YDL.net

TOPIC: Use kernel 2.4

Introduction
This topic covers the installation of the 2.4 kernel that comes with your Yellow Dog Linux 2.0 distribution. YDL 2.0 ships with kernel 2.4.4 which can be found on the Tasty Morsels CD-ROM. Kernel 2.4 is not yet the default kernel, but we expect this to change in the near future. This topic covers the installation of 2.4 from CD-ROM, but we advise that you check our errata page first for an update. The shipping 2.4.4 kernel is known to have several issues including but not limited to the lack of sound support on certain machines that work with the default kernel.

Installing the Kernel
First, place your Tasty Morsels CD into your CD-ROM drive. Then at a root ("Super User") shell prompt mount your CD with the following command:

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

The Tasty Morsels data will now be mounted under the /mnt/cdrom directory on your Linux filesystem. Yellow Dog Linux uses the RPM (RPM Package Manager) software to handle the installation of "packages" (software bundles). The 2.4.4 kernel's package is called "kernel-2.4.4-1a.ppc.rpm". So, to use the RPM software to install this package, type the following:

rpm -Uvh /mnt/cdrom/YellowDog/ppc/kernel-2.4.4-1a.ppc.rpm

Any time you mount a CD or another partition it is good practice to unmount that CD or partition when you're finished. The rpm command is all you needed to use the Tasty Morsels CD for, so now you can unmount the CD with:

umount /mnt/cdrom

This unmounts the mount point /mnt/cdrom, which in turn umounts the CD-ROM system device.

The above RPM command will upgrade your system kernel to the new version 2.4.4. If you are on a "New World ROM" machine then you just need to reboot your computer in order to use the new kernel.

On an "Old World ROM" machine you will also need to copy /boot/vmlinux-2.4.4-1a to your "Linux Kernels" folder inside of your MacOS System Folder. (If you have an HFS+ partition, you can also download the 'vmlinux-2.4.4-1a' from our ftp site while in MacOS since Linux does not yet have write support to HFS+ partitions).

Please note that 2.4 is not yet perfect. As new kernel developements come along that will improve your Linux experience, we will be pleased to offer updates. If you have specific issues with 2.4.4 that you didn't have in the default 2.2.19 kernel, please drop us an email, and we'll make sure to fix this for future 2.4 kernel releases.