MX-17 to MX-18 update testing

[darth.severus]

I just want to be sure that I got it right: There will be an automatic update from MX-17.1 to MX-18? When I use the dev repo I'm just a bit ahead of what happens anyway? Or I maybe need an additional Kernel upgrade later, but that's all?

[dolphin_oracle]

I just want to be sure that I got it right: There will be an automatic update from MX-17.1 to MX-18? When I use the dev repo I'm just a bit ahead of what happens anyway? Or I maybe need an additional Kernel upgrade later, but that's all?

pretty much, yep

[Stevo]

If your hardware is running just fine with the current kernel, you might want to stick with it, though the 4.19.5 kernel does offer more Spectre and Meltdown protection for 32-bit users...at the cost of a somewhat variable performance loss, unless you disable that with the "nopti" kernel boot command.

Users can install spectre-meltdown-checker and run

Code: Select all

sudo spectre-meltdown-checker

to see how vunerable they are.

[darth.severus]

Thanks for the answers. My system is 64-Bit. One CVE is open because I need a Microkernel upgrade. I'd like using the newest kernel I'm able to use.
My question has the background that MX-18 may be longer supported if there is a difference to MX-17.1, so I have to decide if I wait or not. If MX-17.1 becomes MX-18, or at least could become, then there is no reason to wait for MX-18 final. I probably don't need the system encryption installer because I do that myself, with btrfs subvolumes instead of LVM.

[Stevo]

Yes, we already went with the same kind of transition with MX 15 to MX 16, both of which had the same Jessie base.

We're still going to label our packages as MX 17 versions, since they will be compatible with both 17 and 18, unless they are specifically for MX 18, such as artwork.

[dolphin_oracle]

Think

"How long will the stretch based series be supported" rather than a given number series.

You could also think of the update to mx18 as part of that support.

[darth.severus]

Okay, thanks. For me it now sounds like it will be the same. So I'll go with MX-17.1 and upgrade later.

You could also think of the update to mx18 as part of that support.

My thinking was, if something is different and can't be upgraded later without a new install e.g. Kernel, it won't last as long as MX-18.

[mx-ian]

If your hardware is running just fine with the current kernel, you might want to stick with it, though the 4.19.5 kernel does offer more Spectre and Meltdown protection for 32-bit users...at the cost of a somewhat variable performance loss, unless you disable that with the "nopti" kernel boot command.

Users can install spectre-meltdown-checker and run

Code: Select all

sudo spectre-meltdown-checker

to see how vunerable they are.

I ran the spectre-meltdown-checker installed from the Synaptic Package Manager. The cpu is not vulnerable.

Steps to add the "nopti" option to the kernel boot command:
1. Open the Grub Customizer application
2. Edit the first entry, in this case "MX 18 Continuum"
3. Scroll down to the line "linux /boot/vmlinuz- ..." and add "nopti" at the end of the line without quotes
4. Click the OK button
5. Clck the Save button in Grub Customizer and close the application
6. Reboot
7. Open the Xfce Terminal and type "cat /proc/cmdline" to confirm the "nopti" option

[ChrisUK]

All OK so far:

Code: Select all

System:    Host: mx1742 Kernel: 4.9.0-8-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 6.3.0 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.12.3 Distro: MX-18_x64 Continuum March 14  2018 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: SAMSUNG product: RV411/RV511/E3511/S3511/RV711 v: N/A 
           serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: SAMSUNG model: RV411/RV511/E3511/S3511/RV711 serial: <filter> BIOS: Phoenix 
           v: 03PA.M001.20110312.XW date: 03/12/2011 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT1 charge: 7.6 Wh condition: 7.6/47.5 Wh (16%) model: SAMSUNG Electronics 
           status: Full 
CPU:       Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i3 M 380 bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Nehalem 
           rev: 5 L2 cache: 3072 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 20216 
           Speed: 933 MHz min/max: 933/2533 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 933 2: 933 3: 933 4: 933 
Graphics:  Device-1: NVIDIA GT218M [GeForce 315M] driver: nouveau v: kernel bus ID: 02:00.0 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.2 driver: nouveau unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa 
           resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: NVA8 v: 3.3 Mesa 18.2.6 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 5 Series/3400 Series High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel 
           v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
           Device-2: NVIDIA High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 02:00.1 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.9.0-8-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Broadcom Limited BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter 
           driver: bcma-pci-bridge v: N/A port: 2000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
           Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet driver: r8169 
           v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 4000 bus ID: 05:00.0 
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-1: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 14.75 GiB (1.6%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST1000LM048-2E7172 size: 931.51 GiB 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 49.26 GiB used: 14.75 GiB (29.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 47.0 C mobo: 47.0 C gpu: nouveau temp: 51 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:      Processes: 190 Uptime: 9m Memory: 5.70 GiB used: 654.1 MiB (11.2%) Init: SysVinit 
           runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 6.3.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.12 inxi: 3.0.25