if i have mdk 10 and i'd like to update kernel to latest version, how do i go about doing it? i'm fairly new to linux and don't quite know my away around it yet so i'd appreciate some fairly detailed instructions of where to download, what commands to type, etc. thanks.

Are you happy with your current setup? If so, don't bother. MDK 10 has a very recent kernel already, and there's no need to upgrade it. Upgrading kernels can be a real pain, and you might have to do it more than once (I had to do recompile mine 10 times on my first upgrade before it did what I wanted it to do). If you want to do it anyway, there should be some howtos at:
http://tldp.org
It's a very common topic, and there are many howtos out there, so take a look at those.

The first thing you need to know is why to get a newer kernel? Mandrake already come with 2.6.x series, which is pretty new. Some peoples upgrade the kernel in order to get a faster boot time, which is silly, really. It's just a matter to disable services and you will get into a "sweet ride" with any Linux/kernel.

Upgrading the kernel has two real objectives: 1) Add support for a piece of hardware that does not come supported by your current kernel or 2) to simply learn how to do it.

Since you said that you are new to Linux, if you want to upgrade your kernel because you simply want to learn how to do it, most likely you will get into a hell lot of unnecessary troubles (sound, modules or maybe even an non-bootable system)...

But if you still want to do it:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...threadid=73436

Good luck!