News
Linux 2.4 Kernel Delayed Again
- By Scott Bekker
- 01/03/2001
The wait for the widely-anticipated Linux 2.4 kernel is going
to be a little longer. On New Years Eve, Linux creator Linus Torvalds posted a
note on the Internet saying that the 2.4 kernel is not finished yet.
Linux 2.4 was originally slated to come out in late 1999.
Just two months ago, Torvalds had said he thought the upgrade would be ready by
the end of the December. In his posting, Torvalds alluded to some last-minute
work that still was not finished as the reason for the delay. There is,
however, a prerelease of the kernel that can be downloaded via the Internet.
Torvalds said there would be more prereleases of the kernel until the official
version comes out.
One aspect of the widely anticipated Linux 2.4 kernel is its
support for 8-processor SMP systems. The capability would bring Linux to the
scalability level Microsoft achieved with Windows NT in 1997, although 8-way
Linux would arrive at a point when the 8-processor Intel-based server hardware
is much more mature.
The kernel could bring Linux into competition with Microsoft
in all but the highest-end configurations, where Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
enjoys the advantage of being able to scale to 32 processors. – Jim Martin
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.