I have 7.2 Redhat Linux, and I want to run it on my Laptop just to learn the various Web technologies etc.

I have never managed to run Linux and I am a complete begginer.

I have a complete manual of Linux 7.2 so I prefer that I keep 7.2 and upgrade the kernel.

Kernels 2.4.16 and above are the only known to work on my AMD based Sony VAIO PCG - FX201 laptop. But I can't change the Kernel.

I am trying to change Linux's 7.2 Kernel to newest 2.4.18 version in order to make it run on my laptop. It seems that I got stuck and I can't proceed.

First of all I copied the new kernel file in folder "Temp" in windows. In C:\Temp

Now in Linux, in the shell (a command prompt for DOS people) I run the following command:

chroot /mnt/sysimage

Note: All this command is doing is basically setting the root of the tree to a directory two steps down from the root. This is useful if you are doing any compiling, as you will be doing in just a few minutes.

Next I create a directory to temporarily store the kernel source. For this I created a directory as follows:-

cd /usr

mkdir kernelsrc

cd /kernelsrc

Next I copy the kernel image from the windows partition using the following commands:

mkdir /cdrive

mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /cdrive

cd /cdrive/temp

It seems that I stick here. It says "No such folder or File"
I can't apply the following command as well:
cp * /kernelsrc

Sorry people, but what have I done wrong here???
It seems that it sucks so much when I spend so many hours for something that could be solved in just 1 minute.
Any help appreciated:

Thanks for your time. I can even pay for good detailed advices, ( But I doubt that Redhat could ever bother to give me any advice..)


ALex
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Laptops are a pain to put linux on sometimes because of special hardware...

I'd suggest you get RH 7.3, basicly all it is, is 7.2 with a kernel upgrade, and some updates...

Just about anything done on 7.2 can be done on 7.3..

You will prolly have alot more luck this way...

One, question, what version of windows are you running?

how i recomplie my linux kernel:

grab the latest source from kernel.org

untar it to /usr/src/linux (changing symlink of current kernel)
nav into the dir and type make menuconfig
choose your kernel options... make sure everything u need is selected otherwise you could compile a kernel without IDE support etc...
save and exit
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install
and copy the kernel image from arch/i386/boot folder(i think) into your /boot dir and add that kernel choice to your bootloader(LILO or GRUB usually)

there... takes me about 30mins max... 25mins of it is compiling...

also try irc.openprojects.net #redhat, #linpeople, #linuxhelp

Thanks for your advice. I am using

1st partition, Windows 98 me (FAT32)
2nd partition, XP (NTFS)
3rd partition Linux

Thank you Phision, your suggestions are a bit complicated for a newbie in Linux like me, but I am going to try them out. Note that I use a disk to boot because i wanted to avoid messing up with LiLo.

That is what I want. To recompile the Kernel to the newest one.

Alex
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I will attempt Phision's suggestion and I will write back. But I doubt that I will manage it.