Thu Mar 22 12:30:16 EDT 2007
Slackware Switching to 2.6.x.x Kernel?
I just saw a few days ago that there was an update to the Slackware-current Changelog. I was beginning to wonder
when the next update was going to be. To be fair though it really hasn't been
all that long since 11.0 was released. I'm not sure if it's official but it looks like Slackware is
finally switching to the 2.6.x.x series of kernels. I really like
Slackware but the one thing that was taking way to long was switching to
2.6. I'm no expert an I'm sure Patrick Volkerding has his reasons but it would
have been nice to have an easy option in the setup routine to choose between
2.4 and 2.6. You could sort of do it but then it required manually finding the
modules and headers package and using
The upgrade process explained in CHANGED_AND_HINTS.TXT looks a bit onerous though. Perhaps it will get better but I don't think it will matter so much for me as I'm thinking of a fresh install anyway. My current install has been upgraded since 9.0 (or maybe 9.1) if I recall correctly and is beginning to develop some cruft. It'll be somewhat painful until I get things just right again but it'll be nice to start with a clean slate. Slackware 9.0 was released in March of 2003 so this install has been around for about 4 years or so without any major problems. Not a bad run I think. Wow, 4 years, has it been that long? Normally I keep my system updated to current but am thinking of holding off until it's farther along in development. Maybe I'll even wait till it's released before taking plunge. I get the impression that things are changing a lot for this next release.
On a somewhat related note I've decided to finally give Ubuntu a shot on a spare system. I had to install the kubuntu-desktop package as I can't stand Gnome. It looks pretty nice so far though. I need to get more familiar with it's package management system though. So far I've figure out it has apt-get, aptitude, and synaptic as ways to manage your packages. Each one has it's advantages and disadvantages but I'm not sure just what those are yet. I did get Beryl working on it briefly and it looked really nice but never got it to work again. I'm not sure what changed as it was working before I went to bed and the next day it wouldn't run. Unless the gremlins stopped by and messed with things nothing was changed by me overnight. Beryl looks like it is still very experimental though so I can't complain about instability.
It may not seem like it having said all of the above, but prepping for the 70-296 exam continues. I've just about finished getting more familiar with the Windows Certificate Authority stuff which is something we actually use at work. As always, prepping seems to take longer than anticipated. I tend to over prepare for these exams and can't seem to break away from that. I'd rather study to know the material than study to just pass the test. At $125 a try, pass or fail, I hate to take chances.
OK, I think I'm done rambling now.
installpkg to install those
too. It's not really a big deal for a seasoned Slackware user to do that but
the convenience would have been nice. In either case, from a look at the
changelog it looks like 2.6 is required which will be a welcome change.
The upgrade process explained in CHANGED_AND_HINTS.TXT looks a bit onerous though. Perhaps it will get better but I don't think it will matter so much for me as I'm thinking of a fresh install anyway. My current install has been upgraded since 9.0 (or maybe 9.1) if I recall correctly and is beginning to develop some cruft. It'll be somewhat painful until I get things just right again but it'll be nice to start with a clean slate. Slackware 9.0 was released in March of 2003 so this install has been around for about 4 years or so without any major problems. Not a bad run I think. Wow, 4 years, has it been that long? Normally I keep my system updated to current but am thinking of holding off until it's farther along in development. Maybe I'll even wait till it's released before taking plunge. I get the impression that things are changing a lot for this next release.
On a somewhat related note I've decided to finally give Ubuntu a shot on a spare system. I had to install the kubuntu-desktop package as I can't stand Gnome. It looks pretty nice so far though. I need to get more familiar with it's package management system though. So far I've figure out it has apt-get, aptitude, and synaptic as ways to manage your packages. Each one has it's advantages and disadvantages but I'm not sure just what those are yet. I did get Beryl working on it briefly and it looked really nice but never got it to work again. I'm not sure what changed as it was working before I went to bed and the next day it wouldn't run. Unless the gremlins stopped by and messed with things nothing was changed by me overnight. Beryl looks like it is still very experimental though so I can't complain about instability.
It may not seem like it having said all of the above, but prepping for the 70-296 exam continues. I've just about finished getting more familiar with the Windows Certificate Authority stuff which is something we actually use at work. As always, prepping seems to take longer than anticipated. I tend to over prepare for these exams and can't seem to break away from that. I'd rather study to know the material than study to just pass the test. At $125 a try, pass or fail, I hate to take chances.
OK, I think I'm done rambling now.