Alien Kernel 64 bit

[pyrael]

I thought I'd try something off the wall here and see what would happen:

I have puppy 3.0 installed on a 3 GB partition (0,1) on my main rig (P4 dual core 64 bit). I was getting NOWHERE trying to build a 64bit kernel in puppy. Kept complaining about the 64 bit options. So, I went a different direction:

NOTE This is with FC7's version of grub, I couldn't boot FC7 with the puppy version so I reverted and added puppy to FC7's[/code]

1st attempt:

• Copied my 64 bit kernel from FC7 to puppy's /boot directory and renamed it to vmlinuz-2.6.23.8
  Created a new line in grub.conf:
  title Puppy 64
  root (hd0,1)
  kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.8 root=/dev/sda2 ro vga=normal

Outcome:

• this just gave me a VFS error about invalid something (0,0)

2nd attempt (where I am now)

• Copied the initrd over and renamed to initrd-2.6.23.8.img
  and changed the grub.conf to this:
  title Puppy cutting edge
  root (hd0,1)
  kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.8 root=/dev/sda2 ro vga=normal
  initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.23.8.img

Outcome:

• It booted! I got the kernel to boot and got as far as xorgwizard. I have puppy's command line and can use like I would with the 32 bit puppy kernel. Xorgwizard refused to load a driver and xvesa failed. I assumed "somewhere" along the way that something would not work, but I actually expected it to be much earlier.

I'm not that familiar with puppy's inner workings and I realize that one cannot just pop a 64 bit kernel into a 32 environment and expect much -- if anything. but I wanted to see what would happen. lol

anyways, does anyone have an idea of the "next step" to take to getting this running? I don't mind compiling packages, but I feel that there is something missing here that is stopping me from compiling for 64 bit. is it evenpossibleto build a 64 bit application/library/ect on a 32 bit OS? I have never tried so this is new to me.

Thanks in advance for any and all input

pyrael

[Aung]

Keep trying pyreal, seems like you are coming unstuck at loading X what ever. I have a amd64 x2 cpu. I tried fc8 to see what kdenlive video editor looked like. fc8 didnt have any choice between xorg or xvesa so I guess it boots straight into xorg. Try plonking xorg from fc7 into Puppy as well. (if it can be done) I dont have fc8 loaded anymore to try it. (even then I wouldn't know what to do) Aung

[starlyte]

i'm starting out to get a 64 bit Puppy going & i thunk that you also have to install the other base progs for it to work. I think that the list in the unleashed should give an idea.My amdx2 3600 runs ok on 32 but eventually 64 bit is going to take over from 32. Any other bright ideas out there?

[inged]

Hi there, love to see a 64bits. I always wanted to give it a try, or see how fast will be this machine with a Puppy 64 bits for dual core, BTW using 1 core and 32bits Puppy feels more responsive to me than OpenSUSE 10.3 x64. I started to compile a dual core kernel for 3.01, the SMP flag, and got stuck several times because I was using the Frugal installation for testing.

To avoid a little trouble I just copied the compiled kernel on a Hard Disk Puppy install, and yes, bingo, that worked out nicely, well I have also copied the new /lib files generated. It was a nightmare on the frugal one, as I understand the frugal one is built in such a way that a modified file will produce a lot of troubles. So, having a frugal for developing and a full install for testing sounds practical to me. But I couldn't use ndiswrapper or VirtualBox, so no luck for me. After several weeks of trial and learning I just give up, being a linux noob, being busy with school and work that ate to much of my time.

I wanted to give unleashed a try, but get lost trying to follow the instructions at the time. Apart for the hard drive install, just keep trying, read a lot and keep us posted for further advance. I do remember somebody posted a thread when compiling a 64bits kernel, get stuck on the middle but no more. Give a search on the forum for extra input on that thread.

[disciple]

Any other bright ideas out there?

I believe to get the full benefits from SMP (dual core) support, your applications need to be compiled with it as well as your kernel. 64bit support could be the same - maybe it is worth checking with someone who knows.

Presumably 32bit applications still run in a 64bit Linux? I don't know.
I think you should really be compiling pretty much everything from scratch.

[Pizzasgood]

I don't know about SMP, but apps do need to be compiled specifically for 64 bit processors if you want to take full advantage of it. 32 bit programs will still run, but they will probably run less efficiently than with a 32 bit kernel, as it will have to simulate a 32 bit environment for them. I could be mistaken about that part though.

I'm pretty sure that only using a 64 bit kernel would still allow you to use more than 4-gb of ram though, so that's one benefit. I don't know if an individual 32-bit app would be able to use more than 4-gb, but that probably wouldn't be an issue anyways. Not for a couple years at least

And any new programs you might compile can still be compiled for 64-bit.

[disciple]

I read up on it last night, and that all sounds spot on
I suspect 32 bit apps running less efficiently would probably not be too significant an issue, but it seems to me that unless you were to compile (and use!) some video editing apps or something else that will take advantage of the 64bits, it won't really be worth the effort compiling the kernel

[amigo]

Building a system which gets any advantage from 64bit processors -or that even works correctly with 32bit apps is going to require a complete re-compile of everything on the system along with some extra tweaks for compatibility. Just throwing together a bunch of libs, apps and a kernel does not a distro make...

[Lobster]

Am I right that the first thing you need
is a devx that compiles with 64 bit options and Puppy unleashed?

http://www.puppylinux.com/development/index.html

[sue]

gcc should be able to generate 64-bit code on a 32-bit platform.
If puppy's stock gcc can't do it, you can rebuild the compiler and libs from source in a couple of hours with crossgcc.

[starlyte]

I had Mandriva on my pc, with 2 libs , one for 64bits & one for 32bits. Both worked fin, but I don't have a copy of it any more (hdd gave up the ghost - with loads of stuff on - MAKE BACKUPS ) so I can't look up in the kernel or any where else, for that mattzer! From memory there were doubles of gcc etc for all the key programs; one 32b & one 64b.
I haven't had the time lately but I'd really like to get the most out of my 2core processer.
If I get anywhere I'll write again.
Hope there are some bright sparks around?

[starlyte]

Am I right that the first thing you need
is a devx that compiles with 64 bit options and Puppy unleashed?

http://www.puppylinux.com/development/index.html

As devx is the development part of puppy I guess it would be the starting block for a 64 bit puppy.

[ZAPPDOG]

Howdy
The 64 bit and dual cpu's are heading in the right direction for sure.
What about quad cpu's ? I am an avid Boinc runner and quads are
the dream machine for that.
Is anybody working on a quad supported version ??
Zappdog

[disciple]

Puppy 4 has SMP support, so it should already support quad-cpu's.

[Pizzasgood]

Only the one with the 2.6.25 kernel though, not the "official" version with the 2.6.21.7 kernel. However, the 2.6.25 kernel version of Dingo has been deemed buggy. It is here:
ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distrib ... linux/test

From what I understand though, the next version of Dingo will clean up those bugs and finish moving over to the 2.6.25 kernel.

[Jesse]

Hi pyrael,

When the kernel config changes, all the kernel modules that get loaded must be built to that new config. The Xorg and XVesa have kernel modules that are the graphics card drivers, this is probably the primary reason that the Xorgwizard did not want to run for you.
If you can recompile those packages with 64 bit support you're likely to make it a bit further.

Compiling 64-Bit Code Using GCC
You must use GCC 4.0 or later.
x86 64 bit command line option for gcc:
-arch x86_64

Jesse