Hi,
I'm running Slack 10.2 with the default bare.i kernel image. Is there native support for Hardware Abstraction Layer in this kernel? If not, then is some sort of a kernel patch available? Thanks.

As far as I know, you need kernel 2.6.15 or higher to have HAL.

HAL requires udev. The stock 2.6.x kernel that comes with Slackware 10.2 (in /extra) provides udev support. Install this kernel or compile a newer 2.6.x kernel.

The easiest way of getting HAL working is probably to install the version of Freerock Gnome or Dropline Gnome for Slackware 10.2

IMPORTANT EDIT: the version of udev that comes with 10.2 is outdated and may or may not work with newer kernels, I don't know.

I would highly advise not using Slackware's 10.2 udev for HAL automounting support. It had a share of serious problems and is not reliable (and probably won't work properly without modification anyway).

The Slackware 11.0 Udev is much improved (thanks to Piter Punk's work) and functions great with HAL support. You must have a HAL capable desktop environment or some additional appications (e.g. pmount or gnome-mount) to handle automounting, since HAL does not do this internally.

Additionally, a recent 2.6 kernel is required for recent HAL and Udev releases.