I'm new to linux and I just yesterday did my first sucessful 2.6.7 kernel compilation.
I downloaded the source and used the Fedora Core 2 official .config file as a base. I only modified the CPU type and made the kernel preemptive.
I want to see if selecting just the drivers I need and compiling then inside the kernel would be worth the effort.
I need advice on how to safely select the drivers I need.
For example, should I remove all ethernet, FDDI and other network drivers? I use a modem and ppp0 to log on to the net.
Can I ditch the ps/2 and usb mice? Mine is serial.
Can I drop all video4linux stuff if I don't have a digital video card?
Can I drop nvidia, banshee and ati radeon drivers? My card is S3 Trio64
Can I drop firewire drivers? (I don't have it)
Can I drop XFS, ReiserFS, JFS, minix, amiga, etc filesystems if I don't plan to use them?
Can I compile ACPI inside the kernel to make sure it gets used?

Can I compile all drivers inside the kernel safely or do I keep them as modules?

Will all this configurations mean a faster kernel? I assume it wil be smaller, but is that important?

Thank you for any advice.

Any devices you dont have will never have the drivers loaded, so its safe and recommended to remove them entirely to reduce the size and increase the speed of the kernel. You can compile all the drivers inside the kernel, but its usually best to compile anything you can as modules, with exceptions being to things like your chipset support, and anything else required to boot. Compiling as modules means a smaller, faster kernel. And yes, your kernel will be noticeably faster.