Kernel/Driver Updates

[lyra]

Having recently (nov/2011) switched from Ubuntu to Mint,
I'm used to more frequent kernel and related driver update
(read: nvidia cards) combos - even with level 5 updates
selected in the UpDate manager, I still am not seeing them.

Yes, I know I can update the kernel myself "manually", however
that's a bunch more work than "official package distributions"as
it's not just the kernel that needs work, but the modules and
(Nvidia, etc) drivers.

Am I missing something? I really want 3.2 and "more regular updates",
and while I am loathe to do it, I am thinking about going back to
Ubuntu for these (yes, I am lazy - I spend a lot of my time engineering
and fixing systems for work and really don't want to have to do "work" on
my "lounge chair" home computer ) )

Thanks In Advance!

/lyra/

[richyrich]

I really want

I am thinking about going back to Ubuntu

yes, I am lazy

and really don't want to have to do "work"

. . and I really don't want to take the time to help you either . . since you won't really appreciate it ! . . right ! .

. . good luck !

[chipbuster]

Any particular reason you want the 3.2 kernel?
If you'd like to upgrade to 3.2, there's a ppa available for Mint and Ubuntu. From my Ubuntu VM, I see no other way to upgrade to 3.2 either. I am currently running 3.0.0-16-generic after the most recent set up updates.


As for updates, the Mint project does not do security updates. One of the main points on distrowatch.

EDIT: Whoa, what happened to my post??

One of the main points on distrowatch is that Mint doesn't do security updates, which means that there are far fewer updates to the Mint project than there are for most others. It's a cause for concern to some, but if you're okay with it, that's how Mint rolls.

[lyra]

@chipbuster:

I did install the PPA's and for some reason I don't see the updated kernels being available.
I did a manual install/update with a kernel package from Ubuntu, but found that broke a
crap load of things - so I backed it out.

I wanted 3.2 because of the performance updates and other work that's been done like
increased block sizes on large file transfers and sundry other things.

And thanks, by the way, for your reply and the politeness of your message VS the jerky
one from the RichKid... Even RichyRich in comics was a nice guy!

Cheers!

/lyra/

[mikecrosoft]

Hello lyra. I've read that you want to update to the latest satable linux kernel without recompiling it, but that will not be possible with the default repositories, then you have two options: add a trusty software source that contains desired kernel and try with those deb packages; and the next and best option is to recompile the kernel by your own (believe me is not as difficult as it sounds, specially because you already have a config file that you can use as a base), to recompile a kernel follow the steps:

NOTE: This process can take a long time, in my case it took approximately 30 minutes with 4 jobs using a Phenom II X4 965 Processor.
Thanks to scottlinux and Chris White for posting the exposed information here: http://scottlinux.com/2011/07/15/how-to-compile-your-own-kernel-in-ubuntu-debian-mint/

1. Install the development tools,if they are not already installed:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install build-essential ncurses-base ncurses-dev fakeroot kernel-package

2. Download desired full source kernel package from http://www.kernel.org/
3. Extract previously downloaded compressed files

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cd Downloads
tar xvjf linux-kernelversionhere.tar.bz2

4. Get into that new directory:

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cd linux-kernelversionhere

5. Copy an existing config file and adjust it to current compilation (if you have a deep kernel knowledge adjust whatever you need in menuconfig; if not, load menuconfig, don't change anything and select save to update copied config file):

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cp /boot/config-kernelversioninusehere .config
make menuconfig

6. Compile kernel (if you're using a multicore processor adjust the jobs parameter to desired number of cores used for parallel processing):

Code: Select all

fakeroot make-kpkg clean
fakeroot make-kpkg --jobs=numberofcoresusedforcompilinghere --initrd --revision=currentdatehere kernel_image kernel_headers modules_image

7. This process will produce a pair of deb files that you can install via terminal or gdebi and the intallation of those will also update grub. If the kernel hangs during boot, reset and boot with any of your previous kernel versions, uninstall those packages, modify config and recompile again; but this should'nt happen.

Hope you've done all good. Regards!.

P.S. Screenshot showing my current kernel version
http://s14.postimage.org/xxdkt77e7/Screenshot_at_2012_03_22_04_09_24.png

[lyra]

@mikecrosoft:

Thanks so very much for taking the time to address my question and in such detail:
I really appreciate it! I'll try it out!

Warm regards and cheers!

/lyra/

[mikecrosoft]

You're welcome lyra!. Have a nice day!.