kernel advice

[litterbox]

I have a question regarding compiling a new Kernel. I'm currently running a 2.2.17 kernel on a debian system and would like to add a NIC driver, specifically the 3c509 module, as Debians modconf utility warns that auto-probing ISA modules is not reliable and that this driver should be compiled statically into kernel space. (I am hoping this is the reason I can't get the card to work!) My main question is if I want to add this NIC driver and APM do I need to go through all the
different choices in general for compiling the kernel? Or, can I just somehow issue a command to use all the old settings while simply adding these two new features?

I know there is also a debian way of compiling a kernel versus the standard way.
Can it be done the debian way as well with the kernel-package??

thanks. :D

[fred f]

in mandrake you can do a make menuconfig which will allow you to just change one or two items. also make xconfig if you are running a graphical environment

debian?? I have no idea
hope this helps a bit

fred

[Choozo]

Whoa .... careful here :)

Yes, when recompiling the same kernel you have running you can - in most cases - just change the items you need.
BUT, if you download a completely new kernel source you will have to go through every option, as the default ones may not suit yor system. The processor family option is particularly critical in the 2.4.x kernels. (There are ofcourse a phletora of other things you need to check/verify when going to a 2.4.x kernel)

Cheers! :)