quote: Original post by Prefect
Yes, the scheduler is now O(1) instead of O(n), which is very good when lots of processes are running simultaneously. I think the n is the number of *running* processes, so idle background daemons didn''t matter anyway. I don''t think this particular change offers that much for the desktop.

google for Big O notation. It is just a way of describing an algorithms effectivity and speed.

quote: Original post by Strife
So who''s tried it yet? And what do you think of it so far?

I''m probably going to wait until about 2.6.3 or so to start using it, unless I hear lots of good things about it.

Hey, if you are waiting for it to stablize then you better not use 2.6.3. Kernel 2.6.0 will be more stable then 2.6.3. This year only 1 line fixes were allowed in so there is a bunch of major fixes that have to go in and they will for the first few kernels. Have a look at the mm kernel, there''s tons of stuff that is likely to be merged. Not the mention once everybody is using it there will be a lot more fixes coming due to new bugs found.
So the kernel will go downhill for the first few releases as they get this all sorted out. 5-6 is usually the first time its as stable as it was at 0.

Later, Ben

quote: Original post by Strife
Same here. I''d rather wait until there are definately no major bugs yet... I remember when 2.4 was released, and there were a number of problems with the early versions, so I''ll wait a bit on 2.6.

The Artist Formerly Known as CmndrM

http://chaos.webhop.org

There is a big difference between this release and 2.4.0. They had major problems with the vm layer and released anyway. This release on the otherhand is exactly were they wanted it for the release. Everything major has been implement and is running as the expect. Its going to be a very nice kernel, infact at the kernel summit there was very little discussion about what need to change in the 2.7.x series. That is a big difference from the 2.5.x series were there were big talks about vm layer and a bunch of other things.

Ben

Ok, I''ve been running the 2.6.0 for some days now. First something about the system:
HW: AMD K6-III 450 on an Asus p5a, 192ram, nvidia riva tnt2u, realtek 8139, usb mouse, sb live 5.1, LG cdrw, 80gb maxtor + 4.3gb seagate.
SW: Slackware 9.0 (I know I should try 9.1 for this test, but I won''t have the time for an update till february), module-init-tools 0.9.14 (should be there in 9.1), KDE 3.2 beta 2, mozilla 1.5, ...
The system is not a fresh install, originally it''s a full copy of my daily work system, tested with all test versions of the 2.6.0 beginning with the test4. I''ve also installed kde 3.2 beta2, just for fun, and it is fun.
I''ve never run into serious problems, the first time i''ve compiled the kernel, I obviously forgot to include reiserfs support in the kernel: ''panic: unable to mount root fs'', but that''s an academic mistake. All hw works fine (I haven''t tested the cdrw yet), even the nvidia drivers work (www.minion.de, use the modified installer). The overal system seems faster/more responsive (but you know that already), it also boots a bit faster. The new kde adds to the overall faster feeling.
The network performance seems better too. (I haven''t tested yet, but it copying files over lan "seems" to go faster)
I encourage everybody who has some spare room on their hdd to test the new kernel. If you haven''t compiled your kernel yet, you''ll see it''s not that difficult. Especially with the new (qt-based) xconfig and more clean build process. To play safe, I encourage you to create a separate test-system like I''ve done, that way you''ll never screw up your working linux.
The only thing I start worrying about is my other network card (the one in my router), it''s a "tc6020" and the provided drivers only work/compile on 2.2 and 2.4 kernels. I''ve tried compiling the driver on 2.6.0 and it gave errors. I really doubt if someone will update the driver (it''s almost unfindable on the net, only windows drivers) to 2.6.0. So... does anyone have experience with driver porting? I''d like to know how I can modify the sources to make it work on a 2.6.0. Are there books, guides on that?