- This topic has 21 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated Feb 12-8:37 pm by Brian Masinick.
-
Posts
-
Brian Masinick
While on the topic of recommended kernels, I have a much simpler question. After installing antiX 21 I have the option of two kernels – 4.9.0-279 and 5.10.57. I notice that 4.9.0-294 and 5.10.88 are available but weren’t installed automatically. Currently I use 4.9.0-279 because 5.10.57 complains about a non-existent TPM chip when booting (although it does boot after a short delay).
Everything works fine, so far. What would be the benefit or otherwise of installing 4.9.0-294? Will other, newer kernels appear in the future and, if so, should I keep an eye out and update when a new one arrives? Why does it not happen automatically?
A reason to run an older kernel is to support hardware that doesn’t work with other kernels. Newest kernels tend to be larger but they do have features, including optimization for certain hardware and particular workloads.
We try to build kernels that work well for interactive work. Some others, like Debian and Fedora, are optimized for server workloads.
Calling Fedora ‘optimal’ is specific to certain features: you really need a powerful server to run it well and then it offers superior security protection with a considerable performance overhead.
In contrast we try to minimize resources whenever possible, especially memory required to run simple processes. There’s a cost for that; we use the best minimal resource application possible instead of the absolute best for the most current features; we do our best to find reasonable software with usable features.
--
Brian Masinickhughtmccullough
OK. I do trust you to optimise things for antiX which in turn seems to be a good fit to my needs. Thank you!
I suppose my question really arises from the observation that with previous Ubuntu and Debian distros that I used in the past, a new version like 4.9.0-294 over 2.9.0-279 would have been installed automatically. i.e. if I reloaded the repo information in Synaptic and then did Mark All Upgrades the new version of the kernel would have been marked for installation and subsequently installed when I clicked on Apply.
I am curious why antiX doesn’t do this.
anticapitalista
Because we want user to understand what they are doing.
Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.
antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.
Brian Masinick
Because we want user to understand what they are doing.
Right on! It is not that hard to learn; there are resources everywhere, including a LOT of information on our Wiki, Forum, and main site, plus a huge quantity of overall information about Linux in general, and kernel alternatives in particular. Just this week we’ve had several conversations on the forum about various kernels we offer, and a few of us have also mentioned other kernels that also work with antiX.
So one starting point is right in this forum. Google and Duck Duck Go searches provide a wealth of information, or if you prefer, there are many printed books and articles that provide more information than you can read in a single sitting. We can answer questions, but most of us have done our own homework long before we came here.
For example, in my case, long before I retired, I was a UNIX systems software engineer. A bunch of UNIX engineers in the office where I worked were chatting about Linux. I already had an interest, so I asked them about their preferences, then I went to a bookstore, grabbed a few books and magazines and gained more information – ALL before I did anything else. Then I looked around for decent deals and found a desktop that suited me and purchased it. I wanted to “dual boot”, then “multi-boot”, so I purchased a system that had a version of Windows on it, ran that, and then learned how to compress the disk space into a “contiguous” space, making room to create additional disk partitions. Then, using one of my books, I ear-marked it, markered it, and noted the things I needed to know and set out to install Linux.
My FIRST Linux distribution was Slackware. The copy I had from a “book” was an older copy that only provided 640×480 screen resolution and 8 color video, but it worked. Next, I set out to find if there were ways to improve that; indeed there were, so I downloaded newer video drivers than what I had on that “aged” copy of my software, and improved resolution to 1024×768 and a couple hundred colors. That was MORE than 25 years ago!
Once I did all that, I learned, and started trying out other distributions. Slackware was a great place to start, but it’s oh so much easier and complete than it was WAY back then. Most of the time we don’t have to go hunting around finding better device drivers, though we MAY if we don’t have what we want or need. The point here is that even experienced people here have read, reviewed, experimented, studied, learned, etc. In my case, I’ve also tried to find out where things degrade; I’ve looked at adding, removing, altering, replacing, and updating systems. I’ve multi-booted, and reached over a dozen distributions on a single hardware configuration (in the past).
I don’t do all of that any more; I’m retired. I still experiment, but to a much lesser degree. Today I mostly browse forums, read news, sports, and occasionally still check out systems. My technical expertise is aging, and often not “up” on the most current new stuff, but I have the skills to get whatever I need because I can still read and learn whenever necessary, and that’s my best advice for anyone who really wants to get the most out of their system.
Not everyone has to be an “expert”; I’m not sure that’s a title that describes me any more. What does describe me is that I can still figure things out by reading, experimenting, and even an “old dog” like me can occasionally “learn new tricks”!
