Taken from: Linux Orbit - Server or desktop, GNU/Linux

Debian kernel upgrade

  1. su and enter root password
  2. apt-get install kernel-package kernel-source-2.4.20 expectk
  3. cd /usr/src/
  4. tar xvfj kernel-source-2.4.20.tar.bz2
  5. ln -s /usr/src/kernel-source-2.4.20 /usr/src/linux
  6. cd linux
  7. make xconfig
  8. select kernel modules
  9. make-kpkg -rev Custom.1 kernel_image
  10. cd ..
  11. dpkg -i kernel-image-2.4.18_Custom.1_i386.deb
  12. reboot (remember you can select linuxOLD from the Lilo or Grub prompt if the kernel won't boot properly)
To start over and re-config:
  1. cd /usr/src/linux
  2. make-kpkg clean
  3. make xconfig
  4. (then continue from step 9 and be sure to use revision numbers each time you run through the process to keep track of your kernel builds ie: Custom.2, Custom.3, etc.)