Is it just me, or does make oldconfig ask you questions you said 'yes' to in you .config file? Or is my machine just f**king with me?
But seriously, is there any way around this? I am running Debian 3.0r2 bf2.4 (kernel 2.4.18) and am trying to compile a simple module (PCMCIA wlan card driver) and it's taking me like an hour to run through this thing. And just when i think it's OK to just press 'N' and 'Enter' in rapid succession, I find that I've said 'No' to generic keyboard support or the English language or something =). I am kindof worried that if I miss something (say N when shoulda said Y), the module I am trying to compile will be broken or break something else or set my laptop on fire.
btw does anyone have any experience with PCMCIA network card issues in Debian?

thx

no it doesnt... seems you did it wrong ?

did you remember to copy the old config file to the source directory and rename it to ".config" before running make oldconfig ?

somtimes the config file will be in the boot folder or partiton. or if your kernel supports it, you can extract the config from the kernel with the command gzcat /proc/config.gz > /usr/src/linux-version/.config

yeah, i did copy it from /boot/config-2.4.18 to /usr/src/.config (or /linux/.config; I don't remember; can't check b/c I just scrapped the syustem and am reinstalling right now).
I am positive that some items were repeateated; for instance I have a pcmcia wireless lan card half installed (or had, really) and the CONFIGURE_NET_RADIO and PCMCIA_CARDBUS_BLAH_BLAH were set to 'N'. It's 99% my probelm though, i guess, as I am a relative novice.

Question: if I don't enable support for some modules (kernel/driver/net/wireless/etc..) in the debian install, will they be compiled after install (in /lib/modules/<kernel-version>)? and just not set-up to load on boot (I would have to expicitly enable them in config files or insmod)?

probably a silly request, and probably will not be able to be fulfilled, but does anyone have the file named "xbrzcom_cs.o" compiled for the 2.4.18 kernel? (specifically debian 2.4.18-bf2.4) This file would normally be located at:
/lib/modules/2.4.18/pcmcia/, but for a debian 3.0rc2 bf2 system is would be in /lib/modules/2.4.18-bf2.4/pcmcia.
I cannot seem to get it compiled, and every higher kernel i try to compile blows up my laptop (i think anything higher than 2.4.18 is considered unstable).
This is the breezecom breezeNET wireless pcmia lan card driver.

You folks rule, btw.

if you are getting compile errors then you must have configured some incompatable kernel options.

the linux source code shoult be in /usr/src/linux-version..

and you cannot just copy a kernel module like that, you need to compile it yourself.

and the convention says (only true in the 2.4 series) that unstable kernels have an odd minor version number....

2.2.X = stable
2.3.X = unstable
2.4.X = stable
2.5.X = unstable
2.6.X = stable

but i thinkk this convention is being dropped.... so the 2.7 kernel series will stable unless stated otherwise