Another Statement on Building Vanilla Kernels

The trick to getting a stock kernel to work with the init scripts is
prolific usage of modules.

MDK use a series of tests on boot to bring itself up. Some of that
appears to be no more complicated than detecting what modules get loaded
and then taking action on that.

As a result using a stock kernel is a little tricky but not difficult as
long as you are patient and keep a fall back kernel to boot.

If you want to upgrade to a 2.6* stock kernel, get a .config file for a
2.6.3 MDK kernel and stick it in /usr/src/linux.

Now do a

make oldconfig
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install

You will be prompted for the few options in the newer kernel that aren't
in the old kernel. Make your best guess on those.

This will generate a *MDK compatible* kernel. You may have more work to
yet do like enabling a new device but this first compile is a good first
approximation.

Now you can try to get a new device driver working if that is your goal
by doing a typical compile (starting with make config this time so
options aren't automatically selected). The good news is re-compiles
only take a few seconds with 2.6 kernels.

If you prefer gooey interfaces sub the one you like where appropriate...

PS: You'll not have the super duper tools like Magicdev or Supermount..