Compile linux kernel ?
Sim Grant
I was told that every installation of linux(RedHat, let say)
is optimized for the lowest requirements like it's meant for 386. If
the machine installed is 486, Pentium(Intel), Cyrix (M1, M2), K5,
K6(1, 2) PII then means we need to recompile the kernel to fully
optimise the power of the processor, right ?
How is it supposed to be done ?
Let say, i've installed RedHat 5.0 with the kernel starts with
2.0.34 or above(RH5.2 using 2.0.36). What is the next step b4 i
install star office or word perfect ??
I read some article saying that the latest (not really by the
time this post is out) kernel 2.2x has at least 50% improvement on the
overall system boost and yet some other bug fixes, more or flexible
hardware support like can read and write on NTFS or something. Most
importantly, after recompiling the kernel even with the same old
version 2.0.3x, the system has a boost performance on heavy loaded
program like Star Office !! It's amazing if it's true. But, i think a
lot of newbies like me would like to know how can this be done ? Or a
shorter way is by the current kernel, how can we upgrade to the later
kernel for better support or performance ?
Thanks for reading the mail and hopefully some linux gurus out there
can give some tips and tricks like what Wilfred does in his web site.
Best Regards,
Sim Grant(Gummy Bear)
mike burrell
| Hi,
| I was told that every installation of linux(RedHat, let say)
| is optimized for the lowest requirements like it's meant for 386. If
really? for stamepede i know that's wrong, but i suppose it's quite
possible for most of the others
| the machine installed is 486, Pentium(Intel), Cyrix (M1, M2), K5,
| K6(1, 2) PII then means we need to recompile the kernel to fully
| optimise the power of the processor, right ?
i suppose so, but you'll probably be disappointed. my guess is you won't
noticed any difference at all. anyway, reconfigure the kernel (go to
/usr/src/linux and type 'make xconfig' or 'make menuconfig' or whatever you
like) and change the processor type to match yours. then recompile the
kernel and do whatever else you have to do to make sure that kernel loads
(there are HOWTOs for doing this if you don't know how to do this yet, but i
didn't want to go into it here)
if you really want, you can install pgcc (http://www.gcc.ml.org) which
offers some added optimisations for pentium chips (as well K6, 6x86, p2,
K6-2, whatever else it does, i don't know). you may then, if you're a real
speed nut and you don't taking the chance of making a bad kernel (back up
your kernels!), go into the linux makefile and shove around some -O6 and
-march=pentium or whatever you feel like for some C flags. more often than
not i've ended up with a bad kernel this way, but there's no real harm in
trying i guess :)
| Let say, i've installed RedHat 5.0 with the kernel starts with
| 2.0.34 or above(RH5.2 using 2.0.36). What is the next step b4 i
| install star office or word perfect ??
i don't understand. the kernel you're running has very little to do with
the performance of word perfect or star office. you can install these any
time you like :)
| I read some article saying that the latest (not really by the
| time this post is out) kernel 2.2x has at least 50% improvement on the
| overall system boost and yet some other bug fixes, more or flexible
| hardware support like can read and write on NTFS or something. Most
if i'm not mistaken, read/write access to ntfs is very experimental.
read-only access is usually good enough anyway (as long as you have a common
partition between linux an nt). back up the nt drive before mounting rw
under linux!
| importantly, after recompiling the kernel even with the same old
| version 2.0.3x, the system has a boost performance on heavy loaded
| program like Star Office !! It's amazing if it's true. But, i think a
i would be surprised if it were it all noticeable.
| lot of newbies like me would like to know how can this be done ? Or a
| shorter way is by the current kernel, how can we upgrade to the later
| kernel for better support or performance ?
upgrading your kernel is remarkably simple, thanks to all the work the
kernel hackers put into it. simply go to your favourite kernel mirror site
(ftp.xx.kernel.org where xx is your country code, ie ftp.us.kernel.org,
ftp.ca.kernel.org, ftp.se.kernel.org, ftp.jp.kernel.org, well you get the
idea), and get whichever kernel you feel. linux 2.2.1 is the newest,
although i believe still considered to be development...that meaning that
there may be some small bugs in it still which make in unsuitable for
production machines. if you need a stable kernel, go for 2.0.36 (unless
2.0.37 is out already?)...'tar xpfz' it in /usr/src, 'cd linux', reconfigure
the kernel, then recompile. as i said there is a very helpful HOWTO about
recompiling and installing the kernel, which explains it better than i
could. your distribution hopefully installed the linux HOWTOs for you, but
if it didn't you should check sunsite at ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux and
somewhere in there (maybe doc/HOWTOs or osmething like that) you should find
what you're looking for
hope this is of some help
--
m i k e b u r r e l l
mik...@home.com
http://mikpos.dyndns.org
David A. Frantz
If anyone is seriously looking for a performance boos than a 2.2.1 kernel or
better is an absolute must.
mike burrell wrote in message ...
>In comp.os.linux Sim Grant <simg...@usa.net> wrote:
>| Hi,
>| I was told that every installation of linux(RedHat, let say)
>| is optimized for the lowest requirements like it's meant for 386. If
>
This is pretty much correct if the standard tools are used to compile a
2.0.x kernel. GCC may optimize a little bit for a 486 but that was as
good as it got. Using other tools with this series kernel resulted in
problems. The 2.2.1 kernels compile under EGCS and the pgcc compilers
with out modification.
