[ltp] 2.4 Kernel and Thinkpads?

[Thomas Hood]

--- Ken Firestone <kenf@clark.net> wrote: 
> I was wondering how people are doing with the 2.4 kernel on their
> Thinkpads? Are there any problems? Are the pcmcia cards working
> correctly?

Linux 2.4 works pretty well for me.  2.4.0 had a bug in the ipx
driver that caused kernel confusion when a Xircom Ethernet/modem
card was inserted and ejected, but this problem has been
partially fixed in 2.4.2.  The remaining problem isn't fatal
and can be worked around by not using ipx auto_primary and
auto_interface.

I was satisfied with Linux 2.2.18, actually.  2.4.x seems a
little faster, but it's hard to tell the difference.  The 
only reason I upgraded to 2.4.x is that I knew other people
would be doing so eventually and I had to modify the 
"thinkpad" hardware drivers for tpctl to make them work with
the new kernel API.  Once I installed it and I ran into the
aforementioned bug, I figured it was part of my responsibility
as a citizen of Linuxland to try to find the bug rather than
wait around for someone else to do it, so I've been working
with Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo on it.  It's a very tough bug
to find.  Somehow, when ipx auto_primary and auto_interface
are enabled and the Xircom card is inserted and ejected, the
count of the number of references to the eth0 device 
(dev->refcnt) becomes incorrect.  In 2.4.0, this could cause
oopses.  Now (in 2.4.2) it just makes networking unusable
until the next reboot.  But as I say, the workaround is not
to use auto_primary and auto_interface.

Thomas

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