Say hello to Linux kernel 3.0.0

[GreyGeek]

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item&px=OTUwMg

The 2.6.40 kernel has been renamed by Linus to 3.0-rc1

Some developers also expressed that this move to tagging the Linux 3.0 kernel would be a good turning point to remove some old cruft from the kernel, e.g. old subsystems and drivers that are seldom -- if ever -- used today, especially by those that are still updating their software components. There was also at least one suggestion of stalling the Linux 3.0 kernel change until the ARM architecture code was cleaned up. Linus rejected these notions that the kernel versioning change wouldn't be tied to such milestones, but such work could occur organically over time.

Would removing "some old cruft" also remove the ability of Linux 3.x to run on old hardware, like the P4 hardware, or systems with less than 1GB of RAM, or desktops with older peripheral cards?

It will be interesting to see what Linus decides. The article also lists "some exiting changes" for the kernel, although Linus says there a NO big changes. He still has his sense of humor:

In fact, I think that in addition to the shorter merge window, I'm also considering make this one of my "Linus is being a difficult ^&^hole" releases, where I really want to be pretty strict about what I pull during the stabilization window. Part of that is that I'm going to be travelling next week with a slow atom laptop, so you had better convince me I *really* want to pull from you, because that thing really is not the most impressive piece of hardware ever built. It does the "git" workflow quite well, but let's just say that compiling the kernel is not quite the user experience I've gotten used to.

[dibl]

Re: Say hello to Linux kernel 3.0.0

Interesting -- thanks GG!

The kernel changes from 2.6.36 - 2.6.39 have been substantial, including removal of the Big Kernel Lock, which put me in a pickle with my VMware stuff for some months (a good working patch was finally put in public last week). I was wondering whether a big version announcement might be coming one of these days.

[kubicle]

Re: Say hello to Linux kernel 3.0.0

Would removing "some old cruft" also remove the ability of Linux 3.x to run on old hardware, like the P4 hardware, or systems with less than 1GB of RAM, or desktops with older peripheral cards?

I believe "old cruft" means "really old cruft", P4s and less than 1Gb Ram are still quite common. And linux has always been very backwards compatible.

Of course, 3.0 is just a "number change" rather than a "leap forward and burn what's left behind"

[GreyGeek]

Re: Say hello to Linux kernel 3.0.0

Would removing "some old cruft" also remove the ability of Linux 3.x to run on old hardware, like the P4 hardware, or systems with less than 1GB of RAM, or desktops with older peripheral cards?

I believe "old cruft" means "really old cruft", P4s and less than 1Gb Ram are still quite common. And linux has always been very backwards compatible.

That's my sense as well, but one never knows. Quite a lot of the old video chips have been archived, which puts one into a catch-22 in which a PC with an Radeon 9600, for example, sends the user to go to ATI's archive to download the proprietary driver, but then while attempting to install it they are informed by the driver that it doesn't work with the new kernel. So, they do as best they can with the opensource radeon driver.

Of course, 3.0 is just a "number change" rather than a "leap forward and burn what's left behind"

That's what Linus said ...

[kubicle]

Re: Say hello to Linux kernel 3.0.0

That's my sense as well, but one never knows. Quite a lot of the old video chips have been archived, which puts one into a catch-22 in which a PC with an Radeon 9600, for example, sends the user to go to ATI's archive to download the proprietary driver, but then while attempting to install it they are informed by the driver that it doesn't work with the new kernel. So, they do as best they can with the opensource radeon driver.

That's more of a shortcoming of the proprietary driver than the kernel (the proprietary vendors drop support for older cards regularly).

Linux still supports radeon 9600 hardware. Maybe you can't use the proprietary driver [ATI's proprietary drivers are crappy anyway...personal opinion only ], but linux supports it. And much older cards, like the mach and rage series from ati.

[bsniadajewski]

Re: Say hello to Linux kernel 3.0.0

Man, yuo guys are good. I just wrote something on this in Geek News.

What does this mean for Ubuntu/Kubuntu. Would the 11.10 release then have a (hypothetic) 3.1 or 3.2 kernel included?

[GreyGeek]

Re: Say hello to Linux kernel 3.0.0

But if, as the article author speculates, "old cruft" is removed I'd wager than one could kiss the 486 DX boxes running 256KB or RAM good bye. That would fix Puppy and other type distros in 2.6 land for several years, not that it would hurt anything. (A couple years ago I tried to boot my RH 5.0 CD and it wouldn't work. I never decided if it failed because the CD had oxidized or the code wouldn't run on my Gateway laptop.)

[teh603]

Re: Say hello to Linux kernel 3.0.0

But if, as the article author speculates, "old cruft" is removed I'd wager than one could kiss the 486 DX boxes running 256KB or RAM good bye. That would fix Puppy and other type distros in 2.6 land for several years, not that it would hurt anything. (A couple years ago I tried to boot my RH 5.0 CD and it wouldn't work. I never decided if it failed because the CD had oxidized or the code wouldn't run on my Gateway laptop.)

From looking at the Ubuntu boards, they're talking 386/486 and early Pentium stuff. Anything made within the last seven or eight years is still mostly safe, although I'd be wary of some of the older motherboards that still carried ISA slots.

[woodsmoke]

Re: Say hello to Linux kernel 3.0.0

I do notice the mention of A.R.M. in piece.

woodsmoke

[ardvark71]

Re: Say hello to Linux kernel 3.0.0

I believe "old cruft" means "really old cruft", P4s and less than 1Gb Ram are still quite common. And linux has always been very backwards compatible.

Hi all...

"Old" meaning a 486 that uses a hard drive controller card that you have to snap into an ISA slot?

Regards...

[teh603]

Re: Say hello to Linux kernel 3.0.0

Hi all...

"Old" meaning a 486 that uses a hard drive controller card that you have to snap into an ISA slot?

Regards...

That's prolly exactly what they mean.

I really don't miss the days when computer designers would say things like "Oh, NuBus slots require a controller chip? That's too much trouble, let's just stick to ISA. The user can configure things like interrupts anyway, using unlabeled jumpers."