[Ham-Linux] Which Distro/Apps/Apps development software to use?

[Bill Anderson]

On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 1:27 PM, Dr. Gerald N. Johnson <
geraldj at storm.weather.net> wrote:

> On Wed, 2009-02-11 at 18:08 -0700, Bill Anderson wrote:
> > With your configuration, you have plenty of memory and plenty of disk.
> > I agree with a previous comment that openSuse is an excellent choice.
> > The Debian-based distros also have a good size collection of ham
> > software. Fedora has finally decided to package a lot of ham software.
> > It looks like Fedora 11 is going to have one huge collection of ham
> > software. Debian is slow changing and Fedora is on steroids, openSuse
> > offers a good balance having a large collection of software and a
> > longer life cycle.
>
> On of the problems with the latest big distros is that they follow the
> Mudsoft line demanding the latest hardware and removing support for
> vintage hardware. While puppy and ubuntu may not support the latest
> hardware,
> but they make a point to work with older hardware and sometimes that's an
> advantage.
> >
> > Drivers are packed with the kernel, so newer hardware, especially
> > SATA, requires newer releases. Puppy Linux and DSL tend to run a bit
> > behind on the kernel curve, which can create issues with hardware.
>
> Only if you have the latest in hardware. Its just the opposite if your
> hardware is experienced.
> >
> > Bill Anderson
> > WW7BA
> >
> 73, Jerry, K0CQ
>

I disagree with your conclusions. Except for Third-Party drivers, all
drivers are part of the kernel source tree. Even drivers for ancient
hardware. However, the out-of-the-box kernel does not compile every driver.
These is true for all distributions of Linux, even Puppy Linux and Ubuntu.

All Linux kernels derive from the vanilla kernel at kernel.org. Each distro
may have its own modifications to the kernel. If those changes pass muster,
they are integrated into the vanilla kernel. Radical changes, like
systemtap, took years before the kernel team excepted the changes. When a
distro team compiles the kernel for it distro, they determine the kernel
configuration and which drivers are compiled and available.

I compile a new kernel about once a week for one distro or another to test
new features. Some of the kernels are for a Micron that is in the ancient
category. When you compile your own kernel, you determine its configuration.
For example, the A.25 drivers may not be compiled in the standard kernel,
but I add them. I take out drivers that I don't need. The kernel for the
Micron is configured to minimize the memory footprint, and optimized for
that particular processor.

You have given me an idea for my blogs. It is time to show how easy it is to
build a kernel. Every distro is a little different, but that is no big deal.
Also, I need to mention those drivers that are important to some ham radio
software.

Bill Anderson
WW7BA

>
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-- 
Bill Anderson
WW7BA
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