My frontier (warning: completely geek post -- no English at all)

I found out apm won't work on the happy little 75 MHz laptop unless I compile apm support into the kernel. Just installing apm, apmd, and sleepd via apt-get won't do shit.

I'm slightly ashamed to admit I've never compiled my own kernel. I know it can improve performance daramatically by removing unncessary bits and thus thin out the kernel. This laptop would definitely benefit from the activity.

I've also used compilers before -- in WinNT 4.0. I ran the shiny, all-GUI stuff. I messed with a Perl script that automated compile situations for a job. However, I'm still scared I'll fuck something up.

I'm going to read all the TLDP stuff, but I wonder if anyone could leave me some emotional advice.

Oh, and lightfixer mentioned something about compiler in a simulated environment on another (faster) machine. How does that work?

-you call 'em baby steps but I call it striking out, Ps/d