----- Original Message ----- From: "Karol Pietrzak" <noodlez84@earthlink.net> To: <suse-linux-e@suse.com>
On 14 Nov 2001, John Scott wrote:
Kernels 2.4.10 and later are much faster and secure.
Yes, completely true, but I would recommend going with the latest stable kernel release (i.e. 2.4.14) because there are no advantages to anything before it. Anything before 2.4.14 had a rather low performing VM and anything before 2.4.6 had a shitty VM (which corrupted by partition, oh, around 6 times).
To Jon, the original poster:
There are a few reasons to upgrade:
- Increased stability, speed, etc.
- Bug fixes (related to [1] or security related)
- Support for more hardware (if you need it)
- Shits and giggles
That's basically what I said in one sentence. Well almost. :)
I would update my kernel in the days of 2.2.X for reason [4]. Now with 2.4.X, however, I am forced to upgrade because of [1] and [2]. You'd think that at 2.4.14, things would settle down. The VM just friggin' switched...
-- Karol Pietrzak PGP KeyID: 3A1446A0
Very true on the switch but as Linus said, given the performance difference it was well worth it. Also, Linus pointed out that he had been testing it since 2.4.8 and decided it couldn't get any more stable. Alan Cox said he disagreed with the upgrade until Linus prodded him to looking at the benchmarks. I'll tell you that my Athlon saw no noticeable difference but my dragging Cyrix MII has seen new life since I went from 2.4.7 to 2.4.14. The difference was real! Word to the wise though, if you are still using ipchains instead of iptables you are in for some work. The support for ipchains and further back has to be downloaded separately now and patched. Some will point out iptables are better but I just thought I'd throw that out there for anyone who doesn't already know. John