[Cbe-oss-dev] Newbie: which kboot?

[Christian Convey]

Hi Geoff,

Thanks very much for the detailed reply.  A few follow-up questions:

On Dec 19, 2007 4:29 PM, Geoff Levand <geoffrey.levand at am.sony.com> wrote:
> Hi Christian,
>
> On 12/18/2007 09:38 AM, Christian Convey wrote:
> > I'm new to PS/3 Linux development.  I just got through wasting a lot
> > of time trying to find a combination of kboot image and Fedora version
> > that I could install on my PS/3.  I finally found a set of (old?)
> > instructions that recommend
> > using:
> >    ftp://ftp.uk.linux.org/pub/linux/Sony-PS3/CELL-Linux-CL_20070516-ADDON.iso
> > and FC6.
>
>
> Unfortunately, that info is old and out of date.  Fedora 8 is the current
> release, and I recommend it, as you can get answers to your questions.
> No one uses Fedora 6 anymore.

IBM only claims to support FC7, not FC8, with their Cell SDK 3.0.
That's the only reason at all that I'm not going straight for FC8.  Do
you happen to know if FC8 works with SDK 3.0?

And as there any compelling reason to use FC8 rather than FC7, if my
only intention is to use the PS/3 as a headless computational server?

> New ones are released every few months with updated packages and
> bug fixes.  Distros also release them.

Why do distros release them?  Is there something about the vanilla
kboot releases that makes them undesirable for use with specific
distros?

>
>
> > Are
> > there one or two that are considered to typically be the best choice
> > for someone who just wants to get programming?
>
>
> Use the latest stable one.  Currently that is kboot-20070831.bld.  The
> 20071023 one has a bug.  You can find it here:
>
>   http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/geoff/cell/

On that website, I see this version of the ADDON DVD:
    http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/geoff/cell/CELL-Linux-CL_20071023-ADDON.iso

and this version of kboot:
   kboot-20070831.bld

I assume that the 20071023-ADDON .iso ships a version of kboot that's
newer than the 20070831.bld version.

Because the .iso contains both a set of .rpm files and a kboot image,
that made me think that maybe there's some reason that a system should
have the same release date for (a) its kboot image and (b) the .rpm
files that come on that release date's ADDONs .iso.  Is there any such
reason?

Also, for an ADDON DVD such as CELL-Linux-CL_20071023-ADDON.iso, is
there some way I can know which versions of Fedora will work with the
provided RPMs?

Thanks again,
Christian