--
Brian MasinickThose last two posts have been quite enlightening to me. I have used Linux now for a number of years and, coming from a technical background, I have been able to learn quite a bit about it. So, I don’t mind “getting my hands dirty” and I do generally have a good look around for information and try to sort things out myself before asking questions.
However, I had thought about recommending antiX to some other people and now I realise that wouldn’t be appropriate. For instance, they would go to the Control Centre and use the antiX Updater and think everything was up to date. They wouldn’t know to go and look for a new kernel version that it is “strongly advised to upgrade” to. Actually, it didn’t occur to me either but I happened to be looking around in Synaptic Package Manager for something else and spotted that a new one existed. Hence, my original question.
I really like what you have done with antiX and I will continue to use it myself for the foreseeable future even though I don’t plan on it becoming a new hobby. Now that I know it is aimed more at the enthusiast, I can see that it isn’t really for the sort of person who likes to buy a nice car but just wants to drive it and doesn’t ever want to have to look near the engine.
stevesr0
Hi hughtmccullough,
It is commonly said that most people just want to use the system without mucking with it and they generally used to use a Windows computer or if they found it appealing a Mac. Nowadays, I suspect that many if not most are using phones or iPads most of the time.
Linux attracts people who want to be able to do hands on, but also some who were against one or another evil empire.
A comment about automagically getting the newest version of things. That might be considered the frontier where explorers go – those are the people who sometimes die unexpectedly <g>.
On one of my systems I am running the Sid version of antiX, which is aligned with the Sid version of Debian. I have a kernel that is “newer” than the latest one supported by antiX. The latest recommended antiX kernel seem to work as well in general on this system as the newer one.
(In fact, as I posted above, the newer kernel (5.15.0-2) has a problem with sound that the latest antiX kernel handles perfectly. Right now, I am going back and forth with the Pipewire/Wireplumber developers trying to figure out the problem (it may actually be an alsa problem). It is very fun although tedious as I don’t have a computer science background.)
But different strokes for different folks.
stevesr0
Brian Masinick
@stevesr0: You are right about a lot of what you say. In the retirement community where I live, a great number of people use iPhones, iPads, and iMacs. The majority of them have no idea how to use the more “sophisticated features” found in Pages, the Word processor provided by default in most Apple products. Though they CAN also use a much simpler Google Docs and other Google provided “office tools”. I can tell you this: whether you like Google any more or less than Apple or Microsoft, the various Google tools in their freely available suite is quite straightforward, fully capable of doing any routine task, to the point that I rarely bother grabbing LibreOffice, OpenOffice, or one of the other office suites any more, unless they are already included in the stock distribution I happen to be using.
The most recent time I wrote and updated a resume, and for the past 10-20 years I’ve been using either StarOffice, OpenOffice, or LibreOffice, and I have compared their documents and looked at them on Microsoft Office (Word) and they look fine. But now, so does Google Docs, and it’ll save in any common format you want, from PDF, .doc, .docx, .odf, .odt, plain text, and others.
I know there are people here that absolutely detest ALL of these companies; that’s their opinion and that’s their fair choice, just as I have my choices and you have yours.
But what I wanted to say about the seniors here is that after getting these fancy Apple products, VERY FEW of them know how to do much more than answer their phones and check their Email. If they receive an attachment or if they have to create their own document, ESPECIALLY if they are the member of a committee in our community, most of them are clueless as to how to use the products effectively. (One person asked me what technology to buy; I suggested a moderately priced Chromebook; they went out and bought an expensive Apple product. 2-3 months later they saw me before or after a meeting and quietly said to me, “I should have taken your advice: I see all of the great things that Mary (my wife) can do with her simple, lightweight, moderately priced Chromebook; I should have listened!” So be it).
My wife is NOT a technology genius at all, but she is TERRIFIC at being able to attend a meeting, listen to what’s going on and take notes on the meeting and the discussion. She was a public school speech and language teaching specialist and added a guidance counseling background to these skills. I can walk circles around her on the computer, but she takes better notes than any of the professional associates I’ve known. I was able to create good notes and good meetings, but ONLY by having virtually complete control over the agenda AND by speaking individually with the members of the teams I worked with to ensure that all content was relevant and accurate; SHE can do that because she LISTENS and digests information very well. Everyone tries to get HER to take minutes; this year I told her to be on the counsel and one committee; let other people figure it out or HIRE a stenographer or secretary to take notes for them!
Anyway, outside of business and technology circles, the level of experience in effectively using tools, especially in older communities, declines greatly! (in fairness, MANY people younger than me can do things on computers that I have no clue how to do, AND I’m BECOMING one of these “OLD” people, more and more as each day, month, and year passes!)
--
Brian Masinick
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
