How do I (upgrade|downgrade) the installed linux kernel?

[Member andfree]

split from topic “Make old system more lightweight”

rokytnji wrote:

Also. SamK gives some good tips on this forum for older gear.

One of the tips is this:

Try an older antiX kernel, they can be better suited to older kit. The 3.7.10-antix kernel works well on older systems

The kernel I have installed is 4.4.10-antix.1-486-smp i686. How can I change it? I have to do a fresh install of OS?

[Anonymous]

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( great FAQ candidate question …and the new forum did not yet have a matching topic )

tutorial video: Install a different kernel
tutorial video: Rebuild your dkms modules after a kernel update (broadcom, nvidia, etc…)

note:
the method described in these videos is applicable to an installed (not a liveboot) system.

[Member andfree]

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Thanks for the videos but, after having installed 3.7.10-antiX.8-486-smp from Synaptic Package Manager, run “sudo update-grub” & rebooted, the kernel I see when I run “inxi -S” is still 4.4.10-antix.1-486-smp i686.

EDIT: I had just to enter to the advanced options of the grub after rebooting and choose there the 3.7.10 kernel option.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by andfree.

[Member andfree]

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So, how can I set the recently installed kernel as default?

My grub version:

GNU GRUB version 2.02~beta2-22+deb8u1

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by andfree.

[Member andfree]

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In the other laptop (toshiba s2450-s203), although I have installed the 3.7.10 kernel thing, in the grub advanced menu there is not such an option at all.

$ sudo update-grub
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found background: /usr/share/wallpaper/back.jpg
Found background image: /usr/share/wallpaper/back.jpg
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.0.5-antix.3-486-smp
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.0.5-antix.3-486-smp
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found memtest86+ multiboot image: /boot/memtest86+_multiboot.bin
done

[Moderator caprea]

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In the other laptop (toshiba s2450-s203), although I have installed the 3.7.10 kernel thing, in the grub advanced menu there is not such an option at all.

If you are dual-booting on this laptop, you maybe have to udate-grub also on the other partition.

[Member andfree]

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caprea wrote:

If you are dual-booting on this laptop, you maybe have to update-grub also on the other partition.

It’s not dual boot. I have installed the 3.7.10 kernel, but only the 4.0.5 one appears at the grub. The only advanced options at grub are 4.0.5 and 4.0.5 sysvinit. I ran update-grub to both of them, but nothing seems to have happened.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by Brian Masinick. Reason: udate-grub should be update-grub

[Anonymous]

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As a primarily liveboot user, I’m unfamiliar with the intricacies of wrestling with grub. I seem to recall that at least 2 approaches are possible:
1) use a fully-nerfed solution to fix (Rescatux, Livezilla, or similar liveboot O/S designed to fix0r such problems)
2) read manpages (Tip: several separate manpages exist; use the command “apropos grub”) and edit config files, ignoring the inline “do not manually edit” comments…

[Member fatmac]

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I think, if you upgrade your kernel, & update grub it will only show the newest.

When you upgrade other programs it replaces them with the newer version, & I’m thinking this is what would happen if you also upgrade your kernel,
(I have never bothered upgrading my kernel, until the next version of AntiX.)

Linux (& BSD) since 1999

[Anonymous]

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I know three different ways to boot an older kernel as standard

But I don’t know if the first two will survive a package update of the Grub
These are the measures described here in the link in /etc/default/grub
e. g.GRUB_DEFAULT="Previous Linux versions>antiX, with Linux 3.7.10-antiX.8-486-smp"
or
the “figure out” with the submenus 0>2 etc.

The third option is my favorite.

