im currently trying to compile for arm arch too..
here is what you need in general case
get kernel , unpack
run make mrpoper to clean kernel
than create config file
either by copy .config file to dir from arch/arm/
or creating/updating one by make ARCH=arm gconfig (if GTK installed or menuconfig ( for command line))
next final step that i have troubles with
you need to have ARM toolchain in path!!! (i currently use arm-2008q1 ..fail .. trying with arm-2010q1 still untested)
make zImage ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-none-linux-gnueabi-
(troubles where all fixed
i missed correct path to toolchain /bin/ )
tested yesterday linux-2.6.35.5 in arm arch all ok