How do I change kernels?

[Bud_Hempstead]

I've tested several linux distros in the past to get away from windows and found Kubuntu the best candidate so far as an out of the box, easy install that catches most everything without making you jump through alot of hoops.
My hat comes off to all the fine ppl who have devoted time for this work that they are giving us all for free. ty

The default install of the Kubuntu 6.06 live cd installs the 386 kernel to my old athlon 1.4ghz. (which runs faster now than my A64 at dbl the clock and twice the ram running XP, bloated down with AV , etc... )

I setup a second hd to test installing nvidia drivers and noticed that the same video glitch on the log in screen was no longer there when I loaded the k7 packages in adept. I noticed the 386 kernel image remained after I uninstalled it.
(yes I added the k7 restricted pkg)
Does the 386 stay as a default backup or did I do it the newbie idiot method ?

What is the right method of changing my kernal to k7 ?
I have scoured the forums searching for instructions and now it's time for my first post .

thanks in advance for any help

[Volvo_Guy]

Re: How do I change kernels?

Welcome!
Since you installed the kernel through Adept, over compiling it on your own, you did it the quick, easy way IMHO. As far as your old kernel, you will see it in GRUB as a backup. I would leave it there until you make certain that this new kernel is going to work out on all levels. As far as removing it from GRUB, you can edit the file in /boot/grub/menu.lst You can have Adept remove your old 386 kernel too, which should remove the entry from GRUB as well.

[Bud_Hempstead]

Re: How do I change kernels?

Thanks alot for the help, it works like a charm
Now if only I could figure out why my geforce4 ti4200 runs glx like a charm but will only go as high as 1024 x 768 resolution and my 6600 GT gets detected as a Geforce FX and locks up when I install glx.

[tiger99]

Re: How do I change kernels?

This "may" help your Nvidia problems, but might not be infallible.

First, browse to www.nvidia.com and navigate to the downloads section and the Linux drivers. Download the latest version to somewhere safe that you can remember. You will want to keep it indefinitely. If it was compressed, it will want to be unzipped using the instructions on the Nvidia web site, and will contain something vaguely like "NVIDIA-lots-of-version-digits-stuff.run"

Secondly, exit from the GUI login (X has to be stopped) and log in to a console. Navigate (cd) to the place where you saved the downloaded and unzipped file.

Thirdly, in the shell do bash NVID*.run (the * saves some typing!) Accept the licence conditions (TAB to sequence the cursor through fields) and say Yes to any other questions. A shell script will run, which will invoke the C compiler and linker, to suit your actual running kernel, the driver, with proprietary Nvidia binary module linked, will be saved in the correct place, and the appropriate entry in xorg.conf changed from "nv" to "nvidia" (it will be already in your case). This is quite a heavy bit of work, and if it takes several minutes there is no cause for concern.

Fourthly, restart in a GUI login, and do any fine tuning that may be needed of xorg.conf in the usual way.

The only disadvantage of doing it this way is that it wil break every time you install a kernel update, so after updating the kernel, reboot to a console login and re-run the NVID*.run installer, before booting into the GUI.

That is the normal way on most non-Debian systems, and it solved my Nvidia difficulties on two different machines, a 64 bit with 7300, and a laptop with Gforce 2 Go, both running Kubuntu breezy.

I think there is a fairly comprehensive readme on the Nvidia site to explain the xorg.conf settings and other stuff, which may also be useful. You may want to do what I used to do several years ago, and print it out first, before you start, as it may become inaccessible for a while, just when you really would like to refer to it, if X is temporarily broken.

I hope this helps. Once the Nvidia drivers are working, they tend to stay that way.

[Bud_Hempstead]

Re: How do I change kernels?

Thanks for the assistance.
While looking thru xorg.conf, on my test rig, I notice that plug n pray was only identifying my monitor as generic, so I manually set the model and was able to access higher resolution on the nv ti4200.

I've tried just about every method. First I tried the instructions from the Nvidia site,then tried adept install, automatix, easyubuntu, and console intructions that worked for the 4200 on:
http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Latest_Nvidia_Dapper
I'm afraid that the 6600 GT may have hardware compatability issues with this motherboard. I've noticed several graphical artifacts occuring in both Nix and win, since moving this card from my gaming comp, when I upgraded it.
I hope it's not dying, but I've seen hardware compatability issues before, from a Matrox card.
I'll run an install using this card in the test rig when I can afford the downtime on this box.
I've been using my second HD on this comp to hardware test opengl with the 6600, while maintaining a default nv driver install on the primary drive for all my net usage.

I guess I'll just muddle my way thru it and even if I don't get opengl working on this box I'll still use Kubuntu on it and keep my XP comp for games only and retire it from the web, seeing how safe it is with weekly exploits cropping up all the time.
I've never got any infections in XP, but I'm tired of bloating it down with av apps etc that rob it's performance almost as bad as spyware might.

Anyways, thanks again for the suggestions.