Linux 2.4 Vs 2.6 On The Gp2x

[Cyclops]

I know embedded normally lag behind in the major version numbers, and I would imagine there being little to nothing between the two that would benefit the GP2X.

I just wanted to know If anyone knew what the changes were, and if there are any killer features that one has over the other.

I've had a scan on the interweb but didn't get a nice little list

 

[bhxob]

For gp2x use the 2.6 kernel does have better SD support in (beyond 2.6.11) and supports the ARM-920/940 series.

However people would still have to write custom FB device drivers for the 940 and related video co-processing capabilities.

Other than this, I have no clue.

 

[judge0]

I know embedded normally lag behind in the major version numbers, and I would imagine there being little to nothing between the two that would benefit the GP2X.

I just wanted to know If anyone knew what the changes were, and if there are any killer features that one has over the other.

I've had a scan on the interweb but didn't get a nice little list

​

It's not the kernel source that lag behind, but more the crosscompilers. They have to be upgarded for every new device that comes along ergo the released kernel sources always seem to be lower than those for the desktops ( the laptops also are a tad behind)

Anyway, I just ran make menuconfig and it seems OSS is not just deprecated but missing altogether, they have added many fixes to account for various BIOS implementations of SATA drives, and some more power management stuff.

Had to apply 32 patches first though. :lol:

Linux is a lot better than Windows but it sure is a lot of work

 

[codesmith]

For gp2x use the 2.6 kernel does have better SD support in (beyond 2.6.11) and supports the ARM-920/940 series.

However people would still have to write custom FB device drivers for the 940 and related video co-processing capabilities.

Other than this, I have no clue.

​

Does anyone know if 2.4 binary-only drivers are compatible with 2.6 kernels? if not, then upgrading your kernel means losing hardware-accelerated decoding for media files.

One thing that 2.6 has over 2.4 that should benefit the gp2x is the process scheduler (the part of the OS that's always running regardless of whatever else you're doing). it's supposed to be a lot more efficient and less CPU intensive (apparently good enough for industrial real-time use)

 

[Ravnos]

Does anyone know if 2.4 binary-only drivers are compatible with 2.6 kernels? if not, then upgrading your kernel means losing hardware-accelerated decoding for media files.

​

I have my doubts. There are incompatibilities between binary-only drivers for different versions of 2.6. Linux is a fast moving target. Makes for some exciting progress, but can cause some headaches occasionally.