PHASE 2: COMPILING A CUSTOM LINUX KERNEL

From this step on you should be able to continue the installation remotely although it is wise to at least have quick access to the machine if something goes wrong.

To connect remotely through SSH on linux type "slogin serveripaddress" or to use Windows to connect you can use a piece of free software called putty available here: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html Also, for windows you can use SSH file transferring(SFTP) with a program called filezilla: http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/. This is an optional step if your linux system is running, but compiling your own custom kernel is always a way to optimize your system for the hardware you have installed or a way to remove the unnecesary modules that are in the default kernel. You will definately want to build your own kernel if you have a multi processor machine. If you are new to Linux you probably do not want to do this.

If you are using a newer Digium Octasic-based echo-cancellation quad T1/E1 card then you need to use a 2.6 Linux kernel in order to use the echo-cancellation functionality of the card.If you want to compile a 2.6 kernel then start with OPTION 1, otherwise to compile the 2.4 kernel that comes with Slackware(2.4.33) start with OPTION 2:

OPTION 1: compile Linux kernel 2.6.17 *RECOMMENDED*

1. cd /usr/src

2. wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-2.6.17.11.tar.gz

3. gunzip linux-2.6.17.11.tar.gz

4. tar xvf linux-2.6.17.11.tar

5. mv -f /usr/src/linux /usr/src/linux-old

6. ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.6.17.11 /usr/src/linux

7. cd linux

8. make mrproper # prep for kernel assembly

9. make menuconfig # launch configuration menu app

(this part is very dependant upon your own hardware)

(what is mentioned below are only changes beyond what is selected by default)

Processor Type and Features --->

->Symmetric multi-processing support

(if you have multiple processors or a Dual-core or HT enabled)

->High Memory Support

(if you have more than 900MB of System RAM move upto 4GB)

->Timer frequency (1000 HZ)

(change to 1000Hz if using ztdummy for timer)

Power management options (ACPI, APM) --->

->ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) Support

(enable all down to Processor and thermal zone)

Bus options (PCI, PCMCIA, EISA, MCA, ISA) --->

->[*] PCI Express support

(if using Sangoma PCI Express card)

Networking --->

Amateur Radio support --->

<*> Amateur Radio AX.25 Level 2 protocol

[*] AX.25 DAMA Slave support

<*> Amateur Radio NET/ROM protocol

<*> Amateur Radio X.25 PLP (Rose)

(all needed for new Digium Octasic drivers)

Device Drivers --->

ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support --->

<*> SCSI emulation support

(needed for SATA drives, also further down check chipset drivers)

SCSI device support --->

<*> RAID Transport Class

(needed if you are using a RAID)

SCSI low-level drivers --->

<*> Serial ATA (SATA) support

(required if using SATA drives)

(if using a SCSI RAID card pick correct driver here)

Multi-device support (RAID and LVM) --->

(select proper RAID types if using Linux RAID)

Network device support --->

Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit) --->

Ethernet (1000 Mbit) --->

(select proper drivers for the eype of network card you have)

Character devices --->

<*> Enhanced Real Time Clock Support

(double-check that this is enabled, very important)

Real Time Clock --->

<*> RTC class

(double-check that this is enabled, very important)

File systems --->

<*> Ext3 journalling file system support

(important if using ext3 filesystem)

Library routines --->

<*> CRC-CCITT functions

<*> CRC16 functions

<*> CRC32c (Castagnoli, et al) Cyclic Redundancy-Check

(important for new Digium Octasic drivers)

EXIT AND SAVE YOUR CONFIGURATION

10. make clean # clean up the kernel build areas

11. make bzImage # create a kernel bzImage

12. make modules # build the modules into the image

13. make modules_install # install kernel modules

14. cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage-XXXX # copy image

(put whatever you want in XXXX, that is your new kernel name)

15. cp System.map /boot/System.map-XXXX # copy system map

16. mv -f /boot/System.map /boot/System.map-orig

17. ln -s /boot/System.map-XXXX /boot/System.map # symlink map

18. vi /etc/lilo.conf # edit the lilo boot config file

image=/boot/bzImage-XXXX # add the new image in above-

label=test-XXXX # the previous one

root=/dev/hda1 # device of root partition

read-only

19. /sbin/lilo # run the lilo reload script

20. shutdown -r 0 # reboot machine and hope it worked

OPTION 2: compile Linux kernel 2.4.33.3

1. cd /usr/src/linux # move to your linux source directory

2. cp .config config.save # copy old config to a save file

3. make mrproper # prep for kernel assembly

4. make menuconfig # launch configuration menu app

(this part is very dependant upon your own hardware)

enable processor version # select the processor that you have

enable SMP # if more than 1 processor or Intel HT

enable high memory () # if more than 1GB of RAM

enable SCSI Multiple # if SCSI drives

enable SCSI devices AMI Megaraid # if SCSI Megaraid adapter

enable 3com network devices # if 3com network card

enable ext3 file system # for ext3 to work

enable all ACPI options # for SMP to work

enable Enhanced Real Time Clock Support in Character devices section

# for SMP to work

enable any other hardware specific options

exit and save configuration

5. make dep # build the kernel dependancies

6. make clean # clean up the kernel build areas

7. make bzImage # create a kernel bzImage

8. make modules # build the modules into the image

9. make modules_install # install kernel modules

10. # nothing# mkinitrd /boot/initrd-XXXXXX.img XXXXXX *not needed on Slackware*

11. cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage-XXXXXX # copy image

(put whatever you want in XXXXXX, that is your new kernel name)

12. cp System.map /boot/System.map-XXXXXXN # copy system map

13. mv -f /boot/System.map /boot/System.map-orig

14. ln -s /boot/System.map-XXXXXX /boot/System.map # symlink map

15. vi /etc/lilo.conf # edit the lilo boot config file

image=/boot/bzImage-XXXXXX # add the new image in above-

label=test-XXXXXX # the previous one

root=/dev/hda1 # device of root partition

read-only

16. /sbin/lilo # run the lilo reload script

17. shutdown -r 0 # reboot machine and hope it worked

After compiling your kernel you can run a few commands to verify that you are running your new kernel and that devices are running as they are supposed to:

ps --info (will show you your linux kernel version and other info)

cat /proc/cpuinfo (will show you processor type and more than one if SMP)

top (will show you system memory)