[Lula] Linux Kernel Guru Needed

[Peter Benjamin]

At 03:38 PM 2/29/2008, John Mark Schofield wrote:
>currently facing an issue where adding a module to support a new wired
>NIC takes out the previously-working wifi card in that model. 

Shared IRQ would be where I would look first.
I'd first force a different IRQ for both pieces of hardware
and see if the problem is gone, before trying to dynamic
IRQ assignment code tweaks.  Last week I looked at a new
piece of hardware, and 6 peripherals shared one IRQ.
Wonder they all work.

>to recompile the Ubuntu kernel, but we've passed the point where that
>seems workable, and now we're compiling kernels too.

Ouch.  Do have any cross compiling working for you?

And virtualization working or is that going to interfere?
I'm thinking VMWare might have support for the new hardware first?
Just recalling, hazily, an UUASC.org presentation on new hardware issues.

>our appliance (www.dakim.com) is a full-fledged touchscreen linux
>computer with a gig of RAM.

Oh, such a cool app.  It's the future of medicine.  Great you're
doing this.  Very much needed in today's toxic air, that cause
a rapid cognitive decline.  If you do not use it, you lose it!

>(Oh yeah. Touchscreens have been a big pain in the past, in terms of
>getting the hardware working.)

Tell me if that ever changes.  lol

>>  With regards to desktop and GUI... name some names, KDE or Gnome?
>>  Or XWindows or ____?  There are just too many and you need to
>>  post more specifics.
>
>We're running a GTK-based app on the IceWM window manager. But this
>thread isn't about getting help with a specific problem, it's about
>pointers to general information, or someone interested in a paid gig
>of brain-dumping kernel/driver/whatever info to me.

LULA is a good place to start for such.
I expect more expert members will post what you need.

>I'm looking for tips, methods, tool suggestions, troubleshooting
>ideas, etc. To buzzwordize it, I guess I'm looking for the "best
>practices" around driver/kernel/module/etc. management and
>installation in a Debian/Ubuntu environment.

I think you are on the bleeding edge of such written publications.
Only in the last 2 years have I seen "best practices" start being
put into public view, as the need is becoming critical as chip
costs have dived and application writers have put computers in
places never before dreamed about.  The hardware interfacing
issues abound now.