1. copy /etc/grub.d/40_custom
2. insert the kernel entry 3.7.10-antiX from /boot/grub/grub.cfg into this file copied 40_custom

kind of here e.g.:
[code]#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.
# Simply type the menu entries you want to add after this comment.
# Be careful not to change the ‘exec tail’ line above.
menuentry ‘antiX 17 (17) (auf /dev/sdb1)’ –class gnu-linux –class gnu –class os $menuentry_id_option ‘osprober-gnulinux-simple-f79f077c-40de-4a56-9885-d8d898704be9′ {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root=’hd1,msdos1′
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search –no-floppy –fs-uuid –set=root –hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 –hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 –hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 –hint=’hd1,msdos1’ f79f077c-40de-4a56-9885-d8d898704be9
else
search –no-floppy –fs-uuid –set=root f79f077c-40de-4a56-9885-d8d898704be9
fi
linux /boot/vmlinuz-4.10.5-antix.3-amd64-smp root=/dev/sdb1
initrd /boot/initrd.img-4.10.5-antix.3-amd64-smp
}[/code]

3. save the file and rename it at 09_my e. g.
4. copy 09_my back to the path /etc/grub.d/
Make sure it is executable!

5. update-grub

reboot

If you need to undo this procedure, then revoke the execution permission for the file.

chmod -x /etc/grub.d/09_my

Good luck!

Using this forum is really painless!

[Anonymous]

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male, thanks for posting to provide instructions

ironically, your post mentions “this forum is painless to use”…
…yet the “spam filter” grabbed that post. I’m wrestling with workarounding whatever triggered the spam filter, so that the post will be displayed.

PSA:

the presence of
c h m o d
within a post
triggers the “spam filter”

c h < strong >< /strong > m o d
^——- able to workaround spam filter by inserting an empty tagset to break up the triggering substring

[Member andfree]

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Anonymous wrote:

The third option is my favorite.

I followed this one at the celeron (compaq) laptop and it worked. The steps:

yyy@antix1:~
$ cp /etc/grub.d/40_custom /home/yyy
yyy@antix1:~
$ sudo geany /home/yyy/40_custom
[sudo] password for yyy: 
yyy@antix1:~
$ leafpad /boot/grub/grub.cfg

I copied the menuentry for the 3.7.10 kernel from /boot/grub/grub.cfg, I pasted it at the end of the /home/yyy/40_custom file, I saved the changed file, I rename it as 09_my and then:

yyy@antix1:~
$ sudo cp /home/yyy/09_my /etc/grub.d/
yyy@antix1:~
$ sudo update-grub
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found background: /usr/share/wallpaper/back.jpg
Found background image: /usr/share/wallpaper/back.jpg
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.10-antix.1-486-smp
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.4.10-antix.1-486-smp
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.7.10-antix.8-486-smp
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.7.10-antix.8-486-smp
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found memtest86+ multiboot image: /boot/memtest86+_multiboot.bin
done
yyy@antix1:~
$ 

I rebooted and the 3.7.10 kernel is now the standard one.

Many thanks for the help.

PS: At the P4 (toshiba) laptop, there was no entry for 3.7.10-antix kernel at all, because I had not installed it, but I had installed the 3.7.10 headers thing. But after installing and booting the 3.7.10 kernel, moving strips were displayed, like a broken tv. So, I suppose that the 3.7.10 kernel is incompatible with this one system.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Let’s say that you have the 4.4.10 kernel and you want the 3.7.10 kernel installed and have it show up as your primary – and possibly your ONLY kernel.

If that’s what you want, here’s an easy way (in my opinion anyway) to achieve this;

1. Install the 3.7.10 kernel.
2. The new kernel should trigger Grub to be updated if a valid kernel for your system has been installed. Update-grub should also cause a new kernel to be visible. If not, make sure the kernel installed matches your hardware.
2. Boot into the new kernel to make sure it works. If so, you can remove newer kernels so that 3.7.10 is loaded automatically. If you prefer to keep other kernels, then you have to use Grub options to control the boot order.

Manually editing the Grub custom configuration file and putting the entry you always want included in either the custom Grub configuration file or in a saved, copied and hand modified version of the system Grub configuration are methods best left to those who understand each customization entry.

