This is a private project. Access and support only team members. Only for the Ubuntu distribution!
Dragon is a distro kernel replacement built using the best configuration and kernel sources for desktop, multimedia, and gaming workloads. These kernels are not supported and are not appropriate for production use. You assume all risks associated with the use of this kernel.
By default, Ubuntu systems run with the Ubuntu kernels provided by the Ubuntu repositories. However it is handy to be able to test with modified upstream kernels to help locate problems in the Ubuntu kernel patches, or to confirm that upstream has fixed a specific issue. To this end i now offer select upstream kernel builds. These kernels are made from modified kernel source but using the Ubuntu kernel configuration files. These are then packaged as Ubuntu .deb files for simple installation.
Why Ubuntu? Because Ubuntu has become the de facto standard for workstations. All new software is made for Ubuntu first. This distro has a huge community, who wrote a great number of articles and howto`s on virtually any issue that may arise from the use of this system. Moreover - these articles usually do not require in-depth knowledge of the system. This allows in most cases to solve a specific problem by simply copying commands and not delving into the essence of what is happening.
Ubuntu’s stock Linux kernel is fine for most users, but because Ubuntu follows a six-month release cycle, their kernels are always a release or three behind upstream. This can cause problems for users attempting to install Ubuntu on brand new hardware, or worse, force ultra-nerds to wait to play with the latest and greatest new kernel features!
All workstations that I use today — a Dell Precision M6600 (Sandy Bridge), Dell Inspiron N5010 (Westmere), Hewlett-Packard ProLiant DL380 Gen5 (Xeon X5460), - boots Dragon kernels instead. Dragon’s kernels mirror the upstream development cycle, and as a bonus, include a number of exciting optimizations and patches to improve performance and expose up-and-coming features.
One recent patch pulls in the ability to utilize architecture-specific GCC-10.2+/Clang-13+ optimizations when compiling a kernel. In general, compiler optimizations may not have much effect on runtime performance, however with something as foundational as a kernel, tiny improvements might add up quickly.
The Linux kernel is a very large piece of software. It contains drivers and special handling for all sorts of disparate hardware combinations. By and large, this is a good thing; it allows all sorts of different machines to boot a Linux kernel without undo fiddling. Pre-compiled kernels — like Ubuntu stock or Dragon — keep most of this code around because they cannot anticipate the kind of hardware their users might be using.
Dragon Kernel semantic versioning and give your version numbers meaning:
major.minor[.maintenance-build] (Example: 5.12.8-dragon)
major.minor is linux-next kernel version, maintenance build is Dragon kernel version.
New features Dragon kernel distribution with custom settings:
Download Spectre and Meltdown mitigation detection tool
Enabled protection from speculative execution attack variants:
Must be enabled protection support for mitigation techniques in your CPU microcode:
System boot-up performance statistics for Dragon kernel:
./+o+- trixy@wip
yyyyy- -yyyyyy+ OS: Ubuntu 21.04 hirsute
://+//////-yyyyyyo Kernel: x86_64 Linux 5.12.8-dragon-sandybridge
.++ .:/++++++/-.+sss/` Uptime: 4m
.:++o: /++++++++/:--:/- Packages: 3723
o:+o+:++.`..```.-/oo+++++/ Shell: bash 5.1.0
.:+o:+o/. `+sssoo+/ Resolution: 1920x1080
.++/+:+oo+o:` /sssooo. DE: KDE 5.79.0 / Plasma 5.21.0
/+++//+:`oo+o /::--:. WM: KWin
\+/+o+++`o++o ++////. GTK Theme: Materia-Breeze-gtk [GTK2/3]
.++.o+++oo+:` /dddhhh. Icon Theme: breeze-dark
.+.o+oo:. `oddhhhh+ Disk: 276G / 431G (64%)
\+.++o+o``-````.:ohdhhhhh+ CPU: Intel Core i7-2920XM @ 8x 3.5GHz [48.0°C]
`:o+++ `ohhhhhhhhyo++os: GPU: AMD Radeon HD 8950 (BONAIRE, DRM 3.41.0, 5.12.8-dragon-sandybridge, LLVM 13.0.0)
.o:`.syhhhhhhh/.oo++o` RAM: 2611MiB / 15793MiB
/osyyyyyyo++ooo+++/
````` +oo+++o\:
`oo++.
$ systemd-analyze
Startup finished in 6.802s (kernel) + 2.843s (userspace) = 9.646s
graphical.target reached after 2.620s in userspace
Pre install Dragon Kernel:
First Step:
Update Intel microcode for use IBRS/IBPB:
Update Firmware for current Dragon kernel:
Update WiFi Firmware for current Dragon kernel:
Copyright © 2020 Dragon Team All rights reserved.