Damn Small Linux - Not!

mcnelson · Joined: 06 Dec 2006 Posts: 8

Does anyone have experience updating the kernel in DSL-N?

The current kernel seems to be 2.6.12. Can a vmlinuz-2.6.18.x from another distribution (FC5) simply be copied into /boot, and then added to the grub menu?

Thank you,
M.C.Nelson

Juanito · Joined: 11 Sep 2006 Posts: 88 Location: Dubai, U.A.E.

I'm not sure this is the correct part of the forum to ask questions, but...

I tried to recompile the DSL-N 2.6.12 kernel but got stuck at the knoppix patch step - with DSL, the first thing to do after unpacking the kernel sources is to apply the knoppix patch but, when I try this, I get error messages. It could be that the knoppix patch is not required since the .config is for MPENTIUM4 (DSL-N) and not M386 (DSL) but I don't have confirmation of that.

Since the knoppix image file is 2.6.12, I doubt very much whether you can boot using a vmlinuz file from 2.6.18.

May this link "http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=26;t=16271" could be helpful.

roberts · Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Posts: 320 Location: OC CA USA

Usually you can use a vmlinuz together with its matching modules. YMMV

What patch file are you using?

Juanito · Joined: 11 Sep 2006 Posts: 88 Location: Dubai, U.A.E.

"What patch are you using" - the knoppix kernel patch from the knoppix 4.0.2 CD

mcnelson · Joined: 06 Dec 2006 Posts: 8

It turns out that you might not want to replace or rebuild the kernel.

As long as the kernel (and modules and the rest of the distro) match what is on the (or a) knoppix distro, you have a kit for compiling kernel modules, including drivers. This is very important.

It would be more useful to know how to generate a system from scratch leaving a build tree behind on some host system.

In general, the greatest challenge in DSL seems to be finding specific complete instructions for anything. Every note, wiki, faq, etc., seems to have a bunch of stuff that makes sense only to the fully initiated, and altogether it seems far from complete.

Nonetheless DSL-N is a great thing and after searching many distros, I cannot find anything that seems better matched to what I need to do (build a simple but mainstream compatible and uptodate linux system , for which i can easily build custom drivers, all to go into an SBC and sit on the bottom of the ocean or run some peice of remote sensing equipment).