--
Brian Masinick

[Member andfree]

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Brian Masinick wrote:

you can remove newer kernels so that 3.7.10 is loaded automatically.

Thanks for this. It seems to be a good way to follow after I’ ll have decided which kernel I prefer to use.

Brian Masinick wrote:

If you prefer to keep other kernels, then you have to use Grub options to control the boot order.

Manually editing the Grub custom configuration file and putting the entry you always want included in either the custom Grub configuration file or in a saved, copied and hand modified version of the system Grub configuration are methods best left to those who understand each customization entry.

Actually, I find it more safe and easy to use Grub options than edit the Grub configuration file but, after male had spent his time to provide instructions in reply to my question, I felt like I owed to test them.

—

After that, I have some more questions:

1) When I install a kernel, I have also to install the corresponding headers?

2) Now I’m testing the 3.7.10 kernel on this desktop computer:

System:   Host: zzz Kernel: 3.7.10-antix.8-486-smp i686 (32 bit gcc: 4.9.3)
           Desktop: IceWM 1.3.8
           Distro: antiX-15-V_386-full Killah P 30 June 2015
Machine:   Device: desktop Mobo: Gigabyte model: 8I915PL-G v: x.x
           BIOS: Award v: F2 date: 03/30/2006
CPU:       Single core Intel Pentium 4 (-HT-) cache: 2048 KB
           flags: (lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3) bmips: 6430
           clock speeds: max: 3200 MHz 1: 2800 MHz 2: 3200 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA GT218 [GeForce 210] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.16.4 drivers: nouveau (unloaded: modesetting,fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1024x768@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on NVA8
           GLX Version: 3.3 Mesa 10.3.2 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Intel 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller
           driver: snd_intel8x0 ports: c000 c400 bus-ID: 00:1e.2
           Card-2 NVIDIA High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1
           Sound: ALSA v: k3.7.10-antix.8-486-smp
Network:   Card-1: Marvell 88E8001 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: skge v: 1.14 port: 9400 bus-ID: 02:05.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Atheros TP-Link TL-WN821N v2 802.11n [Atheros AR9170]
           driver: carl9170 v: 1:1.9.6 usb-ID: 001-003
           IF: wlan0 state: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 82.4GB (47.2% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: Excelstor_Techno size: 82.3GB
           ID-2: USB /dev/sdf model: Memory_Stick size: 0.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 74G used: 35G (50%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 2.17GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-3: swap-2 size: 0.07GB used: 0.01GB (8%) fs: swap dev: /dev/zram1
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: No active sensors found. Have you configured your sensors yet? mobo: N/A gpu: 57.0
Info:      Processes: 102 Uptime: 54 min Memory: 236.5/500.8MB
           Init: SysVinit runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 4.9.2
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.301) inxi: 2.3.21

On booting, there are some error messages like this:

end_request: I/O error, dev fd0 sector 0

After some searching, I tried adding “blacklist floppy” to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist and also adding /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-floppy.conf to /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, but without success. For the moment, I haven’t noticed any problems in performance of the system. Should I ignore the boot error messages?

3) Are there any other old antix kernels which are well suited to older kits?

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by andfree.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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Editing the GRUB configuration file IS possible – if you know what you are doing, but it is likely to be modified any time a change is made that involves the GRUB packages, so you are advised to keep your own copy in case it’s removed following one of your changes by a system or package change.

Moreover, it’s pretty easy to make a mistake when you are hand editing the file, and that’s why there are frequent suggestions and recommendations to either use tools or only update the CUSTOM grub configuration, not the main grub.cfg file.

Again, if you know what you are doing, a lot of things are “possible”, but when you really know what you are doing, you also know how to overcome the obstacles and you know how to rebuild it all if it fails. So it’s up to the person performing the task to decide if they have the experience and if it’s worth the risks.

--
Brian Masinick

[Author]

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