Ready, 3 2 1 go!

The magic kernel version is 3.2.1 and I am running it. I like it.

Here are the dropbox download links of  64 bit ubuntu packages optimized for i7 (should support i3 and i5 as well) . If you feel building yourself, go below the download links

Kernel 3.2.1 generic header

Kernel 3.2.1 i7 specific header

Kernel 3.2.1 image optimized for i7 (i7, i3 and i5)

Commandhistory

SHA256SUMS

MD5SUMS

How to Build yourself

Here is how I built it from source with ubuntu patches optimized for i7 processors

1. Install build dependencies
2. Download kernel source and Ubuntu patches
3. Extract and apply Ubuntu patches
4. Create i7 flavour
5. Modify makefile for i7 specific optimization
6. Build and install
7. Test

Install build dependencies

Open terminal/konsole and execute the following apt-get commands if you don't have essential build packages necessary for building kernel from source in Ubuntu

Install Build essential to build kernel

sudo apt-get install fakeroot build-essential crash kexec-tools makedumpfile kernel-wedge libncurses5 binutils-dev libelf-dev libdw-dev libnewt-dev libncurses5-dev

sudo apt-get  --no-install-recommends install asciidoc xmlto

Download kernel source and Ubuntu patches

create a new directory for building kernels, usually in home folder

mkdir -p ~/Builds

change to newly created directory

cd ~/Builds

get the kernel source

wget -c http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.0/linux-3.2.1.tar.bz2

get ubuntu patches

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.2.1-precise/0001-base-packaging.patch

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.2.1-precise/0002-debian-changelog.patch

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.2.1-precise/0003-default-configs.patch

Extract and apply Ubuntu patches

extract kernel source

tar xjvf linux-3.2.1.tar.bz2

soft link to linux folder

ln -s linux-3.2.1 linux

change to linux folder

cd linux

apply ubuntu patches

patch -p1 < ../0001-base-packaging.patch

patch -p1 < ../0002-debian-changelog.patch

patch -p1 < ../0003-default-configs.patch

Create i7 flavour

provide execute permissions to debian scripts and rules

chmod -Rv +x debian/rules

chmod -Rv +x debian/scripts/

create a new flavour for i7

cp debian.master/config/amd64/config.flavour.generic debian.master/config/amd64/config.flavour.i7

clean and update configs

fakeroot debian/rules clean

fakeroot debian/rules updateconfigs

provide the processor type to CORE2 and above, choose 1000 HZ as kernel frequency

fakeroot debian/rules editconfigs

copy the abi of generic flavour and generic modules

cp debian.master/abi/3.2.0-8.14/amd64/generic debian.master/abi/3.2.0-8.14/amd64/i7

cp debian.master/abi/3.2.0-8.14/amd64/generic.modules debian.master/abi/3.2.0-8.14/amd64/i7.modules

reflect the new flavour in abi

sed -i s/getall\ amd64\ generic\ virtual/getall\ amd64\ generic\ virtual\ i7/g debian.master/etc/getabis

reflect the new flavour in amd64.mk

sed -i s/\=\ generic\ virtual/\=\ generic\ virtual\ i7/g debian.master/rules.d/amd64.mk

copy vars.generic to reflect new flavour

cp debian.master/control.d/vars.generic debian.master/control.d/vars.i7

change vars.i7 to more meaningful names from generic

sed -i s/supported\=\"Generic\"/supported\=\"Nehalem\"/g debian.master/controld.d/vars.i7

sed -i s/target\=\"Geared\ toward\ x86_64/target\=\"Geared\ toward\ i7/g debian.master/control.d/vars.i7

Modify makefile for i7 specific optimization

edit main Makefile to append march and mtune of gcc with the latest corei7 target

sed -i s/\=\ gcc/\=\ gcc\ -march\=corei7\ -mtune\=corei7/g Makefile

sed -i s/\=\ g++/\=\ g++\ -march\=corei7\ -mtune\=corei7/g Makefile

edit arch specific makefile to change core2 to corei7

sed -i s/core2/corei7/g arch/x86/Makefile

sed -i s/core2/corei7/g arch/x86/Makefile_32.cpu

Build and install

make sure all the changes are synced to disk

sync

clean again

fakeroot debian/rules clean

build dependency packages

skipabi=true skipmodule=true fakeroot debian/rules binary-indep

build i7 optimized header and kernel

time skipabi=true skipmodule=true no_dumpfile=yes fakeroot debian/rules binary-i7

Install

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.2.1-030201_3.2.1-030201.201201121644_all.deb linux-headers-3.2.1-030201-i7_3.2.1-030201.201201121644_amd64.deb linux-image-3.2.1-030201-i7_3.2.1-030201.201201121644_amd64.deb

Test

sudo reboot

Boot into newly installed kernel. If booting into new kernel fails, use Ubuntu default kernel