Using Linux:Managing the Kernel






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The preceding script is the character device configuration section, as you can probably tell by its title. Things like mice and serial and parallel ports fall into this category. The only notable selections here are the QIC-80 drivers. There are updated drivers available for QIC-80 and Travan drivers that seem to work better, have compression support, and finally, can format tapes. If you have problems with the included driver, it might be worth it for you to look for such drivers at the sunsite archive, or on your Linux distribution CDs. Also note that for the ftape drivers to work, you must set the floppy controller parameters in the file it mentions.
User miscellaneous modules enable a device section in the kernel, intended to support other input devices. Unless you’re writing or testing one, you should respond with an N.
The next section of script is the sound card configuration section:


*
* Sound
*
Sound card support (CONFIG_SOUND)[M/n/y/?]
/dev/dsp and /dev/audio support (CONFIG_AUDIO)[Y/n/?]
MIDI interface support (CONFIG_MIDI)[Y/n/?]
FM synthesizer (YM3812/OPL-3)support (CONFIG_YM3812)[M/n/?]
ProAudioSpectrum 16 support (CONFIG_PAS)[M/n/?]
Sound Blaster (SB, SBPro, SB16, clones)support
(CONFIG_SB)[M/n/?]
Generic OPL2/OPL3 FM synthesizer support
(CONFIG_ADLIB)[M/n/?]
Gravis Ultrasound support (CONFIG_GUS)[N/m/?]
PSS (ECHO-ADI2111)support (CONFIG_PSS)[N/m/?]
MPU-401 support (NOT for SB16)(CONFIG_MPU401)[M/n/?]
6850 UART Midi support (CONFIG_UART6850)[N/m/?]
MPU-401 UART Midi support (CONFIG_UART401)[N/m/?]
Microsoft Sound System support (CONFIG_MSS)[M/n/?]
Ensoniq SoundScape support (CONFIG_SSCAPE)[M/n/?]
MediaTrix AudioTrix Pro support (CONFIG_TRIX)[M/n/?]
Support for MAD16 and/or Mozart based cards
(CONFIG_MAD16)[M/n/?]
Support for Crystal CS4232 based (PnP)cards
(CONFIG_CS4232)[M/n/?]
Support for Turtle Beach Wave Front (Maui, Tropez)
synthesizers (CONFIG_MAUI)[N/m/?]
Audio DMA buffer size 4096, 16384, 32768 or 65536
(DSP_BUFFSIZE)[65536]


The Linux Sound System again. If you’ve decided that you want to re-build your kernel to support your sound card, you’re in the right place. Most people with Creative Labs sound cards are well served by sndconfig, but the rest of us, especially those with later version Plug and Play cards, will likely need to recompile our kernels for more reliable and easier sound support.
I still compile sound as a module for my system, but do it differently from the Red Hat distribution. It took me some experimentation to get support for my sound configuration right, and I plan to spare you the majority, if not all, of the headaches I went through. The best part of doing the sound system as a module is that you can continue to rebuild the sound modules and try them until they work, usually without having to reboot. In order for this technique to work, you must use the make xconfig program to configure your kernel. Also note that this technique will probably stop working (or at least change significantly) in the next major Linux kernel release.
Enable /dev/audio and /dev/dsp support. Most multimedia applications for Linux depend on this. MIDI support is optional. If you enable MIDI, keep in mind that most cards come with a MPU-401–compatible MIDI controller, and that you should enable that too.
If you configure sound as a module, the sound card device drivers will also, by default, want to be made as modules. With some playing you can coax most of them to allow a Y answer instead. This results in the sound drivers being compiled into one module, rather than a whole set of modules, and should also allow you to hard-code some sane default IO address, IRQ, and DMA settings into the drivers.
I have found that this is the least painful way to get a stubborn sound card working with Linux. Once you have configured the card parameters, and if you have a Plug and Play card, I recommend that you use the isapnp tools to configure the card to the IO addresses and other parameters.
The configuration program asks whether you want to see additional low-level drivers. These are pretty non-standard devices, which are documented in the drivers/sound directory.
The last section of script has options for kernel developers:


* Kernel hacking
*
Kernel profiling support (CONFIG_PROFILE)[N/y/?]

The linux kernel is now hopefully configured for your setup.
Check the top-level Makefile for additional configuration,
and do a 'make dep ; make clean’ if you want to be sure all
the files are correctly re-made


The preceding message signals the end of the kernel configuration. At this point I’ll refer you to the later section “Building and Installing the Kernel.”

Using make xconfig

Using make xconfig is the preferred way of configuring the kernel. In a pinch, you can use the venerable make config, or make menuconfig, which is not documented here due to space considerations, but the X configuration program for the Linux kernel is the easiest to use by far.
Starting X Window configuration of the kernel

1.  Log on as—or su to—root.
2.  Start X Window.
3.  Open an xterm session.
4.  Change to the Linux kernel source directory, /usr/src/linux.
5.  Enter the command make xconfig. You are greeted by the screen shown in Figure 32.6.

Figure 32.6  Configuring the Linux kernel by using make xconfig.






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