How To Install Liquorix (Kernel) In Ubuntu

Liquorix is a precompiled Kernel for Debian Sid (works in Ubuntu too - I've tested it on Ubuntu 10.10) that includes a modified version of Zen Kernel, optimized for desktop performance.

You probably want some benchmarks for this but I cannot provide any useful benchmarks since I only have one computer (well 2 but I don't have access to the second computer right now). If you want to see some numbers, you can take a look at THESE quick benchmarks which I've generated using "hardinfo -r" but the numbers are probably pretty useless. You can also take a look at the Liquorix Kernel thread @ Debian Forums.

Install Liquorix Kernel in Ubuntu

The latest Liquorix Kernel version available in the repository is 2.6.38 which already includes the "200 lines patch" from upstream.

You should try the Liquorix Kernel only if you have a pretty new computer (hardware) and only if you know how to recover your system in case something goes wrong. So use it at your own risk!

Please note that currently Liquorix does not provide a PAE (highmem) kernel and I've actually tried to compile it with PAE but failed because it seems Zen doesn't support this. So if you have more then 3 GB of RAM and you're using 32bit, don't install Liquorix.

Add the Liquorix repository:

echo "deb http://liquorix.net/debian sid main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/liquorix.list
echo "deb-src http://liquorix.net/debian sid main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/liquorix.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install '^liquorix-([^-]+-)?keyring.?'

And now you're done adding the repository. Time to install the Liquorix Kernel:

32bit:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-2.6-liquorix-686 linux-image-2.6-liquorix-686

64bit:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-2.6-liquorix-amd64 linux-image-2.6-liquorix-amd64

Get Linux Kernel 2.6.38 to work with FGLRX

Chen Xiao-Long post a comment below about getting FGLRX (ATI) to work with Linux Kernel 2.6.38. Please note that I didn't test this, but it seems to work (see the comments). Once again I have to remind you: use it at your own risk!

What you must do is download THIS script - save it to /tmp, then switch to a TTY and log in (press Control + Alt + F1) and run the script with:

cd /tmp
chmod +x install-fglrx-debian.sh
sudo ./install-fglrx-debian.sh

The above info is thanks to Chen Xiao-Long!

See also: How To Compile The Kernel In Ubuntu, The Easy Way [Video]

I know many of you have tried Liquorix because I've received quite a few tips regarding Liquorix - and that's why I wrote this article. So have you tried Liquorix? What's your experience with it?