It is difficult to create a kernel specific for your device if you don't
know much about hardware. In this document I'll describe a way to obtain
the required information. In short:

1 Compile the most recent slackware kernel using the config file supplied by
slackware
2 Create a configuration based on the hardware loaded during boot

Now in more detail:
Step 1: Compile slackware kernel with slackware config

make a kernels directory in your home directory and download
linux-2.6.13.tar.bz2 from a site (http://www.kernel.org/mirrors/) to that
directory. you can download the .sign file as well if you want to ensure
that the downloaded file was correct.

tar xjf linux-2.6.13.tar.bz2
cd linux-2.6.13
# change '/mnt/cdrom' if it is not where slackware disk 3 was mounted
cp /mnt/cdrom/testing/source/linux-2.6.13/config-2.6.13 .

# This will take a long time...
# the package created is /tmp/kernel-generic-2.6.13-$ARCH-1.tgz
# ($ARCH is set in the SlackBuild script)

su -c '\
bash /mnt/cdrom/testing/source/linux-2.6.13/kernel-generic.SlackBuild; \
mv /tmp/kernel-generic-2.6.13-$ARCH-1.tgz .; \
installpkg kernel-generic-2.6.13-$ARCH-1.tgz'

the step from 2.4 to 2.6 requires more changes search for information on
this

make changes to your '/etc/lilo.conf' to include the 2.6.13 kernel or
'/boot/grub/menu.lst' if you use grub. leave in a fall-back boot option for
the original kernel. If you don't know how to do this, search for info,
there is on the net and probably on your computer (use the 'man' or 'info'
command and documents are also in /usr/doc/Linux-HOWTOs/)

install your bootloader: run as root 'lilo' or
'grub-install /dev/hda' (unless you know hda is not your boot location).
errors reported? solve them first, your computer may not boot if you do
not!

before continuing make sure all the hardware you want support for in your
kernel is attached to your computer (USB devices,cards for laptops,
printer, scanner, etc) Also make sure you have a bootdisk for slackware,
which you should have made during slackware's installation. If your BIOS
(system start up) enables it you can also boot from cd (Slackware cd 1).

step 2 Create a configuration based on the hardware loaded during boot

To obtain the latest kernel download all files patch-2.6.x.tar.bz2
(and .sign files) from http://www.kernel.org/mirrors/ where x is a number
larger than 13; save the patches in ~/kernels/
to apply patch 2.6.14, for example open a console:

cd ~/kernels/
mv linux-2.6.13 linux-2.6.14
bzip2 -d patch-2.6.14.bz2

cd linux-2.6.14
patch -p1 ../patch-2.6.14
To ensure no patches were rejected, you can check by:
find ./* -name '*~'
find ./* -name '*.rej'
No files should be found.

The latest fixes are in the 2.6.x.y patches, but if the latest is for
instance 2.6.14.2, you don't need to apply patch-2.6.14.1. If you later
want to apply patch 2.6.14.3 you first have to reverse patch 2.6.14.2 (-R
option):
patch -p1 -R -d ~/kernels/linux-2.6.14.2

2.6.x-zzz patches apply to kernel 2.6.(x-1)

Ok now the kernel configuration:
in a console:
cd ~/kernels/linux-2.6.14.2
make xconfig
# make gconfig or make menuconfig can also be used

This will open the window in which you can select the kernel options. Read
help here for a basic introduction.

Load slackware's 'config-2.6.13' file (which should be in this kernel
directory if you followed the guide). It complains that some options have
changed. You should watch out for these options a bit. It usually does not
give problems.

open another console and do:
su -c 'lsmod'
The modules are shown which were loaded by slackware during boot. If a
module is not in this list, your kernel did not need it. Now if an option
in your kernel configuration is compiled as a module, then you should check
this list to see whether it was loaded, if not then you probably can safely
deselect it.

If you're not sure about an option move over it and press help to get some
info. The info often suggests a choice as well. Information can also be
found in the ~/kernels/linux-2.6.14.2/Documentation/ directory (but may be
very difficult to comprehend).

The first three menus (in the current) kernel are
Code maturity level options --->
General setup --->
Loadable module support --->
These options concern the basic behaviour of your kernel. You probably
should leave these the way they are.

Block layer --->
only look here if you have disks bigger than 2 Terra bytes (no)

Processor type and features --->
here are some interesting options. Information about your processor and
amount of memory can be obtained from the application KInfoCenter (KDE-menu
-> system) Take some time to read through the options, you can make changes
if you know you can, otherwise leave to default.

Power management options (ACPI, APM) --->
Options in here are primarily for laptops, If you don't have that you should
go in here to deselect some options.

Bus options (PCI, PCMCIA, EISA, MCA, ISA) --->
deselect not loaded modules

Executable file formats --->
leave them

Networking --->
making changes may be very usefull but are dependent on the function of your
computer in relation to other computers in the network (internet or more
local). It is safe to leave it the way it is, find information elsewhere if
you want to.

Device Drivers --->
Here most hardware specific for your computer can be selected. Do a su -c
lspci or su -c 'lspci -v' to get some information. about your pci cards. If
you have a certain device you can go through the options to ensure it's
selected.
remove unused modules and make changes if you want support for specific
hardware.
Some changes in graphic support may also be desirable, but you'll have to
find info if you want that for your device specific. Changes may also be
needed in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file

File systems --->
make changes only if you know the specified filesystems will not be used.
You probably can deselect some more options, but you'll have to know a bit
about the filesystems you use and may want to mount.

remaining options: leave them

When finished save it to a file, config-2.6.14.2 for instance.
now do a
su -c 'make clean bzImage modules modules_install'
if many modules were deselected it should run a lot faster this time.

if succesful
su -c 'cp ./arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vml-2.6.14.2'
make as su necessary changes for lilo or grub and run the commands as
specified earlier, hold your breath and reboot.

Roel wrote:
> It is difficult to create a kernel specific for your device if you don't
> know much about hardware. In this document I'll describe a way to obtain
> the required information. In short:
....
> if succesful
> su -c 'cp ./arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vml-2.6.14.2'
> make as su necessary changes for lilo or grub and run the commands as
> specified earlier, hold your breath and reboot.

If unsuccessful, check here:

http://slackworld.berlios.de/03/kuac.html

or there:

http://slackworld.berlios.de/03/refs.html

:-)

Mikhail

> http://slackworld.berlios.de/03/kuac.html
> http://slackworld.berlios.de/03/refs.html

Thanks, they are really good

> :-)
I've made some more changes including the links you gave it can be read
here: http://slackwarehelp.org/viewtopic.php?p=1922#1922

Roel wrote:
> > :-)
> I've made some more changes including the links you gave it can be read
> here: http://slackwarehelp.org/viewtopic.php?p=1922#1922

Thanks for letting me know! IMHO, the text looks great.
The whole forum seems to be good, too. I added a reference
to SlackLinks: http://slackworld.berlios.de/links.html

--
Mikhail