can i move my hard drive to a similar computer and have linux work?

possibly haveing to reinstall drivers for certain stuff like cd card

or would i have to recompile the kernel
or would i just have to do a fresh install?

Chances are, you would have to recompile/reinstall. All computers all different, and your kernel configuration/installation settings is for your computer only.

yes what I would do is compile a new kernel for that system from the first computer. This would involve the full kernel recompile. refer to http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...rnel+recompile
it is very nice. Once you have this done you need to set it up. before you move the HD make a rescue disk so that you can boot the new machine up. move the hard drive boot the machine using the rescue disk and then install your lilo or grub. this will prove to be a very challenging task. By the way make sure the kernel boots before moving the HD. Let me know how this does.

I doubt you would need to recompile the kernel. If you are using a generic kernel from your distro's install, it is going to work on 99% of the computers out there (assuming the same architecture).

I have switched drives between machines many times, and never had a problem.

yeah thats what i thought....

I would recommend just putting the drive into the new PC and booting up. I'm with MS3FGX - as long as you don't have any funky equipment in your case, the default kernel is pretty much going to work. I've done this a couple of times myself, without any problems. A recompile would be useful in terms of optimizing the system, but it's unlikely that you'd truly need to do one unless that were your choice. Like I said, I'd just give it a try and see what happens. Worst case scenario is that your PC won't boot; best case is that it boots up and you've got Linux running with zero effort. -- J.W.