All i can say is finally, i will admit, i basically live on various Google applications. I think if i could be transported to my Gmail inbox, i would be alright… Anyways, this should be fairly interesting regardless, and knowing Google they should do a pretty good job, and should put up a pretty good fight against the Ubuntu misguidedness… WE WILL SURE SEE

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Hardwareforums.com is now hosting architecturally-optimized Linux kernels! Currently we’re packaging custom kernels for Debian “Lenny”, which should also work with many Debian-derivative distributions of Linux. These kernels are based off of the latest stable source from kernel.org, and will be updated as frequently as schedules allow. There are some advantages to running a custom Linux kernel, but also some disadvantages which should be taken into account.

Advantages:

• Optimized for extremely low-latency desktop usage. Also perfect for dedicated game servers.
• Will behave responsively even under excessively heavy resource loads.
• Ideal for applications that require near real-time responsiveness, such as gaming and multimedia work.
• Built with CPU-specific optimizations to make the most of your hardware.
• Supports SMP, multi-core CPUs and up to 64gb RAM on modern architectures.
• More current kernels support more hardware and provide bugfixes which may not be present in distro-maintained kernels.
• The depreciated OSS (Open Sound System) is entirely removed in favor of ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) and its reverse-compatibility with OSS.

Disadvantages:

Pre-packaged binaries of proprietary video drivers, etc which are built against the vendor-provided kernel will not work; they will need to be built and installed manually.

• Pre-packaged binaries of proprietary video drivers, etc which are built against the vendor-provided kernel will not work; they will need to be built and installed manually.
• Receiving support from official distributor-specific channels may be hindered by using an unsupported kernel.
• The vanilla kernel source from kernel.org is newer and therefore not as well-tested as the distro-provided kernel.
• Only 32-bit builds are provided (with 64-bit optimizations where applicable), since this currently makes the most sense for desktops.
• This kernel enjoys no official support, nor even the suggestion of any warranty whatsoever. They are to be used strictly at one’s own risk, and are supported only at a friendly capacity here at hardwareforums.com

About The Kernel Configuration

The kernel configurations for Debian Lenny on Debian’s latest official kernel configurations, with some key modifications by myself. These changes center around architecture-specific optimizations, and pruning out some stuff that doesn’t apply in that context. For example, Intel-specific options don’t make sense for an AMD Athlon kernel and vise-versa. The timing settings were also changed from the default 250Hz to 1000Hz, and the schedulers set to be aggressively desktop-friendly. This will incur a very slight amount of overhead in the raw amount of potential CPU horsepower, but the payoff is a huge boost in responsiveness when multitasking or placing the system under a heavy CPU workload. This is especially noticeable in games, multimedia, and heavy multitasking environments, so I feel it’s well justified for a non-server environment. So fundamentally, the largest differences between the official configs and my own are the CPU-specific optimizations and the scheduler settings. Each respective kernel was also compiled with the highest known-safe CPU optimizations relative to each architecture.

CPU Architectures

• atom – Best for the Intel ATOM CPU family.
• centrino – Built specifically for the “Pentium M” processor, which is essentially a modernized P3. Use this if you have a Pentium M, Centrino, or Celeron-M that’s based on a pre-P4 architecture.
• core2 – Newer Intel multi-core CPUs, including quad-cores, i7’s and recent Xeons.
• k7 – Any AMD Athlon, Duron, or 32-bit Sempron CPUs.
• k8 – AMD64, 64FX, 64-bit-capable Sempron, Turion or Opteron CPUs.
• p3 – Optimized for Katmai, Coppermine, Coppermine-T and Tualatin Pentium 3 processors.
• p4 – Any Pentium 4 or P4-based Celeron CPUs. Optimizations for newer P4s such as the Prescott are also included, but not required for this kernel to work on your system.
• phenom – Later AMD K10-based CPUs, such as Deneb, Heka, Agena, and Toliman.
• prescott – Built specifically for Prescott or later Pentium4 CPU’s before the Core2, such as the Pentium-D.
• x2 – Early multi-core AMD processors such as Manchester, Toledo, Windsor, Brisbane, and Kuma.

Downloads:

⇒ Should you decide our custom kernels are for you, they can be found here: HWF Custom Kernel Wiki

If you have any questions, problems or suggestions please feel free to post them here.

Debian GNU/Linux runs on computers ranging from palmtops and handheld systems to supercomputers, and on nearly everything in between. A total of twelve architectures are supported: Sun SPARC (sparc), HP Alpha (alpha), Motorola/IBM PowerPC (powerpc), Intel IA-32 (i386), IA-64 (ia64), HP PA-RISC (hppa), MIPS (mips, mipsel), ARM (arm, armel), IBM S/390 (s390), and AMD64 and Intel EM64T (amd64).

Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 “Lenny” adds support for Marvell’s Orion platform which is used in many storage devices. Supported storage devices include the QNAP Turbo Station series, HP Media Vault mv2120, and Buffalo Kurobox Pro. Additionally, “Lenny” now supports several Netbooks, in particular the Eee PC by Asus. “Lenny” also contains the build tools for Emdebian which allow Debian source packages to be cross-built and shrunk to suit embedded ARM systems.

Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 “Lenny” includes the new ARM EABI port, “armel”. This new port provides a more efficient use of both modern and future ARM processors. As a result, the old ARM port (arm) has now been deprecated.

