DRI Compilation Guide : Linux Kernel Preparation
Previous: Prerequisites
Next: CPU Architectures

4. Linux Kernel Preparation

The DRI project closely tracks Linux kernel development. Since the internal Linux data structures might change in the 2.4 Linux kernel, it's important to use the most recent Linux kernel and not an old, intermediate development release. As of this writing (Jan 2001), 2.4.0 is the most recent version of Linux which the DRI is synchronized to.

Most of the DRI drivers require AGP support and using Intel Pentium III SSE optimizations also requires an up-to-date Linux kernel. Configuring your kernel correctly is very important, as features such as SSE optimizations will be disabled if your kernel does not support them. Thus, if you have a Pentium III processor, you must configure your kernel for the Pentium III processor family.

Building a new Linux kernel can be difficult for beginners but there are resources on the Internet to help. This document assumes experience with configuring, building and installing Linux kernels.

Linux kernels can be downloaded from www.kernel.org

Here are the basic steps for kernel setup.


DRI Compilation Guide : Linux Kernel Preparation
Previous: Prerequisites
Next: CPU Architectures