MX Linux Forum

NEWSBREAK: BitJam made a tool to run any kernel you want.

A few rough edges left but otherwise you will ultimately succeed to change to an alternative kernel starting from e.g. this link

https://mxu3.github.io/live-kernel-updater

By the time you read this, MX distro has a tool to run any kernel basically. We are working on streamlining the whole process. Stand by.

The script worked to change kernel in the "local (primary) installed live-MX" as well as a secondary SD-card MX, which was plugged in a USB 3.0 socket.
However, the prior kernel install to be performed might quite possibly issue some error messages. But heck... push on regardless .

In case of failure: erase SD-card and retry

----------------------------------------- old version of the post :


changing kernels on a running live system is not yet supported

meaning: it is not working and screws up the whole system, if you try it. But its poss to unscrew the system afterwards...

was: "no luck with alt. kernels here - which is a stable alternative kernel ?"



on my desktop m/c I usually can run most kernels. yet the alternative debian & liquorix kernel freeze after usb devices are found : fallback shell initrd

the original debian-live works no problem. tried 4 kernels now which are installable from synaptic & mc-tools. always same freezing and initrd fallback shell.

I also tried noacpi , fallback asf. boot options from the extlinux menu which did not change anything.

is there a kernel that is known to be very stable on many hardwares ?

Never heard of this before, and I've run MX-15 on hundreds of systems and prior to that, MX-14 on thousands, never had a single instance of crash or freezing on USB insertion, though I have seen kernel messages about over voltage on USB ports and instability associated with it. I have also seen how certain graphics chips can be troublesome, in particular Intel Broadwell U, such as my own laptop.

New users used to get some forum guidelines on their first login to assist them with asking for assistance, not sure if that's still happening. Usually, when requesting assistance, you can help us to help you by posting the specs of your machine along with your request. Our manual has good pointers on using the right tools for this purpose, look for inxi 2 lines above section 6.6.

The manual is available either by the Manuals link near the top of this page, or by clicking your Launcher icon and typing help.

I run a live-USB KDE-MX-15 which I already remastered several times.

Kernel install as well as uninstall is a pain, because it runs into several errors (dpkg, grub and more). I had to manually delete many files to keep synaptic & apt-get going.

I am not sure whether kernel install / deinst with synaptic & mx-tool can be considered stable.

now the system works, as long as I do not try to uninstall or reinstall those kernels...

it would be helpful if other MX-15 users could tell me whether adding kernels in live-USB usually works well via GUI (synaptic, mx-tools).

changing kernels on a running live system is not yet supported. That's a feature that is coming, but its not here yet. It can be done, but its amazingly difficult and manual. The initrd is one of the things that don't get updated correctly (if at all) when new kernels are installed on a live system. Its easy on an installed system, hard on a live system.

On my custom-mx spins that require other kernels (like for my lenovo and chromebook), I install them on a virtual machine, change the kernel, then snapshot the VM install and use the resulting iso to make liveUSBs.

would be nice if such info was available before the MX users waste half a day on a non-feature. oh , well... ;-) thx, dolphin!

You also could have asked before wasting half a day.

v3g4n wrote:You also could have asked before wasting half a day.

OK, then let me ask another question right on time:

What other things are unsupported, even though the GUI offers it?
I did read the help file, it said nothing on unsupported kernel-changing...
What do I need to ask, before I waste another half a day?

Easy, buddy...

changing the kernel is a seemingly reasonable thing to want to do, and live system we employ does tend to make us believe we can do anything with it. and you almost can.

The apt and update-initramfs tools that debian provides for kernel installations assume an installed system, with an init ram drive (initrd) that debian understands and expects, in a location that it expects. Ours has all the custom live boot stuff in it, and is in a location suitable for our live system to allow mounting of the rest of the compressed file system. In fact, its the initrd system that loads the persistence files and does all the other cool magic the live system can do. In a very real way, the initrd lives outside the usual linux filesystem contained in the linuxfs and rootfs squash filesystem files that the live system uses.

