Advanced Linux: Installing Kernel 2.6.2

As of this writing, Kernel 2.6.2 is the latest stable kernel for the Linux OS. PCQLinux 2004 is proud to be the first distro to be including this latest release right out of the box. Kernel 2.6.2 has many enhancements, including better support for notebooks such as ACPI, Hyperthreading, hardware support and wireless.

There are different ways that you can install this kernel on your machine. The easiest, of course, is to either choose ‘Experimental’ in the Install Type screen during installation or select the ‘Exclusive’ option under PCQLinux Specials in the Package Selection screen.

If you did not do this, there is no need to fret. Simply pop in the PCQLinux 2004 CD 3 in your drive, mount it and run the command:

rpm —ivh /mnt/cdrom/PCQLinux/RPMS/kernel-pcqlinux-2.6.2.rpm

All the options require a reboot to complete the installation. That is, if you installed the new PCQLinux kernel during the initial setup, the installation will continue at the first start of the system and then reboot after it has completed. If you installed the rpm as explained above, you will need to manually reboot the machine once for the installation to complete. This step is required because the new kernel does not replace the existing 2.4.22 kernel. Instead, it is added as an option. The installation of the new kernel is controlled by the rc.sysinit file, which checks for the type of kernel is currently running and then installs the appropriate ones. You will get to see the installation happening with a number of new RPMs being installed. If you get warnings on some of them, don’t worry as this is expected.

One thing to note is that if you are using an SMP machine, that is, you have the 2.4.22 SMP kernel also installed, we recommend that you select this SMP kernel when doing the reboot detailed above. The new kernel is chosen depending on the kernel type (SMP or non-SMP). So, if you have an SMP machine, but select the non-SMP kernel 2.4.22 to boot, only the non-SMP version of the 2.6.2 kernel will get installed.

Configuring and compiling your own kernel

This is another option for installing kernel 2.6.2, but meant to be done only by advanced users who know what they’re doing. The kernel source gets installed automatically when you choose to install the new kernel. The path to the source is /usr/src/linux-2.6.2-1.160. Change to this folder and issue the command: make gconfig. This should be done when you are running X Window. Otherwise, issue the command: make
menuconfig. 

Both these options bring up a menu, either in graphical mode or text mode depending on the option you specified. The menu now lets you quickly configure the kernel to your desire. Once you have done this, save the configuration. Now go back to the source folder and issue the following commands:

make dep

make clean

nohup make bzImage

This will create a new kernel image once the compile is done, in /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage. Copy these files to /boot and make the appropriate changes in the grub.conf file to include this image. Boot using your new kernel to make sure everything works.

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