Linux Kernel 4.5 Now Unofficially Available for Slackware 14.2 and Derivatives

Softpedia has been informed today, March 17, 2016, by GNU/Linux developer Arne Exton about the immediate availability of a custom compiled Linux 4.5 kernel for Slackware Linux Current (14.2) and all of its derivatives.

According to Mr. Exton, he managed to compile the recently released Linux kernel 4.5, which was officially unveiled by Linus Torvalds on March 13, 2016, exactly the same way as Slackware’s latest kernel huge.

The kernel is 64-bit only, and it can be used on the Slackware 14.2 Linux operating system, as well as any other Slackware-based distribution, including but not limited to Zenwalk, Slax, and Mr. Exton's SlaxEX.

"I have compiled a very useful (as I think) 64 bit kernel for Slackware Current (14.2) and/or all Slackware derivatives," Arne Exton reveals for Softpedia. "The kernel is compiled exactly the same way as Slackware’s latest kernel huge."

How to install Linux kernel 4.5 in Slackware 14.2

Again, the Linux 4.5 kernel distributed by Arne Exton is compatible with any Slackware-based operating system (see above for some example), but you should keep in mind that it only works on the 64-bit versions of these GNU/Linux distributions.

The installation is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is download the linux-kernel-4.5-x86_64-exton.txz archive (check the MD5 checksum here), save it to your Home directory, extract its contents, and use the command below to install it.

But before anything else, Arne Exton informs those who attempt to install his custom compiled kernel, which promises to offer better hardware support, that the installation will overwrite the existing kernel package, thus the /boot/vmlinuz file.

Therefore, it is recommended that you make a backup of the vmlinuz file first in case you want to roll back the changes. After installation, you might also need to modify your GRUB bootloader configuration if you've made modifications to it.

Lastly, users with Nvidia graphics cards should know that they need to take a look in the /etc/modprobe.d directory before restarting the computer, and remove the “blacklisting” of the Nouveau open source graphics driver in both the blacklist.conf and nvidia-installer-disable-nouveau.conf files.