What is in FOLK? (as of version 2.3.0, for Linux 2.4.18)

• 802.1Q VLAN (vlan.1.0.1)
  The 802.1Q VLAN protocol allows multiple virtual LANs to reside on a single ethernet cable. This is now included in the standard kernels.


• ABI (2.4.17.0)
  The ABI (formerly known as iBCS) is a layer which permits the running of binaries from other platforms on Linux directly.


• Alan Cox' Patch Series (2.4.9-ac12)
  Miscellaneous bugfixes and performance enhancements to the Linux kernel. (This patch collection is currently not being used. But as virtually everything in it is now in 2.4.x anyway, this is not terribly tragic.)


• ALSA (0.9.0-b6)
  ALSA is the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture, and provides a powerful interface between applications and audio devices. (This patch does not appear in FOLK2.4.0, although it will be returning in the next release)


• Andrea Arcangeli's Patch Collection
  Seperate index for code extracted from Andrea Archangeli's collection of kernel patches.


• ARWVME VME bus driver
  VME bus driver, connecting via a PCI bus.


• ATVME VME bus driver
  VME bus driver, connecting via an ISA bus.


• Aureal Driver (1.1.2)
  Driver for the Aureal Vortex sound cards.

  This requires some code which has not yet been GPLed, and therefore will not work on its own. Help to reverse-engineer the remaining segments would be welcome!



• Andrew Morton's Low Latency Patches (2.4.6-pre2)
  These patches should reduce the kernel latency (delay) under a variety of circumstances. (Not included in FOLK2.4.0, as it's not clear whether this is still useful, given the work on the preempt patch.)


• Bad Memory (4.9)
  A patch to provide support for partly buggy memory modules.


• CBM4Linux kernel patch
  Connects to CBM peripherals, via the parallel port and an adaptor cable.


• Clockwise kernel patch
  FIXME: No description, URL or other information on what this does.


• Cluster Infrastructure (CI) for Linux (0.5.6)
  This patch provides Cluster Membership (CLMS) and the Internode Communication Subsystem (ICS) from Compaq's "NonStop Clusters for Unixware". (This patch is not included in FOLK2.4.0, although it will be returning with the next release.)


• Compressed Cache Support (2.4.5-0.16)
  An intermediate layer in the virtual memory hierarchy which caches pages to reduce swapping. (Not included in FOLK2.4.0. Because the Linux VM system is being re-written every other week, practically from scratch, I'm holding off re-integrating the compressed cache until this work settles down.)


• COMEDI (0.7.60)
  Control and Measurement Device Interface (COMEDI) is support for a variety of CAM devices.


• Controller Area Network
  Bus system for a network of controllers. (FIXME: The URL is broken, and there seems to be no other site hosting this work. Until someone finds out if/where it still exists, I'm holding off using this.)


• CueCat Barcode Scanner Driver
  Driver for the CueCat Barcode Scanner.


• Efficient Networks Speedstream 3010
  Driver for the Speedstream 3010 ATM card (This driver is no longer included in FOLK as it is now a part of the standard kernel)


• Ext3
  Ext3 is the Journalling version of the Ext2 filing system. It is compatiable with Ext2, except insofar as Ext2 ignores any journals Ext3 has made.

  Ext3 is supplied by Alan Cox' patch, as of FOLK 2.2.3, and is now in the mainstream kernel.



• Fieldbus Communications Interface
  Driver for the Fieldbus Computer-Aided Manufacturing device.


• Hewlett-Packard's Scheduler Plugin System (v10)
  A system to allow new schedulers to be loaded into the Linux kernel through pluggable modules. (Not included in FOLK2.4.0, as the scheduler system looks likely to change.)


• i2c (2.6.2)
  Drivers and system calls for monitoring hardware health.


• IBM's kernel patches
  Seperate index for patches developed by IBM for the Linux kernel. (Only JFS is present in FOLK2.4.0)


• IPPersonality (20010724)
  Mask the Operating System's IP signature, to prevent identification. (Not used in FOLK2.4.0, but will be returning in future versions.)


• KGI (0.9 for 2.4.9)
  The Kernel Graphics Interface project provides a means to support graphics at the kernel level. (Not included in FOLK2.4.0, and broke things horribly when I tried integrating it into FOLK. This'll definitely re-appear, but it's not 100% clear when.)


• KOrbit
  KOrbit is an implementation of the CORBA object broker, ORBit, for the Linux kernel. (Not included in FOLK2.4.0, but will re-appear in later versions.)


• Leech-o-Meter Traffic Monitor
  (FIXME: This entry needs writing, the URL needs finding, and the patch needs integrating. In short, lots of ings on this one.)


• Linux Doors (ldoor-0.1)
  An implementation of the Solaris Doors API under Linux. Doors provides a fast inter-process communication interface.

  There are problems with Linux Doors, at the moment. Fixes to allow Linux Doors to be compiled as a module would be welcomed. (This patch is horribly broken, seeminly unmaintained, and nobody seemed to want to use it, so I'm holding back on this one.)



• Linux Speaker As Soundcard Driver (2.4.0-test10-pre3)
  A patch to provide basic synthesized audio through the PC speaker.


• lm_sensors (2.6.2)
  Drivers and system calls for monitoring hardware health.


• Linux Log Filing System (Linlog)
  This provides a log-based filing system under Linux.


• MOSIX (1.2.1)
  Support for almost-seamless distributed computing.


• Multi-Protocol Label Switching (mpls-linux-0.993)
  "MPLS for Linux is a project to implement a MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) stack for the Linux kernel, and portable versions of the signaling protocols associated with MPLS."


• Multiple Root Patch
  Allows multiple root devices to be sequentially searched upon kernel boot-up. (Not included in FOLK2.4.0, but will reappear in future releases.)


