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It should be noted here that not all Linux device drivers are actually built into the kernel. Instead, some drivers are available only as loadable modules, distributed separately from the kernel sources. (As mentioned earlier, some drivers can be either built into the kernel or compiled as modules. In other cases, you have only one choice or the other.)

If you can't find support for your favorite hardware device in the list presented by make config, it's quite possible that the driver is available as a module or a separate kernel patch. Scour the FTP sites and archive CD-ROMs if you can't find what you're looking for. In the next section, "Loadable Device Drivers," kernel modules are covered in detail.

The following questions are found in the kernel configuration for Version 2.6.11.4. If you have applied other patches, additional questions might appear. The same is true for later versions of the kernel. Note that in the following list we don't show all the kernel configuration options; there are simply too many of them, and most are self-explanatory. We have highlighted only those that may require further explanation. Remember that if you're not sure how to answer a particular question, the default answer is often the best choice. When in doubt, it is also a good idea to type ? and check the help message.

Following are the high-level choices and the ramifications of choosing each one.

Prompt for development and/or incomplete code/drivers

Answer yes for this item if you want to try new features that aren't considered stable enough by the developers. You do not want this option unless you want to help test new features.

System V IPC

Answering yes to this option includes kernel support for System V interprocess communication (IPC) functions, such as msgrcv and msgsnd. Some programs ported from System V require this; you should answer yes unless you have a strong aversion to these features.

Sysctl support

This option instructs the kernel to provide a way to change kernel parameters on the fly, without rebooting. It is a good idea to enable this unless you have very limited memory and cannot tolerate the extra 8 KB that this option adds to the kernel.

Enable loadable module support

This enables the support for dynamically loading additional modules. You definitely want to enable this.

Module versioning support

This is a special option that makes it possible to use a module compiled for one kernel version with another kernel version. A number of problems are attached to this; say no here unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Automatic kernel module loading

If you enable this option, the kernel can automatically load and unload dynamically loadable modules as needed.

Processor family (20 different choices currently) [586/K5/5x86/6x86/6x86MX]

Here, you have to specify the CPU type that you have. The kernel will then be compiled with optimizations especially geared toward your machine. Note that if you specify a higher processor here than you actually have, the kernel might not work. Choosing an earlier CPU type (such as a Pentium when what you actually have is a Pentium IV) should work just fine, but your kernel may not run as fast as it could when using more advanced machine-specific features available in newer CPUs.

Symmetric multi-processing support

This enables kernel support for more than one CPU. If your machine has more than one CPU, say yes here; if not, say no.

Power management options (ACPI, APM)

This is an entire subsection for power management, mostly for laptops, but things like suspend-to-disk ("hibernation") could be useful for workstations too. However, power management often leads to problems, including a complete failure to boot. If you experience any problems, try recompiling your kernel without power management, or pass the kernel command-line options noapm and noacpi at boot time to turn off power management.

PCI support

Enable this option if your motherboard includes the PCI bus and you have PCI-bus devices installed