Unfortunately it also means that updating the kernel on the live system is fairly complicated and not automatic. Even when this gets supported in the future, it will likely require use of a custom tool to do the job.

a custom tool or even just a custom help file ("cheat sheet") could probably do the trick...

yop wrote:a custom tool or even just a custom help file ("cheat sheet") could probably do the trick...

yep... :)

I'd say Yop, since you know exactly what is needed apparently: go right on ahead and create the "cheat sheet", that would help us out a whole lot!

testing phase

http://forum.mepiscommunity.org/viewtop ... 18&t=40496

Eadwine Rose wrote:I'd say Yop, since you know exactly what is needed apparently: go right on ahead and create the "cheat sheet", that would help us out a whole lot!

will be my pleasure - once I actually did it... (and not having been banned from the forum by that time for my outspoken critiques of certain aspects of software ergonomy).

dolphin_oracle wrote:testing phase

http://forum.mepiscommunity.org/viewtop ... 18&t=40496

how does the live-usb-maker script help to exchange kernels ? Or did I misunderstand

the live kernel updater is also posted in the first post. (I missed it at first as well).

yop wrote:

Eadwine Rose wrote:I'd say Yop, since you know exactly what is needed apparently: go right on ahead and create the "cheat sheet", that would help us out a whole lot!

will be my pleasure - once I actually did it... (and not having been banned from the forum by that time for my outspoken critiques of certain aspects of software ergonomy).

Thanks and we will be looking forward to your contribution.

Also remember that you may critique things, but when you are in a small community and a relatively small distro with only few hands to work on development it is more appreciated to actually offer some help. "Hey guys, how can I help make this better?". Don't just tell what is wrong, help fix it. Otherwise critique can easily be seen as bashing.

Here is the thread for the live-kernel-updater. I had sent d.o. a link to the wrong thread. Sorry.

amazing, yeah?

BitJam made the tool to run any kernel you want on an already USER CONTROLLED distro.

A few rough edges left but otherwise you will ultimately succeed to change to an alternative kernel starting from e.g. this link :


https://mxu3.github.io/live-kernel-updater


The liquorix kernel does make quite a difference on my desktop machine of yesteryear... ;-)

BitJam is pretty awesome...

This reminds me of an old joke...

A car mechanic is doing a valve job on a cardiac surgeon's BMW and asks, how come when I do a valve job I get 400$.
When you do a valve job you get 40,000 dollars.

To which the surgeon replied, that's because when I do the valve job, I do it while the engine is running.

Ha !

"BMW" was the most hilarious part of it.

Wow, and Bravo!
Sending these as pull request to BitJam would be a lot more efficient than me sending betatester notes via PMs.
I gotta get on the github bandwagon. What client+workflow (or a tutorial link) do you folks recommend?
https://github.com/mxu3/live-kernel-upd ... 6acb80d7a2
https://github.com/mxu3/live-kernel-upd ... 96fad7b261

https://github.com/mxu3/live-kernel-upd ... 5429a5b97d
^------- @line9 (ought to set your editor to strip trailing whitespace at save, eh)

skidoo wrote:Wow, and Bravo!
Sending these as pull request to BitJam would be a lot more efficient than me sending betatester notes via PMs.
I gotta get on the github bandwagon. What client+workflow (or a tutorial link) do you folks recommend?
https://github.com/mxu3/live-kernel-upd ... 6acb80d7a2
https://github.com/mxu3/live-kernel-upd ... 96fad7b261

https://github.com/mxu3/live-kernel-upd ... 5429a5b97d
^------- @line9 (ought to set your editor to strip trailing whitespace at save, eh)

I fork whatever git repo I want to work with using the github web interface. then clone that to my pc from the command line ( git clone address). I make and sync all.my changes to my personnel git forks then use the website pull request tool to send the pull requests. Since I work on antix.and mxlinux this work flow works for me both ways.

swapped another kernel which worked, but still a lil non-smoothness remains in synaptic. But I run MX with a 4.7 kernel. fair enough.