[Dxspider-support] Linux Kernel Build Woes

[richard bown]

Hi both the kernels you have tried have problems with the ax25 utils
infact, the kernel which has the fixes in is 2.4.19-pre2.
Personally I would wait just a couple of weeks, thereis a new release of
one of the distro's, mandrake8.2, I know Tomi M's patch goes into the
madk kernel on 2.4.18-4mdk.
\You install by rpm's as with redhat. Redhat 7.1 is getting long in the
tooth, and you may fingd problems with graphis card drivers, especially
Nvidia and to some extent ATI cards as there are major changes to
XFree4.2..
One the subject of compiling kernels, you can be real lazy if the distro
your using supplies a ready built kernel complete with modules.

sorta 
insmod ax25
insmod netrom
insmod mkiss.


The lazy way can be usefull as there have been screwups with gcc, and
kgcc and the versions, gcc dont use later than 2.96..

ax25utils
Craig has just released a new version of ax25-apps,
go to www.sourceforge.net to get ax25-tools, ax25-apps & libax25,
and when installing read the file maked INSTALL in each dir.

Linux dev is moving fast, so expect a few hick-ups,,,Dirk I did thnk of
another word but refrained,

You'll get lots of suggestions you should run SuSE as it suppose to be
Ham friendly...IMHO rubbish
Ie put index finger of left hand under nose, and in line with mouth.
raise right arm straight at an angle of 45 degs, keep fingers straight
and say "ja I vill obey yast, und yast zwie"
I've no opion on slackware, I hav'nt used it, and debian is getting a
bit dated,
so if you have already cut your teeth on redhat 7.1 either look at
updating to RH 7.2, watch for 7.3 mandrake and redhat normally release
close to each other, or mandrake8.2. the later is in beta4 release at he
moment, and useable and free.

up to you
HTH will kernel info

73 richard

On Tue, 2002-03-05 at 23:19, Mike Lewis wrote:
> I realize that this is probably a bit off topic, and most likely beneath
> some of the more sophisticated Linux users out there, but I am hoping that
> if I can't get an answer to my problems, maybe someone can send me in the
> direction of a more appropriate source of help.
> 
> I decided to transfer over to a Linux based Spider system from Windows,
> where I was having a certain amount of problems. I also figured it was a
> good opportunity to get myself up to speed on Linux ( I am a S/W engineer
> who has done all my development on either Windows based, or embedded
> systems, no Unix experience to speak of...) The transition has actually been
> fun, and very informative, up until the attempt to get the Linux kernel
> modified for Ham radio (AX25) support. I got Spider installed, and was
> logging into it over my local network using telnet or ssh without problems,
> so decided it was time to try to get the system running on 2m with my TNC.
> The system is a P166 with 128MB RAM, ~6GB drive, and running a Redhat 7.1
> install. The original kernel that installed with the 7.1 CDs was 2.4.2-2.
> Initially, I tried to install 2.4.9 with AX25, when I had problems I
> subsequently went back to trying to update the 2.4.2-2 install to include
> AX25 support. I have not been able to get either to work right. The good
> news is, I can still boot my original 2.4.2-2 without AX25 without problems,
> but all other attempts at any installs that I built have had problems.
> 
> The original kernel (2.4.2-2) with AX25 added, hangs the boot process while
> trying to install some USB driver (I have no USB connected, and this driver
> is not a problem in the original build).
> 
> The 2.4.9 build fails the process accounting (accton), the sound card (kudzu
> comes up), and the eth0 Ethernet card during boot, then comes up and can be
> used (with no network access...)
> 
> I have referred to 2 books, the AX25 HowTo, the Linux Kernel HowTo, and at
> least 3 associates with no insights into what is wrong. I have tried
> building the kernel both with loadable modules, as:
> 
> backed up boot images, source code directory, and /lib/modules directory for
> original install
> cd /usr/src/linux-2.X.X
> make mrproper
> make xconfig (set options and save)
> make dep
> make clean (have tried with and without this step...)
> make bzImage
> make modules
> make modules-install
> cp /usr/src/linux-2.X.X/arch/i386/boot/bzImage to /boot/linuz-2.X.X
> edit lilo.conf, add new image and keep old one avail
> run lilo
> reboot
> 
> or without loadable modules as:
> cd /usr/src/linux-2.X.X
> make mrproper
> make xconfig (set options and save)
> make dep
> make clean (have tried with and without this step...)
> make bzImage
> cp /usr/src/linux-2.X.X/arch/i386/boot/bzImage to /boot/linuz-2.X.X
> edit lilo.conf, add new image and keep old one avail
> run lilo
> reboot
> 
> Version without modules has even more problems that one with modules, even
> though I explicitly turned off loadable module support and made sure no
> options were set to load as modules...
> 
> I have noticed that make modules_install only copies over a small amount
> compared to what is in the original /lib/modules/2.4.2-2 directory of the
> original working version.
> 
> At this point, it is the principal of the thing. I don't even care how long
> it takes, I am going to figure out how to make this work. Anyone got any
> ideas, or at least some source of help I haven't tried yet?
> 
> 73 es tnx de Mike/KE0MF