel is 2.6.39-3[/b]. It is intel atom optimized and no highmem+pae so that it would be as compatible as possible for old and new hardware. Main target is somewhat newer hardware and laptops. [b]ISA cards and slots are also supported.[/b] http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=68796

Confused
Username: Sage
"I should know, but I don't - or I forget! Are IDE ports on an ISA bus? If so, it is an 'internal' bus, rather than a card slot. What are the consequences? I never saw laptops, netbooks and now tablets as anything but passing fads designed for continuity of the income streams. Intel and its principal cheerleader were never serious technical contenders, either, despite the $$$ and outward appearances of market control; they never did anything right. Hopefully, ARMed mobiles will eventually displace them all (although Intel has an ARM license)? The one to watch would be BADA - but only if it is fully released into open source and that might not suit it's single advocate! Let's hope it isn't a one WAVE wonder and succumbs to Nokia-ism.

ATI propietary driver installation
Username: pemasu
"ATI propietary ati-driver-installer-11-6-x86.x86_64.run which is latest fails to compile. It searches for big kernel lock and that has been removed totally from 2.6.39.3. So we have to wait until updated ATI driver package is announced. I believe 3.0 has same disabled big kernel lock, so ATI should update the driver package soon. fatal error: linux/smp_lock.h: No such file or directory. Nvidia installer has also problems but I dont know yet, is it the problem of my kernel source, probably it is.

8-bit and 16-bit ISA
Username: Joan in Reno
"I even had an 8-bit ISA PCMIA, laptop pccard reader, but I never tested it out. I have been weeding out my 16-bit ISA cards, too, just not as many around that need them. Keep up all the fine work guys, Joan in Reno

2.6.39.3 and ATI 11.6
Username: pemasu
"Today I succeeded in hacking the ati installer and kernel source to compile ATI Catalyst 11.6 http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=544561#544561

2.6.39.3 and ATI 11.6
Username: pemasu
"Today I succeeded in hacking the ati installer and kernel source to compile ATI Catalyst 11.6 http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=544561#544561

Nvidia in recompiled 2.6.39.3 kernel
Username: pemasu
"http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=544583#544583 There is at least 2 succesful nvidia proprietary installation with recompiled 2.6.93.3. I also compiled latest ATI Catalyst but it needed hacking.

Joke
Username: Sage
"A propos above, and thinking of all those power-hungry old doorstops, project for today: How to determine, 'g' the gravitation constant, with an old PC? Clue: not permitted to switch it on. Answers on a postcard.

Tags: puppy