As the subject implies, I don't know how to do this. I switched to redhat hoping for more success. So far I have had much success, up until the point where I need to get it to read my vfat and ntfs partitions. I tried compiling a new kernel but I got all kinds of errors all the way through. I followed the guide to compiling a new kernel on red hat, but I still get tons upon tons of errors. Does anyone have an alternate way to get red hat to read vfat and ntfs partitions right after installation or maybe how to compile a kernel for this specific reason? I appreciate any help.

first, try to find if you have support for these file system:

$ls /lib/modules/2.4.26/kernel/fs (replace 2.4.26 with your kernel version)

if you have ntfs and vfat listed, that is because those module are installed.

That's assuming they're modules and not built-in

What errors did you get when you tried to make a new kernel?