• OneSIG per FD
  "Decreases the overhead associated with a select() call, when you are watching many FDs." (Not included in FOLK2.4.0, but will reappear in future releases.)


• Posix 1003.1b Timer Patch (2.4.5.timer.patch)
  An implementation of POSIX kernel timers for Linux. (Not included in FOLK2.4.0, but will be included in future versions.)


• PPC-64 Architecture Patch
  Linux for the PowerPC-64 architecture.

  This is supplied through Alan Cox' patch, as of FOLK 2.2.3. (Not included in FOLK2.4.0, but will be resumed in later releases, as it's not in the mainstream kernel, and the AC patch series is currently dormant, as Alan is working on new code.)



• PPP-over-ATM Protocol
  This adds support for sending PPP over an ATM line.

  "PPP over ATM is one of several protocols used over DSL lines. If you are connecting to a DAL line using an internal ATM or DSL adaptor (as opposed to an ethernet card) then there is a good possibility you will need this protocol." (This seems to now be in the mainstream kernel.)



• PPSKit Provides nanosecond timing on the clock, and provides a mechanism for connecting to external timers. (PPS is horrible to merge in, is updated even more erratically than FOLK, and can break things in nasty ways. I'm holding off on re-integrating this, until I'm satisfied it's safe.)


• Performance Transparency Protocol
  An implementation of the Performance Transparency Protocol for Linux. (FIXME: There's no URL for this, and the description lacks... substance. I'm holding off on this, until I can find a recent version.)


• Port & Socket Pseudo ACLs
  The ability to provide finer-grained control over who can access specific ports and sockets. (Not included in FOLK2.4.0, but will be reappearing in later versions.)


• PPSCSI kernel patch
  Tunnels the SCSI bus protocol over a parallel port. Allows SCSI devices to be connected to the parallel port, but there is no theoretical reason why the other end needs to be a device - it could hook back into a "real" SCSI bus, if someone could think of a reason to do so.


• Real-Time Scheduler (2.4.16-1.0.patch)
  An implementation of a "soft" real-time scheduler for Linux.

  This scheduler interferes heavily with the other schedulers in the FOLK patch. There is therefore no certainty of it working, at any given time. It has been largely deprecated from FOLK, as there are better "hard" real-time schedulers.



• RSBAC Role-Based Security Patch
  A role-based security patch for Linux, offering fine-tuned access control.
  This has been partially merged into FOLK. At the time of the initial merge, Linux Security Modules broke onto the scene and work on merging RSBAC has been suspended until the situation is clearer.


• SCTP (sctp-kref-2_4_1-0_1_2)
  Kernel-level support for Stream Control Transmission Protocol. SCTP is, at its core, a reliable, multihomed transport protocol. Originally SS7 over IP, SCTP has quickly evolved to be a protocol suitable for any service that wants to take advantage of multihoming.


• SGI's kernel patches
  Seperate index for patches developed by SGI for the Linux kernel.


• SIOCKILLADDR support (linux-2.4.4-dynip-1)
  Support for the SIOCKILLADDR ioctl, which closes all TCP IPv4 sockets from a particular source address. It is intended to be used on mobile machines without mobile IP, where you need to kill connections and then restart them. Posted to the netdev mailing list.


• Socket Interface Registration (sockreg)
  An interface to allow new IP transport protocols to be loaded into the Linux kernel (instead of hard-coding them into the sockets implementation.) This has been replaced, as of FOLK 1.10, with the version in the Alan Cox patch series. (I've absolutely no idea if this is in the mainstream kernel or not, so no guarantees on whether this is in FOLK or not, right now.)


• Software Suspend
  Enables the possibility of suspending the machine. It doesn't require APM. You may suspend the machine by pressing Sysrq-d. It creates an image which is saved in your active swap-space. The next time the machine is booted, the kernel detects the saved image and restores the machine to the saved state. (It's in FOLK2.4.0, but I've not tested it.)


• Threaded Linux Application Protocol Layer (TUX-2, from Andrea Arcangeli's archives)
  TUX is primarily used as a kernel-layer web-server. (Not included in FOLK2.4.0, but will re-appear in the next release.)
  
• Linux Trace Toolkit
  This provides a means to trace kernel activity via a trace driver, which then sends data to a user process. (Not included in FOLK2.4.0, but will re-appear in the next release.)


• Transputer b004/b008 link interface (0.91)
  Support for b004/b008-compatiable interfaces to the Inmos Transputer. (It's in FOLK2.4.0, but this is an aging driver, with no updates, and no obvious means of testing it. Enable at your own risk. Disabled, it will have no impact.)


• Vax Architecture for Linux (CVS snapshot 09/19/2001)
  Support for Linux on the Digital Equiptment Corporation's VAX architecture and VAX line of minicomputers. This is distinct from the FreeVMS project, which emulates the VMS Operating System on top of the Linux kernel. Here, you run ordinary Linux on actual DEC VAX hardware.


• VMELinux VME bus support
  "This project's primary offering is the Kernel Level Linux Device Driver that interfaces between the Unix Shell environment and the VMEbus. The driver is compatible with the Tundra Universe PCI-VME bridge integrated circuit. Thus, our driver only supports VMEbus boards with a PCI local bus."


• WINE Accelerator, CVS snapshot
  Support for the WINE (WINE Is Not An Emulator) kernel module. (This patch has not been updated in aeons and would be more sensibly placed in the ABI patch. However, your millage may vary.)


• ziofs+filemap (2.4.4-ac8-9)
  Support for compressed CD-ROM images. (Standard in mainstream kernels, now.

The Functionally-Overloaded Linux Kernel

A big thank you to SourceForge, without whose resources this project would be a great deal smaller, much less interesting, and definitely harder to download.