This release includes numerous updated software packages, such as the K Desktop Environment 3.5.10 (KDE), an updated version of the GNOME desktop environment 2.22.2, the Xfce 4.4.2 desktop environment, LXDE 0.3.2.1, the GNUstep desktop 7.3, X.Org 7.3, OpenOffice.org 2.4.1, GIMP 2.4.7, Iceweasel 3.0.6 (an unbranded version of Mozilla Firefox), Icedove 2.0.0.19 (an unbranded version of Mozilla Thunderbird), PostgreSQL 8.3.6, MySQL 5.0.51a, GNU Compiler Collection 4.3.2, Linux kernel version 2.6.26, Apache 2.2.9, Samba 3.2.5, Python 2.5.2 and 2.4.6, Perl 5.10.0, PHP 5.2.6, Asterisk 1.4.21.2, Emacs 22, Inkscape 0.46, Nagios 3.06, Xen Hypervisor 3.2.1 (dom0 as well as domU support), OpenJDK 6b11, and more than 23,000 other ready-to-use software packages (built from over 12,000 source packages).

With the integration of X.Org 7.3 the X server autoconfigures itself with most hardware. Newly introduced packages allow the full support of NTFS filesystems and the use of most multimedia keys out of the box. Support for Adobe(R) Flash(R) format files is available via the swfdec or Gnash plugins. Overall improvements for notebooks have been introduced, such as out of the box support of CPU frequency scaling. For leisure time several new games have been added, including puzzle games as well as first-person shooters. Also notable is the introduction of “goplay”, a graphical games browser offering filters, search, screenshots and descriptions for games in Debian.

The availability and updates of OpenJDK, GNU Java compiler, GNU Java bytecode interpreter, Classpath and other free versions of Sun’s Java technology, into Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 allow us to ship Java-based applications in Debian’s “main” repository.

Further improvements in system security include the installation of available security updates before the first reboot by the Debian Installer, the reduction of setuid root binaries and open ports in the standard installation, and the use of GCC hardening features in the builds of several security-critical packages. Various applications have specific improvements, too. PHP for example is now built with the Suhosin hardening patch.

For non-native English speaking users the package management systems now support translated package descriptions and will automatically show the description of a package in the native language of the user, if available.

Debian GNU/Linux can be installed from various installation media such as DVDs, CDs, USB sticks and floppies, or from the network. GNOME is the default desktop environment and is contained on the first CD. Other desktop environments – KDE, Xfce, or LXDE – can be installed through two new alternative CD images. Again available with Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 are multi-arch CDs and DVDs supporting installation of multiple architectures from a single disc; and this release adds Blu-ray Discs, allowing the archive for an entire architecture to be shipped on a single BD.

In addition to the regular installation media, Debian GNU/Linux can now also be directly used without prior installation. The special images used, known as live images, are available for CDs, USB sticks, and netboot setups. Initially, these are provided for the amd64 and i386 architectures only.

The installation process for Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 has been improved in many ways: among many other improvements, support for installation from more than one CD or DVD has been restored, firmware required by some devices can be loaded by using removable media, and installations via Braille display are supported. The installer boot process has also received much attention: a graphical menu can be used to choose front-ends and desktop environments, and to select expert or rescue mode. The installation system for Debian GNU/Linux has now been translated to 63 languages.

Debian GNU/Linux can be downloaded right now via bittorrent (the recommended way), jigdo or HTTP; see Debian GNU/Linux on CDs [1] for further information. It will soon be available on DVD, CD-ROM and Blu-ray Disc from numerous vendors [2], too.

Upgrades to Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 from the previous release, Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (codenamed “Etch”) are automatically handled by the aptitude package management tool for most configurations, and to a certain degree also by the apt-get package management tool. As always, Debian GNU/Linux systems can be upgraded painlessly, in place, without any forced downtime, but it is strongly recommended to read the release notes [3] for possible issues, and for detailed instructions on installing and upgrading. The release notes will be further improved and translated to additional languages in the weeks after the release.

1. http://www.debian.org/CD/
2. http://www.debian.org/CD/vendors
3. http://www.debian.org/releases/lenny/releasenotes

Dedication

Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 “Lenny” is dedicated to Thiemo Seufer, a Debian Developer who died on December 26th, 2008 in a tragic car accident. Thiemo was involved in Debian in many ways. He has maintained several packages and was the main supporter of the Debian port to the MIPS architectures. He was also a member of our kernel team, as well as a member of the Debian Installer team. His contributions reached far beyond the Debian project. He also worked on the MIPS port of the Linux kernel, the MIPS emulation of qemu, and far too many smaller projects to be named here.

Thiemo’s work, commitment, broad technical knowledge and ability to share this with others will be missed. Thiemo’s contributions will not be forgotten. The high standards of his work make it hard to pick up.

About Debian

Debian GNU/Linux is a free operating system, developed by more than a thousand volunteers from all over the world who collaborate via the Internet. Debian’s dedication to Free Software, its non-profit nature, and its open development model make it unique among GNU/Linux distributions.

The Debian project’s key strengths are its volunteer base, its dedication to the Debian Social Contract, and its commitment to provide the best operating system possible. Debian 5.0 is another important step in that direction.

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