Editing the Kernel to make hardware work

Heres how to compile your kernel. If you havent got the kernel source on your pc get from the cd you installed mandrake from.

ok you have to be root, you then have to go to the directory where your source is. It is usually something like - /usr/src/linux-2.x.x etc when your in that directory you type make menuconfig this loads a console GUI that allows you to select options and modules. The site: http://www.skynet.ie/~caolan/TechTexts/ZyXEL-630-11-HowTo.html shows a rudimentary version of the type of menu you'll see ie this bit

"Code maturity level options  --->
     [ * ] Prompt for development and/or incomplete code/drivers
 Loadable module support  --->
     [ * ] Enable loadable module support
     [ * ]   Module unloading
 Device Drivers  --->
     Networking support  --->
         Networking options  --->
             < M > Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) (EXPERIMENTAL)
                 < M >   RFC1483/2684 Bridged protocols
             < M > PPP (point-to-point protocol) support
                 < M >   PPP support for async serial ports
                 < M >   PPP support for sync tty ports
                 < M >   PPP Deflate compression          
     USB support  --->
     < M > Support for USB
     [ * ]   USB device filesystem
     < M >   EHCI HCD (USB 2.0)
     < M >   OHCI HCD support
     < M >   UHCI HCD support
 Library routines  --->
     < M > CRC32 functions"

your menu should have the same options to these shown above, on your menu tick what is ticked above and then save your changes keep the default name which will be something like .config.

The you compile the kernel by doing the following commads

 make ; make modules ; make modules_install

once done you have to copy your new bzImage to the /boot I think from within your current directory assuming your in the source dir the path is arch/i386/boot

now cp bzImage /boot

MAKE SURE YOU BACK UP YOUR OLD BZIMAGE THAT IS IN THE /BOOT DIR BEFORE COPYING.

Then edit your /etc/lilo.conf

and add the entry

image = /boot/bzImage
root = /dev/hda1 <- or whatever your /boot partition is on
label = "New Kernel"
read-only

save these changes then exit your editor and type lilo to update lilo

Then resume from step 4 at http://www.skynet.ie/~caolan/TechTexts/ZyXEL-630-11-HowTo.html

I haven't looked at the sites, and I don't know this hardware, but dont do this unless you have to. Check:

1) What is the module (driver) called? i.e. what is it that you would either 'modprobe' or 'insmod'? does it already exist on you system?

2) If you're only compiling a new module, you dont have to recompile the whole kernel; just put the source files in place (if they aren't already), and 'make modules modules_install'

3) Most distros configure their kernel so that they have support for pretty much all recent hardware, even if they may not detect them automagically. Try to run adsl-setup first and see what happens.

If I run the adsl set up it only finds the nvidia LAN built into my motherboard. So im assuming that it has no idea the modem is connected (usb).

Im having problems acually finding the kernel source code. However I have found a website that allows you to download any kernel version (in my case 2.6.3). The trouble with this is that im not sure what to download as there are five files under this particular kernel version...

linux-2.6.3.tar.bz2        17-Feb-2004 20:35   33M  
linux-2.6.3.tar.bz2.sign   17-Feb-2004 20:35  248  
linux-2.6.3.tar.gz         17-Feb-2004 20:35   41M  
linux-2.6.3.tar.gz.sign    17-Feb-2004 20:35  248  
linux-2.6.3.tar.sign       17-Feb-2004 20:35  248

This is the URL:- http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/

Also, through trying some screensavers I can see that my graphics card driver has either not been install, or not installed properly during setup. So ive found the driver on ATI's website and im stuck with it too. http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/linux/radeon-linux.html?type=linux&prodType=graphic&prod=productsLINUXdriver&submit.x=17&submit.y=6

How do I run Check.sh? Is there an easier way to find which Xfree86 version im running?

Thankyou for your time.

I was looking under "Hardware" and I can see my modem listed under scanners. Its listed there along with my LCD screen (matrix orbital). For the modem it says "Port libusb:002:002". So I assume it knows my modem is there, so how can I make it work? If I click the "run config tool" button then it says "alcatel telecom dynamite modem is nt in the scanner database, configure it manually?" (then I will get a list of scanners).

There is no section for modems in Hardware. All I have in there is a section called "Ethernet Card".

Which distribution are you using? e.g. RedHat, SuSE, Lindows...?

Chances are your distro is using a kernel with patches that haven't made it into the official 'vanilla' kernel tree yet, so I wouldn't go messing about with that.

once I knows which distribution you're using, it becomes a lot easier to give specific directions.

cheers.

I mentioned the distro in the first line of my original post. However, Mandrake 10. Kernel version 2.6.3