kernel

InitRd is a temporary file system used in the boot process of the Linux kernel. initrd and initramfs refer to slightly different schemes for loading this file system into memory. It contains user-space helpers to do the hardware detection, module loading and device discovery necessary to get the real root file system mounted.

Casper is a hook for initramfs-tools used to generate an initramfs capable to boot live systems as those created by make-live. This includes the Debian-Live isos, netboot tarballs, and usb stick images and Ubuntu live cds. At boot time it will look for a (read-only) media containing a "/casper" directory where a root filesystems (often a compressed squashfs) is stored. If found, it will create a writable environment, using unionfs, for debian like systems to boot from.Read more

Linux Kernel Development details the design and implementation of the Linux kernel, presenting the content in a manner that is beneficial to those writing and developing kernel code. While the book discusses topics that are theoretical, it does so with the goal of assisting programmers so they better understand the topics and become more efficient and productive in their coding.Read more

Updated to cover version 2.4.x of the Linux kernel, the second edition of Linux Device Drivers remains the best general-purpose, paper-bound guide for programmers wishing to make hardware devices work under the world's most popular open-source operating system. The authors take care to show how to write drivers that are portable--that is, that compile and run under all popular Linux platforms.Read more

In order to thoroughly understand what makes Linux tick and why it works so well on a wide variety of systems, you need to delve deep into the heart of the kernel. The kernel handles all interactions between the CPU and the external world, and determines which programs will share processor time, in what order. It manages limited memory so well that hundreds of processes can share the system efficiently, and expertly organizes data transfers so that the CPU isn't kept waiting any longer than necessary for the relatively slow disks.Read more

1. Download latest kernel from RedHat site or build from source RPM (MD5 is different from the kernel on the CentOS site)
2. Download Ethernet driver sources e1000-7_6_9.tar
3. Compile and install the ethernet kernel module:

cd /root
tar xf e1000-7_6_9.tar
cd e1000-7.6.9/src
make BUILD_KERNEL=new_kernel_ver install

4. Set new kernel as default in /boot/grub/grub.conf
5. Reboot the system