This question is in regards to kruijf's "flash issue", which may be about new kernel installation.
The new 3.2 kernel came through. No problems for me, but on my Intel everything laptop when the 3.1 kernel came out, I had to manually install it through synaptic, which I thought was weird at the time.
On my system, for this new 3.2 kernel (and I'm on my desktop right now with an Intel chipset and nvidia card), it's a given that you need:
linux-image-3.2.0-1-686-pae
linux-headers-3.2.0-1-686-pae
linux-headers-3.2.0-1-common (I think this one is needed)
But besides the numbered linux-image and linux-headers files, there are also generic (unnumbered) meta packages:
linux-image-686-pae
linux-headers-686-pae
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MetaPackagesKernel MetapackagesThese metapackages install the latest linux kernel and modules through a series of dependencies. These make upgrading the kernel much easier, and safer, since they ensure that all required modules and headers are also installed.
- linux-generic: Always depends on the latest generic Linux kernel available.
- linux-headers-generic: This package always depends on the latest generic kernel headers available.
- linux-image-generic: This package always depends on the latest generic kernel image available.
- linux-restricted-modules-generic: This package always depends on the latest restricted modules available for generic kernels.
I'm thinking that maybe when the 3.1 kernel failed to install, it may have been due to not having the meta packages installed for whatever reason. So the question is, are those meta packages essential, or just highly recommended?
Thanks