I was curious if anyone uses the Linux kernel configurator (i think that's what its called) from the KDE menu in Mandrake 9.1.

After making changes it tells me to make deps and other stuff in I suppose the usr/src/linux directory from a terminal.

If there a preferred way to compile my kernel. I'm not sure this tool is safe.

thansk in advance

Any of the kernel config options will yield the same result (providing you pick the same parameters)

the steps to compile:
make [menu|x|old]config
make dep clean bzImage modules modules_install install

When it asks if you want to install Lilo say yes.
reboot.

The only tricky part is the configure step. Kernel newbies usuallly leave out something vital, like PCI support.

If your new kernel doesn't boot start over again with the configure step and try to figure out what you did wrong. If you really hose things bad you can run "make mrproper" to clean your kernel tree back to the way you extracted it.

Thanks I'll try not to hose it.