I found the 2.4.16 kernel the easiest kernel to install yet. Here's what I did. Downloaded and installed kernel 2.4.16.SuSE-2 from mirror.ac.uk mirror of SuSE. You can get it from ftp://ftp.suse.com under people/mantel/next/linux-2.4.16.SuSE-2.tar.bz2 Saved it in directory and copied (actually linked) it to /usr/src/linux-2.4.16.SuSE-2.tar.bz2 # cd /usr/src # tar Ixvf linux-2.4.16.SuSE-2.tar.bz2 [creates new directory /usr/src/linux-2.4.16.SuSE] # rm linux [removes old link] # ln -s linux-2.4.16.SuSE-2.tar.bz2 linux # cd /usr/src/linux-2.4.16.SuSE Now copy hidden file .config from original kernel directory /usr/src/linux-2.4.10.SuSE to new directory /usr/src/linux-2.4.16.SuSE and rename it to test-12.1.01 (no longer hidden ;-)). I think this is essentially what cloneconfig does. # make mrproper # make xconfig [needs to be done with root access] Load configurations from test-12.1.01, check, save and exit # make dep # make clean # make bzImage [takes a few minutes] # make modules # make modules_install [won't overwrite anything] copy bzImage from /usr/src/linux-2.4.16.SuSE/arch/i386/boot to /boot and rename vmlinuz-2.4.13 copy System.map from /usr/src/linux-2.4.16.SuSE to /boot and rename System.map-2.4.16 # mk_initrd -k "vmlinuz-2.4.16" -i "initrd-2.4.16" -s auto edit /etc/lilo.conf and change kernel to 2.4.16 (doesn't remove old kernel or modules) # lilo -b /dev/hda [installs lilo on a floppy. If it doesn't work, I still haven't lost anything] reboot (from floppy) This all worked without problems, except sound was lost (as expected). As root... # lilo [This time installs on hard disk] reboot and install alsa as follows... downloaded alsa-driver-0.5.12a (needed for 2.4.14+ kernels) to /usr/src/packages/SOURCES # cd /usr/src/packages/SOURCES # tar zxvf alsa-driver-0.5.12a.tar.gz # cd alsa-driver-0.5.12a and compiled... # modprobe soundcore (probably not needed) [root] # CFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686" ./configure [Don't use the -march=i686 flag if you have an Athlon!] # make install [root] # ./snddevices [root] (probably not needed) All successful.