Linux 2.5.2 Kernel Released 234
valdis writes "Amazing.. it's been out over 3 hours and not discussed to death. Well, maybe there's not as many bleeding-edge crazies out there. But if there are, here's what's new. You can get it at the usual place, but please use the mirrors if you can."
Re:Development is News? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Hardware support (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Hardware support (Score:2, Insightful)
In many cases, the hardware manufacturer doesn't care about Linux support and refuses to release hardware specs to Linux driver/kernel/whatever developers (or anyone else except other hardware manufacturers who turn their chips to cards and so on). So, if your plea is directed at the hardware manufacturers, it makes sense. However, in most cases there is nothing most developers of Linux can do, so you may be barking up the wrong tree.
I remember when Creative finally released the first open source Linux drivers for the SB Live. Shortly after that, Alan Cox popped up, did some Linuxification to the drivers, and since then (more or less), the SB Live has been supported by the official kernel.
On the other hand, my Conexant [conexant.com] HCF modem is still unsupported, although we may see some drivers soon. In theory. Conexant has refused any co-operation (to the best of my knowledge) with open source developers.
Re:Development is News? (Score:5, Insightful)
Reading LKML has been one of the most enlightening experiences. Following the conversations, reports, complaints and rants you can really piece together a very lucid picture of the very complex nature of large open-source projects. The whole process of kernel development demonstrates why open-source works; how hundreds, if not thousands, of people scattered accross the globe can work on a project; how cooperating with fierce competition produces results.
Some days it's like going to the pub and discussing politics. Other days its a horse track where betting takes place on patches. Still, other days its a battlefield where someone has to prove that he can match wits with his adversaries who are also hacking the kernel. Linux kernel development shows that when you embrace all those human traits (competitiveness, arrogance, violence, love, friendship, shame, curiosity, idolitry, desire, hate, intelligence, stupidity, humor, spite, disgust, altruism), and apply them in the appropriate places at the appropriate times you can achieve much more than if you listened to what you were supposed to do. Like all of life it is a seathing, organic process that becomes what it becomes through relentless change and its ability to fulfill a particular niche. The chemestry is the drive of the hacker; the elements are the lines of code: a primordial soup of abstract ideas.
Just a couple of my thoughts at 5:00am.
Updates to OSS drivers (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Honestly.. (Score:4, Insightful)
That gets pointed out so often that I'm doubtful about making yet anothe r reply to this, but...
First off we're dealing with a 2.5.x release here, the whole 2.5.x is a developement branch, which is not meant for normal users, it's for those developing or otherwise interested in hacking the kernel.
Secondly even for stable branches (2.2.X and 2.4.X and 2.6.X one day) it is recommended that normal users stick to vendor provided kernels. For example the RedHat released 2.4.9-13 is still a valid kernel. It contains a lot of fixes that came to linux kernele main tree after the 2.4.9.
The sad mishaps with 2.4.10 et al happened because at that time the 2.4.x branch were still the developement branch. The problems with those releases didn't involve those that used distribution kernels, only those that were either adventureous enough to try the cutting-edge stuff or mistaken into believing that every 2.4.x release was to be taken as the stable-release for the normal users.
Want stability? Stick to distribution kernels. Want to toy around and hopefully learn something while adventuring with a developement kernel? Head over to www.kernelnewbies.org and rtfm....
This is not a question of getting the latest and the finest, because for normal users the latest distribution kernel released is the finest in every practical sense. (either that or you might concider changing our distribution preference)
(and by a normal user I'm referring to a user not particularly interested in developing or otherwise hacking the kernel)
Re:Bah (Score:0, Insightful)
Because VA Linux owns Slashdot? Obviously the prescribed view is that Linux is serious
Re:Bah (Score:3, Insightful)
There's a journalism gap (Score:2, Insightful)
Then as a customer I would buy hardware with that logo. If there are enough customers like me (and it probably doesn't take many), then at least a few vendors would become interested in qualifying for that logo.
Right now the market pressure of open-source customers is inchoate. It's also diluted, because a lot of people just work around the lack of vendor specs and get something to sort of work anyways (such as Lucent winmodems).
gphoto is a step in the right direction. They list the camera vendors that publish specs. When I bought a digital camera, I made sure to buy from one of those vendors.
Re:or.. (Score:2, Insightful)
A few weeks ago I was walking by a local consumer high-tech place, and saw a sign out front that proclaimed Windows XP: in-store demos today! I carefully hid my business cards, posed as a home user with interest in multimedia and digital photography (quasi-true), and asked what was so cool about Windows XP.
Apparently you can have multiple users, with their own environments. Cool! You can plug a digital camera in and take pictures. Far out! You can even put pictures on the login screen. Wow!
All in all, just about the clunkiest demo I've seen of any system. Worse, the salesdroid never did answer my question, because all the digital camera stuff is not actually new in XP. I couldn't help but notice the hefty hardware (1.2 GHz Athlon) and the mediocre performance.
Sorry, not for me. I'll stick to my Linux box. 550 MHz Pentium 3. Could use a little more oomph when playing DVDs (bus speed, methinks), but works fine otherwise.
It also talks to digital cameras.
...laura
Re:or.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Bigger source to download for users on slow connections, bigger kernels to *maintain.* Bigger kernels for distros to wade through to decide what they want and don't want in the shipping kernel. In general, more things people don't need.
Bigger kernels to load in increasingly convoluted ways. We had zImage. then bzImage. Now initrd is all the rage...if the kernel was smaller, these measures would nto be so very necessary.
Some of this is inherent with a monolithic kernel like Linux, but that's all the more reason to try to keep it in check before it gets even worse.