>really? for stamepede i know that's wrong, but i suppose it's quite
>possible for most of the others
>
>| the machine installed is 486, Pentium(Intel), Cyrix (M1, M2), K5,
>| K6(1, 2) PII then means we need to recompile the kernel to fully
>| optimise the power of the processor, right ?
>
>i suppose so, but you'll probably be disappointed. my guess is you won't
>noticed any difference at all. anyway, reconfigure the kernel (go to
>/usr/src/linux and type 'make xconfig' or 'make menuconfig' or whatever you
>like) and change the processor type to match yours. then recompile the
>kernel and do whatever else you have to do to make sure that kernel loads
>(there are HOWTOs for doing this if you don't know how to do this yet, but
i
>didn't want to go into it here)
If you want optimixation then go with the new series of kernels. I
installed 2.2.1 on my memory limited laptop and was stuned at the
performance increase. I then recompiled this kernel with pgcc optimizing
for the pentium in the laptop and got some improvement on the 2.2.1 kernel.
While the 596 kernel SEEMED to be faster than the original 2.2.1, the
performance inscrease did not compare at all to the performance increase
obtained by going from 2.0.36 to 2.2.1. I do know that my laptop (133 mhz
p1) starts up and loads emacs faster than my desk top (333mhz P2). The P2
runs an old .36 kernel, the laptop a 2.2.1 optimized kernel. By the way
the only thing that has been optimized on the laptop is the kernel, but
everything performs much better.
>
>if you really want, you can install pgcc (http://www.gcc.ml.org) which
>offers some added optimisations for pentium chips (as well K6, 6x86, p2,
>K6-2, whatever else it does, i don't know). you may then, if you're a real
>speed nut and you don't taking the chance of making a bad kernel (back up
>your kernels!), go into the linux makefile and shove around some -O6 and
>-march=pentium or whatever you feel like for some C flags. more often than
>not i've ended up with a bad kernel this way, but there's no real harm in
>trying i guess :)
>
>| Let say, i've installed RedHat 5.0 with the kernel starts with
>| 2.0.34 or above(RH5.2 using 2.0.36). What is the next step b4 i
>| install star office or word perfect ??
>
>i don't understand. the kernel you're running has very little to do with
>the performance of word perfect or star office. you can install these any
>time you like :)
Sure you can install apps any time you like but the idea that the kernel has
no impact on application performance goes out the window with the 2.2.1
kernel. Every thing is noticably faster, XFM is faster all around, emacs
is faster, it would be fair to say that everything is faster. The only
monkey in these statements is that I did upgrade my X server recently.
>
>| I read some article saying that the latest (not really by the
>| time this post is out) kernel 2.2x has at least 50% improvement on the
>| overall system boost and yet some other bug fixes, more or flexible
>| hardware support like can read and write on NTFS or something. Most
>
>if i'm not mistaken, read/write access to ntfs is very experimental.
>read-only access is usually good enough anyway (as long as you have a
common
>partition between linux an nt). back up the nt drive before mounting rw
>under linux!
>
>| importantly, after recompiling the kernel even with the same old
>| version 2.0.3x, the system has a boost performance on heavy loaded
>| program like Star Office !! It's amazing if it's true. But, i think a
>
>i would be surprised if it were it all noticeable.
I would suggest changing kernels if performance is that important. Just
remember that the 2.2.1 kernel is much newer and has not stood the test of
time. Never tried to compile a 2.0.x kernel for a 586 so I'm not at all
certain if it will help, I would imagine a small increase if you could get
things to work.
>
>| lot of newbies like me would like to know how can this be done ? Or a
>| shorter way is by the current kernel, how can we upgrade to the later
>| kernel for better support or performance ?
>
>upgrading your kernel is remarkably simple, thanks to all the work the
>kernel hackers put into it. simply go to your favourite kernel mirror site
>(ftp.xx.kernel.org where xx is your country code, ie ftp.us.kernel.org,
>ftp.ca.kernel.org, ftp.se.kernel.org, ftp.jp.kernel.org, well you get the
>idea), and get whichever kernel you feel. linux 2.2.1 is the newest,
>although i believe still considered to be development...that meaning that
>there may be some small bugs in it still which make in unsuitable for
>production machines. if you need a stable kernel, go for 2.0.36 (unless
>2.0.37 is out already?)...'tar xpfz' it in /usr/src, 'cd linux',
reconfigure
>the kernel, then recompile. as i said there is a very helpful HOWTO about
>recompiling and installing the kernel, which explains it better than i
>could. your distribution hopefully installed the linux HOWTOs for you, but
>if it didn't you should check sunsite at ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux
and
>somewhere in there (maybe doc/HOWTOs or osmething like that) you should
find
>what you're looking for
While 2.2.1 is new it is a release kernel. Depending on your usage it may
very worthwhile.
DAVE
Bill Kent
<snip>
> linux 2.2.1 is the newest,
> although i believe still considered to be development...that meaning that
> there may be some small bugs in it still which make in unsuitable for
> production machines. if you need a stable kernel, go for 2.0.36 (unless
> 2.0.37 is out already?)
Kernel 2.2.1 is the latest stable (note the x.even.y numbering
convention) kernel. Last I checked 2.0.37 was in "pre" mode. The
2.0.xx series is still being maintained, but is no longer the "latest
and greatest" of the stable kernels. If you need a stable kernel that
will work with little updating to most distributions, stay with the 2.0
series. With a few upgrades to ancilliary packages, the 2.2 series is
great.