Download Linux kernel 2.4.2-pre1

Although kernel 2.4.1 is less than a week old, the first beta kernel is already out: 2.4.2-pre1. As always, this kernel is not only suitable for the i386 platform but for any platform.

The changes are not very big, so they may only be of interest to those who have a direct interest in them. The VIA chipset driver update in particular can be of interest, as can the ne2k-pci update (especially for people who – like me – work with network cards based on the Realtek RTL8029 chip).

Patching the kernel is not foolproof and can make your system unstable, so think before you start! Finally, here’s the complete changelog:

XMM: don’t allow illegal mxcsr values

ACPI: handle non-existent battery strings gracefully

Compaq Smart Array driver update

Kanoj Sarcar: serial console hardware flow control support

ide-cs: revert toc-valid cache checking in 2.4.1

Vojtech Pavlik: update via82cxxx driver to handle the vt82c686

raid5 graceful failure handling fix

ne2k-pci: enable device before asking the irq number

sis900 driver update

riva FB driver update

fix silly inode hashing pessimization

add SO_ACCEPTCONN for SuS

remove modinfo hack workaround, all newer modutils do it correctly

datagram socket shutdown fix

mark process as running when it takes a page fault

In addition, just a comment that I on Freshmeat found:

Mainly a number of small details and some driver updates. The socket datagram handling one is important, and has already been posted separately on linux-kernel. The VIA driver update is rather important if you have one of the newer VIA chipsets.