Hello ALUG,
I've just installed my first home compiled kernel! I used the kernel-source-2.6.11 package from Debian unstable (not my normal version, I just got the deb from a mirror). I got caught out by the bug which stops console VGA mode from working (and, annoyingly, compiled twice thinking I'd done something wrong!).
Anyway, I was just wondering what people think about the Debian version of the kernel. I don't really know much about it. How does it differ from the standard version? Is is better? Worse? I understand they add some patches and remove some non-free firmware; is this a good/bad thing? I noticed the current stable, standard version is called '2.6.11.7', does that mean its a later version than the Debian one?
Richard.
On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 14:51:16 +0100, "Richard Lewis" richardlewis@fastmail.co.uk said:
Hello ALUG,
I've just installed my first home compiled kernel!
I think theres something wrong with this kernel. Sometimes my machine won't shutdown properly. When I try and shut it down it goes through stopping all the daemons etc. put then theres a 'can't dereference null pointer in kernel' exception. And it says 'Oops!' I'm not sure what conditions cause it do this and I can't find a log of the error anywhere (I think the whole message doesn't fit on the screen and, because the system then hangs I can't like copy and paste it, I just have to switch off).
At first I thought it might be the MMC (multi media card) kernel modules I'd installed, but I tried not loading them and it still happens. Then I wondered if it was to do with the CPU frequency when I shutdown. (I've got numerous CPUfreq modules installed and the powernowd running which alters the CPU frequency [and, thankfully, switches off the fan when it can] based on CPU load). But I still get the error sometimes even if the frequency is at 600 Mhz when I shutdown.
I've also noticed (but was a bit scared to test it as a theory) that ide_core seems to depend on a whole bunch of modules which look as though they are unnecessary:
ide_generic 1408 0 [permanent] via82cxxx 12572 0 [permanent] trm290 4100 0 [permanent] triflex 3712 0 [permanent] slc90e66 5760 0 [permanent] sis5513 14600 0 [permanent] siimage 11136 0 [permanent] serverworks 8328 0 [permanent] sc1200 6784 0 [permanent] rz1000 2688 0 [permanent] piix 9988 0 [permanent] pdc202xx_old 10240 0 [permanent] opti621 4612 0 [permanent] ns87415 4168 0 [permanent] hpt366 17664 0 [permanent] hpt34x 4992 0 [permanent] generic 4096 0 [permanent] cy82c693 4484 0 [permanent] cs5530 5376 0 [permanent] cs5520 4608 0 [permanent] cmd64x 10780 0 [permanent] atiixp 6032 0 [permanent] amd74xx 13084 0 [permanent] alim15x3 11020 0 [permanent] aec62xx 7168 0 [permanent] pdc202xx_new 8064 0 [permanent] ide_core 118096 28 ide_cd,ide_disk,ide_generic,via82cxxx,trm290,triflex,slc90e66,sis5513,siimage,serverworks,sc1200,rz1000,piix,pdc202xx_old,opti621,ns87415,hpt366,hpt34x,generic,cy82c693,cs5530,cs5520,cmd64x,atiixp,amd74xx,alim15x3,aec62xx,pdc202xx_new
They all start with an error message on boot (something like 'device is busy'). Might these be related to the bad shutdowns? Can I rmmod them? Or would it be all right to re-compile and set them all to 'N'?
(Sorry thats quite long and meandering.... I might just be organising my thoughts rather then looking for specific answers.....)
Cheers, Richard
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Richard Lewis