A Couple Of Newbie Questions


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hey all,

while I have "some" (translate: a little) working knowledge of linux, I find I can come up with some of the most remedial questions that make me feel like an idiot when posting.

For instance, when upgrading kernels, it puts the new one listed in the boot menu, I've upgraded 3 times since installing mandrake 10.0 and all kernels remain, do I uninstall previous versions?....leaving the one prior to upgrading seems like the right thing to do so you have a bootable kernel should something go wrong with the new...correct?

does uninstalling the kernel remove it from the boot menu?...I know how if it doesn't, but just curious.

and what are the other labels used for?....( linux-nonfb, failsafe)

and for the networking, I'm able to access my desktop running winXP by mounting shared drives through LinNeighborhood, (and this might seem like more of a windows question) but how can I access my laptop running mandrake from XP?

see?...idiot questions!...lol :blink:

all info on either topic greatly appreciated

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For instance, when upgrading kernels, it puts the new one listed in the boot menu, I've upgraded 3 times since installing mandrake 10.0 and all kernels remain, do I uninstall previous versions?

If you want. I have ten kernels in /boot right now just because I'm lazy.

....leaving the one prior to upgrading seems like the right thing to do so you have a bootable kernel should something go wrong with the new...correct?

Correct. I also keep one really old kernel just in case something snuck in in a previous release and wasn't caught.

does uninstalling the kernel remove it from the boot menu?...I know how if it doesn't, but just curious.

Not with any stock bootloaders I've used, but it wouldn't surpise me if someone rolled up a script to update the menus automatically.

and what are the other labels used for?....( linux-nonfb, failsafe)

Wild guess? Failsafe is for a failsafe kernel (e.g., the aforementioned really old kernel). nonfb is for a kernel with the normal text console instead of the spiffy new framebuffer console with bells and whistles and occasional breakage.

and for the networking, I'm able to access my desktop running winXP by mounting shared drives through LinNeighborhood, (and this might seem like more of a windows question) but how can I access my laptop running mandrake from XP?

Samba. Never worked for me except for printers, but someone here must have used it.

Edited by jcl
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By the way, if you do clean out your old kernels, don't forget to clean up /lib/modules/ and any outdated module config files in /etc/.

Heh. Just noticed that I still had kernel modules going back to kernel 2.4.20.

Oh, and you do have to be slightly careful when you select backup kernels. It is possible for the kernel and glibc to get out of sync and adversely affect the system. For example, everything might sudden stop working. It's usually only a problem between major kernel releases (e.g., 2.4 vs. 2.6).

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hey jcl,

I used rpmdrake to clean up and apparently it does everything, I left my original 2.6.3-7(which I never had a problem with) and the newest 2.6.3-19 (no problems so far)...all traces of kernels between those are gone, nothing in the places you mentioned

thanks again

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Neat. It didn't occur to me that the kernels would be handled by the package manager.

Yep, Red Hat 9 handled kernel installs through the package manager as well. I'm assuming then that Fedora will do the same.

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the bad thing about the package manager is that I'd probably have learned more by now with out it....seems the only time I learn how to do anything is when I have to do it myself :)

Very true. It does make installing things too easy. The only time you learn anything in Linux is when you're forced to open up a terminal prompt.

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