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From: Martin Underwood <m...@aber.ac.uk>
Newsgroups: linux.help
Subject: Re: RPM Help
Date: Sat, 06 Dec 2003 11:34:48 +0000
Organization: CompSci UWA
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Glen Martin wrote:

> Hi;
> I'm New at this, so bare with me please.
> I have a P4P800 Mb in the CD that came with it I have a (RPM Driver for my
> On Board GiGabit lan) so i'm trying to take it from their and install it.
> In the ReadMe fil;e it say's to,(Make sure that the kernel source is
> installed in;/usr/src/linux or /usr/src/linux-2.4.)
> Can someone please tell me what this mean's in plan english.I can do
> everthing else,but I just don't know what the (kernel source mean's)
> 
> Thank's
> glen

Glen,

Your a running Suse, or Mandrake, or Redhat or something like that (called a
distrobution), but the core of the system is the operating system itself. 
'Linux'... this is the 'kernel'.

When you 'compile' a kernel, you use a compiler to translate the 'source
code' (hand written, kinda 'simple-english') into an executable file that
the computer understands.  This is then the first program that is run when
you boot up your computer... everything else is then loaded by the kernel.

The analogy in the name is rather useful... if your computer is a seed - the
kernel is the core... everything else is wrapped around it.

So when you 'compile' a 'kernel', you are remaking the basic program that
underlies your entire system.  It also has a lot of stuff kinda pluged into
it, that makes the various bits of hardware on your computer work.  You
actually don't have to plug everything in, but one of the things about
Linux (that is really nice IMHO) is that if you do have problems with some
driver or other, recompiling the kernel to include this driver makes it
work!  (at least it always has done for me).   It is also the most
efficient way to run your hardware.

If you go to the Linux homepage, you will find a number of downloadable
source code packages (tar.gz files) that you can compile new kernels from. 
I would suggest that you go here, and download one.  Then go find a good
article on recompiling the kernel from source.  Have a good read, and have
fun doing it.

I guarantee that once you have done it a couple fo times, RPM's become a
waste of time, since they take almost as many commands to install as
recompiling your kernel! (and they don't always work unless you are running
redhat!)

Word of warning tho... if you mess up, it can make booting really hard...
make backups... and be sure you now how to navigate with the good old
command line.

try this article for some hints... this is the one that i learnt from...
http://www.college.ch/linux/article.php?story_id=46&topic_id=16

Regards,

Methesda