Re: [LUG] Getting a USB AC68 dongle to work in Mint 19.3

[Michael Everitt <michael@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On 03/04/20 20:20, comrade meowski wrote:
> On 03/04/2020 18:56, Michael Everitt wrote:
>
>> I suppose there's a small chance I could grab the relevant default
>> debian/mint kernel config, apply some tweaks, patches, compile it and
>> package in a deb for you ... but even that is a moderate amount of work for
>> a geek/nerd like me ...
>
> comrademeowski@failbot:~/SRC/linux$ uname -r
> 5.6.0-pf1-coldwar+
>
> I've been building my own Debian flavoured kernels since - checks apt
> repo - version 3.12.4. Wouldn't say it's necessarily easy but once you
> know how and have figured out Debian style packaging rules and the build
> process it's just a standard maintenance procedure.
>
> Originally it was just for fun and learning but over the years I've got
> pretty good at it so now it's for fun _and_ profit - all the
> Debian/Ubuntu systems I personally use or maintain run it by default,
> especially client stuff. I package them properly so they're fully
> compatible with Debian and anything downstream: Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, etc.
>
Impressive, although, like you say, once you've tripped over the pitfalls,
it becomes a matter of procedure and 'turning the handle' or running a script.
> I've been seriously toying with the idea of making my first public apt
> repo/github repo for a long time now as there's a lot of other stuff I
> routinely backport or tweak and build Debian specific packages for.
> Unfortunately more recently it's got a bit complicated as one of the main
> - if not the main - functionality I need is ZFS and there's a lot of
> potential licensing headaches there that Canonical might feel they can
> deal with but I don't want the hassle of.
>
> Back on point, Julian would probably be better served by adding some
> alternative sources for newer kernels and installing pre-compiled
> binaries from Ubuntu/Mint or the fancier Liquorix, Zen or Xanmod teams. I
> can happily provide easy instructions for "crappy DIY kernel build 101"
> if anyone wants (it is "fun" building kernels after all!) but it's a hell
> of a rabbit hole to go down if you just want a newer kernel.
>
> You're a Gentoo guy though aren't you? Gentoo users have a different idea
> of what constitutes "reasonably difficult" than everyone else haha.
>
^ This is true. I'm reaching the stage where I can recognise families of
build failures when built with different architectures, bit-endianness and
C libraries. So this is pretty advanced stuff. I know people who deal with
the C<->assembly side of things, and those who have fingers in bootloaders
too. Although with my ARM hardware I do need an appreciation of how
bootloaders work at least...

But each to his own, and I know the list here are mostly more focussed on
user-experience than 'under-the-hood' although some transcend through the
tiers from time-to-time. It's this that makes Linux flexible and versatile
to a great extent, and whilst I'm unsure about the future, we definitely
have options available at the present.

I need to get back to ZFS - it would help me a great deal with the
ever-evolving package repository that is "the Gentoo tree" where all build
instructions or "ebuilds" live. When something is constantly moving, it
does make it slightly harder to keep up and to overhaul older/lagging
systems :( oh well ...

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