Linux Mint: Install new kernel version and update Virtual Box kernel module

Objective

I want to install the latest Linux Kernel available for my system. I also want still to work with my already installed VirtualBox which needs to install a kernel module after a kernel switch.

Motivation

There was no real resaon behind my plans to install the Linux Kernel 3.17.1. I just thought it's time for an upgrade. My current kernel is 3.13.

Prerequisites

• Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca
• Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager 4.3.24

Solution

Install the Linux Kernel packages

To check which kernel packages are currently available you can do a search like (filtered by version "3.17"):

$> apt-cache search linux- | grep 3.17

you'll see some output like this:

linux-headers-3.17.1-031701 - Header files related to Linux kernel version 3.17.1
linux-headers-3.17.1-031701-generic - Linux kernel headers for version 3.17.1 on 64 bit x86 SMP
linux-image-3.17.1-031701-generic - Linux kernel image for version 3.17.1 on 64 bit x86 SMP

For 64-Bit systems download the following packages ...

$> wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.17.1-utopic/linux-headers-3.17.1-031701_3.17.1-031701.201410150735_all.deb

$> wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.17.1-utopic/linux-headers-3.17.1-031701-generic_3.17.1-031701.201410150735_amd64.deb

$> wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.17.1-utopic/linux-image-3.17.1-031701-generic_3.17.1-031701.201410150735_amd64.deb

and for 32-Bit systems download the following ...

$> wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.17.1-utopic/linux-headers-3.17.1-031701_3.17.1-031701.201410150735_all.deb

$> wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.17.1-utopic/linux-headers-3.17.1-031701-generic_3.17.1-031701.201410150735_i386.deb

$> wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.17.1-utopic/linux-image-3.17.1-031701-generic_3.17.1-031701.201410150735_i386.deb

Now install the packages:

$> sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.17.1*.deb linux-image-3.17.1*.deb

Reboot the system.

$> sudo reboot

After a successful reboot, you can delete the *.deb packages again:

$> rm linux-*

Uninstall the Linux Kernel again (if you don't like it anymore)

You can uninstall the new kernel with the following command, be aware that this may make your system unusable.

$> sudo apt-get remove 'linux-headers-3.17.1*' 'linux-image-3.17.1*'

Setup the VirtualBox Kernel module

$> sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup

You'll see output similar to:

Stopping VirtualBox kernel modules ...done.
Uninstalling old VirtualBox DKMS kernel modules ...done.
Trying to register the VirtualBox kernel modules using DKMS ...done.
Starting VirtualBox kernel modules ...done.

Now you are done!

Upgrade your Qt-Installation to Qt 5.4 by a clean re-install

Objective

I wanted to upgrade my Qt 5.3.1 to new the newly released version Qt 5.4.0 by a clean re-install.
My last install was done by executing the installer script ./qt-opensource-linux-x64-5.3.1.run.
So I asked myself, how to clearly uninstall an old Qt-Version.

Motivation

I noticed that I'll run out of disk-space soon on my system disk, therefore I decided to uninstall the old version, before I wanted to install the new version. Additionally, I wanted to install QtCreator 3.3 which correlates to Qt 5.4.0.

Prerequisites

Linux Mint: 17 - Qiana
Qt-Installer Script: Qt-opensource-linux-x64-5.4.0.run

Solution

Download the installer script

1. Go to the Qt-Homepage: qt-project.org
2. Download the installer script ./qt-opensource-linux-x64-5.4.0.run
It is not necessary to download the Qt-Creator installer script, because Qt-Creator 3.3 is included by the Qt-Installer script.

Uninstall the old version (in my case: Qt 5.3.1)

1. Open a Terminal window.

2. Login as root:

$ su -

3. Navigate to the folder where you installed the older version of Qt (in my case "/opt/Qt5.3.1":

$ cd /opt/Qt5.3.1

4. Start the MaintenanceTool

$ ./MaintenanceTool

5. Choose Remove from the options od the shown dialog.

Install Qt 5.4.0

1. Within the same shell (root-shell), go to the folder where you downloaded the installer script qt-opensource-linux-x64-5.4.0.run and type:

$ chmod ugo+x qt-opensource-linux-x64-5.4.0.run
$ ./qt-opensource-linux-x64-5.4.0.run

2. Follow the instructions of the graphical installer.

Done.