# Picking kernel sources

## Tweakin

I recently had some pretty bad hard drive problems and am going to be installing gentoo from stage 1 on a fresh format. I would like to use the latest 2.6 kernel but am not entirely sure which kernel sources to make use of.

I have read the guide available in the docs about choosing a kernel, but still have a few question.

For example, are the gentoo-dev-sources optimized for gentoo (as in, compiling while working intensively)? I would of course assume so, but what about the mm-sources for 2.6? Or the other sources which have updated for 2.6?

I got the impression from the kernel guide that it is important to have a kernel optimized specificly for gentoo and I would like to make sure I get it right  :Smile: 

Also, feel free to recommend your favorite sources and what type of system you are using them on (updated for 2.6).

----------

## neilhwatson

If you don't know what kernel you should be using then you should be using the 2.4.x vanilla series.  They are the most stable.

----------

## Tweakin

Well that is a little harsh. Are the vanilla sources not just the regular stable sources not optomized for gentoo at all? Previously I used the latest stable gentoo-source which was fine, but I would really like to try 2.6 and I figure if I can get a kernel more suited for my needs, that will be a plus too.

----------

## cram

Why not try out a few different kernels?  Then you can see what works best for you.

----------

## kenoki

There are kernel sources more suited for gaming inside of gentoo, for example. But in so far as I know there is not a kernel src outside of the distribution that is more suited for the gentoo ditribution, the kernel srcs are tailored to specific needs vs. distro specific items.  Or if you wanna test/develop you can use the "unstable" src version. 

Flame and correct me if I'm wrong please.

----------

## neilhwatson

The linux kernel is a tricky thing.  If you are prepared to loose all your data in a worst case senario then feel free to play around with any kernel you like.  Since your question was a bit vague (you mentioned no specific enhancements that you are interested in) I assumed you may not know alot about the different kernels.  Thus, I recommend you cut your teeth on the safest kernel first (2.4.x).

----------

## Wedge_

 *Tweakin wrote:*   

> For example, are the gentoo-dev-sources optimized for gentoo (as in, compiling while working intensively)? I would of course assume so, but what about the mm-sources for 2.6? Or the other sources which have updated for 2.6? 

 

This is much less of an issue on 2.6 kernels. One of the major differences between 2.4 and 2.6 is a massive increase in deskop responsiveness and performance. I routinely have emerges running in the background while browsing, listening to music, or watching videos/DVDs, and everything stays nice and fast, so much so that you can easily forget there's a compile going on. Any of the 2.6 kernels in portage will offer this performance, so don't feel you have to go with the gentoo-dev-sources. development-sources are the equivalent of vanilla-sources for 2.6. mm-sources are development-sources with lots of new patches applied. They may cause problems in some cases, so be prepared if you want to use them. AFAIK gentoo-dev-sources is based on development-sources + some driver updates and other small fixes. Then there's also love-sources, which include all kinds of interesting things (new schedulers, bootsplash, reiser4 support, mm-sources patchsets etc), but again, things may break with these occasionally. I'm currently using test9-love3 and it's working very nicely.

----------

## Tweakin

 *Wedge_ wrote:*   

>  *Tweakin wrote:*   For example, are the gentoo-dev-sources optimized for gentoo (as in, compiling while working intensively)? I would of course assume so, but what about the mm-sources for 2.6? Or the other sources which have updated for 2.6?  
> 
> This is much less of an issue on 2.6 kernels. One of the major differences between 2.4 and 2.6 is a massive increase in deskop responsiveness and performance. I routinely have emerges running in the background while browsing, listening to music, or watching videos/DVDs, and everything stays nice and fast, so much so that you can easily forget there's a compile going on. Any of the 2.6 kernels in portage will offer this performance, so don't feel you have to go with the gentoo-dev-sources. development-sources are the equivalent of vanilla-sources for 2.6. mm-sources are development-sources with lots of new patches applied. They may cause problems in some cases, so be prepared if you want to use them. AFAIK gentoo-dev-sources is based on development-sources + some driver updates and other small fixes. Then there's also love-sources, which include all kinds of interesting things (new schedulers, bootsplash, reiser4 support, mm-sources patchsets etc), but again, things may break with these occasionally. I'm currently using test9-love3 and it's working very nicely.

 

Thank you, that answered a lot of question I have been having. I was worried important information taken from the kernel guide would not necessarily pertain to 2.6 sources.

I have most of the same demands from my system as you listed, I would like to be merging something and see little effect in my browsing, working (OOo), or even the occasional gaming session. I was worried 2.6 sources not optomized with gentoo in mind would give me less-then-optimal performance. I am glad to hear that wont exactly be the case.

It sounds like I will probably give love-sources a go. They include the mm patches I was looking at in specific, as well as some other intersting stuff you listed.

Really it all comes done to me feeling it's time to go nuts with gentoo and learn to get it set just how I want it. I have spent enough time playing it safe with my favorite distro.

----------

## ExecutorElassus

i have a similar question, though i'm not yet a gentoo person (though SuSE finally crossed my bloatware threshold, so i'm going to be soon). 

i have a usb2 chipset on my mobo that the 2.4 kernel can't handle perfectly, and i'm told that using 2.6 should fix it. but i'm primarily interested in tweaking the box for games and compiling. is there a schedule for when the gaming-sources should migrate over to 2.6? i plan to buy a nice high-end graphics card (prolly an albatron) this summer, and a multichannel audio board (prolly an rme hammerfall), so i would want the advanced hardware support that the gaming-sources seems to have. 

is this something with which to concern myself? or, instead, would using any of the gentoo-sources be all right for gaming performance? 

thanks!

EE

----------

## drahz

 *neilhwatson wrote:*   

>  I assumed you may not know alot about the different kernels.  Thus, I recommend you cut your teeth on the safest kernel first (2.4.x).

 

2.4.X -2.5.x kernels are NOT safe, and leave your computer subject to any "hacker" gaining TOTAL control of you system! STABLE yes (for the most part) safe not at all, for sensative data.  neddless to say he most likly won't need to defend himself from this type of attack.

http://www.hackerz.org/

http://www.kernel.org

weed in the told testament (just for fun!!)http://www.cannabisculture.com/magazine/mayjune96/kanehbosm.html

[/url]

----------

## justanothergentoofanatic

What security enhancements do the 2.6.* kernels have that the 2.4.* series doesn't? Are you referring to SELinux or something like that?

----------

## Evil Dark Archon

 *ExecutorElassus wrote:*   

> i have a similar question, though i'm not yet a gentoo person (though SuSE finally crossed my bloatware threshold, so i'm going to be soon). 
> 
> i have a usb2 chipset on my mobo that the 2.4 kernel can't handle perfectly, and i'm told that using 2.6 should fix it. but i'm primarily interested in tweaking the box for games and compiling. is there a schedule for when the gaming-sources should migrate over to 2.6? i plan to buy a nice high-end graphics card (prolly an albatron) this summer, and a multichannel audio board (prolly an rme hammerfall), so i would want the advanced hardware support that the gaming-sources seems to have. 
> 
> is this something with which to concern myself? or, instead, would using any of the gentoo-sources be all right for gaming performance? 
> ...

 

love-sources or evil-sources are good for gaming because they are optimized for desktop performance over server performance which is what the vanilla 2.6 kernel is optimized for, and desktop performance does include games so using either one of those will be just fine for your needs.

----------

