This is, I humbly submit, at least partially on-topic for this list, ;)
since the machine I'm thinking about upgrading is my notebook, and at
least some of the questions are laptop-specific.
Anywho, these are the upgrades I'm considering:
- kernel: 2.2.19 -> 2.4.9
My understanding from previous discussions on this topic is that the
PCMCIA kernel modules in 2.4 are NRFPT (or has this changed in
2.4.9?), and that I will therefore need to build and install the
pcmcia-cs modules in the same manner that I did for 2.2.x, after
which I will presumably have exactly the same PCMCIA functionality
that I have now.
There's also the issue of whether to compile in framebuffer support,
in light of:
- XFree86: 3.3.6 -> 4.1.0
My notebook is a Toshiba Portege 7020CT, which has a NeoMagic NM2200
video chip. The XFree86 site lists this chip as "Support
(accelerated)" in 4.1.0;[1] do I lose the acceleration if I use the
framebuffer?
There's also the question of the XF86Config changes; is there a
utility to convert an old 3.3.6 config file to the new syntax?
Of course, unless I want to download a ~50MB tarball and recompile
all of X from first principles, I first have to upgrade:
- libc6: 2.1.3 -> 2.2.3
This is the one that's really got me worried. I mean, if this goes
wrong, it has the potential to break *everything*. Anything special
I need to do here?
And, coming full circle, if I do this upgrade before the kernel
upgrade, do I still need to use the "bunk" versions of the various
2.4 utilities,[2] or can I just use the versions from testing?
TIA, as always.
-sbigham
[1] <URL:http://www.xfree86.org/4.1.0/Status21.html#21>
[2] <URL:http://www.fs.tum.de/~bunk/kernel-24.html>
