Dave, making your own kernel is SO so easy. And best of all, if you munge it up you just choose a different kernel in the grub options and go back as you were.<br /><br />As I said, try to make anything a module that you can. makes the kernel smaller, only loads what is neede when needed.<br /><br />get the source at kernel.org and go to
http://kernelnewbies.org/ for instructions.<br />
http://kernelnewbies.org/faq/index.php3#compile that one shows them using lilo there at the end. you're using grub so it's even easier. just edit grub.conf. <br /><br />Use makemenuconfig by the way. That's the better one to use. You can choose ? for every menu option. It will show a brief desciption and a recommended selection option.<br /><br />