There are ten modifications, all contained in the patchfile splashkernel.patch:
Caching of reserved memory enabled. (This is memory set aside by using the "append=" line in lilo.conf, and Linux by default will not touch this memory.)
Files changed: drivers/char/mem.c
Non-root users are once again allowed to access /dev/mem and /dev/kmem. There was a change in later kernel versions that disallowed access to these devices by normal users, and this patch undoes that change.
Files changed: drivers/char/mem.c
Locking of the CD-ROM drive door has been defeated. Linux is very frustrating when it "eats" a disc, especially when the disc is bad and it won't let you open the door to remove it!
Files changed: drivers/block/ide-cd.h
Alternate 3Com ethercard driver, which works better with newer revisions of 3Com 3c905 cards. It can exist simultaneously with the default Linux driver (3c59x), but it might be wiser to manually choose which driver to use.
This is a third party driver. It was originally downloaded from 3Com. It is version 1.0.0d of their 3c90x driver. Note that this is not the latest: it has since been superseded by a more recent version.
Files changed: Documentation/Configure.help, Documentation/networking/3c90x.txt, drivers/net/Config.in, drivers/net/Makefile, drivers/net/Space.c, drivers/net/3c90x.c, drivers/net/3c90x.h
Olicom token ring driver support patched in. These two patches were originally for 2.2.13, but they are still compatible with 2.2.16. The file "Config.in" failed the patch, but I was able to hand-edit it in (by inserting the one changed line, from the rejects file). This produces the "oltr" module.
This is a third party driver. It was originally downloaded from Olicom. It is version 1.37 of their oltr driver.
Files changed (first patch): drivers/net/oltr_d.c, drivers/net/trlld_mkmac.c, drivers/net/trlld_mkhm.c, drivers/net/trlld_mkbm.c, drivers/net/trlld.h, drivers/net/trlld.o.uue, drivers/net/trlldi.o.uue, drivers/net/trlldmac.o.uue, drivers/net/trlldhm.o.uue, drivers/net/trlldbm.o.uue, scripts/uudecode.pl, Documentation/olicom.txt, Documentation/oltr_tree
Files changed (second patch): CREDITS, Documentation/Configure.help, MAINTAINERS, drivers/net/Config.in (patch failed, hand-edited), drivers/net/Makefile, drivers/net/Space.c, drivers/net/net_init.c
Madge token ring driver patched in. This should have produced the "mtok" module, but currently doesn't (read below).
This is a third party driver. It was originally downloaded from Madge. It is version 2.31 of their mtok driver.
Following Madge's instructions, I ran "make patch", but it refused to run, claiming a bad kernel version. By modifying the file "scripts/patch-kernel", in the Madge distribution, and changing a string from "version 2 2 13" to "version 2 2 99", this check can be defeated. After doing this, the patch will still apply for all files except the Makefile. It is easy to hand-edit the patch in, though: simply examine the rejects file and do the change it failed to do — add the "madge" directory to the end of the ALL_SUB_DIRS line at the top of the Makefile.
Files changed: Documentation/Configure.help, drivers/net/Config.in, drivers/net/Makefile (patch failed, hand-edited), drivers/net/Space.c, drivers/net/ver.h, drivers/net/udtconfig.h, drivers/net/driver.h, drivers/net/mtok.upd, drivers/net/mpoke.h, drivers/net/mdgioctl.h, drivers/net/madgetr.h, drivers/net/madgecs.h, drivers/net/madgecb.h, drivers/net/madgetr.c
New directory: drivers/net/madge (contains many files)
Unfortunately, this still does not work. It compiles cleanly but produces a module that is missing the symbol "__const_udelay". Madge technical support is aware of this problem but considers it unsupported and thus will not fix it.
As a workaround, do not compile this driver within the kernel. Instead, obtain the original Madge sources and compile the driver as a standalone module. This is somewhat of a hassle, as it creates another build step, but it will produce a driver that is fully working.
IPX enhancement from Auco (now part of Peerless). This patch is necessary for their commercial NetWare software to work. It is not recommended for general use.
Files changed: include/linux/ipx.h, net/ipx/af_ipx.c, include/linux/proc_fs.h
This patch was originally made for kernel version 2.2.5. We added a bugfix to Auco's "af_ipx.c" file, keeping it in sync with code from kernel 2.2.14. These patches have been merged into the latest code in this kernel version.
Token ring bugfix from Quiotix. It fixes a problem with multicast over Token Ring, which is required for their commercial AppleTalk software to work.
Files changed: net/802/tr.c
This has also been merged into the latest code in this kernel version.
Non-root users are allowed to lock memory. This is similar to the patch above that enables access to /dev/mem and /dev/kmem, in that a permissions check has been defeated (giving normal users access to something they otherwise would not be able to do).
Files changed: mm/mlock.c
The system clock has been sped up, from 100 Hz to 1024 Hz.
Files changed: include/asm-i386/param.h
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