Hello Jan, hello all,
> > > patched ax25-2.0.31-2.1.47-2.diff
> >
> > That's the problem, kernel 2.0.36 doesn't need the patch anymore.
> This problem has been mentioned quite some times here
> already, and I just
>
> checked the AX25-HOWTO's to see if this is properly documented.
> Well, it isn't in the latest version I could find (v1.5, October 1997,
> http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/AX25-HOWTO.html
> RedHat-5.2 includes v1.4).
>
> Is there a new version of the AX25-HOWTO available somewhere?
>
> If not:
> Could someone explain (again :-)) the kernel installation procedure
> for the 2.0.31+ kernels (up to the latest 2.0.x kernel) on this list?
> Which kernels do require which patch?
> I'll make a summary and send a AX25-HOWTO change request
> to the maintainer (Terry Dawson).
You are right. Although Bob Nielsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
thinks the AX.25-HOWTO is up-to date, it really isn't.
That's no surprise since the latest version is 1.5, dated October
1997, indeed.
Apparently, Terry Dawson didn't find the time to keep that HOWTO
more up-to-date.
However, there's a geman translation of the AX.25-HOWTO at
http://www.ardos.de/gerd/axhowto.html which contains some
useful information about the 2.0.35+ kernels that is not available in
the original HOWTO.
To shorten it up, the following steps are recommended:
1. Get kernel version 2.0.36, available as linux-2.0.36.tar.gz. Just
ask http://ftpsearch.lycos.com where it could be downloaded from.
I recommend installing the whole *.tar.gz file after deleting the old
kernel sources since upgrading from some patched kernel source
in most cases leads to problems.
2. NO PATCH IS REQUIRED!
This one seems to be really hard to understand, that's why I
must repeat it once again:
NO PATCH IS REQUIRED!
Once again:
NO PATCH IS REQUIRED!
Really? Really, the kernel 2.0.36 already contains up-to-date AX.25
drivers!
3. Compile the kernel as described in the AX.25-HOWTO (the
information there may be not complete, but it is still valid).
(Ohh, it seems I forgot it...Did I already mention that you do NOT
need to apply some ax25-module-patch? Yes, believe me, you
_really_ do not need it any more!)
4. Get the appropriate version of AX.25-utils (I think the table in the
german HOWTO is understandable even for people who do not
speak German).
Anyway, here it is once again:
Linux Kernel AX.25-Utilities
------------------------------------------------------------------------
linux-2.0.29 ax25-utils-2.0.12c.tar.gz *
linux-2.0.28 with module12-Patch ax25-utils-2.1.22b.tar.gz *
linux-2.0.33 with module14f-Patch ax25-utils-2.1.42a.tar.gz
linux-2.0.35 ax25-utils-2.1.42a.tar.gz
linux-2.0.36 ax25-utils-2.1.42a.tar.gz
linux-2.1.22 and higher ax25-utils-2.1.22b.tar.gz
linux-2.1.42 and higher ax25-utils-2.1.42a.tar.gz
You find these packages at
ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/ham/unix/Linux/packet/ax25/ , for example.
If you have a libc6 (glibc) system, eg. RedHat 5.2, get the binary
package of AX.25 utils at
ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/ham/unix/Linux/packet/ax25/packages/libc6/rpm
Debian 2.x users find a Debian package at
ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/ham/unix/Linux/packet/ax25/packages/libc6/deb
/ax25-utils_2.1.42a-5.deb
Install these packages using your package manager, and you
should be done. For details about configuration, refer to the AX.25-
HOWTO and the man-pages :) .
> 2.2 kernels are not mentioned there at all...
This has two reasons: The first one I already explained; the AX.25-
HOWTO is rather old.
The second one is a little bit more difficult (again, the german
AX.25-HOWTO has more details):
The kernels of the 2.2 series use a completely different driver
architecture. Watch the newsgroups - no driver from older kernels
can be used any more. All the drivers are called in a different way,
they also have new names.
For AX.25, this means that you must set up everything from
scratch. All the old drivers are unusable with the new kernel.
There's another thing one should take care of when switching to the
new kernel. It doubtless has its advantages but it also has much
more hardware requirements than 2.0.x. The new memory
management significantly increases the speed of loading large
programs and the overall system performance. But it needs at least
64 MBytes of _physical_ RAM to unleash all its power. Also, a
pentium processor running at a speed higher than 200 MHz would
be fine.
At the moment, I do not own a computer that meets these
requirements, and so do most of my colleagues, too. In contrast,
we want to use older computers (e.g. 386DX40 with 8 MB RAM) for
Linux and Packet Radio. The kernel 2.2.x isn't a good choice for
such systems. That's why I have no experiences with this new
kernel.
Last but not least the kernel series 2.2 has not reached a stable
state. Bugs, some minor, some major, keep appearing (one should
remember the ldd bug in 2.2.0 and the SCSI bug in 2.2.1).
The latest version (2.2.3, as I write these lines) still has some
problems on some exotic systems that 2.0.36 didn't have.
So I still recommend using the kernel 2.0.36. It is stable, fast and
runs without hassles :)
Cheers, 73
Gerd
