Download Fedora/RHEL kernels with enabled Software Suspend 2/TuxOnIce

On this page I provide kernels for Fedora Core with Software Suspend 2 intregrated. All kernels are compiled for i686-UP and Core 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12. There is also a version for Redhat Enterprise Linux 5. Starting with Fedora 9 many kernels are also provided in a PAE version.

These kernels include the same features as the distribution kernels and can used directly without losing any functionality. Some kernels may not work but are provided here for testing and debugging purposes. Please see the comments for which kernel to use. Older kernels might be removed in the future to save webspace (a list of them is available on my download archive.

All kernels are standard RPMS from Fedora Core base, updates, testing and development repository and are compiled with the same parameters with some exceptions:

• the newest software-suspend is integrated and ready to use,
• NTFS read support is enabled as module,
• bootsplash functionality for the framebuffer is added,
• newer kernels allow to add a custom DSDT to your initrd,
• (some kernels also include fixes to some drivers and new features useful for notebooks, please see comments for details).

New: it is possible to use yum for installation and updates. However, support for this is still work in progress and not well tested yet. Please see the Yum repository section for further information and drop me a note if you have any suggestions.

Please install the kernels with # rpm -ivh kernel_version.rpm. This will install the kernel without deleting the old one, so you can go back to a working kernel in case of problems. To enable software-suspend you have to change the kernel commandline in your bootloader, so that the swap-partition is found. Further more you have to edit the initrd to activate software-suspend on booting. Please have a look on the Setup page. The recommended kernel for each Fedora Core version is highlighted.

You also need the hibernate-script for suspending. Please fetch this i386 RPM (74789 Bytes) for Fedora Core 3/4 or this noarch RPM (100041 Bytes) for Core 5-11 and RHEL 5. For rebuilding use this Source RPM (94809 Bytes). More recent versions maybe found on the Suspend 2 project page.

To save some handpatching you can optionally (required on Core 4 and newer) install a swsusp2-mkinitrd package which will include a script to build an initrd for software suspend enabled kernels. If this package is installed it will be used whenever you install one of the newer kernels below to create the initrd automatically. The installation of this package will not break any programs of the standard Fedora Core distribution since it installs a seperate version of the mkinitrd-scripts.
There is one version for Core 3, one version for Core 4, one version for Core 5, one version for Core 6, one version for Fedora 7, one version for Fedora 8, one version for Fedora 9, one version for Fedora 10, one version for Fedora 11, one version for Fedora 12 and one version for RHEL 5. If you like to rebuild these packages on your own, you can fetch the appropriate source RPMS for Core 3, Core 4, Core 5, Core 6, Fedora 7, Fedora 8, Fedora 9, Fedora 10, Fedora 11, Fedora 12 or RHEL 5. Newer versions, especially for development releases are found in the other downloads area.

If you want to use the framebuffer splash for displaying the suspend/resume progress (or using newer software-suspend versions) you need the tools for displaying the progress information. For the text-ui please fetch the i386 RPM. For the framebuffer splash you also need the fbsplash RPM and a theme like the "Snowboard Tux". To rebuild these packages please fetch the Source RPM.

If you want to rebuild a kernel for your system please fetch one source RPM and do the following:
# rpm -i kernel_version.src.rpm (Installs the source files)
# cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS
# vi kernel-version.spec (edit the spec file if you want to add/change some kernel configuration parameters or want to see which build parameters you can use)
# rpmbuild -ba --target=i686 --define 'disttag rhfc5' kernel-version.spec (build for i686, use i586, x86_64 or ppc if needed)

You might want to change the disttag according to your distribution. Furthermore you can add some of the following build parameters (have a look at the spec file which of them are supported):

• --define '_with_ntfs 1' (include NTFS read support, used for all builds above)
• --define '_with_8k 1' (to build with 8K stacks, x86 only)
• --define '_upgrade_ipw 1' (upgrade ipw2100/ipw2200/ieee80211 drivers to recent versions if available)
• --define '_dsdt_initrd 1' (add support for custom DSDTs in the initrd, enabled by default on FC6)
• --define '_experimental 1' (sometimes some patches or features are added that are experimental and in testing status. Setting this flag will add all of this stuff. Enabled by default in recent builds)

Since 2.6.17-1.2187_FC5 the buildflags changed. disttag is no longer needed and the experimental stuff is included by default. Use the following flags:

• --with ntfs (for NTFS read support)
• --with 8k (for 8K stacks)
• --with 16k (for 16K stacks)
• --with dsdt_initrd (for DSDT-support)
• --without experimental (to remove all experimental patches, which might break the build)
• --with baseonly (to build only the standard kernel)

Other downloads: