New kernels

All Banana Pro operating systems have a kernel installed. Depending on OS functionality, such as multimedia or GPIO usage, different kernels may be used. Usually, kernel sources are not installed. However, in some cases, kernel sources need to be modified in order to add certain functionality to the OS. Even if others provide additional functionality to kernels on GitHub, users need to compile these changes and install a new kernel version. This section provides all the required principals: kernel sources are downloaded from GitHub and then configured and compiled. Finally, the new kernel will be installed. In Chapter 4, An Arcade Cabinet, we will add some additional functionality to the LeMaker's LeMedia kernel, which is required in order to run Video Disk Recorder (VDR) smoothly.

All Allwinner A20 kernels (such as the ones used for Banana Pro) are based on kernel version 3.4.x. The subversion x is 106 at the time of writing this book. Initial kernel versions, such as...