Compiling kernel for the first time need some assistance
 

I am compileing my kernel for the first time and would like to know which settings to select and tips and such. i have desited to do this because i have had no luck installing my nvidia card driver.

here is my video card problem thread if it helps explane any thing:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=400731

i am following the instructions from this page:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=43065

i have lunch qconf by using the command sudo make xconfig and now i dont know what to do so plz help me out. Thanks

here is some more information if it helps:

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8601 [Apollo ProMedia] (rev 05)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8601 [Apollo ProMedia AGP]
0000:00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super South] (rev 40)
0000:00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
0000:00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 1a)
0000:00:07.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 1a)
0000:00:07.4 Bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI] (rev 40)
0000:00:07.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
0000:00:08.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV5M64 [RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro] (rev 15)
0000:00:09.0 Communication controller: Conexant: Unknown device 2f14 (rev 01)
0000:00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
0000:00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

What is that a p-3 laptop?

its a custom built machine

nvidia :S bad driver buddy... be carefull.. if you are gonna do allot of gaming.. give it a try, else use the included nv driver.

What i do is get all the modules i see that are really needed by my computer, get the list with lsmod.

And build them in with the kernel. it saves some memory and the best part is that you system will have everything it neededs from the get go.

the rest is based on what you want to do with the computer.

Btw. nice motherboard, i like full via.

ohh if you are building a debian based kernel, use make-kpkg and dont forget the --initrd at build time

Could you list the commands needed to get all the modules, like how to use the lsmod command and then build the kernel so that i can install my driver. i am a newbie so i dont understand every thing so if you could make it as ez as possibel that would be great :)

by the way what does btw mean? do you like my motherboard or something, is it that great?

Assuming you are logged in as root or sudu is setup properly. If /proc/config.gz exists, type zcat /proc/config.gz > /usr/src/[new kernel directory]/.config. Next in /usr/src/[new kernel directory] type make oldconfig to use your present config settings. Then type make menuconfig to go through the kernel options.

I suggest not including ALSA and OSS, but make sure sound support is set as a module (named soundcore for the module). This will definatly decrease the amount it will take to compile. Make sure PIIX4 and VIA is set as buitlin in the IDE chipsets. PIIX4 is required to set DMA. Set agpgart as module. Set Realtek NIC as a module. Set USB (EHCI and OHCI) as a module. Do not forget to set wireless NIC as a module. Make sure initrd and ramdisk is set as builtin because it is required. Look over the kernel options a few times and save. Then type make && make modules_install but compiling a new kernel for Debian is a lot different than other distributions.

After the kernel is compiled, copy /usr/src/[new kernel directory]/System.map to /boot, copy /usr/src/[new kernel directory]/boot/arch/i386/bzImage to /boot, and run mkinitrd to make a ramdisk or initrd file in /boot. Make sure the directory /initrd exists. Add an entry to the boot loader, but do not remove the existing entries because they can save you if the update kernel does not work.

After the computer has booted up with the new kernel, you will have to compile and install ALSA and nVidia module (driver). It is normal to see errors on loading up sound and loading up GUI. The X Window System should go through a few attempts to get GUI going, but it will not. You will have to use the old nVidia module for your video card model because the latest nVidia module do not work with TNT2 cards. If you upgrade to nVidia GeForce6 6200, you can use the latest nVidia module. Your system should not have any problems using GeForce6 6200 if the chipset is capable of at least AGP 4X.

So what you are saying is that when i am done compileing my kernel i will still have to use my old video card driver and i will not beable to install the one i downloaded from the nvidia site, right?

More informaion:

nos@ubuntu:/proc$ ls
1 6442 7111 7555 7600 7706 acpi ide net
100 6447 7256 7556 7602 7708 asound interrupts partitions
1849 6457 7276 7557 7604 7710 bluetooth iomem scsi
1907 6459 7277 7558 7607 7712 buddyinfo ioports self
1908 685 7363 7559 7633 7714 bus irq slabinfo
2 6851 7365 7560 7661 7719 cmdline kallsyms stat
2959 6856 7372 7563 7666 7760 cpuinfo kcore swaps
3 6924 7373 7570 7668 7929 crypto kmsg sys
3124 6933 7384 7586 7670 8456 devices loadavg sysrq-trigger
4 6984 7390 7587 7676 8609 diskstats locks sysvipc
5 7 7400 7588 7678 8613 dma mdstat tty
5204 70 7452 7589 7680 8614 driver meminfo uptime
6382 7001 7465 7590 7682 8629 execdomains misc version
6414 7073 7477 7591 7684 97 fb modules vmstat
6416 7109 7511 7594 7689 98 filesystems mounts
6429 7110 7554 7596 7698 99 fs mtrr
nos@ubuntu:/proc$

Some one plz help me out

For Ubuntu you may want to try this;
http://ubuntuguide.org/#installnvidiadriver
For debian you may want to try this;
http://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaHowTo
For ubuntu kernel you may want to try this;
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=85064
For debian kernel you may want to try this;
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=206992

Thanks for this information every one it realy helps :)