I have been having great fun customizing the 2.6 kernel and doing research (Google) on the workings of Linux internals/compile/make options. This stuff is really expanding my knowledge of how the kernel works - trying to figure out what is what at a low level - although obviously I am no expert. I come from a C/ASM/Intel programming background but would appreciate any links/pointers as to the ins and outs of this stuff re Linux - i.e. dependencies, linux internals, structures etc. BTW - I have been getting a lot of info by making my google searches more generic e.g. "linux kernel internal" rather than "slackware 2.6 kernel internal". How bespoke is the Slackware kernel compile/customization process ? May I safely follow generic linux threads on this matter ? (I've recently followed a thread on how to ask smart questions so I hope I'm adhering to these guidelines). Any pointers as to where I may find more info about the structure of the OS would be helpful. - As a general comment - I find it mind blowing that the low level information about the OS internals is not only available but freely available. This mindset obviously encourages learning rather than keeping secrets as in the days of Dos structures etc. Sorry if this is a bit rambling and unstructured but I think I've seen the future and that is the sharing of knowledge and all the GPL - open source kind of thing implies...I know I'm just scratching the surface on this and can't help but be enthused.. Wow..
Cheers,

Pat distributes the same kernel that you download from ftp.kernel.org. You'll see comments in the changelog that Pat describes "vanilla" Linux kernels. You can look at the script he uses to compile the kernel:

http://slackware.cs.utah.edu/pub/sla...ompile_kern.sh

i don't think this will be helpful, but its very interesting none the less, and pretty fun to look at showing the entire kernel structure, a kernel map.
since you seem so interested i think you might like that.

Some of my personal bookmarks which may be useful:

Kwan Lowe's Kernel Rebuild Guide

Kernelhacking

Unreliable Guide To Hacking The Linux Kernel

KernelNewbies

Linux HQ kernel programming resources

I, too, am absolutely fascinated by the performance and working of the Linux kernel. The multi-tasking ability is simple outrageous. After using Windows and Mac OS, it baffles me why anyone would consider them stable operating systems.

The preponderance of so many different Linux distributions has probably kept the workers so spread out, and disunited, or some Linux distro would have already taken the market from Windows. We're still lacking in some quality GUI apps, but as for CLI apps -- there's nothing able to touch us there.

Thanks for the useful info everyone..Much appreciated. It looks like I've certainly got my work cutout understanding all this stuff !!
Cheers

If you really want to know about the kernel internals, I would suggest Linux Kernel Development: Second Edition from Novell press of all places. It does a really good job of going into some detail of the internal workings of it all.