Re: [PLUG] Playing with Fire?

[Kevin Brosius <kbrosius@kns.com>]

"W. Chris Shank" wrote:
> 
> How hard would it be to run a kernel from one distro on a system installed
> with another distro? In particular, I can't succesfully get RH8 to enable
> the FireWire DVD-CDRW in my Vaio docking station, nor use PCMCIA reliably.
> I think it all centers around APCI configuration, but the kernel never
> compiles with APCI enabled. However, Mandrake 9 (2.4.19 kernel) works
> great - but I'm not a fan of their interface & menu's and some other
> application configurations (ie: Mozilla is not default browser - galeon is
> - and mozilla doesn't print).
> 
> I have RH 8 on my desktop boxes and would like to keep the interface
> consistency (my wife is now using Linux successfully on desktop box).  So
> I'd like to just plunk down the Mandrake kernel on RH8.
> 
> I know, you are all saying just compile and install your own. I've tried
> this - and when I get one thing working, something else breaks (like sound
> or networking). I prefer not to spend hours and hours on this - so I'm
> looking for a short-cut.
> 
> I would consider debian - but from what I remember - there is even more
> manual configuration that must occur - which I don't habve time for.

Well, as they say, you rolls the dice and you takes your chances...

Kernel's are somewhat standalone, and I don't think you can really break
anything by trying a different one.  The problem comes in if there are
kernel dependencies in the Mandrake one that aren't satisfied by the
native install.

I'd give it a shot, but watch for startup errors and check the logfile
for things that fail.  And keep the old kernel on the system so you can
restart with it (I build a lot of kernels lately, trying out 2.5.x, and
I just add the different kernel to another lilo entry so I can boot the
working version as the default.)

-- 
Kevin Brosius
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